August 27-September 11, 2017
We had three major issues we wanted the REV factory service center in Decatur to address. [REV group acquired Fleetwood, the manufacturer of our unit, several years ago.] First, the front passenger slide-out on our coach was separating from its frame and had scratched the tile floor. Second, we were unhappy with the shag carpet in the bedroom: It was dark brown, reminiscent of the 80’s, and just long enough to be very hard to clean. And finally, we felt as if the king sized bed made the room feel cramped and reduced available storage space.
REV offers campsites with full power in the parking lot of its service facility. Water and a dump station are located on the property. The lot isn’t fancy, but is very serviceable.
We settled in and got to know the area a bit before our check-in appointment at 6:00 a.m. Monday. We met several members of the team that would be working on our coach and they pulled it into a garage with over 40 bays.
When possible, REV staff return coaches to the lot every afternoon and collect them again in the morning. Ours wasn’t movable or habitable (the slide was completely removed and supported on scaffolding adjacent to the coach and the bed was under construction) so we checked into a Decatur motel through Thursday night. We were concerned about how our cat Kaela would handle the change, but she took the move in stride.
Here’s what we did while the coach was repaired.
Berne, Indiana
We visited the nearby town of Berne, founded by Swiss Mennonites in 1852. Below is a picture of a canton tree with crests from all the Swiss cantons.
The Settlers Monument below honors the 82 immigrants who “cleared the land and drained the swamps, building a future for those . . . who reside here today”.
Muensterberg Plaza, where the tree and monument are located, also includes a replica of the Berne, Switzerland clock tower with a carillon and glockenspiel figurines over five feet high. 
The bear is the heraldic animal for Berne, Switzerland and it is recognized as well in Indiana.
Plaza landscaping.
REV Tour
Four brands of motor homes are made in the factory: American Coach, Fleetwood, Holiday Rambler, and Monaco. We were surprised the the same floor plan is made under more than one name, but it made sense when it was explained that this strategy is a way to increase shelf space. Dealers are given exclusive rights to sell models like our Discovery within a certain radius. If Fleetwood and Holiday Rambler have the same coach, REV’s exposure is doubled within that radius.
All coaches are made to order. A coach like ours takes about two weeks to build from chassis to final paint. Pictures weren’t allowed but seeing coaches at various stages of completion gave us a better understanding of our coach.
Decatur Sculpture Tour
Decatur is in its sixth year sponsoring a sculpture tour. Exhibiting sculptures are owned by the artists and loaned to the program for exhibit. In 2017 there were 23 sculptures. Our favorites include the following:
Bear Lee, Standing by Gary Hovey
Get Krakon by Lawrence A. Wiedman [mallet and gouge carving from sweet gum]
Farmer by Lawrence Starch [Those appear to be real seeds on the ground.]
The Old 27 Ice Cream Shop
US 27 runs from Michigan through Decatur to Florida and this ice cream shop offers a small but clever miniature golf course recognizing stops along the way including the Mackinac Bridge, a paddle wheeler on the Ohio River, a blue grass horse farm in Kentucky, Rock City in Chattanooga, Georgia peaches and Miami flamingos.
Adams County Courthouse
We moved back in to the coach Friday afternoon. The queen-sized bed is wonderful and we appreciate the cupboards and counter beside the bed. Previously, there wasn’t room even for a pair of glasses between bed and wall.
We love that the carpet is gone. We thought when we arrived in Decatur that we would have the carpet replaced with porcelain tile to match the living area of the coach. After our factory tour, we reconsidered that decision and had vinyl tile installed so as not to place too much additional weight on the back axle. We think it turned out great.
The slide-out was repaired successfully but tiles are no longer available to replace the damaged ones: The color is unpleasantly different. REV will replace all of the living area tile but we will have to schedule that work separately from this visit. We were disappointed to lose the tile we have, but we were able to choose tile of our choice from a Decatur flooring distributor. We will return to the Service Center the Monday after Thanksgiving.
There was unfortunate excitement in the REV lot over the weekend. We returned from errands to see several campers sweeping up broken glass from one of the sites. One of the coaches in the camping area had caught fire and windows had been broken out as the fire department worked to extinguish the blaze. The refrigerator had been a propane/electric combination known to have spontaneous ignition problems. The burned unit was removed and we never heard anything else. We’re thinking it doesn’t pay to put off work on recalls.
The service team had a few items to finish, so work resumed Tuesday (Monday was Labor Day). Two of the slides on the driver’s side of the coach were leaking during heavy rains and the team worked to seal those up for us. Fixing leaks is time-consuming since sealant has to dry and then the coach has to be tested for leaks. In the meantime, adventuring was put on hold while we spent the days while the coach was in service in the REV lobby with Kaela. She didn’t seem to mind being in her crate except when canines approached. Another Rev-ugee had a playpen for her five cats. We loved the idea and found one for Kaela, both for sitting outside the coach and for lobby time when we go back to Decatur. She is pictured below (magically, a few weeks into the future) exploring her new playpen.
We had hoped to leave Decatur Wednesday so we could make a leisurely drive to Fort Pierce for Dave’s sister’s wedding, scheduled for September 9. Hurricane Matthew forced the postponement of the wedding and we were able to stay in Decatur allowing the service team take its time. Everything was ready to go by Friday afternoon. We decided to spend the weekend in Decatur to take advantage of a couple of local events.
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