The day began earlier than the previous morning. When I got outside and looked around, there was a new gap between Kevin's and Tina's rig and Tom's and Nora's motorhome. The empty space was where Nilo and Kathy had been camping. They left early to take another leg of their trip in the Northwest.

On this day I planned to go shopping for a few accessories for our motorhome. But first things first, I made a stop to get a morning donut, a cup of hot chocolate and a morning newspaper. Reading the local news gave me something to do until the vendors building opened.

Kay stayed in the motorhome because the Monaco service tech was due to come to fix a problem with the copilot seat. The foot rest mechanism had quit working after being extended only a few times.

I entered the vendor area as soon as the building was opened and headed directly to the booth for the company that made the awning on our motorhome. I purchased a pair of window awnings for the bedroom windows on our motorhome. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I would get a nice show-discount and there would be no charge for installation. The only problem was that there may not be time to get the awnings installed before we were ready to leave. I decided to take a chance that our departure might be delayed until the awnings could be installed.

My next destination was to find the booth that sold sun-screens for the front of our motorhome. Once I found the booth, the first thing asked was whether or not the screens could be installed before were left. When I was assured that the work could be done in time, I bought a set of screens that that would cover the windshield, the driver's window, the entrance door window and the passenger window. Again I liked the idea that I would get a show discount, however, I still had to pay for installation.

From a vendor building I made my way to the Monaco Motorcoach section of the motorhome display area. I went to the first Knight model to see what changes have been made since we bought our motorhome. The feature that seemed to stand out was the use of a new design of cargo doors. Instead of being hinged at the top of the door, the new design has the doors hinged on the side and are called the "car door" design. I really like this type of door, especially for the storage compartments that are under an extended slide-out.

This is the first time I saw car-door style storage doors — I like what I see

From the motorhome display area I decided to head back to our motorhome for lunch and to see how the passenger seat repair is going. I arrived at the tram stop just in time to miss the tram I needed to catch. I was located on the fairgrounds in a place where I figured I could probably walk back to my home base and get there before the tram. So I set out on a gravel side road.

As I rounded a bend in the road, a scene of a lot of motorhomes spread out in front of a high-desert landscape appeared before me. The view was too wide for me to capture in a single photo, so I took a serious of pictures to assemble into a pseudo-panoramic image.

Click on image below to view larger version I walked back to our camp area with this view ahead of me

As I arrived at our motorhome I saw a boiling, white cloud climbing into the sky. The majestic cloud made a nice backdrop for the view of the motorhomes in our camping area. A smaller cloud was forming in front of our rig.

The clouds make for a "Photographer's sky"

More clouds arise above the horizon in front of our motorhome

The Monaco service tech was busy working under the passenger chair when I arrived at my rig. He said that a new motor was needed, so he fastened the chair back to the floor and said that he would be back after lunch. Kay and I were able to have lunch while the technician was away.

When the technician did come back, he informed us that a motor wasn't available at the parts trailer and it would take too long to have the motor shipped before the end of the convention. Oh well, I figured I would get it done at the factory service center sometime in the future.

Soon after lunch, a man came to our motorhome to install the sunscreens. It seems that he and his wife work together — she sold me the screens — following the various rallies and conventions selling sun screens. They are both very nice people.

As the sun screen for the windshield was being installed I found first hand just how effective the screens are. The sun was shining in through the windshield producing a lot of heat. I was standing just behind the dash when the new screen dropped down over the windshield. Instantly the temperature dropped a very noticeable amount. I was convinced then and there that this was a good purchase.

These sun screens greatly reduced the heat entering our motorhome

After the screens had been installed, Kay and I went into the fairgrounds to take another walk through the vendor areas. We picked up a few things as we browsed. When I came to the booth where I bought the awnings I asked about how the installation schedule was going. I was told that it was very tight and that my awnings may not get installed. If this was to happen I was told that I would receive a refund in the mail or I could cancel right there. I chose to see if the installation could take place here at the show.

Kay and I went to the evening entertainment, however, some of our companions were either not interested in the evening’'s show or they were deep in negotiations for a new motorhome. This meant that we had to find only two seats in the Event Center.

I was looking forward to the entertainment because the performers were popular recording artists when Kay and I were younger. The opening act was the Brothers Four. There music brought forth a lot of good memories. The music was easy-going, how much so, I would learn later. As with other performers from the past, I remember nearly all of the words to their songs.

There was a minimum delay between the end of the opening act and the beginning of the show put on by the Kingston Trio. After being mellowed-out by the opening act, the Kingston Trio began with a very upbeat, fast tempo song. It was almost jarring after the Brothers Four, however, it didn't take me but a few seconds to get up to speed. The music continued to bring up more good memories. All in all, the evening show was a nice trip down memory lane.

The Kingston Trio put on a very upbeat show

After the show, Kay and I were able to catch a shuttle-bus back to our camp area. The nice thing is that this bus would take us straight back without having to transfer to a different vehicle. Usually we would catch an "inside tram" and transfer to an "outside tram" during the day to return to our camping area.

Kay and I rode, from the show to our motorhome, on a bus-type tram

When we arrived at our motorhome our group was gathering to go into town to eat dinner. This was our last night in camp, so I thought it was a great idea. Our group was smaller than when we arrived earlier in the week, so it took only three cars for us to get to the restaurant. I don't know who chose the place where we ended up, but it was a fun place for an evening meal.

The restaurant had a western theme with barbecue being a main choice on the menu. Also, this was one of those places where a person could eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. Our group ended up being seated at a booth and a table next to the booth. This made it comfortable for all us to be able to visit while waiting for our food to arrive. This was a very nice way to end our stay in Redmond.

When we arrived, for our evening meal, the last light in the sky, after sunset, had just faded away. As we left, the restaurant, in the dark, I was thinking that when we returned to our motorhome there would be no awnings. However, when I walked up to our motorhome there was a new awning mounted over the back window. I checked the other side to find the other new awning in place. The installer must have finished his work in the dark.

I was very happy that we had our new awnings just in time for our departure. This surprise made for a nice way to end the day.

[ SUMMARY ]

[ PREV ]

[ NEXT ]

[ RV FUN TRIPS ]

Disclaimer Contact Us
Copyright 2000 - 2008, RVFunTrips.com. All rights reserved.