Thursday June 11, 2009-Heartland rally in Goshen

We woke again to cold, rainy weather with temperatures of about 55 degrees. I had read this prediction last week but didn't really believe it would be so cool here. It rained all day long, making the hike of about two blocks, pretty miserable. Jim B had thought ahead enough to have 10 golf carts available. During the day, when the techs were here and working, they used 6 of the carts, leaving 4 to be used for the rally.


The guys from Heartland are amazing! They will gladly do just about anything that is needed, from small adjustments to pretty major repairs, the ones that they can do here in the park and don't require special tools, and depending on parts availability. They will do the work needed without care of how old the trailer is. They have worked on Tom and Judy's 2005 Landmark, replacing slide gaskets and other items. Tom is having one of the power reels installed on his heavy 50 amp power cord after the rally is over. It will require more work than they can do here in the park. They will cut a hole in the side of the coach to install the reel and wire it into the 12 volt system to power the reel. This is a very cool modification that just became available on Landmarks last year and is now an option on Bighorns. With this option, you don't have to wrestle with the heavy power cord.


I went to several seminars this morning including a presentation from Camco, a seller of many cool gadgets used by RVers, a GPS Point of Interest seminar showing how to use the POI feature on our units, and a digital photography seminar from the Heartland Director of Marketing.


We had a chapter leader meeting just after lunch. It was good to see the other state chapter leaders. We really didn't get much of a chance to have much interaction, but did get to meet each other and put a face with the name. Jim B did a good job of remembering everyone's name and where they were from and mostly when their local rallies are being held.

We came back to the trailer to rest for a bit before tonight's potluck dinner. We went down to the rally hall about 5:30 for the meal and had a great time with some of our old friends and many new ones. The meal was delicious as usual, and we all went home very satisfied. We sat outside until after ten, or just about dark. We cannot believe the way it stays light so late.

This was a good start to the Heartland rally. So long for now.