Catoctin Furnace & MH Inspection

Today was the big day to get the motorhome inspected so we could get Maryland tags on it.  We got up early and were ready to drive over to the inspection station and arrived 35 minutes early.  We sat there and fixed our lunch and finished about the time the technician came to pick up the motorhome.  He said it would take 3-4 hours and we could pick it up around 5pm.  That left us 4 hours to kill so off we went.

Thurmont, MD is just down the road and it is an interesting old town.  We stopped by Catoctin Furnace historical site to see what was there.  We've driven by this area hundreds of times over the years and never stopped to see the furnace works that date back to before the Revolutionary War and steel and cannon balls were manufactured during the war for the U.S.  Some of the buildings were in ruins and others restored to their original time period.

Ruins of Ironmaster's Home

The actual furnaces were located about 100 yards in front of the above house.  It must have been impossible to keep the home clean with all the smoke, soot and debris from the furnaces.

Isabella Furnace

The Catoctin furnace site is just south of Thurmont, MD and on Catoctin Furnace road.  The area is well maintained and there is a self guided walking tour of the area.  Now we know what they were talking about when they mentioned.the furnace area.  Just down from this area is the Catoctin Mountain Zoo which used to be a snake farm.

We went back to the RV center to wait for the completion of the inspection and sat in the waiting room watching Channel 8 news out of Washington, DC repeat itself every 30 minutes.  It was in a busy walk through area and each time an employee would walk through is was "how are you doing" etc.  It reminded us of Lazydays where all the employees welcome you and ask how you are doing.  

While I was there I returned a part that I had purchased in October 2011 and never used.  The original cost in 2011 was $71 and now it is selling for $103 without any improvements.  Who says the cost of living isn't going up leaps and bounds?  I offered it to them for the $103 but that didn't fly with them.  I was happy to get my $71 returned without any hassle.

We finally got the MH back and it passed inspections with flying colors.  We do have a leak in the radiator fan motor and will need to have that repaired.  It should be covered under warranty and if not, we have an extended warranty that will cover it.  Now we have to find a Tiffin dealer that can repair the leak.

The next step will be to get the repair done and possibly drive out to South Dakota and become residents of that state.  It doesn't really matter what our address is, just that we have an official address for Homeland Security.  There are a lot of advantages to having a South Dakota address and we are seriously considering making this move.  Lots of thinking will have to go into this possible next step.

We are now camped at the Gettysburg Battlefield Resort as their guest for a few days.  We will attend a presentation on Thursday morning, listen to their spiel, but they have us in a 30amp site and we only have 106-108 volts and not enough to safely run our a/c.  Not a very good introduction to the place.  We also have our electric and water lines running across a small creek which is dry at the moment.  What a crazy way to provide connections for the campsite.  More to come on this on Thursday after the sales pitch.