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