Snowy Range Pass

Snowy Range Pass

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Back in the USA











We have been back from the Netherlands for ten days. It was a good time and there are more tales that could be told, but since I am a bit behind on this blog, it is time to move on to our USA activities.

It was a long and tiring trip back across the big pond and we were looking forward to some rest and relaxation before we headed to our RV dealer for annual service and a new addition to the coach-a satellite system. After being retrieved from the airport by our friend, Judy Buck, we got the motorhome out of storage and headed to a local campground for a few days of R&R. After settling in to our spot, we discovered that this was to be an early Halloween celebration weekend, since the campground was closing the next weekend. In addition to lots of decorations, there was a party (you guessed it, just across from our camping spot) with costume judging, food and music. This is a quite large campground and it seems that this is a very popular weekend. While it was fun to watch the activities, it was not the atmosphere we were planning on.

After consulting with our RV dealer, we decided to head over to their facility on Sunday evening and be ready for the work to start on the coach first thing Monday morning. Even though we had ordered the satellite dish at the last minute, they were able to get it in for installation during the planned service. The service is important to reduce the chances of breakdown along the road and keeping the equipment in good condition and includes the engine, chassis and generator systems along with any needed work on the coach items. Oh, yes –did I mention that we wanted to have Sat TV, since we were now full time in the coach.

We have a lot of confidence in our dealer, Shafer RV in Delta, Ohio and the work on the coach was done without any surprises including the installation of the shiny new King Dome sat Antenna on the roof. What should have been the easy part, giving money to DirectTV for the service, proved to be extremely frustrating and timing consuming.

After spending several hours with a local authorized dealer, it ended up in a catch 22 for having the service installed and the dealer threatening to drop DirectTV from his list of services. Attempting to sign up via the web site and calling DirectTV directly also proved frustrating and had we not already installed the Sat dish, we might have abandoned the effort all together. In the end, we got a receiver from camping world and with their help got DirectTv to graciously agree to give us the service.

One of the better parts of this experience was staying at our dealer during this three day process. After hours, the grounds were quiet and the night stars bright and made for stargazing. Finally, the peace we were after. Anneke enjoyed looking at all the new John Deere farm equipment that they had recently purchased-(they also have a large farming operation in addition to the RV and truck business). This equipment was nothing like what we had in my youth on the family farm, but then it seems that nothing ever stays the same.

No comments: