Day 13
29 June 2011
Elk Creek, OK
Elk Creek RV Park

Well, we DID it! We traded our 2006 Fleetwood Fiesta 26Q for a 2012 Fleetwood Terra 34E. That's moving from 27 feet long with no slideouts to over 34 feet long with two slideouts! Space! Here's a short look at the new coach. It's not professional video but it will give you a glimpse of what it looks like.

Do we like our new RV? Yes! Are we happy customers of McClain's RV in OK and TX? NO! Are we happy customers of Fleetwood RV? NO!

Everybody says that when you buy a new RV it is like buying a brand-new car. There are always some things wrong that have to be worked on and fixed. That is often true, but I bought a new car last fall and had NOTHING to take it back to the dealer to get fixed. Honda makes their products right, I guess. But that's neither here nor there.

We took possession of our new coach last night (Tuesday night, 28 June). We signed the papers and went to the closing dinner of the FMA Rally (Fleetwood Motorhome Association). THEN we pulled our soon-to-be-former coach out of the campsite, drove up to the parking lot, and moved everything we had from one coach to the other. That took us about 1-1/2 hours (plus a little more because we had some wonderful people helping us and that sometimes causes a little ... er, down time, but thanks to the wonderful people who helped us out we had fun getting the job done, thanks to Bob and Deb Norman, Keith and Jan Penner, and Hugo and Donna Lusten, plus an unnamed couple from Canada who joined in).

We then moved to new RV back to our site and prepared to finish organizing things to move on the next day as the rally concluded. What?! The rear air conditioner isn't cooling! What's wrong? Grrr.  This is a big problem, particularly since we are headed for the heat of New Mexico in the summer!

I began to collect a list of the "little" problems that were emerging. Fortunately, the evening was somewhat cool and we could use fans and open windows and get some sleep. The next morning I continued compiling the list. It eventually got up to 15 different items that needed fixing, ranging from the major (the A/C) to the insignificant (two small holes in wall panel which, in the light of day, turned out to be poorly placed staples holding the paneling). The list also included a significant water leak.

So we headed for the nearest McClain RV service center (since that is the dealer through which we purchased the coach). We bought the Terra through a salesman from the Dallas-area store, but the Oklahoma City store was the closest. I want to give a great big shout-out to Regina Gill, the service manager at McClain RV in OK City. She was buried in RVs needing service and had all her techs working on other people's problems. Somehow she managed to take care of about twelve of the items leaving only the leaking shower and a couple of small items. The A/C wouldn't work because in construction ONE wire to the thermostat wasn't attached. The leaking shower had a P-trap that was not properly installed. The bathroom door trim wasn't installed correctly (keeping the door from closing), and the list goes on. Fleetwood RV, YOU have a MAJOR quality control problem. Fleetwood RV CEO John Draheim will be getting a detailed letter.

Enough complaining. We are enjoying our coach tonight and when we get to Las Cruces should be able to get the last BIG problem, the shower, fixed.

This is an adventure in life, a Grand Adventure (or was it Great Adventure) I called it when we first left home. And adventures don't always go as planned. We had NOT planned to trade and buy a new RV. That was supposed to happen NEXT year. But it happened this summer. Things were supposed to work the way they were intended to work, but that didn't. I mostly kept my cool. Mostly. And nice people made good things happen. Tomorrow, we move on to Canyon, TX, and the Palo Duro Canyon.