Volume 3 Number 6 New Horizons Owners Newsletter Nov/Dec 2001
March, 1999 marked the initial publication of Horizon Herald. It seems strange that this will be our last issue as editors.
Most of the time, we liked doing the newsletter. Sometimes we didn't know what we would put in it, and deadlines came earlier than we wanted. But everything finally came together. Another issue mailed!
Also, we enjoyed getting acquainted with all our readers, and meeting and spending time with some, usually at the rallies or the favorite site for interesting exchanges, the factory.
But the time has come for someone else to take over. We will miss putting it together, but are also relieved it will no longer be our responsibility.
We want to thank everyone who sent us items, from a single sentence to full-length articles. It would not have been a successful newsletter without your contributions. We did nag frequently, but trust you didn't take it personally.
Please help your new editor, Nancy Moon, by stuffing her mailbox with travel tales, technical stuff, how-tos, and whatever. She's eager to get started.
And kudos to Harold Johnson for his encouragement and financial support: cost of printing, labels, postage. We appreciate Harold. His know-how, caring, patience and honesty qualify him for election to the Hall Of Fame, category Special Person.
Subscription Fees For 2002 Are Due by December 31, 2001: $9.00 for NH owners,$12.00 for all others, calendar year basis. Send to Nancy Moonaddress elsewhere in this newsletter. Let's give Nancy a good start. Send your check NOW.
Nancy says she would love to be showered with your contributions for the newsletter. Make it a flood of information.
Don hopes to go through past issues of the newsletters that we edited, and select items and articles for a booklet; tentative working title, The Best From Horizon Herald. Hopefully, it will get published by and by.
We don't know where we will be next year. Looks like we may be giving up fulltiming and settling somewhere, probably Colorado. We're interested in maintaining contact. Keep in touch. May God bless you and yours and give you safe travel in your NH. (Don and Helen)
Effective immediately, Nancy Moon is editor of the Horizon Herald. Send contributions for newsletter and subscription fees for 2002 to: Nancy Moon, 8409 Mile Tree Drive, Fort Smith AR 72903. Fees we have received for 2002 will be forwarded to Nancy. (Don and Helen McAnally)
About me: My name is Nancy Moon. I am a native of Arkansas though I was born in Oklahoma where I have deep roots (in Tahlequah -- Cherokee Nation). I will soon be 43 years old, am divorced, and traveling solo in my 1994 32-foot New Horizons fifth-wheel and 1995 Dodge Ram 2500 V10 truck.
I foolishly :o) abandoned my career in history museums to hit the road and seek a more adventurous, less structured (if less secure) lifestyle. I earn my living doing freelance museum work and other odd jobs I can find when the money gets low.
I developed my newsletter experience
doing history museum and museum association newsletters. I love doing them
and really am looking forward to doing the Horizon Herald.
As for plans for the newsletter, I will follow the lead of the wonderful
previous editors by opening each issue with a story on some aspect of our
fabulous brand -- new developments at the factory, or how our rigs are constructed,
or whatever. I'll also keep up the side column with short quotes from fellow
NH owners, and hopefully have something approaching a technical article
each time. And I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve for new things to try.
I plan to send out a postcard questionnaire to generate some fodder for future issues. I'll probably keep to the same publication schedule you have already established.
My RV life: I leaped into fulltiming a year and a half ago, having literally no RVing experience. I did have plenty of book-larnin', though, having educated myself by researching RVs for four years, mainly on the Internet.
The Escapees website was very helpful, among others. Various RVing experts I contacted by email had recommended New Horizons to me as a top-notch brand, so when I found my used rig waiting for me only eight miles from my home, I knew it was The One.
Thus far my journey has taken me from Arkansas to Colorado and back, then over to Oklahoma for ten months, then on a wide swing through the Midwest, as far north as Minneapolis, and over to the east coast. Now I'm on my way to the Gulf of Mexico to settle in somewhere for the winter. (Arriving so late, I hope there will be room left for me there!)
I'd love for our readers to immediately shower me with contributions for the newsletter. (That is within the realm of possibilities, though admittedly way out on the fringes. But it doesn't hurt to ask.)
For now, people can send snail mail to me at 8409 Mile Tree Drive, Fort Smith, AR 72903 (my darling mother is currently serving as my mail forwarding address). My first issue will give a new address for snail mail.
People can reach me by phone (cell) (918) 284-9970. Email me at nancymoon@earthlink.net.
For this issue, Great Destinations from Rally 2001 attendees.
It has been heartwarming to see the resurgence of patriotism in this country since the terrible events of September 11. We've seen small towns with American flags hanging from every bridge overpass or light pole, and an Illinois Interstate with flags all along the median strip of the highway.
Also, truckers with flags hung across the back of their rigs, and billboards reading: "In God We TrustUnited We Stand" or "God Bless America." We even saw billboards with paintings of the beautiful, rippling Stars and Stripes. In Pennsylvania, a hand-lettered sign hung from an Interstate overpass: "America! God shed his Grace on thee." It makes us proud to be Americans! (Gen and Kirk Griffith)
How many times have you sung, or listened to, the Star Spangled Banner? It's a four stanza song, but usually we only sing the first stanza. Too bad, because the fourth stanza answers the question, "O, say can you see...?, and speaks to us in times of crisis, echoing down through the centuries.
Oh thus be it e'er when free men shall
stand
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation!
Blested with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that has made and presrv'd us a nation
And conquer we must when our cause it is just
And this be our motto: `In God is our trust.'
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. (Francis Scott Key)
(Ed. note: comments paraphrased from a column by Eric Hubler, San Antonio Express News, Friday, 09/ 21/0l)
We enjoyed wonderful weather during the third annual New Horizons rally held at Tuttle Creek State Park, Manhattan KS, Sept. 27-30: lots of sun, temps in the mid to high seventies, and only light breezes. And a lot of really fine people attended. Too bad you weren't there.
Rig count was 45 and 10 wannabees. Seems like the number of attendees who yearn for a New Horizons increases every year. It's a great opportunity for them to see a variety of floor plans and talk to the owners.
Special thanks for the steering committee and their hard work. They did a great job: considerate and helpful, excellent program, smooth functioning. Give them a big hand.
Kirk and Gen Griffith, chairpersons, Jim and Linda Dollinger, Earl and Lynda Hylton, Herb and Becky Lind, Bill and Gisela Pollock, John and Barbara Ragland, Bill and Patti Sadd, Joe Thompson and Mary K. O'Neill.
Program highlights included:
Kirk and Gen Griffith share: As members of the 2001 New Horizon Rally committee, we'd like to express our thanks to Horizons, Inc. for providing the delicious hog roast and the band, North Forty, that we enjoyed after the feast.
The bluegrass and gospel music was great, the night air crisp, and many people sat around the bonfire as we watched an almost full harvest moon rise in the sky behind the banda perfect evening.
We think it would also be worthwhile to report that a number of attendees expressed to us that they were relieved and heartened to be enjoying a normal activity in a land that is still fee to travel.
As members of the committee, we were glad that we arrived three days before the rally and stayed a couple of days after. So we had time to renew acquaintances and make new ones, since committee responsibilities kept us busy during the rally. (Kirk and Gen Griffith)
The Horizon Rally 2001 attendees voted to donate some of the registration moneys remaining after all rally expenses had been paid to the American Red Cross national disaster relief fund. Total available, $388. The rally committee sent the Red Cross a check for $138 in the name of New Horizons owners. $250 will be held as initial funding for Rally 2002.
Several attendees volunteered to serve
on the Rally 2002 steering committee. Chairpersons: Sue and Roger Bell,
14081 Montgomery Dr., Westminster, CA 92683.
email: rogbell@earthlink.net
Questions for those who use macerator pumps. Do you use it exclusively? Any problems? Our trailer came equipped with one, but after using it for almost a year I removed it. The way it was plumbed up I had to use it as the primary way to dump both the black and gray tanks.
The motor is rated for 15 minutes; this limits the time it can operate without overheating. After dumping both tanks and rinsing out the black tank, the motor would be too hot. I believe the size of the tanks is the problem. The motor runs too long, too many times to pump both tanks; gray and black, 70 and 50 gallons, respectively.
I never ran the motor longer than seven minutes at a time, resting between runsstill too hot. The other side of this is how long it took to dump the tanks. This isn't a glamorous topic, but one that RV'ers face on a regular basis. (Don/Leanne Bell)
Cookware
We want to thank those at the rally who recommended the T-FAL Ingenio® cookware. The pans nest neatly together because the handles aren't fixed; saves a lot of space. Instead, two clip-on, removable handles are provided. Were they thinking of RVers? We bought a set and love it. (Helen McAnally)
Get Together In WV
There was a short, informal get-together of NH owners, gonnabees and wannabees at the Lewisburg Fall Escapade.
If anyone is interested in chairing
a BOF for NH owners, contact me. The chairperson needs to be someone who
frequently attends Escapades. Contact me at: njoet@earthlink.net (Joe Thompson)
More and more we're being jolted out of our noise-conscious skins by all kinds of noise pollution: car, truck, RV doors, cell phones, generators, idling diesels, loud TVs, radios and stereo systems, barking dogs, etc. Could it be that we've lost touch with basic courtesy and being considerate of others' personal space?
We've been fulltiming for eight years. Like many Rvers, we looked forward to new challenges and the romance of seeing new places and hiking in pristine mountain settings. One of our earlier memories was of a beautiful state campground in Alaska. We often saw a moose and her calf grazing on patches of clover. We enjoyed the songs of the birds. But this scene was regularly interrupted and destroyed by the clattering of RV generators.
The generator noise was so prevalent in the more rugged campgrounds we visited that we decided to try private RV parks. We thought we could get away from the noise, and for a while it worked. With Rving on the upswing, we noticed an increase in the numbers of very large RVs. The heavier units called for bigger diesel engines, both in motorhomes and tow vehicles. Result - big increase in noise pollution.
Since we're fulltimers, we don't have anywhere else to go. So we're forced to co-exist. We've begun a search for a permanent home in a quiet neighborhood. Maybe we'll only go camping in the off-season. (Violet and Richard Buthmann)
There were ten New Horizon 5W trailers at the Mid Duty Truck Rally in Rayne, LA. That was ten percent of all the trailers there. Pretty impressive, I thought. We got together one night for a Cajun dinner at a local restaurant.
We all had a great time being in the parade. Can you imagine a parade of trucks two miles long, all decked out with flags and patriotic banners? The school kids loved us when we sounded our air horns.
Before the rally we stayed at Betty's RV Park in Abbeyville, LA. This is a great park and Betty is very tuned in to Escapees. (John and Barbara Ragland)