At Kearney, NE

Near Amana Colonies, IA.  No corn, yet.

Well, a week has passed and a lot has happened.  Indiana Interstate Enterprises took the trailer in last Thursday morning.  We got it back Saturday.  They'd done a ton of work and finally fixed a complaint I'd had with the bedroom slide since we bought the trailer in December 2010.  One of the many problems with the RV industry is it's ability for manufacturers to admit something isn't right.  After years of complaining about the flex of the trailer and how it affects the bedroom slide as it rides down the road, Paul notice my complaint.  He fixed the pan that holds the bedroom slide once it's slid in the trailer.  That pan was supposed to be installed with 16 screws.  Paul found only three had been used.  There's no evidence of screw holes for the other 13.  It's now installed correctly, and we're no longer twisting & breaking corner trim pieces on the bedroom's slide exterior as we travel down the road. 

Back to the story: we loaded up with groceries on Saturday and headed west along I-80 Sunday morning.  Before I go on, let me remind you:  Our trailer and I-80 have a mutual hate for each other.  We have broken more stuff on the trailer, lost more wheel center caps on our trailer wheels, lost more trim screws, broken more latches, etc on I-80 than any other interstate.  Sunday proved this mutual hate is alive and well.  Yeah, we lost another center wheel cap - no biggie as it's the first one we've lost in years.  However, this time I-80 is demonstrating that not all upgrades to the trailer really work as planned.  Our upgrade to MCD shades last September has proven to be a bad decision.  The shades are too heavy for the wood window trim to hold.  The installation screws just can't hold the shades' weight.  We're basically bouncing them off the windows as we travel down the road.  We're now afraid to touch them when we stop for the night. And given our window valances are almost permanently installed, these shades are not the easiest to reinstall when they do fall.  Plus the screws stripping out is destroying the wood trim on the inside of the windows.  Looks like we get to go back to the old style shades this September.

Moving on:  Stops this week were at Geneseo, IL; Newton, IA, and Greenwood, NE where we stopped for two nights to allow a cold front and severe weather to pass before continuing west.  Tonight we're in Kearney, NE (about halfway across Nebraska).  Since it's a cold front that pass, we're experience colder weather - freeze warnings.  Climbing in elevation isn't helping in that department.  We're at 2,200 ft tonight.  Weather channel app indicated highs near 70 when we get to Jackson, WY next week.  Plenty of time for that change, unfortunately.

Upcoming stops are Sidney, NE (Cabela's); Laramie, WY (another planned multi-night stop with freeze warnings); Rock Springs, WY, and finally our goal - Jackson, WY.  If we get lucky, maybe the window wood trim will last, and we may get quicker at reinstalling the MCD shades as we go along.  One can dream, ya know!

Thanks for stopping by and checking up on us.  We plan to be at the hatchery this time next week. David