A "Triumph" in Boston

Home again. It was a strange sensation to drive through Boston in a 40 foot motorhome amidst rush hour traffic. Both of us felt our stomachs knot and a rush of something (was it coming back to the hustle-bustle of city life-or the nauseating reminder of life in corporate America?)

We finally made it through the narrow streets of Salem and got to a beautiful site overlooking the Salem harbor- with a spectacular view of Marblehead from our front window. Strangely enough, the park was almost devoid of motorhomes. We decided that it must be a case of the bad weather/non-existent spring in the Northeast keeping everyone away. Even the boat ramp traffic was fairly light (at least for the first few days).

We spent a few days settling in- washing and detailing Maby Dick. We got a chance to have lunch with Sarah and Mark. They came up to see our ‘home’ and were suitably impressed. Then we got to see Martin and Christine’s new house and catch up with them (and James and Katherine). Our first week home was a whirl of doctors, dentists, mammograms, eye exams- with visits to our favorite restaurants in-between (our refrigerator was suddenly filled with Indian and Korean take-out). We got a chance to go to the old neighborhood and have dinner with Rick and Jim. It was tough to drive down the street and see our old house- looking very much the same. It was an odd feeling of sadness and relief.

On Saturday, we picked up the Honda from Doug and Faye’s house. We had a great lunch at their house- in the sunroom overlooking their new pool. John rode the Honda back to Salem, returning with a bad case of “biker butt”. Since my helmet was missing, we decided to pick up a new helmet. As I was buying my $65 helmet, I saw John resting on a Triumph talking to one of the sales reps. I knew we were in trouble just looking at the smile on his face. An hour later and John had negotiated a good trade-in on the Honda Ascot and a $4500 2001 Triumph Bonneville was in our future. We drove the Honda down for the official trade-in and John started the ride back on his new bike. He made it to the Tobin Bridge and had problems-so it was back to the dealership. That night, he got a ride home from one of the sales reps while they serviced his bike. On Saturday, Martin stopped by for lunch and a tour of Maby Dick. He drove John to the dealership and I took the train down for Sarah and Mark’s engagement announcement party that night. After a few hours on their roof deck, we took off for our first ride together on the Triumph. It was a great ride and we both loved the bike.

Our first Factory Visit

We made our way to Sandy and Gerry’s house for a pre-factory weekend. They have a beautiful house in Spencerville, Indiana- a Victorian farmhouse with a huge garage for Gerry and a small office for Sandy’s business. It was quite a sight to see the Eagle and the Heritage parked side by side. We had some great meals at the local Greek restaurants and a huge family style meal on Sunday. On Sunday night, Gerry and Sandy led us over to Decatur to get us settled in at the factory. The lot was full- ready for the 6:00 am check-in on Monday morning.

What a way to start the week. At 5:45, John was at the American Coach service door- along with 20+ other people awaiting service. We met our service advisor and walked through the list of to-do’s. Then, the work started and we were “homeless”. American Coach was in the process of getting ready for a huge announcement so they weren’t having factory tours. But, as we found out, we were in the middle of motorhome central- all within an hours’ drive. So, we spent our days going on other vendors’ factory tours- Travel Supreme, Newmar and Monaco. It was a strange experience watching this cottage industry that resembled home construction rather than car assembly. It was also a learning experience. Between factory tours, we got smart talking to other owners and factory people. The Spartan factory rep was a wealth of information as were our ‘neighbors’ in the parking lot. We spent some time in the service lounge listening to ‘horror stories’ from other owners (stories of sliders falling out on the road-leaving a gaping hole in the side of their motorhome) and getting advice. We met a slew of interesting people- Doris and Dale next door to us, Sheri and George and Bob and Trudi. We also got a little taste of Americana in Decatur with places like Arnolds Drive-in- complete with roller-skating waitresses or the Whippy Dip Ice Cream stand. It was just like being back in the 50’s.
True to form, we found another way to spend money on our coach. In search of a cup holder, we stopped by a local craftsman specializing in custom cabinetry for American coaches, “From Trees to These”. In addition to the stock cup-holders and magazine racks, he also made custom cabinetry. We saw one of his dinette/office additions and knew we had to have it. So, we spent time with Greg sketching out the plans and scheduled a return date for late July.