Farewell to an Old 6-Wheeled Friend

Part 1:  Mother Nature Strikes a Blow

Faithful readers will remember that during our fall 2019 trip we had a number of calamities.  After returning from the Boundary Waters we found the the coach batteries dead and much of the food in the fridge had spoiled.  Just before crossing into Canada we had a close encounter with a parked car and mangled the passenger side of the Pilot from stem to stern.  I cracked a tooth and had it extracted in Thunder Bay ON CA,  The coach tail pipe and muffler flange separated from the rest of the muffler resulting in a hot exhaust leak and finally, somewhere in Massachusetts, we blew a rear air bag necessitating a repair at a large truck service facility.  This photo summarizes our mis-adventures.

By the time we were finally rolling toward home, in a fit of frustration, I was making noises about getting a much smaller motor home and/or quitting our travels altogether.  Shortly after arriving at home, we finalized repairs and were feeling a lot better about the coach and our lifestyle.  However, the Gods were listening and our fate was sealed.  Tuesday November 12 was a clear and windy day, following a day of heavy rain.  About 3:00 PM I heard a crash outside the house.  When I looked out the window I saw that a large red oak tree had blown over and fallen on the coach.  CRAP!!!!  

Ouch!!!

It was immediately obvious that the damage was significant.  There was extensive damage to the roof and coach superstructure.  Other exterior damage included broken sidewall panels, crushed slide out, broken bedroom awning, broken skylight and broken ladder. I later learned that the coach superstructure was no longer square, but was now racked in the shape of a rhomboid. Interior damage included broken woodwork, framing and cabinetry in multiple places, broken shower enclosure and broken floor tiles.  The bedroom slide out was immobile and wouldn't extend. 

Roof damage as seen after tree removal

It is especially unfortunate that if the tree had fallen almost any other time of the year the coach would not have been parked at home, as we typically are traveling in the coach about 9 months of the year.  Also, if it had fallen only about 10 degrees more to the south it might have missed the coach altogether. Such was our luck this fall.

Bent ceiling and broken woodwork

Okay, now what.  We were scheduled to leave for Florida in about a week, but those plans would clearly need to be postponed.  The insurance company told me to get an estimate for repairs.  I could find no RV repair facility that would come to my house, and I had no way of knowing if the coach could still be driven, even after the tree had been removed.  They did authorize me to contact a tree removal service and submit an estimate for the tree removal.  Ultimately we contacted Lusk Tree Service.  The insurance company approved their quote of $2900 to remove the tree.  On November 15, just 3 days after the incident, Lusk was on site with an army that included 6 men, 4 trucks, a wood grinder, a  rubber tired skid loader, a rubber track cherry picker and a truck mounted crane.

Early on, David Lusk asked if the coach could be moved.  If it could, that would simplify the process of removing the tree.  They could lift the tree off the coach and then move the coach away to prevent causing additional damage.  It turned out that the coach did start and could move, so that's what we did. 

Just prior to moving the coach

Kinda looks like a huge alien spider

Grinding the debris. This sucker can eat an 18" log!

The tree guys.  David Lusk, owner, is not shown.

Okay, the tree is gone, The coach is free, so what next?  Of course I continue to talk to the insurance company.  They will not authorize a mobile estimator to come, even if I could locate one.  They insist I drive the coach to an RV service facility and specifically recommend Camping World AKA Gander RV of Statesville about 50 miles away, notwithstanding that it is unknown if the coach can be driven on the highway.  Frankly, I would not take my roller skate to a Camping World for repair.  I do find two repair centers that will review some photos and provide some feedback on the cost of repair.  Both suggest repairs might be on the order of $70,000.  Insurance says if the cost to repair is more than about 70% of the fair market value, the coach will be declared a total loss.  I figure fair market value is between $70K and $80K, so it is likely the coach will be totaled. So, what remains is to acquire a qualified estimate and negotiate a value for fair market value. Simple, right?  Au contraire.

Since I know the coach will start and move, we take it on a road trip to see if it is highway worthy.  We drive on some county roads then hit US 52 north towards Mt Airy, where we get it up to about 65 mph.  The coach seems to drive well, notwithstanding the wind noise from the big hole in the roof, the broken skylight and the rear slide out protruding about 2 inches from the side of the coach.  Consequently I call Eagle's Pride, which is a full service RV repair and sales center located inside our resort at The Great Outdoors, where we spend our winters.  They can provide a qualified repair estimate if we can get to them, in fact they will come out to our site and inspect it there.  Such are the perks of living in a large RV resort with a full service RV repair facility within our gated community.

So we pack up our stuff, apply several rolls of duct tape and 6 mil plastic sheeting to the roof, sides and slide out on the coach.  On November 26, only about a week behind schedule, we depart for our winter home.  Along the way we spend 2 nights with my brother and his family in Angier NC and 2 nights with friends in their cul de sac near Savannah GA.  We arrive safely at TGO on November 30, and some of the duct tape is even still intact!

Part 2:  Marking Time

Our site at the TGO has a 50' x 25' port and 2 outbuildings tucked under the port.  One building has a laundry and bathroom facilities and the other has a living room and a sleeper sofa.  Unfortunately the rooms are not approved by Brevard County for overnight occupancy. This means, legally speaking, we must sleep in an RV.

Our winter home at The Great Outdoors

While our RV was habitable, it was far from comfortable.  The bedroom slide out would not extend.  This reduced access to the rear wardrobe and to most of our clothing drawers. We could not walk around the bed and Dorcas had to crawl over to get into bed and to access the wardrobe.  The wardrobe doors were bound such that we had to remove them to access our clothes. But we had escaped to sunny Florida, and we began to consider our options.

Remember way back when when I suggested we would downsize?  Seems like the perfect opportunity to do so now, right?  But now we are not so sure.  If we wanted to continue to live on our site in TGO we would need to buy an RV to sleep in.  While we had considered a smaller unit, such as a van conversion Class B, that was not an appealing choice for living in for half the year.  We looked locally for 5th wheel trailers, travel trailers, cottages and Class A motor homes, to buy as a temporary and/or permanent solution, but couldn't seem to make any decision.  We searched high and low for a comparable short Country Coach, but none was to be found anywhere in the US.  We had enough cash on hand to buy whatever we wanted, even before settling with the insurance company, but we couldn't decide what we wanted to do.  I spent hours on the internet researching all kinds of units for sale.  All the while marking time sleeping in the Allure.  Thankfully, we are in our happy place and the coach is under cover and safe from the elements.

Part 3:   Our New Home on Wheels

Our Country Coach Allure 33' is a 2004 model with 124K miles. When we bought it in 2006 it was 2 years old and had about 8,000 miles.  While we did not willingly choose to give it up, we certainly did get our money's worth out of it, and eventually tried to consider this event as an opportunity.  Ultimately, we began looking for something as close to our crunched Allure as we could find, namely a short high-end luxury diesel pusher.  Searches for similar Country Coaches, which ceased production in 2010, were non-existent.   Longer models, 40' to 45' were out there, but they did not fit our camping style, and would represent a significant challenge to park at our home in NC.  Tiffin and Newmar make some fine coaches similar in quality to our Allure, but the shortest length we could find in these lines was 37', which, while longer than our Allure, was still a relatively short luxury pusher.  

In 2018 Newmar introduced their New Aire which is a luxury diesel offered in a 33' floor plan.  When the New Aire was introduced we said we would give it a very hard look if we ever bought another coach.  And we did spend time going through a few models and driving several before leaving NC and again in Florida.  One problem however is that we did not want to buy a brand new coach.  New coaches always have a high number of issues from the factory and require a lot of time in the shop.  We just didn't want to deal with that. Also the original owner of a new coach takes a huge depreciation hit.  We had promised ourselves many years ago we would never buy a coach less than 2 years old.  Used New Aires were nowhere to be found.  Also we learned there were significant improvements in the 2019 and 2020 models, including a 35' floor plan and a larger engine.  If we wanted to buy a New Aire we would need to buy new, spend big bucks and deal with the manufacturing defects.  We decided to consider other options.

Finally, I found a used 2018 Newmar 3718 online that we liked a lot. It was just less than 2 years old and had only 7,700 miles, had an interesting and unique floor plan and the price was right.  The only problem was that it was located in Garfield MN, 2 1/2 hours northwest of Minneapolis, practically in Fargo ND, about 1800 miles away.

2018 Newmar Dutch Star 3718

There were a lot of photos online, and the coach appeared to be in excellent condition.  We contacted the salesman at Steinbring Motorcoach and learned that they had sold the unit new to the original owners.  Shortly thereafter the husband had become ill and died, and Steinbring was selling the coach on consignment for the widow.  The salesman gave us a virtual FaceTime tour of the coach lasting almost 2 hours, ending only when his iPhone battery failed.  We made an offer, and it was accepted by the widow.  It looks like we have a new home!

It was decided that I would fly to Garfield MN, take delivery of the coach and drive it home to Titusville Florida.  Dorcas would stay home and take care of Matilda.  A little research took us to Sun Country Airline, which offers non-stop service from Orlando to Minneapolis one way for $44.  Sometime about this time Dorcas decided she should go too, so we booked 2 seats.  Several of our good friends at TGO would take care of Matilda while we were gone.  Packing for the flight was a challenge.  We were traveling from sunny central Florida where the temperatures were in the 70s and 80s to NW Minnesota with high temps in the single digits.  In addition to needing all the usual necessities, we would be returning in a motor home with no cookware, cutlery or bedding.  Sun Country, being a deep discount airline charged an extra fee for each piece of overhead or checked baggage.  We managed to get everything we needed in 2  tote bags (free) and one overhead bag ($30 fee) borrowed from a friend.  On December 18 our friends Hank and Kathy drove us 39 miles to Orlando International Airport to start our great winter adventure.

Are you shitting me???  That's freaking cold!

The frozen upper midwest in late December

After landing in Minneapolis we located our driver who drove us 150 miles north and west to Garfield where we spent the night in our soon-to-be new coach.  Over the next 2 days we explored the coach and its features with the help of Steinbring technicians, took it for a spin and eventually signed the papers. Steinbring made a company Jeep available to us, and we used it to drive to town to buy groceries and supplies.

BRRRR!!!!

I hope they are all winterized!

Our first look at our new coach

Steinbring Motorcoach indoor showroom

Steinbring Motorcoach claims to have been in business since 1917.  That is actually when three Steinbring brothers opened their Chevrolet dealership in nearby Hancock MN.  They began selling Newmar coaches in 2003, and have earned the best ever Newmar Customer Service score.  Click HERE to read about the history of Steinbring Motorcoach. 

The customer lounge at Steinbring Motorcoach

We spent 2 nights in our coach in the Steinbring showroom, during which time employees showed us the ropes on our new coach.  We departed Garfield MN shortly after lunch on December 20.  We had hoped to get an earlier start, but we stayed for a Christmas luncheon for the employees and whatever guests happened to be there.   We spent 3 nights on the road parking overnight in Tomah WI, Whittington IL and Perry GA, arriving at TGO mid-day on December 23, after driving a total of 1869 miles.  That's moving on!

Remember the movie "Fargo"?  It's all real.

When we closed on the new coach Chase Steinbring, the business manager at Steinbring Motorcoach had called our insurance agent and started coverage on our rig.  All was good, or so we thought.  While driving home our second day on the road, we get a call from our insurance agent saying Foremost will not cover the Dutch Star.  Our agent said that they were legally bound to cover the unit, at least as far as liability was concerned, per North Carolina law.  But the company was saying we were not insured, so what do you do?  There would certainly be a big legal fight if we had a claim; they might claim we were not covered while NC law said we were.  Our agent signed us up with another carrier as we spoke, so all is well.  

Our first overnight near Tomah WI

After arriving at TGO we had one final adventure.  The vertical clearance for our port is exactly 13' 0".  The specifications for our coach in the Newmar literature states the Dutch Star is "approximately", 12' 10".  Approximately????  What the heck does that mean?  With variables such as manufacturing tolerances, height variability due to tire pressure and ride height settings for an air bag suspension coach, the actual height could be anything.  So, the $64,000 question is "Would it fit?"  When we arrived at TGO I parked the coach on our rental site, which would be vacant for another week.  After such a long drive I wanted some time to rest and to plan the move to the port.  The next morning we began parking the coach in the port.  Dorcas drove the coach, I ran all around dictating directions to her on the phone while my buddy Hank stood on a ladder to keep a giraffe's eye view on our clearance.  As it turned out we did have about 2" of clearance.  Even if it had not fit, plan B would have been to dump the air in the bags reducing the height of the coach about 6".  I'm glad we didn't need to do that.  If we had to dump the air every time we backed into or pulled out of the port, eventually I would make an error with dire consequences.  

Part 4:   Tying Up Loose Ends

Remember back on November 12, when this whole mis-adventure began?  Well it is now late January and we have still not settled with the insurance company on the Allure.  There were 2 primary delays 1) submitting an acceptable estimate to the insurance company and 2) determining the fair market value of the Allure.  

Eagle's Pride had provided an estimate that was submitted to Foremost Insurance Group in a timely manner, however Foremost had some issues with that estimate.  Apparently there were some discrepancies between the estimate and the photos, and Foremost wanted clarification.  Ultimately they paid to send another estimator, Mark Elbrecht, owner, Fountain RV in Lakeland, 84 miles away to look at the coach and take more photos of the damage.  Remember way back when, when they wouldn't authorize an on-site estimator in NC?  Go figure.  Apparently the new estimate/clarification was acceptable.  Subsequently I submitted a ton of information about the coach, its condition, options and upgrades etc. to help establish actual market value.  Eventually they offered a settlement value which I deemed unacceptable. When I asked if that figure was negotiable, they stated the value was not negotiable, but it could be "adjusted" if I could provide information supporting the adjustment.  Determining the value of a 15 year old coach that has not been manufactured in almost 10 years is hard enough, but considering it was an uncommon model/floor plan from a relatively small manufacturer makes it even more difficult.  I have been told by different sources that there were between 15 and 30 2004 Country Coach Allure 33' models produced.  Also,  ironically, the smaller floor plans are more desirable and consequently tend to hold their value better.  I did a lot of research on sales of comparable models and found actual sale data on 3 identical models, all of which supported a higher actual cash value than Foremost had originally offered.  In the end Foremost increased their original settlement offer by over $4000.  About the end of January we made a deal, and the only thing left was for them to pick up the coach and send us a check.

In the meantime, since Christmas we have been blessed with owning 2 coach.  That's fine, but while our new Dutch Star is parked in our port, where do we park the Allure until the insurance company can tow it away?  RV parking in our community is at a premium during the winter.  First we moved it back to our rental lot, but that site is not covered and we had renters coming in January 1.  We were able to play musical chairs with it for a while, parking it in various neighbors' ports while they were away, eventually finding it a place at the home of a good friend who had an RV port but no RV.

Our friend Lynn let us park the Allure at her house until the tow truck came.

 Finally, on February 10, our Allure took its final ride.

Thus ends the saga.  Good bye, old Paint.

Summer Adventure 2019 Wrap-up

We departed Tri State Truck Center in Shrewsbury MA about 4:00 pm on Saturday headed for home. Google maps suggested the quickest route was down I-95 through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore Washington and Richmond, but we knew better.  We elected to take a more westerly route heading west on I-84 to Scanton PA and then southwest on I-81. This route is more scenic and avoids the horrendous I-95 corridor. We drove 262 uneventful miles then parked for the night at the Walmart in Pittston PA about 9:00.

On Sunday I declared that we could make it the rest of the way home that day. Dorcas was mortified that I would even consider such an idea.  I started driving, and I was like a horse headed for the barn. We did indeed arrive home just before dark after driving 529 miles.

Following is a graphic showing the route for our whole trip:

Our route

We left home on August 9 and arrived back home on September 29, a total of 52 days on the road. Not a particularly long trip for us. Per our engine ECM, which I have found to be very accurate, we drove 4009.8 miles, burned 463.4 gallons of diesel and averaged 8.7 mpg.

I use the "AUX TRIP" page to calculate distance and fuel usage after filling the tank. On our last load of fuel from Montgomery NY to home we got a respectable 9.2 mpg.

We had a lot of fun on this grip and saw a lot of amazing things, but more things went wrong on this trip than on any trip before.

This image illustrates the most significant boo-boos on this trip

We are glad to be home.  Now it is time to make remaining repairs and put everything back together.

Life is good.

Making Repairs in Massachusetts

We departed Normandy Farms in Foxborough at 7am. I drove the coach at a steady 45 mph north on I-495 and then west on MA 9 and US 20, arriving at Tri State Truck Center at 8am. During the drive Dorcas followed me in the Pilot, both of us running our hazard flashers for the trip. Traffic was amazingly light for rush hour on the Boston loop, and no one seemed to be particularly irritated by our leisurely pace.

I checked in at the service desk, explained our dilemma, and we began our wait.  

This was the root of the problem

They put the coach in a bay about 11:00.  About 1:00 they told me they had removed the part, identified and located replacement bags and had prepared an estimate for repair.  The preliminary estimate was over $3100.  OUCH!!!!!  This included 2 new rear air bags for $700, $100 overnight freight from somewhere in Indiana and $2340 for labor (12 hours at $195/hr).  I had no choice but to authorize the repairs and suck it up.  Owning a luxury motor coach is not for the poor or the faint of heart.

And you think your mechanic's rates are high?

We have seen this before, but I have never received a satisfactory answer for why the labor rate is higher for motor homes than it is for trucks.  At one repair center in British Columbia they said it was because it took longer to do work on motor homes than trucks.  DUH???  The explanation here was only a little better, saying getting approval for repairs and locating parts was more difficult for motor homes.  He also said they didn't always charge the higher rate for motor homes, depending on the nature of the repair, and would likely charge the truck rate in our case.  Cool, I guess.

OK, the part is on order and should arrive on Saturday morning.  With any luck the repairs would be completed before closing time at 3:00 on Saturday, and we could be on our way home. The biggest concern was that on Saturdays they operated with a smaller skeleton crew and opened a fewer bays. They promised to do all they could to get us out on Saturday. Thankfully we could spend the night in their lot with the other broken trucks and RVs.

Our camp at Tri State Truck Center, space 235

The parts did indeed arrive Saturday morning about 11:30.  By 12:30 they had moved the coach back into the bay.  They removed the remaining, non-damaged left rear air bag and installed both new bags and had the coach out of the bay by 2:30. 

While the repairs were finally finished, but it seemed to take forever to get checked out.  There was only one service writer working on Saturday vs. three on Friday.  He was covered up with paperwork as all the mechanics were finishing their jobs at closing time.  He presented me a bill that was a bit less than the preliminary estimate, charging me just $145/hr vs $195/hr, but still logging 12 hours of labor. I questioned how they could possibly calculate 12 hours of labor when, on Saturday alone the coach was in the bay for only 2 hours to remove one old bag and to install 2 new bags.  At most they spent maybe one additional hour to remove and diagnose the broken bag on Friday.  After making an ass of myself and getting the service writer fairly irritated, he did reduce the number of hours to just under 6.  I felt that was still too high, but decided to cut my losses and drop it before he punched me out.  On the one hand I was very pleased with the way they worked so hard to get us out and on the road by Saturday. On the other hand I did not appreciate the cavalier way they calculated the labor charges.  All in all I believe we were very lucky to get repairs made and only lose 1 1/2 days of travel time.

Finally the bill was prepared and paid (a mere $1550) and by 4:00 Saturday we were on the road homeward bound.  Hopefully we could make it home without any more incidents.

Big Trouble in Foxborough, or is it Foxboro?

From Wikipedia:

"Foxborough" is the official spelling of the town name, although the alternative spelling "Foxboro" is also frequently used. This alternative spelling is used by the United States Postal Service as the correct form by which to address mail to recipients in the town, although both can be processed by their system."

Foxborough is most well known for being the location of Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots.

In any case on Sunday September 22 we left the Adirondacks and headed to Foxborough, a town about 22 miles southwest of Boston. There we would attend a rally hosted by Country Coach International and the Country Coach Nor'easters.

We headed due south on NY 30 a quaint rural road.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Our route led us through Amish country.

Today must be trash day.  I wonder if they practice mandatory recycling?  No black bags! (see previous post)

After about an hour we arrived at Amsterdam NY and, following a very convoluted route through town, arrived at I-90 and headed east towards Boston.  We passed Schenectady and Albany before crossing the Hudson River into Massachusetts.  Traffic was fairly light, but something seemed terribly wrong.  The highway had some serious bumps, but they seemed to affect the coach much more than they should.  Each bump produced a bone and teeth shattering jolt that seemed particularly bad at the rear of the coach.

Crossing the Hudson River into Massachusetts 

In Massachusetts I-90 is a toll road known as the Mass Turnpike. We stopped at the first service plaza we came to.  Service plazas on the Mass Turnpike are their own form of hell.  Trucks and RVs are directed to an area where there are no lane markings and everyone was parking willy-nilly. It was hard to park without fear of blocking the lot, either for other parked trucks leaving or new trucks pulling in.  It was then that we realized we had a serious list to starboard. There was apparently no air in the right rear air bag, and that corner of the coach was riding seriously low.  For those that don't know, our coach has full air suspension. With no functioning air bag that corner was riding on the frame, much like the bone-on-bone condition in my right knee before surgery last year.  Not good. It was impossible for me to determine the specific problem.  It could be a broken air bag, an air leak from a fitting or air line, a bad ride height valve, a fault in the air suspension control module or any number of other things.  With the noise from all the idling trucks it was difficult to hear an air leak. I was reluctant to crawl under the coach for several reasons, one being the close proximity to moving trucks and the other being I wasn't sure I would be able see or do anything anyway. So we decided to limp on in to camp where there would be about 30 other Country Coach owners and a wealth of knowledge and wisdom.  It is hard to know for sure, but we probably drove this way for between 100 and 200 miles.  We arrived at Normandy Farms Campground mid-afternoon, without further incident but very wary and frazzled.

Our Camp at Normandy Farms

Other Country Coaches

Even more Country Coaches

Another country coach owner had some blocks so we could raise the coach and take a look.  We were trying to identify any leak and did confirm that the air bag itself was leaking.

I determined there was a leak on top of the air bag, but it was impossible to see it directly due to its position and interference from other suspension components.  While blindly taking photos trying to find a part number, the cause of the link became crystal clear. There is an air dryer canister bolted to the frame just above the right rear air bag. A bolt securing the air dryer was protruding into the air bag. Apparently over time the bolt wore a hole in the bag and caused the rupture.

This photo shows both air bags, the one on the left inflated, the one on the right slack

OK, so here we are 800 miles from home and broken down. The good news is we’re in a safe place surrounded by 30 other knowledgeable and supportive Country Coach owners. The bad news is that there was no easy way to determine the part number.  The air bag part number is on the top of the bag, but is covered by a mounting plate, and can only be viewed after the bag is removed.  No one here was willing to remove the bag; it's just too big a job without the right tools and a way to safely properly jack up the coach.  The manufacturer of our coach no longer exists, and the intellectual property for Country Coach was purchased by Winnebago Industries. Calls to Winnebago produced no useful information.  I called several former Country Coach employees who locate and furnish parts and several coach repair facilities that specialize in Country Coach repairs and renovations, but struck out.  No one could provide a part number.

This photo shows the bolt protruding into air bag

I made more than a dozen calls to various truck repair shops in the area, but no one was willing to take on the job.  Finally, I did find a shop just a few miles away that would look at it on Friday, the day we were scheduled to leave, but Thursday night he double-crossed me and said he had changed his mind. DRAT!

During this time Dorcas and I are determined to not let this problem affect our enjoyment of the rally. We had rally activities scheduled for three days and a free day.

Monday - Tour 1  Plimoth Plantation

On Monday we carpooled to Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonists known as the Pilgrims. They were among the first people who immigrated to America to seek religious separation from the Church of England.

We first visited the Wampanoag Homesite, a native homesite illustrating the life of the Wampanoag people, the people that helped the Pilgrims survive that hard first year.

Building a big dugout canoe

A smaller finished dugout canoe

Carved canoe paddles. Can you sense my obsession here?

Then we visited the recreated village where the Plymouth Pilgrims built their colony.

Cannon in the fort atop the meeting house

Traditional joinery at the fort/meeting house

The thatch and thatchers came from across the big pond

Hand-making slab siding

The old Grist Mill on Town Creek in Plymouth

Grist mill works

The teeth are lubricated with lard

Corny humor

Dorcas and the "Gov"

Not necessarily so ....

This structure houses the Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock is pretty much a disappointment. It has been moved numerous times, and is much smaller than it once was.  During one relocation the rock was broken and the parts separated, but the parts were subsequently re-joined. Parts of the rock have been removed by tourists, museums and other entities.  At one point entrepreneurs rented chisels to tourists to chip off parts of the rock. It is estimated that only bout 1/3 of the original rock remains at this site.

It is highly unlikely the Pilgrims actually landed at Plymouth Rock. The Mayflower Pilgrims never made any reference to the rock.   From Wikipedia: "Journalist Bill Bryson wrote, "The one thing the Pilgrims certainly did not do was step ashore on Plymouth Rock," arguing that the boulder would have made an impractical landing spot.  Others have taken issue with the significance of the rock based on the fact that the Pilgrims first disembarked from the Mayflower at Provincetown, Massachusetts, to explore Cape Cod, more than a month prior to arriving in Plymouth harbor."

Today many locals jokingly refer to the rock as "Plymouth Pebble".

Plymouth Rock. Note seam where the rock halves were re-joined

This restaurant is directly across the street from the Plymouth Pock. I wonder if this is a reference to the Plymouth Pebble

Tuesday - Tour 2  Boston

On this day we took a trolley tour of Boston.  Except for our first stop, which was for a quick lunch at Quincy Market, we made no stops. Not being able to stop made for difficult photography.  Bear with me, I did the best I could.

Out trolley had open air seating.  Cool!

The motley trolley crew 

Norm, Dorcas and Carla

We cruised by and circled Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox and the Green Monster. It is the oldest ball park in Major League Baseball. 

Old Ironsides is the oldest commissioned vessel in the navy.

A poor view of the USS Constitution.

The Old State House was built in 1713 and is the oldest surviving public building in Boston  It was the seat of the Massachusetts General Court until 1798, and is one of the oldest public buildings in the United States.

The Old State House

This bronze statue of Bobby Orr stands next to Boston's TD Garden, the Bruins' home arena. The statue was modeled after a photograph that depicts him immediately after scoring the winning goal in the Bruins' Stanley Cup victory in 1970.  Orr had been tripped by St. Louis Blues' defenseman Noel Picard after scoring the goal, and has become one of the most famous and recognized hockey images of all time.

Bobby Orr statue at TD Garden

A Flxible motor home was driven by Jeff Daniels and family in the Robin Williams movie "RV". It is also trademark icon for the Family Motor Coach Association, of which we are members.  We drove by a parked Flxible on our tour.

A vintage Flxible Motor Home

Wednesday was a free day at the rally.  The plan was to go back and tour more intimately some of the sights we had whizzed by on our trolley tour the day before.  Unfortunately I spent the day at camp making calls to truck repair shops and Country Coach gurus trying to resolve the issue with our broken air bag.  On Wednesday I did find a truck repair place not far away that agreed to work on it.  I sent him a photo of the bag, not knowing the specific part number, and he said it appeared to be an uncommon size and may be difficult to find.  On Thursday afternoon he called me back and backed out on performing the repair. He said he was unwilling to start the job not knowing if he would be able to locate the part and also claimed he had limited space at his shop.  DANG!  Back to the drawing board. 

Thursday - Tour 3  Lexington and Concord

On Thursday we toured Lexington and Concord in luxury tour buses. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775 in Middlesex County within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge.  Our first stop was Lexington Battle Green, also known as Lexington Common.  It was at this site that the opening shots of the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fired on April 19, 1775, starting the American Revolutionary War.  Now a public park, the common is a National Historic Landmark.




Some sources say this statue depicts Captain John Parker, the leader of the Lexington militia.  It is also commonly called "The Lexington Minuteman" and claim it was meant to represent the Minutemen generally rather than any individual.  Who do you believe?

There were eight deaths at Battle Green. Seven of those fallen revolutionaries are entombed at this memorial.

The Revolutionary Monument 1799

After lunch we rode the buses to Concord MA and the Minute Man National Historical Park.  A rich literary community developed in Concord during the mid-19th century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson's circle included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau. Major works written in Concord during this period include Alcott's novel Little Women, Emerson's essay Self-Reliance, and Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience. On our ride through Concord we rode by the homes of all these famous authors, but there were no stops and no opportunity for photographs. 

The Concord grape was developed in Concord.  It was then introduced to the market in 1854.  Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch developed the first Concord grape juice in his house in 1869.

The Minute Man statue adjacent to the North Bridge at the Minute Man National Historical Park.

See our nifty rally t-shirts?

The Concord River from the North Bridge

Finally, late Thursday night, I contacted Tri State Truck Center, located in Shrewsbury MA about 35 miles west.  They said they could look at the coach on Friday morning.  They keep pretty long hours, open 24 hours Monday through Friday, and until 3:00 on Saturday, but closed on Sunday. With any luck they could identify and acquire the part and get us back on the road before closing time on Saturday. If so, we could drive the 800 miles home and comfortably make my doctor's appointments beginning Wednesday morning.  If the repairs were not completed until Monday or later I might need to cancel the appointments. That would be a real bummer, because I had been waiting to see one particular doctor for almost 5 months.

But at least we had a plan, and there was a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. For the rest of the story stay tuned for the next post.