We arrived in Smith Center, Kansas on Sunday. Although we were on a work in basis, we were the first to pull in at the factory. There was no one there, but they leave the lounge open all the time. There were two large rooms with TV's, tables and chairs and over stuffed chairs, vending machines, bathrooms with showers and washer and dryer. All the comforts of home. Two other couples (from Canada and Iowa) came in later. We spent the night in our RV. Everyone had to be out of their RV by 6:15AM so they could pull the RV's in the shop and start work.
We took a tour of the factory on Monday. We are very pleased that Peterson Industries that build Excel RV's has not gone out of business as many other RV manufacturers have. We learned that they did down size considerably and stream lined their production so they are producing the same amount of units with half the number of employees. They showed us all the new models they are producing, but we are happy with our Excel model. They have made lots of improvements each year.
Because they were not finished with the work on our RV, we drove to the Ingleboro B & B where we had stayed two years ago. We spent two nights there. The house was built in the late 1800's by a wealthy banker. It later was turned into the local hospital. It has also been a restaurant more recently and now is a bed and breakfast. We had a large bedroom with a large sitting room and a modern bathroom. We had the whole downstairs to ourselves the first night. One lady came in later that night and had a room upstairs. It was very restful for the both of us.
We took a walk downtown to Smith Center, a small farming community. We had to board Katie which she was not too happy about that. We went by each day and took her for a ride and played with her. Several other couples were there that week, one of which was Ken and Sarah Hoenig whom we had met at RV Dreams rally in Branson, Missouri in 2008. Small world. We were just starting full timing on the road and now they are just beginning the same lifestyle. On Wednesday we decided to sleep in the lounge at the service center. On Thursday night they pulled our RV out and we were able to sleep in it. It was raining and we were tired. I think we slept about 10 hours and Katie didn't move from her spot on the bed. We got back up about 5:00AM. There were a few minor things the guys had to finish up and then we were on the road by 8:30.
While in the area we drove to the geographic center of the United States.
It has turned cold. On leaving we found the weather producing off and on rain with occasional snow flakes. We spent the night in Topeka, Kansas. Saturday we spent the night in Danville, Missouri and Sunday we drove around St. Louis, Missouri and spent the night in Herrin, Illinois.
The deer population must be down because we saw so many deer on the side of the road and in the back of pickups (hunting season had opened).
Due to rain we spent two nights in Goodlettsville, Tn. We had supper at Cracker Barrel with my cousin, Ingram Howard and his wife, Vickie. It was a very good visit. We made a stop at the Welcome Center in Paducah, Ky.
This brought back many memories. We would always stop here on the way to visit my family in Missouri. This is where Allan almost drove off and left me with a bunch of bikers. He thought I was in the back seat asleep.
We spent two nights in Calera, Alabama at Suncoast RV. We had the hot water heater checked out and a part replaced and Allan took the truck for an oil change. Suncoast will allow you to park free one night with full hookups. You can stay longer if you are having work done there.
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