100 Posts

Wow, yesterdays post was number 100! I didn't know I had that much to say :-).

Saturday morning we had a quick breakfast and headed out the door to the Montana Factory for a tour. The tours were split into 15 minute increments and ours was the first one at 9:00 am.

Mark Kroll one of the Montana reps led our tour and was very informative. They build 3 different models in this factory, Big Sky, Montana and Mountaineer. There were no workers there since it was Saturday. We were shown how the 5th wheels are built starting with the bare frame and moving thru all the different stations. The trailers are actually moved thru the assembly line sideways and pause in each station where a variety of things are installed. The outer walls are built in a different building and it was odd seeing the profile of a 5th wheel sitting on a long trailer waiting to be mounted to a frame. We were able to tour finished 5th wheels that were set up in the parking lot. They also had a prototype floor plan that they asked us to view and provide them with some feed back on. Rudee and I enjoyed the tour and felt like the Montana Reps truly valued our opinions and suggestions.

We made a stop at Chili's for lunch before heading back to the 5th wheel. The weather was improving and the sun was starting to peek through the clouds that had been hanging around all week. We decided to take a bike ride so grabbed the helmets and took off. We rode thru the countryside just taking our time and looking at all the pretty Amish farms. We rode for a couple of hours just going in a large circle which ended back at the fairgrounds. Nice way to kill an afternoon.

Rudee fixed some leftovers for supper and we took a bicycle ride around the fairgrounds. We rode our bikes a lot at this campground, nice roads and lots of room and no hills :-). When we got back to our site I moved the bike into position and we loaded it up onto the back of the semi. I wish the weather had cooperated better and we could have ridden some more, maybe next time.

I had volunteered a couple of weeks ago to help cook at the pancake breakfast here at the rally. I showed up at 7:30 with spatula in hand and helped get things set up. There were plenty of eager cooks and all the griddles were manned so I was able to hang out as a "relief cook" if one was needed. Rudee came down for breakfast shortly after 9:00am and we both enjoyed the pancakes and extra goodies.

The rally ends tomorrow but we have to be back at work first thing Monday morning so we finished packing up to head home. We pulled out of the fairgrounds shortly after 11:00.

We both enjoyed the week. We didn't know what to expect since this was our first Montana Rally and was a little disappointed there were no vendors set up. We both enjoyed the seminars and learned a Lot about our 5th wheel and it's components. I really enjoyed the seminar about traveling to Alaska. I would have liked to had more of these type of seminars, perhaps some on work camping or maybe visiting National Parks or even the big RV gathering at Quartsite Az.

We made it back to the KOA shortly after 2pm and got set up in our new winter site. Rudee had arranged to have our telephone/internet service transferred from our old site. Well when we hooked it up it didn't work and they had put stickers on the box spelling out the word "dead". Our site is #21. The phone box on site #22 had new stickers on it that said site #21, This confused us for a little while but when we tried plugging into the box on site #22 it worked. I guess they must not have been able to get our box to work so wired up the next one and then put stickers on it with our site nimber. Rudee is going to call them tomorrow and see if they are going to correct it or if we are just going to have to live with it like it is.

Tomorrow we both go back to work. I keep telling myself that I have less than 5 years left to go and each day gets me that much closer to living our dream. This keeps me going but I still get the post vacation blues. Good or bad, I'll keep you posted.