Life in the Parking Lot

We were up Monday at 5 a.m. to be dressed and buttoned up at 6 a.m.  Right on time, there was a knock on the door and away our rig went being pulled by a fork lift with a gooseneck at the hitch.  We met with Fred and went over our list then joined the others in the Customer Lounge.  Eventually we went into Sturgis, MI for breakfast.  

One of our complaints has been the popping noises coming from the Level Up system, mostly when the temperature cools down.  We never had this issue with our Big Foot system.  The fix they say is to remove a quart of the hydraulic fluid and replace it with a hydraulic oil additive.  Seems to me the manufacturer would start out with this mixture but no one asked me!

We went to four different places and cannot find this additive.  It seems motorcycle shops and elevator companies as well as Caterpillar distributors carry it.  Also, driving the rig 26 miles to Lippert Frames to have them do it is an option.  I googled motorcycle shops and found two in the area so we will call them today and keep trying!

We took the 10 a.m. factory tour yesterday.  We had taken it years ago and at that time Ted was so impressed with the fit and finish in Mobile Suites construction he said if we ever couldn't have a HitchHiker he would get a Mobile Suites.  And that is exactly what came to pass when HitchHiker stopped production last year.   

The two adages "You get what you pay for" and "It's what you don't see that matters" came to mind.  In December, in 17 degree weather, we noticed an increased coziness in the rig.  This summer we noticed that when we stop for the day in hot weather the temperature inside the rig is pleasant.  Our HitchHikers would be 95 degrees and would take awhile to get cool once the A/C was turned on.  Watching the construction, the materials used, the added strength and safety items used was very impressive.  A family emergency pulled our technician off our rig to finish up another that was close to being done and was due to pull out.  Things happen and you just go with the flow.  We will need to go to the paint facility and hopefully that will happen today.

Our trailer was back in our spot at 2:30 and units were jockeyed around as some folks left and others arrived.  We have electricity, water in the tank but no hook up and no sewer.  This makes things a bit   more difficult.  But one of the good things is we don't want to waste holding tank space with dishwater so we went into Howe for dinner.  

It has been raining a lot so there isn't too much outside visiting going on.  We are using our antenna for TV since we have yet to replace our satellite dish.  Our old trailer had a roof mount but we want to get a freestanding one.  They are easier to move around for a signal versus moving the trailer back and forth.  Ted certainly wishes we had one last night but because of the rain he might not have done any better with TV viewing.

We were up again at 5 a.m. this morning and it is now 7:15 a.m.  When we get to a decent hour Ted will call the motorcycle shops and we will head to Sturgis and probably go to breakfast.  If it stops raining we may go to Shipshewana if Fred says it is okay to leave.  

We are good until noon on Thursday when we absolutely need to leave for Michigan.  If the paint thing gets to be a problem we will come back here the end of July to finish up.  I would rather spend a week in Cincinnati but we will do what we need to do.