What to do at a Mtce Rally?

May 4 -10/17  Weather  has recovered but the temperatures are about 10 to 15 degrees F below normal.  Days are just into the 50's and we had 2 nights of frost but it is only 40ish at night for the next few days.  Is it because the winter was so mild in the north the spring is begrudgingly here? 

entering the Elkart Fairgrounds, beautiful spring flowering tree by their emblem

Vendor building and new coach display

there we are - 1st one on the right in the long row

The Elkhart 4H Fairgrounds are a great place for a Rally.  Facilities can accommodate huge numbers, I think they said there were about 350 coaches here this year.  Below will be a few pics of the camping.  It is very organized and everyone has full hookups, just no cable TV.   The week cost $245 and they feed you breakfast daily, lunch at least 5 times, 2 dinners and an ice cream social.  Everything you want serviced on your coach happens right at your campsite.  It is so convenient.  The REV Group that owns Monaco, Holiday Rambler, American Coach, Fleetwood and Beaver will service 2 items on your motorhome for free labour, you pay the parts.  We had a new swing arm on the door and a new step motor installed.   Billy had the parts waiting.  2 technicians were on it for 1 hour so at $100 an hour there is $200 we recovered.  Then we had another fix on our topper awnings, springs put in last year were readjusted for free by the service shop.  Another 1 hour with 2 guys at $200.  We will also have our generator serviced by Cummins Crosspoint and a new heating element put in our hot water heater.  In the days there are seminars from 9 am to 4 pm on all kinds of topics.  Billy went to a TV tips and tricks and info while I went off to a Convection/Microwave cooking class.  Most functioning equipment on the coach is covered in a seminar.  Fire Safety, Aqua hot, furnaces, hot water heaters, TV, roofs, toppers and awnings, electricity.  and much more.  This year we tried to take in the ones we didn't get to last year.   It might take a few more years to really cover all the topics. 

more camping inside the horsetrack (we were there last year)

driver training for co-pilots, the teacher and driver wear microphones to talk to each other

sign in one of the motorhomes - priceless!!!

Indiana Rally

May 5/17. Weather cool 50, but the rain stopped thank goodness.  In the afternoon the sun even came out!  We were in an out most of the day checking out the vendor booths, and the rally fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We heard there are over 350 coaches this year., and 80 first timers.  Wow that's big.   It does seem like the numbers are up, you can see the difference when the food comes out. Haha. 

Lined up inside the main hall for dinner, new coaches in the background

Sunshine, what a difference a day can make 

Diesel Pushers Mtce Rally - Holiday Rambler 419 Club

April 28 to May 5/16   Weather was pretty much the worst we have had in 5 years of being on the road.  6 out of 7 days were cold, rainy, damp, cloudy, wet, muddy, not fit for a duck actually.  1 day sunny and lovely.  The Elkhart 4H Fairgrounds is a perfect spot for this Rally due to the location.  It is central to all the RV vendors and manufactures.

BUT; and that's a big but, the inclement weather really didn't matter.  We spent hours at technical seminars that were full of excellent information.  Cummins Diesel Engines, Allison Transmissions, Atwood Furnace and Hot Water Heaters, Norcold Refrigerator, Stone Vos Toppers and Awnings, Convection/Microwave Oven, Coach Exterior,  and we sat in on similar to us Coaches Roundtable Discussions.   To make it even better we had 3 maintenance procedures/parts performed right at our campsite by competent RV industry vendors.  For example Cummins came right to our campsite to complete an Oil Change and filters.   How convenient is that?

There were 224 coaches at the Holiday Rambler 419 Mtce Rally of which 64 were sister coaches.  A sister coach is Monaco, Fleetwood, Beaver, American Coach, and Safari.  All brand names of their own at one time and in the tough times each were bought out by a succession of companies.  The current parent company is REV RV Group in Decatur, Indiana.  

Everyday breakfast and lunch was provided, a couple of night socials with appetizers, an ice cream social and a closing dinner.  All sponsored by The REV RV or vendors.  There were also new and used coaches for viewing and for sale.  Some local manufacturing plant tours were also available of which we took a free bus ride to REV to see the 2017 Motorhomes being built.  

We met some reputable vendors that we will be able to use in the future for all maintenance.  This will be beneficial to us as it's not easy to find competent and experienced RV shops that are logistically within a day's drive for us.

Best of all the Holiday Rambler Club was so friendly.  Everyone went out of their way to make us feel included.  We were so impressed.  Our 2017 registration is already filled out and ready to send off.  Until next year........  Thankyou HR Club. 

Rally On

April 28/16  Weather 55, rainy, cool at night 43.  Seems the weather is going to be like this right thru the weekend.   We moved 17 miles today; oh yes it was a really big day!

checkin at the Rally

Registration day starts at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds for the  Holiday Rambler 419 Chapter Diesel Pusher Maintenance Rally.  The fairgrounds are in Goshen, Indiana which happens to be in the heartland of the RV factories and suppliers.   Holiday Rambler and Monaco are in the same company umbrella so we were able to come to the Rally as a sistership member.  Billy reads a Monaco Forum Group daily where the members ask and answer questions related to our motorhome.   A technical question we had was answered not long ago by a gentlemen who suggested we attend this Rally since the theme is "maintenance".

We are being escorted to our site in the Racetrack infield

 There are about 250 coaches in attendance and we are escorted to the racetrack camping area where we have water/sewer/power.  Unfortunately or maybe fortunately when we plugged in the power we had a technical situation.   Well if we have to have a problem this is the right time and the right place.   Everyone was so helpful from the moment we tried to setup.

All kinds of guys trying to help us out

The HR fellows never left Billy.   They went and got technical help immediately from one of the Vendors.  Our power at the surge protector had to be bypassed for the night while the part was ordered and being expedited in.  
The thing about RVing is that you meet the nicest people in the world.  Tonight at   the social hour we found friends we had made at a previous rally in Nevada.   It was so good to see them, just like yesterday:)  That's what makes our life so great.

Rally friends