Friday morning started at the Alpine Coach Association (ACA) group area with a continental breakfast. At 9am, Dave Hobden picked me up and we drove to Roadmaster in Vancouver, Washington. A tour was scheduled for our group. After we arrived, we were split up into three groups with about 20 people in each group. This way, we could hear our guide throughout the tour and not disrupt production too much.

Roadmaster was founded in 1974 by Jerry Edwards. He still owns the company, which most RVers associate with tow bars and towed vehicle braking systems. We met Jerry before we started the tour. He has a motto: “Quality has to be built in, it can’t be added on.” We would learn how this commitment to quality is applied in the factory and also see how Roadmaster manufactures so much more than tow bars.

Rather than try to give a blow-by-blow account of the three-hour tour, I’ll try to give a high-level overview with a few photos. The quality of the photos isn’t great – the lighting was challenging much of the time.

The facility we were in was built in 2008 and encompasses 95,000 square feet of floor space. In this factory, raw materials such as steel are machined, bent and forged. Electrical wiring harnesses are fabricated and electronic components are built. Upstairs, research and development and quality control testing takes place. Quality control is also performed at other points along the factory floor.

We learned that Roadmaster is a supplier for other companies, such as suspension specialty companies and the United States military.

Many of the fabricated steel parts need to be cleaned up after welding or forging. Roadmaster uses a bead blasting machine to accomplish this. Bead blasting not only cleans up the surface and removes slag, it also work hardens the surface.

After the bead blasting process, the parts get a powder-coat finish.

At the end of the line, we saw some finished products ready for packaging.

Upstairs, every brake controller and other electronic components are tested before they are packaged and shipped. 100% tested! Small parts are vacuum-packed on cards upstairs and the cards are packaged for shipping.

At the end of the tour, we were outside the building and were surprised to find something else Roadmaster builds in their 40,000-square-foot facility across the river in Portland, Oregon.

Roadmaster builds volumetric mixers. These are specialty cement mixers built on a Kenworth chassis. These are not the usual rotating bucket cement mixers. A volumetric mixer has separate compartments for water, gravel, sand and cement. The concrete is mixed onsite as needed. These mixers are increasingly used in the construction and repair of concrete interstate highway projects. The exact amount (up to 12 cubic yards) of quick-setting concrete can be made up onsite and quickly deposited. This allows fast job completion and reduces waste. The turnaround time for the truck is quick also – a front loader refills it with gravel and sand while hoppers refill the water tank and cement bin. The truck can even be moved and operated from outside the vehicle with a remote control!

I don’t think any of us knew that Roadmaster built these machines.

I came away from the tour impressed by Roadmaster’s commitment to quality. It was evident in the choice of materials, the research and development and the quality control measures.

After the tour, we were treated to lunch under a large canopy in the parking lot. After we were served, the entire crew of about 170 people employed at the site joined us. Jerry Edwards has many long-term employees – apparently he treats them right. A few employees were seated at our table. They told us that a group tour, such as the one we just experienced, was a rare occurrence. Vic Egg, one of our ACA hosts, did a great job working with Roadmaster to set this up.

There was another tour scheduled in the afternoon at the Pendleton Woolen Mills in nearby Washougal, Washington. Dave and I decided to pass. Three hours on our feet at Roadmaster was enough.

When I returned, I found Donna preparing for a bike ride. She went out with our neighbors, Dave and Susan Weber, from Wenatchee, Washington. Donna led the way as she has a pretty good grasp of the routes around here now. They made a 30-mile loop.

On Friday night, we had a BYOB social at the group area with taco plates catered by Uly’s restaurant in Gresham. The tacos were great and the talk at the table was fun.

Saturday started with fresh bagels in the group area. From there we had an open schedule. Donna and I scootered to downtown Portland. We went to the Portland Saturday Market on the Willamette River by the Burnside Bridge.

The Portland Saturday Market is actually a weekend open air market that runs from March to Christmas Eve, Saturdays from 10am to 5pm, Sundays from 11am to 4:30pm.

We wandered through the stalls and looked at stuff – lots of local products and artwork for sale.

On the food court by the river, there was a bluegrass band performing. They played a tongue in cheek version of Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child o’ Mine.

We walked across the street where there were more vendors and another food court. We grabbed some lunch and listened to a blues trio that was performing there. It was a fun way to spend midday, shopping around and listening to free, live performances.

On Sunday morning, we have brunch scheduled at Multnomah Falls. Multnomah Falls is about 16 miles from here, up the Columbia Gorge. It’s the second highest year-round waterfall in the USA, plummeting 620 feet to the pool below. Only Yosemite Falls is higher.

I’ll pack the trailer Sunday afternoon in preparation for travel on Monday. We’ll have to pull out of here before 9am Monday to meet up with the ACA group in Redmond, Oregon at noon. I may not post again until Tuesday. We have a busy week ahead at the Family Motor Coach Association Convention.