3-28-2014

Well they were able to complete all the little items on our punch list that had to do directly with the trailer. They have now moved us around the corner, away from the manufacturing area, since they won't need to have people going from the facility to our trailer, to work on it.

There are three couples, including us, staying in this section right now. One of those couples is expected to leave tomorrow. We will be here for a few more days. The door to Tucker's restroom (we call it our cathouse) is in the carpentry shop, having an access hole cut in it, so Tucker can come and go without us having to open the door for him, or leave the door wide open.

We had opted to not have the standard dining room table installed, because Penny wants to use her own table that she sews on. We still wanted the four chairs that were to come with the table, but somewhere in the process, the person that orders all the components for the trailer thought that omitting the table also meant omitting the chairs. So they have now ordered the chairs and they will either drop ship them to us wherever we are when they arrive, or we will pick them up if we are in the area. They have also ordered an additional drawer for our pantry and a door that will ultimately replace the one we are having a hole put in for Tucker, so we can have a real door when we no longer need a cathouse. Those will also be drop shipped to us.

The only other things left to be completed are - the installation of the fifth wheel hitch in our truck and a slight modification to the integrated brake system in the truck so that it will recognize the electric over hydraulic disc brakes installed on the trailer. It looks like we'll have to go to the Dodge dealer next week to get that handled. After those two things are done, we will be taking a test drive around the area to ensure everything works as expected when pulling the trailer.

Penny has drug out some material to sew a table runner for the dining room table, since she couldn't find the table runner she wanted to put there.

3-23-2014 

We got to Junction City, Kansas Saturday March 22. Went to get an early peek at our trailer but found out it is inside the locked manufacturing facility, so we have to wait until Monday.

Here are some pictures, taken by Penny, during our trip from Seattle to Kansas -

West side of Snoqualmie pass

Just east of Snoqualmie pass

Vantage pass, headed toward the Columbia River

Sunset in Post Falls, Idaho

Headed into the mountains of Idaho and Montana

 

Montana

More Montana

Montana, south of Billings

Entering Wyoming

Eastern Wyoming

Entering South Dakota

There seems to be a theme of white everywhere

More western South Dakota

 

South Dakota

Central/eastern South Dakota

Headed for Madison South Dakota

At least there is less snow here

Heading south towards Nebraska

Still headed south

Freeway jogs into Iowa

Then back into Nebraska

Finally in Kansas

Took a state highway instead of the interstate to avoid big towns

Finally near out destination

Can't wait.

3-24-2014

Got to New Horizons manufacturing facility a little after 8 a.m. this morning. Quite a few people are staying here getting work done after having picked up their unit or having changes made to older units. March is a busy month, since no one wanted to come here during the winter.

Met Jack Mayer who participates regularly on the SKP forum and who answered a number of my questions about New Horizons units and HDT trucks before we bought our rig.

Got to take a quick tour of our trailer before they moved it to weigh it, then started unloading the pickup. Fortunately, my drill driver did not run out of juice since the spare battery had been packed in the back of the truck where I would have needed to remove all the screws in the back panel to get to it. I had bought a relatively cheap Black & Decker drill driver, which Penny used while I used the Dewalt. Happily, nothing had shifted during our travels, so nothing fell out on us when we pulled the back off the box. We unloaded everything down to the mattress onto a pallet, so that a fork lift can move it next to the trailer door when we go to load stuff into the trailer.

It started to snow just as we finished getting the stuff onto the pallet. Penny and I pulled the blue tarp off the box and used it to cover the stuff on the pallet while the trailer was being weighed. Then we went inside the facility to warm up. Took Tucker inside too, so he could stay warm and not have to be in the trailer while they moved it for weighing.

In the afternoon, we moved the mattress into the bedroom then moved all the boxes and bags into the trailer. There wasn't much room to move around with all the boxes in the middle of the living room.

3/26/2014

We spent all day yesterday unpacking the boxes and stowing stuff in the limited amount of space that we have. We were ultimately able to stow everything except for about 1 box full of stuff, which we gave to the Goodwill in Junction City.

We have also been noting any issues we want tweaked in the trailer. Haven't found anything significant. The crew will start working on the issues tomorrow. They've been helping other customers that picked up their units earlier in the month. Because of the weather, few people pick up their trailers in the winter. When spring comes around this place is inundated with customers that have been waiting out the weather.

Tucker has been scared of all the stuff going on, but seems to be comfortable with the trailer. He found a little hidey-hole on a shelf in the front closet to hide in. It's dark and snuggly, with sheets to lie on.

The night time temperatures have been down into the 20's with daytime temps in 40's and 50's. It's supposed to be in the 70's this weekend. Today it's been very windy (50+ mph) and rained very hard this afternoon. Supposed to rain tomorrow too.

Haven't had a chance to take any pictures of the trailer yet. Hope to get some tomorrow.

3/27/2014

Today they started working on fixing the items on our punch list. We didn't find anything drastically wrong and many of the things on our list we wouldn't have put on the list if this had been a cheaper unit, but for the price we paid for this trailer we going to have them fix every little thing.

We took a couple of pictures yesterday evening that you can see below.

The first photo is looking at the floor in the bedroom closet, in the right hand corner. We couldn't figure out why the sheets were on the floor, since we had put them on the second shelf up.

 

After a little more investigating we found the culprit. Tucker wanted a nice dark hole to hide in and the sheets were in his way.

 

The living room was the first room we were able to get into a livable condition as shown below.

 

I think I mentioned that it was windy and raining last night. The photo below is looking across the parking lot, outside our living room window during the rain storm. Trailer stayed nice and warm with a little bit of wiggle during the stronger gusts (50 mph).

 

They got through a number of items on our punch list. There weren't any that would jump out at you (all small trim items) and virtually no mechanical issues. We will work on more of them tomorrow. The biggest issue is getting the Dodge integrated brake controller to recognize the electric over hydraulic disc brakes on the trailer. There is a fix for the problem, since a previous Dodge owner had a similar but more complex problem, since he had anti-lock electric over hydraulic brakes on his trailer. We will probably be here into next week to get everything up to snuff.

 

We finally got things straightened up enough that we are willing to show pictures of the inside, so here goes.

 

Looking forward at the living room, sitting on the left end of the couch at the back of the trailer. Entry door is to the right of the bottom of the stairs.

Looking forward at the kitchen and TV, sitting on the right side of the couch. Washer and dryer are in the cabinet at the top of the stairs.

Looking at the kitchen from the dining room/Penny's sewing table. Microwave/convection oven above the stove. sink in the corner. Refer to the left of the stove. Island in foreground.

Looking into bedroom from bedroom door. Closet on right, behind mirrors.

Looking at the head of the bed from the closet.

Vanity at the foot of the bed. Tucker is inside the closet, in his cubby hole.

Looking into the bathroom from the hallway. Stool to the left, shower behind the door.

Looking into the bathroom from the bedroom door. It's an electric toilet. Push a button on the wall to flush. Small linen closet above.

Looking into the shower from the stool. Skylight above plus an electric light in the shower.

They give you a monogrammed floor mat for your entryway.

 

Needed to try out the microwave/convection oven, so we made chocolate chip cookies this morning and put them in the lobby of the facility. We didn't have to bring any back to the trailer, so I guess they were enjoyed. The convection oven seems to cook a little faster than our old standard gas oven.

 

I was also able to get the road grime washed off the truck. It was looking ugly.