Red Bay & Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 18 - December 1, 2015

Red Bay & Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 18 - December 2, 2015

Red Bay, Alabama - November 18, 2015

We arrived in the Tiffin Company, in Red Bay, Alabama.  We found we were in the wrong place and were directed to the RV Park and Service Department, which was a couple of miles away.

We have a few small items that we wanted the company to check out and some minor repairs.  We figured that since we were in this part of the country we would take advantage of the Tiffin customer service that we have heard so many great things about.

We got parked, and were given a bunch of papers to complete and return.  We were then told that a Service Scheduler would be by tomorrow morning to review our list.

It was nice to have a quite evening.

Red Bay, Alabama - November 19, 2015

We were up and ready to go at 7:30 a.m., on the chance that the Service Scheduler would show up early.  As it turns out, Norris, showed up at about 9:30 a.m. which isn’t bad considering how many motorhomes they process through this service center.

We decided that we would do a little driving around the area to check it out.  Stan specifically wanted to find a place that will change oil on the RV after we leave here.  We drove around, and did not find it using the GPS.  We later found it on our own.  Not sure where the GPS went wrong. 

We decided to find a place to have some lunch.  Unfortunately, Red Bay is a pretty small community, and it is not neat and tidy.  We were rather unimpressed with all of the junk EVERYWHERE.  Oh my.  We did have a burger at a place called Jack’s and it wasn’t too bad.  Luckily, Stan agreed that we might want to eat more meals here at the motorhome.

We went to Dollar General Market.  It was not bad.  Then we went out to check out the Variety Store.  It is really sad that when Dollar General is the best store in town.  We won’t be moving here any time soon.

We went back to the motorhome and sat out in the sun.  We took the “kittens” out on leash, but that didn’t last long.  With all of the golf carts and motorhomes going by, they were ready to go inside.  When the sun went behind the building, it actually got cool, so we decided to go inside too.

Red Bay, Alabama - November 20, 2015

Even though they hope to get us into the shop today, Wanda, the service coordinator, said that we would have time to go over to the take the Tiffin Factory Tour.  The tour began at 9:30 a.m. with a short video of how the company was started.  Bob Tiffin’s Father had the Tiffin Supply, a local hardware store.  There had been a motorhome company in Red Bay that went out of business.    Bob told his Father that he would like to build motorhomes, since the motorhome company that had been in Red Bay went out of business.  In the fall, his father bought five chasees from the failed company and gave them to Bob to start the process.   By early the following year he had made all the chasees into motorhomes.

From the visitor’s center, went into the factory.  It was a huge building, with people working on specific things in each area.  We started by seeing where the components were all made, from cabinets, foam insulation cut to size, wiring harnesses, etc.

They we were taken into the assembly line portion of the building.  They started in Station one with a chasee, then moved to the next Station all the way to Station 18, where the process was completed to the point of being sent to the paint shop.

The company completes 12 motorhomes per day.  Even when the economy was bad, they complete three a day.  They do not build motorhomes unless they have an order.  No motorhomes are sold directly to individuals, they are only sold to dealers, who take the orders from the customers and are built to order.

It was a very fascinating tour.  We both enjoyed it.

We decided that we had better head back to the RV so we are ready when we take the motorhome to the service bay.   The call came about 1:30 to go to Bay 8.    We locked the “boys” aka “Monte & Max” in the bathroom, with their food, beds and litter box.  We were able to stay in the motorhome as well, which worked out well, because Stan could see how things were fixed, in case we needed to do any of it again.

We were amazed at how quickly they were able to work through our list of items.  Our biggest concern was the night shades that would not go up.  We have been living in the dark this whole trip and it was starting to drive us crazy.  They reprogramed one of the blinds, but replaced motors on two others.  He will replace the other motor on Monday.  Of the 11 items that we had listed, they completed 8 of them in the 1 ½ hours we were in there.  We need to have jacks worked on in another location. 

While they were checking out the water leak, they found that we have cracked Cap Rails on the top of the motorhome, which need to be replaced and then painted.  We are not sure how the timing will work on that.  We hope that we can get it done in the next couple of days, with Thanksgiving on Thursday, there will be nobody working.  Monday will give us a lot of answers.  We have to have the motorhome back in Bay 8 at 7:00 a.m. 

Once we got back to our RV Park site, we played some cards before turning in.  Max was exhausted from his hard day. 
 

Red Bay, Alabama - November 21, 2015

We have two days off, so we decided check out the area, and find out what there might be to find in Red Bay.  We wanted to find a place to have a bite to eat.  That is easier said than done.  We went into one place, checked out the menu and opted to leave.   From there we checked out a couple of fast food places and ended up having a hamburger at a place called Jack’s.  It looked newer and cleaner than the other option. 

We drove around the town of Red Bay and stopped in a couple of stores.  There is not a lot to see in Red Bay.  We headed back to the RV for the rest of the day.

Red Bay, Alabama - November 22, 2015

We stayed in the motorhome all day.  Stan didn’t even get dressed.  We wanted to treat ourselves to a day of NASCAR and football.  

We watched Jeff Gordon’s last race of his career.  It was great to see.  He did not win the championship, but still did well.  Kyle Busch won the Championship.  It was the first Championship that he has won in his career – he won even though he was injured and not able to race in the first 11 races of the season. 

We wanted to watch the Seahawks, but we couldn’t find it on the TV.  Bev sat at the computer and followed the Seahawk game during the race.  She was also crocheting, so was a real multi-tasker.

Red Bay, Alabama - November 23, 2015
Today is Granddaughter, Lindsey Schultz’s 17^th Birthday.  It’s a bummer that we can’t be there to share it with her.   We, of course, called to sing to her.  The poor thing had to endure that.  It is the downside of being related to us.

We had to have the motorhome in the shop by 7:00 a.m.  We only had a couple of things left to be done.  We had one last shade motor to be replaced.  We went back to the lot to wait for the call to have the jacks fixed.  When we got there, they said that we just needed to use a different lubricant, from the one that “Butch” at Paul Evert told us to use.

Since we need to go to Tuscumbia, Alabama, tomorrow, to have the rest of the work done, we figured that we had better make sure that we know where we are going, since we have a 10:00 a.m. appointment tomorrow.   It is a good thing that we did that, since, we got lost on the first try, and had to make some adjustments.   Better that we did that in a car instead of in the motorhome.

We headed back to the motorhome for another quiet evening.
 

Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 24, 2015

We needed to get up and moving from Red Bay by 8:30 a.m.  We headed to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to a Kimbrough Repair Service, where they are going to have a couple repairs done.    The good news is that Tiffin will be covering these repairs.  We made it to the repair shop without any difficulty.  They pulled us into a bay. 

We decided that we didn’t need to stick around, so we went to check out the area.  Luckily, it is much nicer than Red Bay.  We went to Waffle House in Muscle Shoals for breakfast.  Right behind Waffle House, was a store called Mike’s Merchandise that we decided that we needed to investigate.  Bev was in her glory, since they had new books for from $.50 to $5.00.  She had to buy a few to build up her supply.  Stan also found a few items to buy.

We had a few other errands to run, but decided to cut it short to head back to the repair shop  to make sure that we would be able to hook up for the night, since they have agreed to try to get our oil changed tomorrow.  We won’t be able to get the Cap Rails fixed until Monday, with the Holiday Weekend.  We think we will go to an RV Park for the next couple of days.

Just as we returned, they were backing the motorhome out of the shop.  They finished replacing the floor in the tack compartment.  Bev was worried that they might let the cats out when they backed out the vehicle, but we were lucky and the cats were just sitting there.

After a few challenges with the power, we were able to settle in and have a quite evening. 

Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 25, 2015

Fortunately, we stayed at the RV Repair shop last night, because, they were knocking on our door 9:00 a.m.  Luckily Bev was up and dressed, but Stan was not, so had to rush around, so we could get the coach over to the service bay.

Stan stayed out and watched the process, but Bev stayed inside and kept busy.  They finished changing oil and filters and we were on our way by 1:00 p.m.   We checked into the Heritage RV Park a few miles away, since we will be here for five nights.  That is much better than just sitting in their parking lot.

We decided to run a few errands.  Stan wanted to go to Home Depot.  The closest one is in Florence, Alabama, which is about 15 miles from here.  We checked out the area and found where the Cracker Barrel is, since that is where we will have Thanksgiving dinner.

From there, we went to get a few groceries, then back to Mike’s Warehouse, where Bev bought the books.  She wanted to get more books, since they had just received a new shipment the day we were there.  They are new paperbacks for only $.50. 

It was good to get back to the motorhome.

Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!  We really miss the family today.  This is Bev’s favorite holiday.  She loves to cook for the family and have everyone over for the day.   Next year. 

We decided that rather than cooking in the RV, we would go out to a restaurant.  After asking around, we found that Cracker Barrel was one of the only restaurants open.  We decided that if we went there about 2:00 p.m. we might miss the crowd.  We were not that lucky.  It is amazing how many people go out for Thanksgiving dinner.  When we got there, we were told that it would be about a 1 hour 45 minute wait.  We figured we might as well wait with everyone else.

It turns out that we were called in only about 45 minutes.  We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, including pumpkin pie.  We were stuffed but happy.

Much of the day was spent communicating with family and friends with email, phone or text.  It seems that is a great time to make contact. 

We finished the evening watching football.  We first saw Carolina Panthers beat the Dallas Cowboys, then we watched the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers.  Fun evening!

 

Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 27, 2015

We decided today would be a good day for a drive.  Since we had nothing but time, we decided to explore.

One of things that Bev wanted to visit was the Birthplace of Helen Keller, in Tuscumbia.  Through the years we have heard so much about the fantastic challenges that Helen faced, and how she overcame them. 

“Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. Her birthplace in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, is now a museum and sponsors an annual "Helen Keller Day". Her birthday on June 27 is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and was authorized at the federal level by presidential proclamation by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, the 100th anniversary of her birth.”

Helen was born a healthy child, but at about 19 month old, she came down with a very high fever.  When the fever finally broke, Helen was left deaf and blind.  Helen’s father, a wealthy man, contacted Alexander Graham Bell to get help for Helen.  Bell recommended Anne Sullivan to be her teacher.  By the time Anne was hired, Helen had become quite spoiled and out of control.  Anne was Helen’s teacher and constant companion for the rest of her life. 

The tour was very informative.  We are so glad that we went.

From there we decided to just drive around out in the country.  When we did that we saw the sign for the Coon Dog Cemetery.   It is supposed to be the only one of its kind.  Also, pretty interesting!

“The Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard is a cemetery located in rural Colbert County, Alabama, USA, reserved specifically for the burial of coon dogs. Key Underwood established the cemetery on September 4, 1937 by burying his coon dog, Troop. Underwood chose the spot as it was previously a popular hunting camp. As of August 2014, more than 300 dogs are buried at the cemetery.”

We decided that we would go back to the RV and check on the cats.

 

Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 28, 2015

This morning Bev woke up to more computer problems.  Even though Stan does not like Best Buy, we decided to go into Florence, Alabama, and check out the computers there.  Bev received an email the previous day that said they had an Asus (the kind of computer that she has) on sale.  When we got there the clerk, Brandon was very helpful and talked with the Geek Squad about getting the data transferred.  As it turns out they can do the transfer in two days.  Bev thinks she can live without her computer for two days.  We will see.

On our way back to the motorhome, we decided to stop at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame that is located only a short distance from the RV Park.  We had no idea how many famous singers came from Alabama.

“The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, first conceived by the Muscle Shoals Music Association in the early 1980s, was created by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Board, which then saw to its Phase One construction of a 12,500 sq ft after a statewide referendum in 1987. It currently stands in the town of Tuscumbia, Alabama.”

Some of the names we recognized were, Lionel Richie, Hank Williams, Nat King Cole, Tammy Wynette, Bobby Goldsboro, Temptations, Jim Nabors & Emmylou Harris, just to name a few of the ones we recognized.  We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were so glad that we went there.

 

Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 29, 2015

With the racing season over, now Sunday is football day.  We spent the day watching one game after another.  Nice and relaxing.

Tuscumbia, Alabama - November 30, 2015

We had to leave the RV Park early, since we needed to be at Kimbrough’s by 7:00 a.m. to begin the cap rail replacement.  We got there in time, but they did not get us into a bay until nearly 9:00.  We were sitting and having coffee, so that was no big deal.

Once we were in the bay, we could no longer be in the coach, so we waited around in the customer lounge to find out what to expect.  The cats were able to stay in the motorhome, and I am sure they were scared to death with the noise.  Poor little guys!

It was raining, so they did not want to put the motorhome out in the rain, since they would be painting the following day.  We needed to go in to get some items, so that we could spend the night at the Coldwater Inn, a beautiful hotel.  We hated to leave the “boys” overnight in the RV, but we did feed them and emptied their litter box, so they could settle in for the night.  It was quieter at night, so they were ok.

Neither one of us slept well, with having a different bed and new surroundings.  Stan figured that he had not stayed in a hotel since we came to Tennessee, several years ago.

Tuscumbia, Alabama – December 1, 2015

The hotel had a wonderful breakfast included with our room, so we went down and enjoyed that before we returned to Kimbrough’s to check on the motorhome.  We went in to check on the cats and feed them.  They were doing fine.

We then decided to drive to Red Bay, to the Tiffin Company to get fully checked out with them.  It was a nice day for a drive.  We were amazed at the small amount of our bill, considering what we had done.  We think that Tiffin probably paid more for our repairs than we did, since the cap rails and the tank floor where paid by Tiffin.

We knew we would not be back to Tuscumbia until after they closed, so they moved the coach outside and had it plugged in when we got back.