[bstark]

David has described what I believe to be the single biggest reason why so many rigs are appearing at DRV and other service areas in and around Howe: - The various dealers, for the most part, are just not up to snuff on making some of the repairs required from time to time on these units.

As porkchop explained in his post; most of the DRV 'authorized' or 'recommended' service facilities in that area have been started up by ex-employees with a variety of experience actually building them and are well versed in the way they were assembled.

Most of the dealers, on the other hand, have too much capital investment in other (lesser) types of trailers to maintain the skill sets needed to have cabinetry work, for example, done without it looking like a rabid beaver needed his breakfast in a hurry.

That location is simply rife with RV component suppliers up to and including the suspension systems under your rig and when you show up at a place like Trailair to have anything you suspect may not be correct with your trailers suspension looked at, you will be treated accordingly at that location as well. Dale Fenton (Trailair) owns a DRV product and considers them a "family" group.

For most of us who've owned these things for a while; the problems with them are no more daunting than for any other major purchase and certainly no more prevelant than ANY other RV. They require maintenance on a regular basis as does any other item with wheels under it and the best place to get that done is near where they are built as a scheduled run south from the northland as a snowbird or perhaps as a run to their location as a bit of a holiday trip in it's own right. Lot's to see and do around Shipshewanna and Middllebury if you've never been there before with the larger areas around Goshen and Elkhart supplying anything you could desire.

There's no need for the trip to the factory area to be a PITA if you approach it with the correct mindset.