After our "jogs" and our daily home school we had the Direct TV installation person arrive to finally get us setup with satellite TV. Long story, but he was unable to get us connected. Turns out we need a company/person who specializes in motorhomes.
We did make it to Wakarusa (still in the Amish Indiana area) where the Monaco factory is located, in time for our scheduled 2:00pm
tour. Upon arrival we all got our own headsets and safety glasses. The factory was in
full motion and the headsets were actually needed on the loud factory floor to be able to hear the sales person that was leading us around. We got to walk through all the different stations and see the plain chassis with tires all the way through to the end product. We saw people assembling wiring, flooring and walls, cabinetry, etc.
It was all very interesting but when the end of the work day buzzer sounded at 2:20pm all the workers disappeared. The floor became deserted and all the lights started to go out. What a difference a few minutes make. I guess it was a good example of "hourly" employees. We were told that this factory is currently running at only 50% capacity as the whole industry is going through more difficult times. About 5 new motorhomes roll out
the completion doors each day. Anyway our tour continued and we got to go through several diesel pushers and gas models that were nearing completion. We love our motorhome and it is working great for our family (with 3 boys!) but the brand-spankin' new ones do have some nice improvements and features. I guess that's what an extra $200,000 will get you. After the official end of the factory tour we had a chance to ask a ton of questions and talk with 2 sales people and some other more experienced motorhomers. In all, we ended up staying there for over 2 1/2 hours. We all really enjoyed the tour. It was very educational and something a little different. I should note that Tanner, Sterling and Peyton were awesome. They were very polite and well behaved. As we left they even gave us some Monaco hats.
After the tour we drove up near South Bend, home of Notre Dame where we might swing by tomorrow. We promised the kids we'd take them to a GameStop video game store because their summer sale started yesterday, so we ended up at the closest one in Mishawaka, IN. What do you know... there is a WM Superstore across the street. Goodnight!
