Camp Monaco, Harrisburg, OR

We are at Camp Monaco, Harrisburg, OR. I thought for those of you that haven't been to Camp Monaco, that I would show you some pictures and give you an idea of a few of the days here!

First of all, Camp Monaco is where you bring your Monaco product for service. Besides the price you pay for your coach, Camp Monaco is free for those that are having work done. If your coach is under warranty, service work is free, if not...well, everything is negotiable! It is located in Harrisburg, OR which is south of Salem and north of Eugene. It's a small town that is very friendly to the customers that are here! A large part of the town is made up of employees from Monaco, Country Coach and Marathon. BTW Marathon produces bus conversions which run from 1 MILLION up! We did take a tour of the Marathon Factory the other day...WOW is all I can say! Each and every coach is unique! There is also a sizable population of Mennonites in the area.

When you first get here, you either check in with the "desk" or with the security guard if it's the weekend or after hours where you are assigned a site. The majority of sites are full 50-amp electric and water. Camp Monaco also has a dump station and a laundry room (which is free for both wash/dry)! On the day of your appointment, your service writer comes out to your coach (that's about the last day that you will sleep in) and takes notes of your concerns and repair items. Each day after that one of your techs comes out bright and early (o'dark thirty for us) and picks up your coach. You're supposed to be ready with your slides in and your coach unplugged! We wondered if anyone ever said to come back a little later! :-) The tech takes your coach inside the service area. Camp Monaco has an "open shop" policy so you can go out to your coach at any time during the day. You can make lunch, check on the status of your repairs, get something, etc.

While your coach is in the shop, you can go into the customer lounge. It's not your "typical" lounge! Each day we have a schedule of activities that we can choose to participate in or not! I actually enjoy our time at Camp Monaco, but most of the guys get bored! This is an example of a few days from next week...

Mon - (9:00am) Craft class will be making a beaded watch; (10:30am) Inverter class upstairs; (1:30pm) Pampered Chef party; (3:30pm) Exterior Care demo with polishes and other products that Monaco's Paint Department (<-- that's another facility about 7 miles down the road) uses. Tues - (9:00am) Craft class will be making a Halloween Bug Witch; (9:00am) Tour of the cabinet shop; (10:00am) Ladie's Driving Class; (12:00pm) Soup & Salad for lunch; (1:00pm) movie in the lounge; (2:00pm) Card Game, Chase the Ace Wed - (9:00am) Craft class will be decorating a wooden box with lots of fun stuff; (10:00am) Day trip to some of the Lane County covered bridges. With a stop for lunch; (10:30am) Allison transmission seminar; (1:00pm) movie in the lounge; (2:00pm) Margaritas will be served. We will play the card game "99" The lounge also has a t.v., lots of tables and chairs, internet connections, couches, magazines, books, puzzles, games...lots of things to do! Of course, some of the husbands think we only know about 1/2 of the lounge...the part that has the HUGE craft table! Our host, Barbara, has lots of things to keep us busy! There is also coffee, hot cocoa, iced tea, oatmeal, pastries, etc. for your enjoyment while you're there! With the exception of the Monday morning beaded watch, everything is provided for you. When you play cards or any of the organized games you can win various prizes! Late in the afternoon, your Service Writer comes into the lounge to give you an update on your coach. That's when they let you know what's been done that day, what parts have been ordered and generally what the status of your coach is. About 3:30 pm the techs start bringing your coach back to it's site, plug it in, put the slides out and level it up. One thing I forgot to mention is the number of animals that are also in the lounge with us! There are an assortment of dogs and cats that are allowed inside, they just ask that you not allow them on the furniture! They also have water bowls available for their use AND a treat jar as well! Not too many kids, an occassional grandchild or sometimes during the summer a kid or two!

So that's a quick overview of Camp Monaco! The pictures are of the campground - one row only(30+ full hook-up and 10+ dry camping areas), the cabinet shop (building on the left), lounge and offices (building on the right) and the shop (large/long building on the far right). Finally, a picture of our motorhome in it's spot! I took all the pictures on Friday around 6:00 pm! All the employees have gone home! I didn't show a picture of the building that houses the laundry room! It's at the end of our campground rows!

We ALL look forward to Saturday and Sunday when we don't have to be up and out of our "homes! The place is buzzing with people cleaning their motorhomes, washing cars, etc.! We're going to the Farmer's Market in Eugene on Saturday with friends of ours that are here, Jerri & Lloyd Wood and on Sunday, Jerri and I are taking a class at the bead store in Eugene, Harlequin's (check out www.harlequinbeads.com)!

Today was "Ladie's Day Out". We all took a trip to Corvalis in the Monaco company van where we stopped at two bead stores and also had lunch while we were out! We had a wonderful lunch at Michael's Landing. Our table was right at the window overlooking the Willamette River! Although the day was overcast, the view was so peaceful and relaxing! I think all the ladies had a great time!