Settling into Red Bay

From the sounds of the comments, it seems as though it might be some kind of torture to have to come here to Red Bay, Alabama and get some repairs completed.  But to most of us loyal Tiffin owners, it is not like that at all.

We come here willingly because we feel there is no place to get things fixed up like the factory itself.  We  rely upon the folks here to know exactly how to correct our problems in the shortest time possible, with an almost endless supply of parts in the crib behind the counter.

Now the campground is not lavish or plush or even nice, but the gravel parking lot is adequate and has full hookup pedestals between every site.  Last year it was dusty with white rock on the streets, but this year they have added a darker grey rock to the roads that does not seem to have as much dust.  But tomorrow, when everyone lines up in front of a door, will be the ultimate test of the dust.

It is a fact of life that RVs tend to break.  And living in them for long periods or full time tends to stress them even more.  So having a reliable well trained and equipped repair facility is quite an asset.  If there is a drawback, it is the remoteness of this town.  We are in a dry county here and you cannot even get a beer with you supper.  The closest Wal Mart is 30 miles away but there are two groceries and two fast food hamburger places, and a subway.  There is one sit down place that has steaks, and a bar b cue.

Pizza is made in a restaurant that is an old gas station, and then there is always Swamp Johns.  Their specialty is fried catfish and slaw...... with a slice of onion on top.  It must be a local thing, but it doesn't seem nearly as remote to us this year as it did last year.  We are now much more familiar with the surroundings and that makes it all the more tolerable.

Today we decided to drive up to the Muscle Shoals/Florence area, just because we had stayed in the rig most of the morning.  We didn't do much up there other than stop at the Wendy's for me, and go to Wal Mart.  Mostly we just drove around looking at the lay of the land again, since we hadn't been there since last year.  The Tennessee River was particularly inviting this afternoon and was a nice outing at 83 degrees.  I also had on my short pants today, a first for 2011.

We came back here to the campground at about 6:30 because we had to turn in our list of stuff that needed work on the coach.  And the most pressing problem is the hail damage from our April 3rd encounter with the golf ball sized missiles.

This place will come alive tomorrow morning about 6:30 AM when folks get ready to be at their assigned doors for service.  We will be waiting for Norris to come by and go thru our list with us.  Since it will take some time to get new parts made for the hail damage, we plan to leave the coach here and return to KC with the car.

Its 10 PM now and for the most part all of our neighbors have gone inside and the lights are out.  They know tomorrow will come early in this camp!

Retired Rod