Friday October 17th

The first official day of the Heartland rally has finally begun. Again, I went outside and hung out with several of the guys, drinking coffee and visiting. Stella made pigs in a blanket for us, Bill and Ornell, Ricky Cobb and a few others that had hung out with us. Everyone made it in except for Harry and Nikki Diamond who had to back out at the last minute. There was another couple who had to cancel that had called the park to make a reservation but had not contacted me. I don't know who they were, but they missed a great rally!

The new arrivals today started before noon, and continued into the late evening. Ricky had agreed to fix the hot dogs on his big grill, so he and I along with Bill Sims went to his trailer and cooked the dogs. The hot dog supper went very well and I think everyone was happy with it.

Joe French had arrived with the keys to the Pinehurst that had been delivered yesterday. He had already let several folks look at the trailer. Ray Robinson, the Heartland rep for this area also arrived on Friday evening. There had been a mix-up in his registration and no cabin had been reserved in his name. Luckily, I had originally called the park and they had saved one for him, although it was in my name.

After supper was over, we decided to have a roundtable discussion about any issues for out trailers. TxBobcat (Bob Curry) was very vocal about the recent suspension problems he experienced. He broke a spring which got into the tire almost causing a blowout. He called Heartland as well as Lippert and they agreed to get it fixed for him. He elected to upgrade to 7000 pound axles and agreed to pay for overnight shipping charges. He paid about $1,000 for the shipping which I would not have done, but he wanted to get on down the road and paid the bill. I believe that Lippert also reimbursed him for the cost of his tires too, so his suspension has been upgraded and it only cost him $1,000. Thats still a good deal.

Ray got beat up pretty badly but he took the points that had been made and said he will contact the factory about it. We were in the rally hall talking until after 10, when everyone went back to their rigs and went to bed.