Thursday, October 4, 2007

10/02/07 Newmar, Nappanee, IN.

Captain’s Blog
10/02/07
Newmar, Nappanee, IN.
Odometer Reading 10837.2

Woke at 6am to the noise of back-up warning alarms from the RV’s in the lot behind us being moved. The day at Newmar begins at 6 and ends at 2pm Monday – Thursday.

It was off the Ford dealer 8 miles down the road anticipating the worst but hoping for the best. They told us it would take at least two hours to diagnose so we decided to take the Newmar Factory Tour.

We were surprised that the first thing they asked us to do was sign a release form in the event of an injury during the tour. We did, but couldn’t understand it because we have toured many factories without having to sign anything. Once we started the tour we realized it would be an OSHA nightmare. We were allowed on the floor with the workers who were using a variety power tools. There were extensions cords and hoses on the floor that one had to either step or trip over. Despite the possible hazards the tour was great and it was amazing to watch the process and realize the manpower needed to manufacture just one RV. Indiana has a huge population of Amish people and 65 % of Newmar employees are Amish. Our Alternative mode of Travel,if not fixed!

After the tour we went to a great little restaurant called the Family Table with most of the employees Amish. A full meal with three sides was only $5.99. I got a stir fry dinner for $3.99 – unheard of in MA.

We went to check on the progress of our RV repair and much to our surprise the problem was not a fuel filter or electronic sensor as we had thought. It was a broken wire on a spark plug. No charge for the two - hour service (warranty covered) and off we went with a purring engine and two very happy campers.

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