Bowling Green KY

Since James was running behind on writing about our travels, he asked me to write about our time in Bowling Green, Kentucky and Elkhart, Indiana.

After we left Salt Lick, we headed to Bowling Green. Two years ago we went to a Life on Wheels conference. This is held at Western Kentucky University every year around the middle of May. They offer seminars to help people learn about the RV lifestyle, RV options, RV systems(LP gas, electrical, plumbing, etc.) This conference is attended by people who own RVs and want to know about their rigs, those who want to learn about the full time lifestyle, and people who are considering purchasing an RV.

When James and I attended two years ago, we were more focused on the lifestyle classes. This year, we were more focused on RV systems.

We arrived a week before classes started, because I had a driving lesson scheduled. I had taken driving lessons in the Pace Arrow, but since that was two years ago and I had driven the coach only a few times, I wanted to have a driving lesson in the Dutch Star. Dennis Hill from the RV School was in Bowling Green for L.O.W. and to do driving lessons both before and after the conference.

Dennis came to our RV the morning of the lesson. James drove to a parking lot at Western Kentucky. Dennis set up cones for me to drive around. James took photographs while I was in the backing up phase of the lesson. The pictures came out great, because this was actually the easiest part of the lesson! I had to fight the urge not to stick my head out of the window to look back. Those mirrors are wonderful! I learned how to reposition them for backing up.

After the parking lot phase of the lesson was over, I drove the RV back to the campground-with Dennis telling me to move left the whole way back. I really want to hug the right side of the road when I drive something that big. Dennis however insisted it was not proper for me to remove mailboxes or signs or to destroy the tires.

At some point on the way back, it finally clicked with me how to use that left mirror to position the coach on the road. Yea! I had struggled with this before the lesson.

Peggy Waterman who is the L.O.W. conference coordinator made us feel very welcomed while we were at the park. She came by and chatted with us several times and invited us to join the group that had “happy hour” by the side of her coach in the evening. This was an enjoyable and fun time of fellowship for us.

One of the highpoints of our time in Bowling Green was seeing Dale and Cindy Sumner again. We had met them the first time we came for L.O.W. L.O.W. offers a “newbies” pre-conference. Dale was the RV tech who came by our coach to talk to us about our coach. His wife Cindy did not have an official job at L.O.W., but she came to our coach and gave me helpful hints on organizing and showed me how to use my micro-convection oven. We saw them at the conference and during the two days we stayed after the conference. They were a real encouragement to us.

They are no longer connected to Life on Wheels, but just happened to be in Bowling Green the same time we were. We enjoyed going out to eat with them and being with them once again.

Dale came to our coach and gave us all sorts of helpful hints again! He is a certified master RV tech. He and Cindy winter in Florida where Dale works as a mobile RV tech. The rest of the year they travel to RV rallies. Dale installs an electrical protection system in coaches and has put one in both the coach we just sold and the one we own now.

The way this system works is--you plug your electrical cord into the supply post at your camp site. If there is any problem with the electricity at the post, it does not allow the power to flow to your coach. It also supplies you with the information you need to know if there is a problem or not. If a problem exists you can request a different campsite. This system will shut your power off if the voltage at your site drops or rises too much. We have met enough people who had damage done to their RV electronics so we think this system is well worth the price. It is also supposed to protect your electronics from lightning strikes. We hope not to ever report on this based personal experience!

Cindy had their coach redecorated since the last time we saw them. I love the way it looks so Cindy gave me the business card from the people who had redone it. The decor in our coach is very nice, but we have started to make a few changes I will tell you about in the Elkhart , Indiana section.