Rally Fest Part 2 - Country Coach Reunion

We have now completed the second of our three back-to-back RV rallies. This rally was sponsored by Country Coach, Inc., the maker of our motor home. This rally was also at Amana Colonies RV Park, the same venue as our Safari rally, which ended two days prior to the Country Coach rally. All the top Country Coach brass were present, and you could talk to them one-on-one. They brought about a dozen coaches too, including about six models with the new Veranda feature. There were about 200 attending coaches. Country Coach subsidizes this rally heavily, to the tune of over $800 per attending coach. They hoped to sell some new coaches during the rally and did sell at least eight new coaches. When you buy a new coach at the rally, you can spin a wheel to earn an additional discount, up to an additional $10,000 off. One lucky buyer did hit the $10,000 jackpot. There was a breakfast buffet each morning, a happy hour social each afternoon, dinner and evening entertainment. Entertainment included Janie Fricke, Coup deVille and the High Society Big Band. There were a number of interesting seminars by equipment vendors and Country Coach's top service and technical folks. We saw many friends that we have made at other Country Coach rallies and parks as we have traveled around the country.

At rallies Country Coach also provides complimentary service for attending coaches, up to three items and one hour of service. I had two items on my list and, unfortunately, they were not able to accomplish either one. The first item was my entry step cover, which extends nicely, but gets finicky when it's time to retract. When that happens, we must jump out of the coach about three feet to the ground. Kinda like parachuting: jump, tumble, roll. Not fun. Consequently, we have not been using the step cover, and Dorcas' feet dangle when we drive. The suspected cause is one or both of two limit switches in the actuator mechanism may be bad. The tricky part involves access. The actuator runs across the top of the generator, and it will take someone who is seven feet tall and weighs less than 84 pounds to get to it. We could probably drop the generator (again), but it would involve several hours of labor. Country Coach was unwilling and unable to accomplish the repair at the rally. With RV service rates over $100/hr, we'll likely live with it a while. Perhaps I can fabricate a manual step cover. The second service item involved the radiator fan controller. Country Coach employs a variable speed hydraulically driven radiator fan. My fan sounded like it was running on high speed all the time. The fan controller reads coolant temperature, air intake temperature and dash air function and actuates a valve to control hydraulic fluid flow to the fan engine, and consequently, controls fan speed. The technician did crawl under the coach and did verify that the fan controller was stuck in the high speed position. The fan controller would have to be replaced, but Country Coach did not have the part on-site. Besides that, the controller would have to be programmed for my coach before it could be shipped out. Dang. In talking to other owners I learned the part costs about $600. Dang, dang. But I probably do need to get it fixed as soon as I can. It doesn't hurt the engine to run the fan in high speed, although my engine is running a little cool (~180 degrees). The real penalty is fuel mileage. I have been told by different people that the fan consumes 20 HP or 80 HP, and that my fuel mileage is down 0.5-2 MPG. This means 5% to 20% mileage penalty, depending on who I believe. I will be talking to Country Coach about ordering the new controller. I should be able to install it myself. Messy, but doable. A happier service story involves the folks from Carefree Awnings. They adjusted and serviced my awnings and arranged for some free replacement parts. Attaboy!!!

The weather for this rally was not as pleasant as it was for the Safari rally. It was much warmer and more humid this week. Afternoon storms were common. One afternoon a black wall of rain approached from the west. We saw it coming for some time and had plenty of time to batten down the hatches. Thinking I was being overly cautious, I turned the canoe upside down and tied the bow to a maple sapling at our site. When the storm hit, it was fierce. When it was all over, the boat had been blown right-side up and landed on top of the maple tree, bending the tree to the ground. No harm done; the canoe was undamaged and the maple rebounded the next day. I am sure the folks from Country Coach were also disappointed in the weather. Their coach display area became a quagmire, even though they had outdoor carpet over the grass, and crews vacuuming and sweeping away the water. More than one coach had to be towed out of its site.

Onward to our next rally .....