Saturday night, Sept. 4th
I watched Steve, the alignment technician, laser align the front and rear axles and repack the front wheel bearings. He’s a likeable guy whose father was a law enforcement officer. Steve and I hit it off and had some great discussions while he was working on the coach. The whole experience at Bend Service Center was extremely positive and memorable. The guys were terrific and the price was reasonable, albeit expensive considering the work we had accomplished. I would heartily recommend the facility to anybody needing work on their coach.
While we were in Bend we had the opportunity to spend an evening with Evelyn Lerner (Aulwurm) who was in my La Mesa Rotary club. We went to her house and walked downtown to the Deschutes Brewpub for dinner. I had their sampler platter consisting of six of their beers. It was delicious! Our meals were pretty good, too. We had a great time seeing Evie again and talking about her life in Bend. She loves the area, has her dream home, and doesn’t miss the fast pace of San Diego at all.
Thursday morning the work was completed. We checked the tire pressures, filled the water tank, and headed west toward Eugene. The drive was easy, the coach handled like a new one, and we were happy. We arrived at the Eugene Elks Lodge, dumped the holding tanks, and hooked up to 30-amp electric and water. We phoned my cousin, John, and made plans for dinner.
On Friday morning I was up early and washed the whole coach. We planned to take the Monaco Factory Tour at 2PM, so we did a little shopping at the Wal-Mart and WinCo. We arrived at the Monaco factory and were led on our tour by Kevin, the only sales guy rehired by Navistar. It was painfully obvious that the factory has tightened their operation and is only producing five coaches a week. All the coaches being built are diesel coaches; all gas coaches are being built in Indiana. It was an impressive tour that took almost two hours. We didn‘t see any of our old friends except Enoch Hutchcraft. He was on his way out of the parking lot in his pickup so I was only able to yell his name and “H’lo!” He responded with a big wave. After the tour was over and we were on our way out of the parking lot, we saw Brian Weatherly, one of the best service techs Monaco has ever had. He stopped and chatted with us for about five minutes. We went back to the coach, grabbed a couple of steaks, and headed over to John’s house for dinner. We had a great time as we always do with them. We’ll be seeing them next weekend in Eureka when we join several other Anderson family members for a mini-reunion.
It’s been an interesting trip thus far and we’re enjoying every minute of it! We’ll leave Eugene on Sunday morning for Florence and the South jetty Thousand Trails park. Wish we had several of you with us to enjoy the great weather, the neat microbreweries, and the fun of traveling.
I watched Steve, the alignment technician, laser align the front and rear axles and repack the front wheel bearings. He’s a likeable guy whose father was a law enforcement officer. Steve and I hit it off and had some great discussions while he was working on the coach. The whole experience at Bend Service Center was extremely positive and memorable. The guys were terrific and the price was reasonable, albeit expensive considering the work we had accomplished. I would heartily recommend the facility to anybody needing work on their coach.
While we were in Bend we had the opportunity to spend an evening with Evelyn Lerner (Aulwurm) who was in my La Mesa Rotary club. We went to her house and walked downtown to the Deschutes Brewpub for dinner. I had their sampler platter consisting of six of their beers. It was delicious! Our meals were pretty good, too. We had a great time seeing Evie again and talking about her life in Bend. She loves the area, has her dream home, and doesn’t miss the fast pace of San Diego at all.
Thursday morning the work was completed. We checked the tire pressures, filled the water tank, and headed west toward Eugene. The drive was easy, the coach handled like a new one, and we were happy. We arrived at the Eugene Elks Lodge, dumped the holding tanks, and hooked up to 30-amp electric and water. We phoned my cousin, John, and made plans for dinner.
On Friday morning I was up early and washed the whole coach. We planned to take the Monaco Factory Tour at 2PM, so we did a little shopping at the Wal-Mart and WinCo. We arrived at the Monaco factory and were led on our tour by Kevin, the only sales guy rehired by Navistar. It was painfully obvious that the factory has tightened their operation and is only producing five coaches a week. All the coaches being built are diesel coaches; all gas coaches are being built in Indiana. It was an impressive tour that took almost two hours. We didn‘t see any of our old friends except Enoch Hutchcraft. He was on his way out of the parking lot in his pickup so I was only able to yell his name and “H’lo!” He responded with a big wave. After the tour was over and we were on our way out of the parking lot, we saw Brian Weatherly, one of the best service techs Monaco has ever had. He stopped and chatted with us for about five minutes. We went back to the coach, grabbed a couple of steaks, and headed over to John’s house for dinner. We had a great time as we always do with them. We’ll be seeing them next weekend in Eureka when we join several other Anderson family members for a mini-reunion.
It’s been an interesting trip thus far and we’re enjoying every minute of it! We’ll leave Eugene on Sunday morning for Florence and the South jetty Thousand Trails park. Wish we had several of you with us to enjoy the great weather, the neat microbreweries, and the fun of traveling.
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