The adults made a trip out to Howe, IN for a tour of the DRV Suites RV factory on Connie’s birthday. They spent about 2 hours looking through the factory, observing construction details and asking a bunch of technical questions (well, Neil had a bunch of them anyway) about stuff they want in their RV. Both of them were quite impressed with DRV’s products and the Elite Suites is on their short list.

After the tour of the factory they drove over to Captains Cabin Restaurant which is on Crooked Lake in Angola, Indiana for birthday dinner. They had great steaks and caramel cheesecake for desert. The only problem was that it was way (and we’re talking really really way here) out in the middle of nowhere…Neil was seriously worried that if anybody swept up the bread crumb trail he left behind they would never make it back to the hotel even with GPS. The place was pretty packed on a Friday night in the middle cold snowy weather in the middle of nowhere…so take my word for it and drop by if you’re ever in Northwest Indiana.

The other manufacturer on the short list is New Horizons which is located in Junction City, Kansas. They’re making a trip there early in the new year as part of a trek to LA for a performance of that Saint-Sëans Organ Symphony No. 3 they keep going places to listen to. New Horizons is a true custom build RV manufacturer building every unit to custom specifications. DRV is a production line but will do lots of customizations; because they are a series production line their prices are lower than New Horizons. Feature wise either is a very nice coach but Connie needs to decide which one she likes better after they take the second tour. Neil will be happy with either and will especially be happy if Connie is happy. While the features and construction of the New Horizon are slightly higher; he says that better is the enemy of good enough…and isn’t sure that the extra cost is really worth it since DRV can handle all of the modifications they want anyway (he’s not sure it isn’t worth it either…he’s just waiting on Connie to decide which she likes better).

While they’re on their trip to Kansas and LA they’re going to take a ride out to Palm Springs in California and check out a place called The Sands RV Resort where lots of RVers spend the winter in the warm weather.

In other news; Neil’s sister Mary Jane and her daughter Lauren came up on the Megabus for Thanksgiving and their human kids Bryan and Jen came up from Richmond as well for a gourmet dinner. There was antipasto to start followed by brined and roasted chicken, spaetzle with carmelized onions and Gruyère cheese (the French version of Swiss cheese but so much better than domestic Swiss Cheese), pumpkin casserole with maple and pecans, and the most outstanding desert. Bread pudding made out of Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Raisin Bread, eggs, and cream with a brown sugar toffee sauce. It was stupendously good (well, at least the humans said it was…nobody offered me any). Neil and Connie got a list from both Bryan/Jen and Mary Jane on stuff they might like when they sell their house and move into the RV.

Here are a couple of pictures of the DRV model they’re considering; it’s the Elite Suites 38RSSB3. This model has the couch in the rear and the entertainment center on the left side towards the back with the bedroom in the front and a single side bath; it also includes an island in the kitchen and all the technical stuff that Neil insists on having. He took lots of pictures of the factory but I won’t bore you with posting all of them…if you’re interested let me know in the comments and I’ll add some more.

Elite Suites 38RSSB3

Kitchen and Living Room