We are back from a quick, snowy, cold trip up north.....but lots to catch up on the blog so here goes...
Saturday - we were off at 8ish for Stuart with a stop at Jupiter Donuts (1st time this year). They have thee best donuts and we left there happy and satisfied! Then onto Stuart Boatyard for the PDQ Owners Rendezvous - an all-day affair of seminars, lunch, cocktails, dinner and enjoying visiting with Charlotte and Doug and meeting new friends, plus seeing others from last year! It was a fun day, especially the ladies seminar on the boat and hearing ideas on how others decorate, cook, help their Captain, etc. It was after 9 when we returned to Daisy.
Sunday - left at 9:00 and headed to West Palm Beach and 10:30 Mass at Holy Name of Jesus - what a neat friendly parish and the grounds were spectacular with flowers, lush landscaping and waterfalls.
Drove to The Town Center in Boca Raton and Mark parked himself with I-pad outside Crate and Barrel while I did some browsing/shopping. This place is gi-normous! My only purchase was some acrylic glasses for Airstream.
We met Philip who was on break from instructing for late lunch at the Rustic Inn Crab House. Sat outside on this pretty day along the water and had great meals....
So fun to catch up with him!
Us with Philip
Excellent wedge crab salad
Said our good byes and on to the FLL airport for our flight to Detroit. It was a "bumpy" ride but we made it (thank you God) and by the time we climbed into bed, it was after 11.
Monday - snow showers were predicted for Detroit and Jackson Center, OH where we were headed, but nothing like waking up to at least 2" on the ground and coming down strong. We left around 9 and the roads were not good, but had plenty of time, so just took it easy and 2.5 hours later, we arrived at the home of Airstream in the little town of Jackson Center. Fortunately after about 1.5 hours of icky driving, the snow was less and roads were clearer.
When we woke up Monday morning
We had lunch at "The Heidout', only restaurant in town besides Subway. Good day for soup and their homemade vegetable beef was very good. And then it was time to go to Airstream.....this is big part of this town (pop. 1400+) and there are blue-roofed buildings all around. Two other couples were on the tour and Gary, our tour guide had been an Airstream employee since 1961. Now retired, he does the tours.....we all walked 1/4 mile in the snow to the main plant
and the tour began with ear plugs and goggles.
Airstream (founded in 1931) has 1000 employees. Each has their station and just so neat to see them all working away. We walked and walked seeing how the huge aluminum sheets (which come from Arcola where our brother-in-law, Tom works in the Davenport, Iowa plant) are put together with many rivets and form the outer shell. And then the shell is lifted onto the chassis and from there it goes thru so many interesting tests,
(including 45-minute intense water pressure to make sure there are no leaks). Neat to see the woodworking shop, all the stacks of mattresses, microwaves, refrigerators, awnings,and on and on waiting to be installed.
We located our new "home" and oh my.....they were installing the kitchen cabinets and then counter top/sink. Later we saw them carry in the pantry! It should be ready for shipping tomorrow.
It takes 4 days to build an Airstream and they work on all models all the time - not just focus on 1 particular model. They put out 95 new Airstreams in a week and are hoping to get that # up to 125 soon.
Nomads and new home
We were so impressed with the tour and such a thrill to go inside ours and see it "in the making"!!!
After the tour, we left to drive back to Detroit - still snowing, but not sticking, so roads were good. Had dinner at The Merriman Street Grill, returned our rental car and then rode shuttle back to hotel and called it a day.....
Tuesday - Up and at 'em at 3:50 AM for our 4:30 shuttle to the airport. Had a good flight back to Fort Lauderdale and so enjoyed the sunshine waiting for us. It was 14 when we left Detroit with a wind chill of 1. Shared a bagel breakfast sandwich and then found Toad and hit the road back to Water's Edge.
We are so glad we made this trip - just fascinating how they put these travel trailers together (as it was when we watched Catrina being built in 1995 in Whitby, Ontario).
We did laundry this afternoon, went to the Brown Cow for ice cream and there was Butch and Joyce (from Champaign, IL) so we sat with them and yakked.....back home and then time for happy hour. Met some new folks from Tennessee - Herman and Percy, Joe and Pam. It only got to 62 today and with the strong winds, we stayed indoors at the clubhouse.
Tomorrow is our last day here as we'll be leaving the 1st for Fort Myers.
3:50 AM wake-up is catching up with us so nighty night!
