Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Trip To Red Bay, Alabama & Tiffin Motorhome

While we were in Tucson we had a problem with the air suspension system on the motorhome and took it to La Mesa RV to have the problem repaired.  They were able to get us back on the road, but couldn't fix the air suspension problem completely.  I wanted the job done right and decided to stop by Tiffin Motorhome and have them finish the job.

We arrived on a Sunday evening and the campground was full so we went to another campground nearby.  It was just a gravel parking lot with full hookups but actually cheaper than the Tiffin Allegro Campground.  We figured we'd be there at least a week and paid the weekly rate of $100/week.  We were tired from all the driving and decided it was a good time to take a break.

Tiffin has what they call the Express Bay service where they will take you in and fix everything they can in 3 hours.  Then you have to wait again at the bottom of the list if you need more time.  The only thing we really needed to have repaired was for them to finish what La Mesa Rv couldn't do.  We sat around for 3 days and were scheduled to go in Wednesday after lunch but they didn't call us to let us know which bay they'd use for our service.

There was a huge fire in the nearby town of Baymont, MS and the Baymont Bathware factory burned down.  We didn't see the fire, but took photos a day or so later.  We could still smell the residue.  What a mess and I read where the 150 workers were are out of jobs for a while.  The company has setup alternate locations to try and continue producing the bathware until the factory can be rebuilt.






Thursday we finally got into a bay and they fixed the problem along with another one we wanted to be taken care of.  The techs at Tiffin did a great job and we were ready to roll on Thursday.  Well, not exactly.  

It seems our wet bay by the sewer connection had a rotten floor and needed to be replaced.  Tiffin said it was quicker and cheaper to have a company near Muscle Shoals, AL do the job.  We called them and they said to be there at 9am on Friday.  We packed up and left for Muscle Shoals and spent the night in their campground.  They took us in Friday morning and completed the repair, making it better than ever.

I mentioned to one of the techs at the repair shop that I needed to find a lab to have some blood work done and that Gerry had a cough problem that wasn't going away.  Lo and behold, he had a medical recommendation for a Nurse Practitioner who worked for a number of doctors and called him to get Gerry an appointment.  He was the father of the NP and managed to get her the appointment.  

We went there after lunch and she got prescriptions along with a blood work order.  We had to get back to the RV shop to get our keys and pay the bill, back to Lab Corp for blood work and then find a campground to spend the night.  Whew!!  We were running around like chickens with our heads cutoff going back and forth. 

To make a long story short, we found a nice campground nearby and went there about 6pm and got set up.  The campground office people had left for the day and the camp host was gone for the weekend.  We picked out a site and got set up for the weekend.  We even had a catfish dinner at a local restaurant which always makes me happy.

This is one of those areas we hadn't planned to spend any time, but are having fun geocaching and discovering hidden gems in the area. It's interesting exploring places off the beaten path, especially when it is unplanned. 

That was our exciting week on the road.  How was yours.

2 comments:

  1. Glad you were able to get the fixes done in Red Bay and Muscle Shoals. And happy to know there's another place to get the wet bay work done outside the factory service center. We had that work done on our '08 Phaeton in 2011 after the fresh water tank was almost falling out on the road. Also glad Gerry got medical attention she needed and hope she's better soon. Safe travels.

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  2. Beautiful header photo.
    We have been to Red Bay many times. They do do good work. Glad they found your wet bay issue too.
    Hope Gerry is feeling much better.

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