Jackson Center Ohio: Spending The Children's Inheritance

Oh, now we know a little of what Job must have felt--just a little! We arrived here at the Airstream factory two and a half weeks ago to get help with our refrigeration and electrical problems. Of course the refrigerator was one month out of warranty and had to be replaced. We also had to change the converter that changes 110 volt shore power to 12 volt power and charges our batteries, which had been replaced while we were in PA in mid-May. That was just a minor part of our problems.

When Jerry had unhooked the trailer to be serviced, he noted that the entire rear bumper and hitch assembly on the Yukon was drooping. To his dismay, he learned that the rear of the vehicle's frame had broken on both sides. The only thing that had been securing our 34-foot, 10500 pound trailer up and down the mountains of West Virginia were the rear shock nuts (actually the Lord's mighty hands). The old Yukon XL is eight years old and has 175,000 miles. It seemed the right time to retire her. Gloria's sister says that our guardian angels must be exausted having to watch over us.

After getting the GMC frame welded and removing the hitch bar, Jerry began exhaustive research on which vehicle to purchase. Ultimately, we began getting Internet bids on a Toyota Tundra Limited, double cab, 5.7 liter engine, 4 x4. It is rated to pull 10,300. We knew the dealer's invoice on such a vehicle, and after much negotiation, we finally agreed to an excellent offer from a dealer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, 94 miles away. By acting before June 2, Toyota gave us a $3000 rebate. Gloria would have preferred silver, but the exact truck we wanted was available only in red. OK, so stop laughing at two old folks in a brilliant red pickup. Just call it "senioritis."

Once we got the money from our broker and insurance company, we closed the deal and began driving the required 500 miles before towing. That included a trip the Hensley Hitch Factory in Romeo, MI to have our trusty hitch inspected. In addition, we had to take the truck to Lima, OH to have the bed sprayed and the paint sealed and protected. The hot Texas sun can take its toll on any paint job. Then our handy nephew, Dean, who is an optometrist in Leipsic, OH, did most of the work installing a retractable bedcover and bull bar. His son Nick was a super assistant.

All that remained to do (so we thought) was to have Airstream install our new brake controller. That was accomplished on Friday, June 6. We would depart on the weekend for Montana. On Sunday afternoon, after enjoying a wonderful church service in a nearby small town, Jerry finished intstalling our new Rock Tamer mudflaps. We hooked up our rig for a trial run. Oh NO! We had no brakes. Was the controller installed incorrectly? At 7:00 a.m. on Monday, Jerry returned the entire rig to Airstream for an analysis. It was determined that we needed three new brake magnets. "Why stop at three? Let's just change all of them," said Jerry, the big spender.

Six hundred dollars and six hours later, we were finally on our way to Leipsic to say goodbye to the family and let Dean and Kara's boys see the Airstream per their request. Ominous storm clouds were prevailing; ultimately torrential showers pounded us as we were parked in their driveway. Also, the sirens were blaring, and tornado warnings drove us into the house. We decided to stay where we were overnight.

One of the bright points of getting delayed in Jackson Center was meeting and greeting many Airstreamers who were there for repairs. We had a fun night of bridge with Jimmie and Bettie, from the VA Tidewater Unit. Our good friends, Lloyd and Elaine, arrived for a couple of days. We enjoyed a sumptuous buffet feast at a German restaurant one evening and could not get enough of the tasty sausage, wiener snitzel and mashed potatoes. We're still wearing it!
We also enjoyed two nights of competitive joker--at least the men enjoyed it. The women attributed it to lucky cards.

Another bright part of our stay in Ohio was getting to visit our old church in Marysville. We were charter members there in 1963-1964, and helped negotiate for an old factory building that has been converted to a lovely church building. At the service, we actually found two members who remembered us.

You meet a lot of characters while RVing. One was Dimmer, a full-timer guy with a GMC 4500 that hauls his jeep while towing his shiny Airstream. He is a competive rock crawler. While in Marysville, we met a family who had the largest fifth wheel travel trailer we have ever seen in all of our travels. It was a 48 foot, quad axle, Grand Teton, pulled by a Volvo tractor. The owner said he wanted a bigger one, but the factory claimed that their assembly line could accommodate nothing longer than 48 feet.

At last we are off to Montana on a bright, sunny, Tuesday morning!