Following our break at the grandparents', we headed out on our trip to the Thor repair facility in Elkhart, IN. Along the way, we stopped in Pennsylvania for a few nights, so we could visit what is, apparently an iconic place in the region, Knoebels Amusement park and Crystal Pool. We took advantage of their free tickets for military families, and went on a few rides, but spent most of the roasty day at the water park, going on slides and swimming and jumping from the diving boards. We finished the evening on the ferris wheel, that reaffirmed H's desire never to ride on one again.
I know that I have driven through PA before, but I guess it is just different in the RV, taking well over an entire day to cross the state. We took advantage of another discounted RV site just inside the western border of PA (Mercer) for another good break, which allowed us to make it all the way through northern Ohio and into Michigan to visit with friends, new and old, a friend from boot camp who must be way older than I, as her daughter is heading out to college this week and they had a celebration party for her graduation.
Following that, we headed to Indiana and moved into a hotel for a week while the technicians at Thor rebuilt our jacking system and windshield wiper systems as well as fixing some cosmetic issues and repairing our broken slide. They added a rail that will allegedly help ensure that the slide doesn't break again. They also replaced the door that surrounds the girls' bunks that had been broken a few times, and glued and broken again.
While the repairs took place, we celebrated another birthday, this one was spent at the American Girl Store in Chicago, which was about perfect for the now nine year old girly-pants. Her dolls had their hair done and she got a few new things for them and generally just enjoyed the experience. We snuck cupcakes from Crumbs into a corner in the mall and lit a quick candle for her to blow out. In all, she was happy about it.
Our general plan while at the hotel was to spend one day active and one day vegging at the hotel, in the pool, playing Wii and watching really bad TV. Our second adventure involved a trip to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, where the younger two got Junior Ranger badges, and then Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan, where we both slid on the dunes with our sleds from White Sands and swam in Lake Michigan. The third day of exploration involved a drive through the Amish areas of northern Indiana. The kids enjoyed that more than I expected, and we bought some cheese and candies and ate ice cream and enjoyed the countryside.
In all, I think Thor did a good job and I guess I wasn't sure what to expect, but I came away feeling like it is just a matter of time until things break again, but I guess we'll see. So far, the jacks have worked properly twice in five attempts.
No comments:
Post a Comment