[BusNit]

As many remember I had the coach painted last October at CDI. Over the winter the paint wrinkled in some spots where the horizontal trim meets the aluminum skin. I believed this to be caused by the different thickness metals expanding and contracting over the winter. I also believe the issue is where the paint and clear coat flowed from the side skin into the little shelf made by the side molding. CDI sent two reps to my house in January and we all confirmed that is what was going on. Fast forward to today where I scheduled a time with them to bring the coach so they could take care of this. There were around 20 spots where this happened which really warranted a trip to a professional place. Some of the defects were right in the graphic design or where the paint faded. Not something that I would let a local mobile guy try to fix. I drove from Phx to Iowa last Saturday and arrived on Sunday at 11:20am. On Monday they took the coach right in despite the rains that ensued overnight. I am staying at a local hotel which is about 3 miles away. I did not tow a car but instead brought my e-bike. CDI gave me a loaner car. They have been great to deal with and found some more spots I didn't see around the windows. Jason, the plant manager and I went to lunch and talked about family and business. He is just a really great human being and truly down to earth. I appreciated his time and lunch treat. Tom McCloud recommended some places to eat and one of them was Awe'z sandwich shop where they serve up an amazing ground beef sandwich. It is basically a sloppy Joe without the sloppy sauce. I was in heaven and ordered a second meal to go for the hotel. The people of Iowa are just so nice and friendly. I visited a few parks in the area and have been at peace with myself. Marie didn't come along on this trip since we need her to keep working! Incidentally, I forgot my TSD fuel card at home. Nonetheless I have been finding diesel is still cheap at mom and pop truck stops where it would cost about the same or less than the TSD discount. $3.29 and $3.11 have been my two per gallon price top offs along the way. There is another Newell here that has been painted that I will meet the owner of tomorrow. His coach turned out beautiful. His is a 2007 I believe.