An awning update

If you are a frequent reader of our blog, you probably have some idea what is coming next...

I wrote back in November that we had given up on getting the awning parts and installation done at NIRVC in Lewisville, TX, and had asked them to transfer the parts (if they ever came) and responsibility to their location in Phoenix (Surprise), Arizona (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/11/bay-landing.html). We arrived at the NIRVC in Surprise on Monday and the work was supposed to be completed on Tuesday (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2021/02/and-we-resume-our-service-center-tour.html).

I also mentioned in that Monday post that the parking area was pretty tight, and, since it is new, it isn't well packed yet so much of it is not recommended for parking a big rig on...

Here is a view showing one place where a smaller class A is on the left, and the larger class As are on the right... the only way in/out of the area is up at the end there, and if you drive a large class A down into this area, turning it around to get parked (because they are angled facing the street out front) can be a challenge.

There is Gracie right in the midst of a couple of other big rigs -- we backed her all the way in from the street area.

This is looking down the lot from the street end -- if the rigs on the right side (in this picture -- the side opposite where the big rigs are parked) are all small, I guess they could fit a number of big rigs on the left and a number of small rigs on the right. But... folks weren't doing a great jobs of making selections to park that way!

They came and picked up Gracie by about 8:45am and thought that, if all went well, it should be a 4 hour job.

We saw where Gracie was parked and Carl walked around the side and had the opportunity to talk with the technician about the history of this missing awning.

He was very pleased with the technician that was working on the rig and we were hopeful all would go well.

Meanwhile, we set up shop in the front area of the building... that's what the front of the building looks like. It has those plexiglass shrouds around the support beams. You may also be able to see in this picture that there are holes in the roof -- triangular shaped holes -- because I guess you might want the hot Arizona sun able to shine down on you even if you are sitting under a covering?

We had set up at a table outside and were able to get some laptop work done while sitting out there.

Carl visited Gracie every half hour or so... and was a bit disappointed that he did not see a lot of progress being accomplished.

We decided to head out to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch -- we had decided that we wanted to eat there to celebrate our anniversary, and since we weren't sure whether it was going to work out to eat there for our evening meal (maybe we'd be driving back to Mesa with our new awning installed! Hope springs eternal!), we had lunch there instead, with delicious steaks and a Molten Lava Cake for dessert (yum!). The waitress brought a decorated plate for us to recognize our celebration!

So, when we got back to NIRVC, still it did not appear that progress was being made. Carl called the service writer at about 2:30pm to ask what the problem was. She was on the phone with Dometic trying to get the right parts ordered. She indicated that they still do not have the correct parts -- for either the awning or the slide topper. They have the physical awning and the slide topper, but not the right parts to connect it to the rig. They thought that they *might* be able to get the slide topper hardware within a day or two, but we elected to head out to our lot at Venture Out and try again at another time.

So... we still do not have an awning nor a slide topper installed. The service writer thinks she can get the correct parts from Dometic. I can't say that we are optimistic, but, we'll give her a chance to make the effort.

An interesting note: I had walked back to Gracie to print out some forms at the time that the technician was closing things up on Gracie for the day. He gave me the bad news about not being able to complete the job at about the same time that the service writer called Carl with the bad news. But, as we continued talking, something came up about me previously owning a Blue Bird and him having worked in Grants Pass, OR at Henderson's Line Up. I said that I had been there in the fall of 2017, and when I mentioned a Blue Bird that had lost its tag axle wheel, we realized that he was one of the folks who had worked on Miss Doozie!!! (https://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2017/10/our-day.html, https://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2017/10/working-toward-repair.html, https://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-wheels-on-bus-go-round-and-round.html)  Small world!

So, we are back at Venture Out and glad to be "home" even if we did not get everything completed that we had hoped. We *really* enjoyed our visits around Arizona for the last few weeks, getting our solar working and feeling that we are pretty well set up for boondocking in the future.