Westward ho in the morning

Today was very wet and windy all day.  The weather forecast was spot on and they had a warning for high profile vehicles to avoid travel.  We heeded that warning, but not without a little controversy.  The campground manager called us this morning and asked why we hadn't checked out since our work was finished.  Well, we hadn't completed the process since we disputed some of the charges and the manager had to check with his staff to see if we had a case.  Evidently we did, since he removed the issues in question from the bill and we settled up our account.

It was almost noon by the time all that came about and I mentioned to the supervisor that I wasn't leaving and driving in 25-35mph winds with gusts up to 40mph.  I asked him to ok another day at the campground.  He agreed that it wouldn't have been a good idea to be out on the road in bad weather and called over to the campground staff allowing us to stay another day.  It was a good thing since we would have been heading into some rough weather and I really didn't want to deal with it.

We took the opportunity to finish some odd jobs inside the motorhome and get ready for an early morning departure.  Our next planned stop is past Little Rock, AR.  Since we spent so much time here in Red Bay, we will have to speed up and put some miles on the motorhome to get to Tucson in time to finish some tasks that have to be done there.

It's almost 9pm and the wind has eased up somewhat as has the rain.  Hopefully, we won't be rocking and rolling tonight and can get a good night sleep.

 

Early to bed, early to rise makes a man tired.

Ok, it was another 5am wake up day for us and then over to the service bays.  This time it was to have a 3" X 10' piece of aluminum trim painted.  So, how long did this take?  Would you believe all day long.  In fairness, the undercoat had to dry and then the next coat of paint.  Finally the stripes had to match the ones coming down the slide out.  Thankfully it was only 1 hour of total labor by the painter.  I remember when I worked for a garage and helped the painter prep and paint a car when I was younger and we could paint the whole car in one day.  Progress!

We finally got the motorhome back to the campsite and hooked back up around 4pm.  We discussed the bill with the service manager and he needs to check out a few things, but I am hopeful he doesn't try and charge us for work that was done wrong in late May while we were here and then had to be redone.  So far, they have been fair in what they charge and I expect that to be the case here.

We stopped at China King in Red Bay for lunch and it was about a 2 on a scale of 1 - 10.  Neither of us could finish what we put on our plate and even though it was an early lunch, the food was cold.  Lesson learned, don't go back to give them a 2nd chance.

They are forecasting some strong thunderstorms for the area on Thursday, so we are going to stay here another day and wait for the storms to roll on through.  So far it is just heavy rain and some winds up to 30-40 mph.  If that is all, then it will be no problem.  It will give us a chance to make sure all this slideout work didn't introduce some leaks in the MH.  

All in all, a very boring day, but at least all the work is finished.  

Repairs and repairs of repairs.

This has been an interesting last couple days here at the Tiffin repair facility in Red Bay.  We finally got into a repair bay Monday morning at 7:00am and the techs went to work on our short list of things to be done.  They managed to knock out all the items on the list and we were out of there by 1pm.  Great!  However, not so fast.

When we went back to the campsite and opened the kitchen slide there was a loud bang.  Not good.  Then the driver's side slide made a "funny noise".  Really not good.  Back into the repair bay with a different tech working on the slide.  The driver's side slide had been worked on and somehow a shear pin was broken.  Easy fix and good to go.

The kitchen slide was another story.  It seems that the repair they made to the slide in May was faulty and when it opened, out went a couple pieces that were needed.  The tech looked at it and said it would be a big job to repair and to bring it back in Tuesday morning at 7am.  Yuk, I hate getting up early.

We arrived on time today and he started working on the slide.  It took him until 3pm to finish the repair.  Now they just have to paint a strip of aluminum moulding on Wednesday morning at 7am.  Double yuk!  Ok, if that is what we have to do to get out of here, then so be it.  I drove the motorhome back to the campsite and parked it.  Started to hook it back up and turned the water pump on to wash my hands.  Oh, oh, where did that water come from?  Yep, they broke a hot water hose near where the slide work was done.  Water seeping on the floor big time and off I went to get a tech to repair it before they left for the day.  It took them 30 minutes to do the job and now we are in good shape.  I think!

We ran into friends Steve & Pat who we went to the Rattlesnake Cave restaurant with last May.  They came in to buy a part and found out it was almost $500 for the part.  Ooops.  Maybe a quick repair would be better than buying new.  We did join them for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Belmont, MS and talked for almost 3 hours.  They are a fun and interesting couple and will be heading west about a day after us later this week.  Hopefully we will run into them again somewhere along the road.

Steve & Pat

While we were in the restaurant the Cisco Kid showed up for his birthday.  They had a special treat for him by shoving a pie into his face.  He took it really well and seemed quite pleased that they had done it.  He was smiling from ear to ear.  Also licking from ear to ear.
 

Friends Ron & Dee are in Santa Fe, NM already and only have 500 miles to go to get to Tucson.  He must have that Ford Pickup running at full speed to make it there so fast.  It helps that he isn't towing a 5th wheel and can make great time.

Linda & Sherwin are back in Tucson after spending last winter in the frozen north of Maine.  I am sure they are appreciating the weather in Tucson, especially after seeing it was down in the teens in Maine last night.  

Ron K made it back to Tucson after spending the summer visiting relatives in the IN/IL area and it sounds like he had a great time seeing them all again.  It's been almost 10 years since his last visit and he took advantage of the time spent there seeing everyone.

Sharon & Don are back in Benson and we hope we get a chance to visit with them before they hit the road again.  They don't spend a lot of time in one spot and get the "hitch itch" easily.

I made an appointment with my knee doctor to have the right knee replaced on December 2.  I can't say that I am looking forward to it, but hopefully by mid January I will be moving around a lot easier.  Got to run for now, see you later.

This has been our exciting last few days, what about yours?

 


 

Tamales or Fish

We had a big decision to make today on where to go for dinner.  We've been eating dinner in for the most part since there aren't that many choices of places to eat in the area.  Since it was Friday, we knew that the fish place would be open and we heard about a nice Mexican restaurant in Belmont, MS.  Decisions, decisions.

As usual for us, we just got in the car and started driving in the direction of both places and made the decision at the intersection for the turnoff.  Fish it was.  We thought that since Tucson & the Southwest have so many Mexican restaurants that we would wait until we got further west to satisfy the urge for that cuisine.

The fish place is only open Thursday-Saturday and is a carryout place.  They do have a few picnic tables there, but it was too chilly to eat out, plus it is a busy area.  I asked a local if they had tables inside and he replied in the negative.  He did come to the car and praised how great the food was there and he highly recommended the place.  Said it was the best catfish he had ever eaten and guaranteed we would like it.  Since there was so much high praise from him, we decided to go for it.  While it wasn't the best catfish we've had, it was right up there near the top.

They had a number of choices on the menu, but we both picked the catfish dinner for $8.00.  It included catfish, baked potato, slaw, hushpuppies and a drink.  They offered us the sweet tea, but we knew not to order that since it was sickening sweet to our taste.  Must be the Yankee blood in us.  

While waiting for the order the gentleman introduced himself as Gene and wife Anita.  He is a Baptist minister and has his own church a few miles down the road.  They were very friendly and we chatted for 15 minutes or so and he filled us in on some other places in the area for good food.  Surprisingly, he said the Piggly Wiggly deli in Red Bay, AL had an excellent lunch menu.  We will have to go and check it out before we leave.  He invited us to stop by their house and chat some more if we had time.  They were a nice couple and interesting to talk to.

We went back to the motorhome and enjoyed the catfish dinner.  Gerry had a difficult time finishing hers and I left 1/2 of the baked potato for later.  It was well worth the $16 and if we are in the area again on the weekend, I see another trip out there.  Hopefully it won't be during this stop in the area.

We have the 2010 season for "Dexter" on dvd and have been watching it the past few nights. 

There are 13 episodes on 4 dvds and we are almost halfway through the series.  Dexter is a serial killer who picks out people that need to be killed (rapists, child molestors, murderers, etc) and each episode is about his next killing.  The actual murders are only a small part of the show, with the events leading up to it being the main focus.  To add to the suspense, Dexter is a blood splatter specialist with the Miami police dept.  The girl who plays his sister on the show was his real life wife until they recently divorced.  She plays a Miami police detective who works closely with Dexter.  

We watched the show when it originally aired a few years ago and we had Showtime via a dish, but when we gave up the dish network, we quit watching the show.  The plots are well written and keep your interest throughout the hour.  It ended it's run in September and hasn't been renewed as of now.  What a shame.  Now I have to go out and find DVDs of each season we missed.

We received good news Friday afternoon when Tiffin called and said to be in Bay 31 at 6:50am on Monday morning for our appointment.  That is a rough hour to be all packed up, slides in, jacks up and water, sewer & electric connections stowed away.  It will be worth it and hopefully we can get out of here Tuesday morning.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Now the big decision is what route do we take out to the Southwest.  I-40 and risk bad weather?  Direct route through Dallas on I-20 and face boring west Texas or drop down to I-10 and take the longer route out there?  Maybe we will do like we did picking out the restaurant and take a left or right turn somewhere and see where that leads us.  In any case, it will be good to get rid of this "hitch itch" and be back on the road.  Maybe diesel prices will drop by then.  Ha!



 

Quiet Time at Camp Allegro

During the day it isn't so quiet here with anywhere from 50-100 motorhomes moving around between campsites and the work bays, plus all the new arrivals and departures.  There are fewer people waiting for service tonight with only 10-12 people dry camping.  i.e. - no hookups.  I guess that means they are fixing the units and getting them down the road.  I was hoping for a Friday departure, but that doesn't look too promising at this time.  Hopefully we can get out of here by the middle of next week.  2 weeks here is long enough.  We are getting some much needed rest, so that is one benefit. 

There are usually people out walking their dogs (lots of dogs), standing around chatting, checking out the units and it's like a small village.  Of course your neighbor changes from day to day, so there aren't any long term relationships in the neighborhood.  I was outside today and a number of people commented on our three large windows in the side of the unit.  They hadn't seen anything like that in other Tiffin MHs and asked when I had them put in.  As far as I know, the unit came that way and has its strong points and drawbacks.  They let in a lot of light and act as a heat conductor in the cold days, but also are a heat conductor on sunny and hot days.  The double shade helps to keep the heat out of the unit on those hot days. 

Last night we drove up to a local pizza parlor and sat there in the parking lot and watched "The Amazing Race" on our computer. The program aired on Sunday night and we didn't get a chance to see it then, so it was nice to be able to keep up with the program.  It was one of the better episodes with a lot of nice scenery and stuff we've never seen before.  They even managed to get a Ford truck plug into one of the challenges.  The contestants had to hook up a chain to a large boulder and pull it forward to find the next clue.  The "Ice Hockey Crew", two girls didn't know how to drive a stick shift transmission and had to get some help from the Oklahoma boys.  Of course, the contestants had nice things to say about the Ford pickup.

We stopped at the pizza parlor since they had a very strong internet connection and I don't want to use up all of my 20 gig allowance with my Millenicom account.  I did check today and I have 11 gig left, so we will be able to watch some more tv through the end of the month.  We don't have cable tv here or a Dish or Directv account, so we rely on over the air tv or a campground with cable.  There are times when we don't get either, but we manage to make it through those terrible times ok.

Gerry spent the day making Halloween cards and the 9 lucky people should be getting their cards in a few days.  She enjoys making the cards and originally started out making birthday and anniversary cards.  No problem.  Now she makes Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, Sympathy, etc etc cards.  I think she is obsessed and I may have to set up an exorcism for her.  Just kidding.  She loves doing it and does a great job.

Which one is yours?

The weather forecast is for 30 degrees tonight and 27 on Friday night.  After that there will be a warm up to more typical temperatures.  We are warm and toasty in the MH, so it's no problem for us.  I would hate to see the electric bill for the campground though.  Most people take advantage of the electric and save their propane.  Our heat pumps work fine, and a small electric heater keeps us at 65 degrees.  

That's what we have been doing, what about you?