Made It To Athens, TX

Well we made it to Athens, TX on Monday afternoon where we’ll be for the next two weeks.

Athens is the home of the new National RV Training Academy (NRVTA) and headquarters for the National RV Inspectors Association (NRVIA). This year the NRVIA is having its 5th Annual Conference here at the Texan RV Park.

The President and Director of the NRVIA purchased the Texan RV Park last year with the vision of seeing the park, and the NRVTA, become a hub of RV training for technicians, mobile & RV dealer service technicians, RV inspectors, and consumer training.

We attended our first conference last year in Heber Springs, AR where we met fellow inspectors we’d trained with and new inspectors taking training at the conference. It’s been fun hooking up with friends we’ve met as inspectors.

Bob and Eric were with me when I attended Level I training in Mesa, AZ last year. Since then Eric, his wife Cindy, and Ilene and I have spent a lot of time together in Washington, Arkansas, and Texas. We caught up with Bob again last year at the conference and had the pleasure of meeting his wife Monica just the other day!

We also met Gene and Valarie as well as Mark and Justine last year at Heber Springs. Yesterday we gathered around Eric and Cindy’s shaded patio and got caught up…with the help of a few adult beverages.

Everyone at Texan RV Park is friendly and outgoing. People wave and stop and chat between classes…since Monday they’ve had Aqua-Hot training, Dometic training, and Howard and Pam are finishing up a Level II inspector’s course today…busy, busy, busy.

The conference starts Friday afternoon so we’ve had time to visit the nearby town of Athens and found several nice restaurants and a couple of wineries.

The NRVIA Conference kicks off Friday evening with a BBQ and awards banquet. The next two days will be filled with advanced training and information about the RV industry and inspections…everything from alarms to sealants, testers to warranties.

Our good friends Hoss and Janet will be staying close by and we expect to see them early next week after I complete training on Lippert systems on Tuesday. We’re looking forward to seeing them and getting caught up since we last saw them in South Dakota.

Once our two weeks are done here it’s off to The Vineyards at Fredericksburg for the winter. We’re looking forward to the next five months off the road, working on the Audie Rose, and exploring our winter digs.

Until next time; Safe Travels!