An Update from Harrisburg and RV Maintenance

Greetings Earthlings!  Have you missed me?  We are currently at the the River Bend RV park in glorious Harrisburg, Oregon.  It's not a terrible park.  We wish the paved sites were a little wider because we end up walking on the grass, and then tracking it in.  However, it's 5 minutes away from our primary source of RV maintenance.  Thus far we have had the poppet valves for the forward slide replaced, Erik thumped the emergency propane shut-off which restored it to functionality, the slide boxes have been tar taped, and he has adjusted the forward slide upward so it does not hit the doors of the under coach storage bays.  I really like these guys.  They have been too busy to have a web page done since they opened.  Word of mouth has been sufficient to drive that much business to them. 

 

Their physical plant is not as prepossessing as that of Country Coach or Monaco, but it's what's on the inside that counts!

 

This is something I never thought I would see.  They are backing the RV out of the bay with the slides out.  The tape takes 16 hours to dry, so the slides could not be brought in until the next day.  We spent the night in their yard with power and water.

 

This is a plum tree on the perimeter of the yard.  Note the presence of a train track.  That's an Amtrak and freight line.  It's heavily used, all day and all night.

 

In addition to maintenance and repairs they also do interior work.  I think this qualifies as a gut remodel.  This is what they do during the winter - remodels.

 

The cabinetry is being made on site at Elite.  They will sub the doors, but they do the rest. 

 

The downside to maintenance and fixing, is that you're homeless.  It's exhausting.  Jim and I are both worn slick from getting up early and then filling the days.  One of the places we've been is NW RV Supply.  They get stuff from everywhere and they know where they put it.  The store is just amazing in how many bits and bobs they carry.

 

We were there for screw covers, which can be seen at the bottom of the photo in the center.  That's the color we needed.

 

Today it was off to Davis Cabinets.  They are legendary in the field of RV cabinetry.  They do really nice work.  These are two dumpsters behind the building full of saw dust.

 

Here is Shaun Davis performing a remove and replace of our satellite receiver and DVR.  I am so glad we did not attempt to do that ourselves.  Too many wires, not enough spatial relations on our part.  After he hooked everything up, it took an hour with Dish customer service to get it configured.  The people I spoke to today (level 1 and level 2 tech support) were fairly knowledgeable so it was not a terrible experience.
We were also measured for MCD shades.  Our pleated shades are old and tatty looking and we've looked at them long enough.  They'll be ready for install the last week in June.  That will be pretty cool.

 

Tomorrow we go to Freightliner.   There are issues with the shift console for the Allison transmission.  Jim does not think it is working properly.  We have to be there early, really early.  Woe, woe is me.  After a weekend to recover, we'll be back at Elite for body work and paint on the bottom of the nose of the RV.  Apparently the previous owner grazed something with the coach.  We did not see it until after the check had cleared for the purchase. 
We've gotten a fair amount of stuff accomplished while out of the RV.  Jim notified the governmental agencies of May's death.  While we were expecting much bureaucratic nonsense, it was painless.  Unless there is a surviving spouse, or minor children, death certificates are not required.  They will take the information over the phone, and you're done.  We still haven't dealt with the banks, I don't anticipate them being quite as accommodating.  Tomorrow we have to locate and go to a Fedex to send the the old receiver/DVR back to Dish. 
Other than that, maties, I have nothing to report.  The weather has been cold and wet, so there have been no hikes or walks in the great outdoors.