We're Attached

If you want to get an idea of the current status of your relationship with your life on the road, we have a suggestion.

Leave your rig for a few days.

This is our last night in Forest City, Iowa. We're so pleased to report that. You see, we've spent a lot of time recently in this tiny town in Northern Iowa, which is the home of Winnebago Industries. We were here back in April for a stop we hoped would be quick, but wasn't exactly.

Let me explain.

Among the maladies our moose has suffered over the past year, one of the most annoying (if you don't count the cooling unit going out on our refrigerator) has been our heat pump. We noticed its poor performance about the time we landed near Zion National Park last June. The daytime highs were well into the 90s, and the bright sunny skies provided more than enough solar gain. Our trusty basement air tried to keep up. But, the best it could deliver was inside temps in the low to mid 80's. (Yep, that was fun!)

As regular readers might recall, we made a worthless beeline to Salt Lake City last Summer to a Winnie dealership that was more interested in screwing us than actually solving our problem. Through the heat of the season we finally made our way to Kansas and had our regular maintenance guys check it out. They tightened a few connections and called the problem solved.

They were wrong.

We quickly realized our vital HVAC system was still not up to par. We decided then that the best way to work through this problem was to take the moose back to its roots. But, the earliest we could do that was sometime this late Spring or early Summer.

The good news in this part of the story was that our heat pump repairs would all be covered under warranty. (Thank you, RVP!)

Now, let's pause on that part of the story and tell you about yet another chronic problem.

During the first winter we had our big diesel-powered moose, we noticed a problem with one of the eight or so panels in the ceiling. It buckled. We documented the problem during our stop at a dealer in Texas Hill Country in Spring 2010. During a stop in Forest City that October, we spent four nights in a hotel as the trusty technicians took our bathroom apart (because it spanned the faulty ceiling panel) and did their best to repair the faulty ceiling. But, within a couple of months the problem reappeared.

We were left with one really ugly ceiling. And, we were out of warranty.

Then, one day, we got a survey in the mail. Winnebago wanted to know what we thought about our not-so-new purchase. They asked. So, we told them. Having dealt with a couple dozen problems in the first couple of years we owned this new, improved moose, we weren't very happy. And, we let them know.

At the end of the survey, Winnebago asked if we would like to have someone call us to discuss the survey. We said, "Absolutely!" As much as we were eager to discuss our dissatisfaction, we were pretty sure the request would go unanswered.

We were wrong.

Bright and early one morning in August 2011, Paul's phone rang. Forest City was calling in response to the survey we had completed. The early morning conversation spanned more than hour. Along the way, Paul expressed his displeasure with all the things that had gone wrong with our motorhome. Chief among them was the damn buckled ceiling we had had unsuccessfully repaired nearly a year earlier. 

"We'll take care of that," said the reassuring voice from Iowa. "How soon can you come see us?"

We were in Colorado that late Summer. And, believe us, Forest City isn't a place you want to visit during the winter. We said we could be there in the Spring. And, they said that was fine. We made an appointment for April, and made this stop part of the great Spring Moose Maintenance Tour. We asked them to address our two major problems: our faulty heat pump and our buckled ceiling.

By the time we met our Spring date in Forest City, yet another problem had developed. Our satellite radio wasn't working. When we met with our service tech early that April morning, we explained the new problem. He agreed to take a look. The AC guy was lined up to check out the heat pump. Together, we focused our attention on the big, ugly problem at hand: the ceiling. As our talented tech evaluated the problem, he offered up the lowest impact solution, which would not involve deconstructing our bathroom for a second time. Even though it would mean we'd be in a hotel for a night, we decided it was worth a shot. We headed off to nearby Clear Lake and the technicians went to work.

The diagnosis for the heat pump was serious. A part needed to be manufactured to make the repair. The good news is the manufacturer was willing to make the repair under warranty, which expired a half a year or so ago. The bad news was the manufacturing would take two weeks.

We were out of our moose just one night. When we returned the satellite radio was repaired, at a cost that was double MSRP (That still irks us!). The quick fix of the ceiling was complete. Nobody was terribly confident that it would "stick". But, like I said, it was worth a shot. Besides, we would be back in a month.

After a fleeting month in Kansas City, we found ourselves back in Forest City on Tuesday...with a buckled ceiling. When we checked in bright and early Wednesday, we sized up things with our trusty tech. Our heat pump parts were in. But, this ceiling thing was going to take some time. Within a couple of hours, we got the official word. We would be out of our moose for a couple of nights.

We were escorted into the service bay to pack a couple of bags. Then, we headed to nearby Clear Lake to spend the next two nights in a now familiar hotel. Between the four of us, we managed to get very little sleep during our stay. Two of us did manage to find a few things to do in that quaint little town until, at last, we received the call we'd been waiting for this morning.

The moose was done.

With that extremely good news, we made our way back to Winnie town. Just before 1:00, our two favorite service techs actually managed to sneak our 40-foot moose right up behind us and surprise us as we stood in the parking lot. (How did they do that?) Paul saw the moose first and exclaimed, "It's here!" I did a 180-degree turn, raised my arms and let out a cheer to our two trusty techs. They rock! 

Over the next few minutes, these two talented technicians explained the work they had done. Based on what they said, this ceiling is never coming down again. Never. Ever. And, we were assured that our heat pump is all good to go. With temperatures that are expected to dip well into the 50s tonight, we'll definitely have a chance to put our new, improved heat pump through its paces. It all looks very good! 

The cost for these latest repairs, if you don't count our hotel: zero dollars.

The heat pump was covered by the manufacturer. (Again, thank you RVP!) And, the not-ever-again-buckling-ceiling was covered by Winnebago. Amen! With that, our moose is good to go.

And, did I mention how much we missed him? We were away for just a couple of nights. But, by the time we had the moose parked and set up in the Winnebago Vistor's Center lot, we felt like kissing the tile we walked on. The cats made a beeline for their favorite napping spots. Our boy kitty burrowed in our familiar and cozy bed linens. Our girl kitty cozied up with a couple of stuffed moose on the sunny bench in the bedroom. Within minutes our sleep-deprived kitties were down for a well-deserved nap. And, we were both breathing a big sigh of relief. We're definitely attached!

For the first time in almost a year, our moose is whole.

Ahhhhhhhh! That feels good!

What feels better is being here in this little box on wheels. It was just a couple of days, but we really missed it. It's official. We're attached.

Right now we're thinking, "Who needs a house?" Not us!

Starting tomorrow, we'll be back on the road. We're gonna point this new, improved moose west. We can't wait to see what we might find along the way.

Tonight, as the sun sets behind the place where Bullwinkle was born, we are giving big thanks to the good people of Winnebago for getting our moose back in shape and rekindling our spirit for life on the road.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you!

More soon from the road.