A show and a repair

Tuesday night, we enjoyed "Salute to the Stars" at the Blue Gate Theater in Shipshewana:

It did not look like a big venue...

... but we were entertained by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and Elvis -- or, rather, their impersonators!

We enjoyed the show and the talents of the performers!

We had an appointment for Wednesday morning at Custom RV Repair in Elkhart.

We left the campground in Shipshewana to arrive soon after 7am on Wednesday.

Along the way, we passed a parking lot...

With hundreds of Amazon Prime package trucks - not the vans that we've been seeing around the country.

We also saw Amish folks on their way to work (or somewhere):

on a bicycle... (please excuse the dirty windshield)

In horse drawn wagons...

and in horse-drawn wagons with wagons behind.

We have had an appointment with Custom RV for a couple of weeks... we've had a slide that stopped working and had thought that we might wait until we get to Lewisville to have it addressed, but it is the main big slide in our living area, and we were getting frustrated that it was not working.

Carl called Newmar in Nappanee, IN to see if we could get in for service at the new 50 bay service facility that they opened a year or so ago -- but they were scheduling appointments for **December**!!! We asked about coming in and waiting for a potential opening, but they discouraged us from doing that.We think that they need to build another 50, or 100, or 150 bay service center if they have this much backlog for service!

The fellow with Newmar Service in Nappanee recommended that we contact Custom RV in Elkhart, so we did. We honestly weren't sure that they would be able to address the problem, but at least we wouldn't be far away from where the rigs are made and parts should be available.

Custom RV in Elkhart

When we got to Custom RV, the service technician that talked with Carl seemed to think that he knew exactly what the problem was (an actuator), and that he would be able to fix it without difficulty. The technician mentioned that the parts that were used in 2012 (the year that Gracie was made) were not very robust and he was surprised that we had not had a problem with this previously - but that the new ones were much stronger and the replacement part should give us good service.

It turned out that what he suspected was indeed the problem, and they told us that they would need to wait to get a part from Newmar in Nappanee that should be delivered Thursday morning. We offered to drive there and get it to help get it more quickly and they agreed.

So, we drove to Nappanee to the new service facility where the parts department is also located:

a few of the service bays...

The "campground" where, I guess, folks who made reservations for service 6+ months ago are staying overnight while their rigs are being worked on.

The part (actuator) that we picked up

While in the parts department, Carl asked about purchasing replacement bay latches (when he was working on the bay door latch a few days ago, he felt that it was about to break and would soon fail completely, so figured having a replacement on board would be wise). Turns out that there are different latches for bay doors on the right and left side of the rig, and two different options that may have originally been installed on Gracie, and no way for the parts department to know which we needed. So, Carl got a picture from the parts guy so Carl will be able to figure out which part he needs to order.

Back to Custom RV to deliver the part. By the time we made it back, it was almost closing time, so they will need to install the new actuator Thursday morning. Meanwhile, we're staying in the "campground" at Custom RV which may not be as fancy as the Newmar facility in Nappanee, but - we are hopeful that we'll be able to leave here with the problem fixed in just a couple of weeks from when we called for an appointment, rather than weeks or months later.

The "campground" at Custom RV

This experience and the experience we had in Lewisville has given me insight into what is "reasonable" to expect with service on the Newmar -- that it is almost certain that parts will be needed, and it is almost certain that even a Newmar service facility will need to get those parts directly from Newmar in Nappanee. There are just too many parts for any service facility to have in house what you need. If the service facility is in Elkhart (30 minutes away), they may be able to get those parts the next day, but if the service facility is in Lewisville, TX, it will take longer, maybe a lot longer! So, if we had waited until we got to Lewisville to have this slide problem addressed, it may have been weeks before they were able to acquire the part and correct the problem, even if they diagnosed it in just a few minutes.

Dwayne and I had experienced something similar with Miss Doozie (long delays in service due to waiting for parts), but I thought that was because the Bluebird company no longer made motorhomes and the parts had to be found from other suppliers. But, maybe it is just a characteristic of a specialty product of which a limited number of made each year, and for which almost every product is highly customized and not consistent from one unit to the next. It doesn't seem like a great way to run a business - maybe that's why so many manufacturers have gone out of business through the years.