Montana Owners Club Fall Rally--Day 5

Goshen, Indiana

I know I'm way behind on this blog, but we've been having so much fun from morning to night, there hasn't been time to blog.  
On Sunday's schedule we attended a Mac the Fire Guy seminar.  If you own an RV you should attend his seminar.  We have attended many, but we continue to learn something new, every time we attend.  Even if you don't have a RV, you'll learn something useful about fire safety.

We also attended a North to Alaska seminar.  I guess Dennis Hill and his loosey goosey bunch have so much information, that we didn't learn anything new.  However, there are all different kinds of people in the world, and what one person likes, the other may not.

Dennis and Linda Ward coordinated the pot luck dinner.  It went very well, and there was plenty of food for everyone.  This year they didn't go green.  Plates were supplied and everyone could get second helpings.  Sometimes with pot lucks, people take huge plates or platters and fill them, but with the same size plates there was plenty of food for everyone including second helpings.  

Nearly every night there is a raffle drawing.  We won four prizes during the week.  There were four TV's given away but that wasn't our prize.  

This is the row of foods that needed electric.

These ladies all attended the free driving school sponsored by Keystone Montana.

Here's the driving school graduates with their certificates.

Monday morning we hooked up in the dark and rain.  Lucky for us the Keystone service center wasn't far away.  We pulled in at 6:30 am found the Persons were in line ahead of us.  

Of course after we left Keystone, we headed straight for the Lux cafe.  It wasn't long before the Van Nuys and Persons walked in behind us.  

We went directly back to the fairground as we wanted to attend the Progressive and Dometic seminars.  

Our tour of the Montana factory was scheduled for 1:20.  By the time we arrived, we didn't even have time for the refreshments before the tour began.  

Not a chance of us using our coach in the cold, but I understand why Montana's are so popular in extreme climates with the way the water lines are run.  No wonder I never heard of one with frozen water lines.  

I love the power cord reels that they have in the Legacy line.  I'm sure the In Command System is a great seller, but just having color coded electric wiring is a big plus.

I was surprised that the front cap automotive window is such a big seller.  Coming from Arizona, I just think of the heat but I suppose seeing out the upper front would be really romantic given some of the scenery in the United States.  I also think that front kitchen model is selling like hot cakes.  

We did have Mark Krol as our tour leader.  When someone in our group suggested moving something over a couple of inches in the control panel, Mark immediately said that was a great idea.  He took a photo and made notes of the suggestion.  

Mark asked us our opinion of the new MORryde steps they are now installing.  I believe there were mixed opinions of those, but he said if you didn't want those, you could have the older style.  Bill and I ordered a set from Gary Wheeler.  They install them free and give a great rally discount.  When I saw them installed with the slide out, I realized they come out too far for us to use when you are in a rest stop, so we canceled our order.

I could go on and on about all the new and innovative things Keystone is doing.  

At the end of the tour the new models were displayed.  It's amazing how different they look from last year's models.  Remember, years ago when people used to wait for the new car models to come out.  Those were the days when you could glance at a car and know what year and make it was.  Now all the cars look pretty much the same.  There's no desire to buy a new one, if your old works and looks fine.  I remember my parents buying a new car every year.  I think the new designs in the Montana's will be the same as those new model cars used to be. 

After the factory tour, we visited the customer service center.  We took this tour last year.  We were an hour late for the tour, as we spent longer in the factory and checking out the new models.  It didn't matter that we were so late, they gave us the tour anyway.  

It seemed strange in the customer service area as the employees had left for the day and even stranger seeing our home sitting in the service bay.  

We headed straight back to the fairgrounds as Keystone had the evening meal for us.  It was a great meal and there was plenty of food for everyone. 

Carolyn and Craig Mills were hosting the card bingo and we really wanted to attend but we were so tired from getting up so early, we didn't stay.

Turtle Safely.........