Friday, May 26, 2017
Max: I have been to the Tiffin Motorhome facilities in Belmont, Mississippi and Red Bay, Alabama every day since the last blog entry to watch the new motorhome being built. It’s very interesting to see how it is done and gives me a better knowledge of the inner workings of the coach. It also gave me a chance to have a few things changed and a few things fixed earlier in the process. The most significant repair was the replacement of a fender that was not installed to the supervisor’s liking. That probably cost us half a day, but it would have cost us a couple of days if we waited until the motorhome was completed.
On Wednesday, when I arrived back at Belmont I found someone had left a wooden cross made of scrap wood and painters tape on the couch. We don’t know for sure but we think it might be from one of the several workers we talked to about our NOMADS work. At least that is what we will go with unless we find out differently.
With the painting finished the coach was taken into the rain booth to check for leaks. In that test it is pulled into a closed bay and sprayed from all directions with streams of water. The technician said they pumped about 500 gallon per minute during the test. There is another leak test called the bubble test. In that test they wet down the unit with a mild soap solution, they over-pressurize it with a blower attached in the driver window. They then look around for bubbles in places where there should be no bubbles. During the inspection following the rain booth, one of supervisors found the fender problem and decided to have it replaced. Since that was going to take the rest of the day, I headed back home about 11 am.
Back at home it was time to repair the driveway again since my nephew and niece were coming to spend a couple of nights at the house while visiting my mother and others.
On Thursday, It was back to Belmont. It took a while to find the motorhome because it was in one of the paint bays getting the new fender painted. The painting was finished and the coach was sent back to Red Bay about 1:30 pm. That was just enough time to pull it into one of the final finish bays do a little cleaning and close up for the night. (The shift at Tiffin Motorhomes starts at 6:00 am and ends at 2:30 pm.)
Today, all of the final pieces were installed – the remaining cabinet doors, electronics and the navigator chair. Again, it was good to be here to learn about the systems and to point out things that needed fixing. Everyone I have encountered has been very friendly and willing to answer questions and share their knowledge. Also, every employee acts as an inspector. If they find something they don’t think is right they flag it or call someone to fix it.
After all the parts were in place the unit was moved to the cleanup line outside. While there it is inspected again in the sunlight. One of the inspectors told me that there had been discussions about building a covered pavilion for the cleanup, but Bob Tiffin nixed that idea by reminding everyone that motorhomes spent most of their time outside so they need to be inspected outside.
At the end of the day, much of the cleaning had been done and the inspector found a couple of paint runs that showed up in the sunlight. So Tuesday, after the cleaning and inside inspection/corrections are finished, it’s back to Belmont.
Anne: I am still in Atlanta. Mother could not have surgery Wednesday as we had hoped. She was in the operating room holding area when the doctor decided to check her blood one last time and discovered one of the tests was too high and he would not operate. So back to the room we went with everyone feeling very bummed because we were ready emotionally to get it done. But also feeling very blessed that the surgeon was very careful and would not take any chances. Our surgeon was not available on Thursday so today was the day. Oh my goodness. God has really taken care of my Mom! We had a different anesthesiologist today who decided on a different game plan considering Mom’s age and pulmonary hypertension and the fact that her blood was no longer too thin. She wanted to avoid general anesthesia due to concerns about being able to get Mom off the ventilator once they put her on for surgery. Therefore, she felt she could place blocks in her leg that would allow for the surgery. She did the blocks, a femoral and a popliteal block, the surgeon did the surgery, and Mom came back to the room awake and with no post-anesthesia nausea and vomiting because she had only some light sedation. It was pretty amazing. She was wanting to get out of the bed and start her rehab this afternoon. Of course she could not do that and is still on bed rest probably until tomorrow sometime because all the feeling has to come back in the leg. She has started to have some pain now but they are controlling that with pain meds but wow! She is doing so well! God is good!!! Thank you everyone who as been praying for her and our entire family.
RVing With a Purpose 