May, 2008 - We had been kicking around the idea of upgrading to a fifth wheel trailer
since our winter months in Quartzsite and Yuma, Arizona. We loved the little Lynx
and it had taken good care of us. If we were traveling only part-time, six to nine months
a year, then there would have been no need to change. A 27' travel trailer is ideal for
skipping around the country seeing the sights if you have a home to return to.
However, with fulltime travel we found there were periods where we needed to stop and
simply live for a while. We couldn't keep moving continuously. We had to catch our
breath, absorb what we'd seen, and simply be: watch TV, read, talk, write, maintain the
rig, etc. During the cold months, on rainy days and during long winter nights, we
always secretly wished we had just a little more room. So we began researching fifth
wheels.
By May we had a stack of brochures three inches thick and had been in and out
of hundreds of trailers on maybe 20 different dealer lots across the country.
We had interviewed anyone and everyone that was in a fifth wheel to find out
what they liked and didn't like about their brand. We had narrowed down the
search to three prospective manufacturers: NuWa (pronounced "New Way" as
in "New Way of Camping" coined circa 1965) in Chanute, Kansas, Alpenlite
(Western Recreational Vehicles) in Yakima, Washington, and Arctic Fox
(Northwood Manufacturing) in LaGrande, Oregon. We had seen the Arctic Fox
plant the previous summer (along with Fleetwood which has a plant 50 miles
away). When we had planned to go to Florida we had decided to stop at NuWa
in southeastern Kansas on the way home after passing through the Ozarks.
Chanute is a small city largely supported by the NuWa manufacturing plant and its
companion plants, Young's Manufacturing (which makes trailer frames, including
some for NuWa), and HiLo Manufacturing (which makes trailer furniture and
cabinets, including some for NuWa). When we signed in at the town's historical
center, of the fifteen people who signed in before us, fourteen were visiting the
NuWa plant and one was looking for a job.
We slipped out of
sightseeing mode as soon
as we arrived in Chanute.
We were there to visit the
factory and learn more
about their fifth wheel trailers. While we stayed in the city park, a pretty park
with an area for RVs, we took many afternoon and evening jaunts around
the park, on foot and by bike. It is a lovely place with an old train engine you
can climb on, a historic bridge and a waterfall that gushes with amazing
force when it rains hard.
There was a family of
Canada geese that we
watched grow up during our stay:
two parents, five goslings and a
nanny. The nanny was always with
the family, but she (or he?) wasn't a
Canada goose. Other geese came
and went, but this family, including
the nanny, always stuck together.
There were ducks at the park too,
and one pair was on eggs.
The city park is well used by the locals and by all kinds of travelers too.
Ninety percent of the RVs in the park were NuWa owners who were in
town for warranty or other service work on their trailer. However we saw
several traveling cyclists come through with panniers and tents, and at one
point a carnival came into town and their trailers filled the park. One night
as we walked we saw some very fit people milling about, and they turned
out to be part of the
World Harmony Run, a group that was running relays around the US all summer.
There were eight runners with them in Chanute, and they were running about
100 miles a day as a relay.
NuWa opens its doors to visitors with a formal factory tour every morning. We
took the tour three times, and each time there were at least 10 people on the
tour. The NuWa employees were extremely hospitable, and Debbie in HR and
Brett in Sales made us feel right at home. We mingled at the plant almost daily,
saw familiar faces fishing in the park in the evenings, and bumped into Ed Cox, a
sales manager and the city mayor, repeatedly, all over town. We became more
and more enamored of the company. It is well run and tight knit. We visited the
plant at one of the worst possible times in their 50-year history. With the US
economy slowing and gas prices skyrocketing, the RV industry was not happy. While we were in town we learned that four major
high-end RV manufacturers had closed their doors: Travel Supreme,
Western RV (Alpenlite and Alpine Coach), Alpha (See Ya!), and King of
the Road. These were all direct competitors for NuWa. In preparation
for the downturn, NuWa had consolidated two plants into one and
streamlined their workforce to carry the company forward.
We talked extensively with all the NuWa owners in the RV park. Most
would come in for just three or four days, so we ended up becoming
friendly with quite a few owners during our month in town. Many invited
us in to see their trailers, and all talked extensively about their
experience with the trailer, their dealer and the factory. Everyone was
in town with problems to be fixed, but there was no pattern to the
problems. The only pattern we saw was that people liked their trailers
(many were repeat buyers), and they seemed very happy with the
service they received.
When we arrived in town we thought we might eventually order a Discover America 333RL, and we peppered everyone who would
listen at NuWa with questions about its various options and what modifications might be coming up in the future. By the time we left
we had found there was a 2007 Hitchhiker II LS 34.5 RLTG sitting in the back lot that had never gone out to a dealer. It was one of
the last 2007's built and it was in the color I liked (which had been discontinued). NuWa sells through dealerships exclusively, so we
worked out a deal with Russ Herron at NuWa and Carl Fogleman at H&K Camper Sales in nearby Columbus, Kansas, and suddenly
we were the proud owners of a new trailer!
NUWA FACTORY TOUR
H&K Camper Sales is a fantastic dealership, and they allowed us
to park the two trailers side-by-side in the VFW park in Columbus
for a few days while we moved things over and got organized. The amount of extra floor space was startling, and the new rig felt
very luxurious. It was a sad day, however, when John from H&K towed the Lynx away. But our smiles quickly returned when we set
ourselves up in the Santa Fe city park in Chanute, right along with all the other NuWa owners!
After testing out all the systems in the new trailer and making sure everything worked properly, we were ready to go back out west
again. We had been living in Tornado Alley for the peak month of Tornado Season and had already been evacuated once to the
Super 8 motel across the street. When you're living in a trailer in Kansas and the cops knock on your door and tell you to evacuate,
you do as you're told!! Luckily, no tornados came through Chanute, but the day we were evacuated, Pricher, Oklahoma, 80 miles
away, was devastated. A man living in a 1980's vintage Holiday Rambler travel trailer that ended up in a million pieces was really
interested in buying the Lynx from H&K. Hopefully he worked out a deal and was able to move in. Meanwhile we wanted to get to
northern Arizona to install our solar panels and start our summer travels.