Here we are, on the road: We’re in Red Bay, Alabama

Sunday, March 07, 2010 Lorraine’s report

Well, we made it here to Red Bay, Alabama and have been into two shops for work on the coach already. It’s Sunday and I feel like we’ve been running forever.

We arrived here last Monday afternoon to find our friends Mark and Sue Didelot, Connie and Manuel Esparza, their friends George and Nancy Silva and Bob and Joanne Struka all here for work at the factory. We all went to Jack’s for burgers, visiting and lots of fun after we set up the rig.

Tuesday was a very cold day with snow showers and the temperature in the mid 30’s for the high for the day. I decided it was a good day to cook vegetable beef barley stew for dinner since it was so cold and windy. I called Connie and she told the rest of the people what I was doing and they would bring stuff to fill in for dinner. I got the stew going in the crock pot and Sue, Connie and I went in Sue’s car to the scratch and dent food store and into Fullton, MI to a Walmart. We got back with plenty of time to finish the stew. Ten people were here for stew, salad, desserts and Pass the Love, a good time for all.

Wednesday I woke up feeling tired. Mark and Sue came by just as I was fixing us brunch and they joined us for a late brunch. We played Pass the Love, since their coach was in a bay getting worked on. Since there was enough stew left over from the night before, Mark/Sue, Connie/Manuel and Chuck and I had leftovers for lunch.

I had called that morning over to Ann’s beauty salon for a hair appointment, and she told me to come in at 1:30. Ann had done my hair two years ago when we were here the first time we came to Red Bay, and she remembered me. She did a great job that time and again she did a great job this time; very reasonable and fast, and I like what she did.

We were on our own for dinner; afterwards, we had movie night, since I had bought two new movies the day before at Walmart. We all went to Sue/Mark’s house to watch 2012.

Thursday found us going into Bay 9 with Marion at 7 am. He and Chuck went over our list of stuff to be fixed, and then he started working. That day he changed three windows, fixed the torn wall paper, and a bunch of small stuff. We got out around three and the gang here all went to Mr. J’s for some really good pizza. We all went home early.

Friday found us going over to Vina to Brannon’s shop to have him install a new fan/vent for the microwave. He put in a new solid surface at the entry steps, removing the stained old carpet and several other small stuff we wanted done on the rig. I was very tired that whole day since I didn’t get to sleep before 12:30 and we were up at 5:30.

This is the one big gripe I have about this place. You have to be at the shop at 7 am when they open the doors to pull your rig in, then be back by 2:30ish to take your rig out, then set up again for the night, then do it all over again the next day. They work on Alabama time here.

This week will be even worse, since we will be having work done at Bruce Deaton’s place. He wants you there at 6 am, and we will probably be there four days.

Saturday, Chuck, Mark & I went into Tupelo, MI to get a new TV for the rig. We hit Best Buy, Sams’s Club, Walmart and Sears. We ended up getting a new 37” at Sam’s Club which we had to join to be able to buy. Chuck had been wanting to get me an IPod and so he bought one of those there too. We got all the wires, switches, and new Direct TV box at various places and then headed for home after eating at Mickey D’s.

Mark came over and he and Chuck started to change out wires, boxes etc. Sue had stayed home and made us all a wonderful Chicken, Sausage Gumbo with okra, rice and all the fixings. The rest of us filled in with stuff, and Joanne had ordered a beautiful Strawberry cake with strawberries/dipped in chocolate on top with cream cheese frosting; very delicious! The gals played Pass the Love, with me winning, while they guys just visited. With good food, good friends, what more can you ask for.

That was another busy week; we need to take some time off for me to rest a bit. It seems like I wake up and I’m already behind.

I want to wish my nephew, John a very Happy Belated Birthday, yesterday.

Until next time…..Lorraine

3/7/10 Chuck’s Report

Another fine week has pasted, spent with friends both old and new. We have now reached our final, planned destination for late winter with no firm plans for the rest of the spring. I figure we will be here maybe two more weeks or so but can’t be sure as everything here is goes by “Alabama Time”. In other words, it will get done, just not sure when. Well, at least they don’t make many mistakes because they were in a hurry (making lemonade from lemons).

We spent last Sunday touring Vicksburg, both the town and the battlefield/museum. As I said last week, it makes one wonder just how the world would be different had the South won that battle and probably the Civil War. People down here in the South seem to have a more polite, gentle, friendly, laidback style to themselves and lives in general. Wouldn’t it be nice to see that across the whole USA?

Monday we headed out towards Red Bay, part of the drive was on the Natchez Trace. This is mostly a two lane road, no trucks or commercial vehicles are allowed and the speed limit is 50 MPH. There aren’t any houses or businesses directly alongside the road, rather lots of trees, flowers and wildlife. This was a very relaxing part of the trip, not like a regular highway with folks entering/exiting, passing and cutting in front of you. We saw a couple herds of deer and one rafter of Turkeys.

Once we got to Red Bay and settled in our site, we walked over to see our friends Manuel/Connie from San Antonio and Mark/Sue from Lake Charles, La. We stayed at Manuel/Connie’s place a few weeks back, had a great time getting to know them better and seeing the area with them. Mark/Sue went to Alaska the same time we did this past summer, we met up with them a few times. We have also met some friends of theirs who are here too. George/Nancy who have their home in Coeur d’Alene, ID. and Bob/Joann who have a home in Willis, TX. All of us are here for repairs and upgrades and it just worked out that we are all here at the same time.

As usual, when this many people get together, we eat and visit with all. We have had everyone over to our coach once for stew and fixing, gone to Mark/Sue’s for gumbo and fixing and gone out to restaurants. We also like to just visit, seems the guys almost always get into a teaching/learning session on our rigs. Each of us has had different experiences and the others like to learn the techniques, solutions and outcomes to the others’ problems And of course, the card games are almost a given!

We all own a Tiffin Motorhome, built right here in Red Bay. Bob Tiffin, the owner, also has a large service center with a campground for folks to return here for service and repairs. The place is really starting to get busy as the snowbirds like to stop here on their way home in the spring and on their way South in the fall. It seems most folks also have upgrades done to their rigs while in the area too. Some of the techs work after hours to do these, others have started their own business and do modifications and upgrades for a living. These folks really know these motorhomes, most of them worked on the assembly line and/or in the service area before striking out on their own.

Our appointment was for Thursday and we were ready to pull into the service bay at 07:00 as that’s when they start work. Usually they work on your coach for as many days as needed until you are done but I already had an appointment with Brannon Hutchinson at his shop on Friday. They agreed to work on our coach Thursday then complete our list later, after we were done at Brannon’s.

Thursday morning was a slow process with our tech, Marion, in bay 9. We have five of the double pane windows that have developed seal leaks and have water between the glass. I called in two weeks ago to have the new windows made and ready for us when we got here. Well, communications on the phone aren’t the best, they had made one we didn’t didn’t need, and didn’t make one we needed. One of them doesn’t show any sign of leakage now so they didn’t install that one, instead they gave it to Mark/Sue who needed that window replaced on their coach.

After getting three windows replaced, the tech finally got started on our work list. He was able to get some serious work done in the afternoon, got about 7 items completed. We also found what may turn out to be a big issue on our basement storage compartment doors but we didn’t get into the needed repairs on them yet so don’t know what the fix will be. That’s one good thing about returning to the factory for service, these guys know what their are doing and if they don’t, they can get someone to help how does so I’m sure it will turn out ok.

We are also getting some upgrades done while here, that’s one of the reasons we had made an appointment with Brannon. We have a microwave in the kitchen but it wasn’t vented to the outside, just circulated air though it’s flimsy, charcoal filters. We wanted to have it vented to the outside which, of course, required cutting a hole through the wall. Of course, the hole has to go directly out the back of the microwave and that’s exactly where the outside light was mounted. But after a couple of hours, we now have our microwave vented outside and the “porch light” move. Still need a bit of body work to cover the electrical wiring hole for the light and some paint but it looks good so far.

We also wanted to do away with the carpeting on our entry way stairs and walls. Brannon uses solid service material (Corian), groves it so it looks like tile and glues it in place. Our friends from Ottawa, Jag/Bev had this done on their coach, we saw it and liked it so we copied it. Turned out very nice, Lorraine is pleased so that a good thing too. We also had a couple of window shades that were giving us trouble repaired while there too.

I’ve been taking advantage of some of Mark’s knowledge while here too. He understands how to hook up audio/visual stuff and he has been re-wiring and explaining how things work. We had to buy a new surround sound receiver, ours was giving us problems. Mark then wired it so it works with the TV, DVD or IPOD. We didn’t have an IPOD but it’s wired for one now. He also put in the proper wiring for all the components for the surround sound, satellite system (Direct TV ) and the TV itself.

A few months ago we had problems with our front TV, had to have one of the circuit boards replaced. It appears this TV isn’t made for the rough roads and bumping a motorhome can cause. Our plans were to replace while where in Red Bay with a bigger one. This will require some cabinet work too but at least with Mark’s help, it will be wired correctly.

So yesterday Lorraine, Mark and I took off to the big city of Tupelo, Mississippi, about an hour away, for some electronic comparison shopping. We ended up buying a new Vizio TV and an IPOD from Sam’s Club. Mark loaded up some music on the IPOD and showed us how to use it. We like it already! (Dave and Sandy, now we might want some of the music you have on yours) I need to get the cabinet work completed and the TV hung this week and that job will be complete.

For this upcoming week, we have an appointment at the body/paint shop downtown. I didn’t have good luck with Tiffin’s body/paint shop last time we were here so I made an appointment with the shop they use for overflow. He has a very good reputation amongst Tiffin owners plus he can do warranty work with little or no hassle. We go into his shop, about two miles away, for 4 days, starting on Tuesday. I’m not sure if we will get called back to bay 9 on Monday yet but they may be knocking on our door early tomorrow, we’ll see.

So the upcoming week will be more of the same, getting work done on the coach, visiting with friends, meeting new friends and of course, eating too much. We aren’t sure when we will be done here and head on down the road or even which road we will be heading on down. We have to start making some plans I guess but no big hurry. Tough life, huh?

And now for some pictures from the past week.

Vicksburg’s murals on the Mississippi waterfront.