Bridgewater Antique Car and Tractor Parade

Growing up one of the memorable events of the summer was the Bridgewater Lawn Party. Just about every fire department and Ruritan club in the area had a lawn party fundraiser. You could just about hit a lawn party every weekend. The Bridgewater one though, that was the big one. Next to the Rockingham County Fair, the Bridgewater Lawn Party was one of the local summer highlights.

Over the years, we still attend from time to time. The lawn party looks a little different through adult eyes, but the country ham sandwiches, chicken barbecue, and ice cream are as delectable as ever. The steam tractors still sound their whistles and black coal smoke fills the air.

This year we attended the antique car and tractor parade. Harold rode with my dad through the parade in the Lil' Red Express. Tossing out candy, left and right, I'm not sure who had more fun.

At the end of the parade route, they parked and joined us watching the tractors. I didn't count this year, but the last couple of times I attempted to count, it was around 200 tractors. So many tractors once prompted my sister to wonder if they weren't circling around and coming through again!

Nappanee Nirvana

While we were visiting family in Nappanee, Indiana, we decided to participate in Newmar Corporation's factory tour.  We selected the extended tour. Wow, what a great opportunity that was.  At the Visitors Center we were shown a video and provided safety goggles and radios.

Our first stop on the tour was where they offload the Freightliner and Spartan chassis from the delivery trucks.  They used a dual boom gantry crane setup.  They moved the bare chassis around the campus using a temporary seat and the driver had to wear a helmet as there was no body on these frames.  They looked like go-carts gone berserk.

At the second station, called chassis preparation, they welded on the steel STAR foundation to the chassis using a jig to make sure it was straight, square, and true, and able to stand up to the stresses of the house going down the road.  They then painted the foundation in preparation for building the “house."

From this point, they move the motorhomes from station to station by sliding them sideways instead of rolling them forward.  I think this is because the assembly line for long chassis happens in the buildings that were not originally designed to house 45’ long RVs. To do this, they use what look like upside down air hockey tables under the wheels. One to three men can then push them to the next station. They were temporary hovercraft. It was quite a ballet of movement to watch.

We moved on to Main Production where we saw them flip the chassis upside down for the first part of assembly, then put the outside walls on, then the roof, which was originally built upside down also.

Paint is where Newmar shines. They use BASF automotive paints and they hand scrape the color changes so the final product is flat and smooooooth.

Unlike the Jayco factory where they make a run of a single model of RV each day, at Newmar you might see the lowest priced RV being built right next to their highest priced RV.  My hat is off to Newmar’s logistics department for having all the right parts in the right place, at the right time.

We toured the new RV Service Center which is a garage where they can service over 50 motorcoaches at one time!!!!! WOW, was that one big facility!

Due to the beliefs of the numerous Mennonite and Amish employees, photography was not allowed anywhere on the campus. Well, that and the usual legal and trade reasons applied.

Jayco Tour

While we were waiting on the paint shop to finish with the Diamondshield removal and replacement, we had time to tour around. One of our stops was the Jayco factory in Middlebury, IN. We toured on a day when fifth wheels were being made.

Most of the plants start early. They want to be done by early to mid-afternoon. The plants are not air-conditioned and it gets too warm. Components are often made in a nearby building or even by a different contractor, and are assembled in the plants, station by station. We enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm of a couple on our tour whose unit was in the production line. Sorry, photos were not allowed.

My cousin had the memoir written by Bertha Bontrager Rhodes, Grace for the Journey: My story of family, faith, and RVs. She and her husband, Lloyd, were the founders of Jayco. One vignette from her book stands out in my mind. She recounted how customers came one day exclaiming about how the janitor they had met one Saturday on the lot knew so much about the company. The janitor was very knowledgeable about RVs and the company. That janitor was Lloyd.

Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine

After our overnight in Ohio at my cousin's farm, we headed towards home in Virginia. We opted to spend the night at Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine in Beckley, WV. They have a 17 site campground onsite, and I'd been telling Harold about the coal mine tour.

Getting to the campground and the one-way road in and out of the campground is almost a blog entry in itself. It was quite the white knuckle, heart-thumping ride in a big rig. My hat is off to WV truckers who deal with those roads on a daily basis.

The mine tour is around 30 minutes long, and our tour guide was a former miner and a former federal mine inspector. Mining is not for the faint of heart or the claustrophobic. It's hard to imagine drilling holes by hand when you're lying on your side or back. There's not enough room to stand up.  This particular mine has been substantially heightened to allow tours. Most of the time, the mines were about 36" in height at best.

We learned the expression, "fire in the hole" came from mining. After they drilled those holes in the coal seam, they packed them with dynamite. They'd yell "fire in the hole" to let others know that they were blasting. Once the holes had been blasted, they'd shovel the coal into the carts to send to the top.  That's a lot of work for 20 cents per ton.

The mine tour also includes access to the mining camp exhibits. Houses, church, schools gave an idea of a mining town. The exhibits are well-maintained and staffed by folks who are eager to share their stories.

Drilling the holes

Cutting machine

Campground