8-3-04
Well, interesting morning. We woke up in the town of Norton, in
their city park. By the time we woke up, the Bounder that was
parked in front of us was already gone. We showered, dressed, and
ate breakfast. Upon starting the engine to leave - it decided to
emit some very strange and obnoxious noises. Enough so, that I
immediately shut it off and sat there kind of stunned for a few
seconds. Maybe I was hearing things, let's try it again.
Nope, same stupid noise. I pulled the doghouse off, and started
it a third time. Sounds like it is coming from the right side of
the engine. After looking further, I discovered that the smog
pump was the source of the strange noise. Need more
information. Had a good cell phone connection, so I called my
cousin (yep, Eagle Bros) to find out what to do next. Talked to
his ace mechanic, Milt, and he recommended temporarily removing the
belt, just make sure that was the problem. I did, it was.
Next step was to bypass, the pump. I cut an extra belt that I
had, to get the size I would need, to bypass the pulley on the
pump. Went down the street a short distance to a garage, we
matched one up, I installed it and we were in business. Found a
local laundromat, washed a load of laundry, tried to dry it in a dryer
that didn't work very well, and we left for our appointment. Yes,
we actually had an appointment. We were scheduled to take a tour
of the Excel 5th wheel manufacturing plant early in the
afternoon. We arrived there ahead of time, and out in front of
the plant is one of those signs that can be programmed to say
whatever you type in. Low and behold, the sign read "Welcome,
David and Sharon Miller. We're glad to have you here". Big
surprise to us. I told them after the tour, that because the tour
was so good, that I would not charge them for the use of our names out
front. Got a chuckle from the tour guide. Anyhow, the tour
was very good. Excel makes an excellent product and looking at
their manufacturing process, and their way of thinking about
manufacturing, it shows. Every 3 years, Excel invites owners of
their products to their town, and they have a party for a week at
Excel's expense. According to the secretary, it takes a
year to plan the event, a year to have it, and a year to recover from
it. Hence, every 3 years. Anyhow, I was impressed with the
operation. Some things were done by computer, ( cnc routers),
others are done by people (welding the frame together), and the guide
told me that when they expanded their welding shop area, they didn't
choose to use robots because, "it will affect 50 or more people, if you
count the employees and their families". Besides, these guys
really know how to run a bead. How often do businesses think like
that these days? More concerned about their employees, than
making the most amount of money that they can, at the expense of the
employees. Anyhow, after the tour, we headed east again, and then
north about 60 or so miles into Nebraska. Our destination tonight
was for York, Nebraska. There is a King of the Road
manufacturing plant there, where they manufacture 5th wheels and I just
found out that they started making a diesel pusher motor home. We
will be touring the 5th wheel part of the plant. The diesel
pushers are a $300,000 motor home. Little beyond my budget.
So, here we sit, in another Wal Mart parking lot in York,
Nebraska. Tomorrow morning, we have a 9:30 appointment to tour
their plant. In case anyone is wondering, our total mileage so
far for this trip is 6,691. And hey, we're still not home.
I only took a couple of pictures today, so I don't think I will post
them tonight. It was a little like a t-shirt we saw
yesterday, that said - "Drove through Kansas and saw some wheat, then
we saw some cattle, then more wheat, then more cattle, then some
utility poles. Then we saw more wheat, more cattle, and even more
utility poles. Next time, I'm flying". Well, that's the
news from P.U. (paddleupstream) Later.....
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