Waltzing Across Texas

Today was a good travel day. Leaving the campground this morning we crossed the mighty Mississippi River about 5 minutes later and entered the state of Louisiana.

While crossing La.  we hit some heavy rain, but it didn't cause us any problems.

With the gas Newmar, Tom would have been on pins and needles because it did not like running in the rain.  We had tried several different fixes, but nothing seemed to correct the problem.  It was really nice driving in the rain without that worry hanging over us.

Last night in Vicksburg was nice and warm, but as we drove west, we drove into a cold front and the tempatures are going to be in the 30's again tonight.  We are spending the night in Canton, Texas and are planning to stay in Big Spring, Texas tomorrow night.  We are crossing the longest route thru Texas. We will continue on I-20 and then merge into I-10 that will take us to Arizona.

January 16, 2012 Finally!!

Bright and early this morning, 7am, Tom went to the service area to inform Greg, the supervisor in the mechanical area, that we still had problems with the check engine light being on. Greg said as soon as he got the techs moving he would make some calls and get Ennis(?) over to work on the problem. So we packed up the motorhome and moved it over to the bay. Ennis arrived soon afterward and began working on the problem by hooking up a computer to diagnosis. He called the Cummins tech requesting that he come in to help also. So after a couple of hours and pulling and replacing some wires Ennis took the motorhome for a drive along with Tom and I. The light did not come on so we were good to go.
After eating a quick lunch of some vegetable soup that I had in the refrigerator and checking out we were on our way, finally. We drove southwest toward Tupelo and then got on the Natchez Trace Parkway to Jackson, Ms where we took I-20 to Vicksburg.
The Natchez Trace Parkway is a nice drive on a 2 lane road with a 50 mile speed limit. There are no towns or traffic signals, just wooded areas, meadows and swamps.

We passed through one wooded area,several miles long, that in April 2011 had tornados that destroyed acres of trees.

 As we approached the Jackson area we drove along the shores of the Russ Barnett Reservoir, a huge body of water that looked more like a lake.

At 5:30pm we stopped for the night at the Ameristar RV Park in Vicksburg, 266 miles. This RV park is part of a casino complex but we opted to pass up the casino for food or gambling and ate a light supper in the motorhome.

This morning we had some visitors.  Mark, Chris and their dog, Teddy. Mark is a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman and Chris is a retired Nurse. Teddy checked out our motorhome and then made himself at home curling up at Mark's feet. They were checking in at Camp Red Bay when we returned from our travels yesterday.  I sent an email to Mark letting him know where we were located.

Their travel blog is  called Phaeton Place.  I have been reading their blog for several years and it is one of the links on the left side of our blog.  The visit was all too short and we hope that we have a chance to spend more time with them the next time our paths cross.  That's one of the things we like about the RVing lifestyle.  You meet people from all over North America and its almost like visiting your next door neighbor.

I have been having problems all week with my sinuses being clogged.  We went to the local CVS drugstore to see what they might have to help relieve my sinus.  After consulting with the pharmacists, I purchased a Neti Pot sinus rinse kit. Next we stopped at the grocery store and bought a chicken and a few other items for Sunday dinner. The rest of the day we stayed in and watched the Ravens win their playoff game against Texans and later watched the last quarter of the Giants/Packers game.  The AFC favored teams won this weekend, but the NFC favorites did not fare as well.

Tomorrow morning I will be back to the repair center to let them know that our motorhome did not get fixed on Friday.  We know that they will not be happy to see us as everybody was certain our engine check light was fixed.  We hope that something gets fixed on we can be on our way to Arizona.  Nothing against Red Bay, but staying in an area because you want to is different than staying in an area because you have to.

January 14, 2012 A Better Day

After reading yesterday's post by Tom it is not hard to see that it was not a good day for us. Our motorhome was in the service bay all day being worked on for the yellow "service engine" light that was being displayed. A Cummin's tech worked most of the morning trouble shooting if it was an engine problem and concluded it was not so it was turned over to a Tiffin tech that specializes in these issues. Ennis(?) worked the rest of the day well past the 3pm time when much of the shop closes for the day and finally was able find a problem that caused the light to go out. We were elated and felt we could be on our way this morning. Ennis told me he felt 99% certain that the problem was solved, I told him that I would feel better with a 100% guarantee to which he said, "okay 99.7%". He suggested that we take the motorhome for a drive before settling in for the night. We had planned to get propane so we went to the local propane dealer to get our tanks filled. Well as we were about to get our tank filled another motorhome pulled into the lot in the opposite direction. After tank was filled, I went inside to pay the bill and Tom moved the motorhome to get out of the way of the other motorhome. When I came back outside Tom standing outside and to the back of the motorhome motioned to me to come back there. Tom had backed into a utility pole and caused damage to the fiberglass in the rear. The sun was low in the sky and really bright causing Tom not to see the pole as he was backing up. As if that wasn't bad enough when we were pulling out of the lot the yellow "service engine" came on and we knew we would not be leaving Red Bay the next day but would have to stay til Monday and return to the service bay again. A real bummer!!!
Today we slept in and had a late breakfast, cleaned up the motorhome and washed the bed linens. We then went for a drive following an 86 mile loop route. We went east a short distance and then took route 247 northeast. About half way on this road we took a side road about 5 miles to the "Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery".

In 1937 this cemetery was established when Key Underwood made this site a final resting place for his coon dog, Troop. It is the only cemetery in the world devoted to hunter's coon dogs. There are more than 200 coon dogs buried here. Only coon dogs are allowed to be buried here and they must meet certain qualifications. Each grave was adorn with artificial flowers and the grave markers varied from a very simple markers to engraved stones.

Returning back to route 247 we continued to route 72 and headed east to the town of Tuscumbia. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame is located here but is presently closed. Helen Keller's birth place, Ivy Green, is located in this town. We took pictures of the house but passed on going inside.

As we were traveling through the town Tom spied Deshler High School (Deshler, Ohio was the town that Tom grew up in). Don't know why the school in Tuscumbia, Alabama is named that but we found it rather curious.

Before turning to the west on route 72 we stopped for a late lunch at "Fiesta Mexicala" and had some good Mexican food. We traveled west on route 72 going through a little town of Cherokee and then a few miles afterward turned southwest onto the Natchez Trace Parkway.
The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444 mile scenic road that starts near Nashville, Tennessee and ends in Natchez, Mississippi. The route follows a trail of trading paths used by Native Americans through meadows and woodlands. The 20 mile segment that we traveled went from Alabama into Mississippi. Before reaching Tupelo, Mississippi we turned southeast on route 25 through Belmont, Golden and then ending at Red Bay, Alabama.
It was a beautiful day. Temperatures reached in the upper 50's but will drop down into the 20's tonight.

Friday the 13th was not a lucky day for us.  Enough said.

This morning we took the motorhome over to Bay Diesel to have the front end alignment checked.  While they were working on the motorhome, Leah and I went to breakfast at Jack's.  It was nothing to brag about.  When we returned to Bay Diesel, they were finished, so we went back to the Tiffin service campground.  We only plugged the motorhome in as we wanted to find out if they had the part/s necessary to fix the DEF system.  There is a service tech from Cummins South that is here and will make the repairs tomorrow morning.  We sure hope that this is the last repair that needs to be made and we can be on our way to Arizona.

Maybe, just maybe Friday the 13th will be a lucky day for us.

It was another day when no work was performed on the motohome.  We are scheduled to have the front end worked on tomorrow morning at Bay Diesel here in Red Bay.  If that does not fix the wondering problem, I am not certain what our next step will be.  We still have to have a part replaced in the DEF system also but don't know when and who will do that repair.

Tiffin has a ways to go to live up to their advertising of good customer service.  There does not seem to be a single point of contact that can keep you informed of what is or is not happening with your motorhome.  The best way to find something out is to ask questions of techs that have worked on your motorhome at a previous service bay.  In talking with other owners that are here, you almost have to stay with your motorhome and babysit it to be certain the repairs are done correctly. From our observations, the service techs have one speed, slooow. 

I know a lot of people have talked with the owner, Bob Tiffin.  I would hope that the conversation was about real problems and concerns and that Bob in turn would meet with his managers to effect changes to improve things.

Our stay here in Red Bay has lasted too long as we did not buy this motorhome to set in the Tiffin Service lot.

Well, guess what, we are still in Red Bay, Al.  We thought our motorhome repairs would be completed today, but they were not.  A tech had to come over from the factory to check on the check engine light.  While waiting on the word to bring the motorhome into the service bay, I spoke with John another Phaeton owner that has the same year, chassis and model comparing problems we both are having.  He is having the same problem with the cruise control and steering problem that we have.

In our discussion, John told me about a problem with the fuel gauge.  It seems the plan for the  powerglide chassis was to have a 150 gallon fuel tank, but they could only install a 100 gallon fuel tank.   I have always thought the fuel gauge was not very accurate as it never showed full and showed 1/4 tank when in fact we had a 1/2 tank.  John told me that all that was required was a reprogramming of the fuel gauge.

When we got the word to bring the motorhome over to the service bay, we had a problem getting the driver's side front slide to come in.  After several attempts we were able to bring it in.  When we got into the service, the tech went to lunch, so we did also.

When we got back, a tech from the factory was in the coach with a computer plugged in reading the error codes.  They thought they located and fixed the problem with something in the DEF system.  I told them about the bulky slide room and asked if the fuel gauge could be reprogrammed.  The tech from the factory said he didn't have the correct computer with him to make the fuel gauge correction, but would stop by our campsite later to make the update.  Another service tech replaced the slideout solenoid, here's hoping that takes care of that problem.

We thought all of the work was completed on the motorhome and we would be out of here tomorrow morning.  I was filling the fresh water tank when the service tech that had been working on the motorhome for the past several days came over and said the supervisors wanted him to take a test drive to check out the handling.  During the test drive the check engine light came on again.  The tech did agree that the motohome "wanders."  I am not certain what is going to be done about the steering because they do not have the equipment to check the front end alignment.  It looks like we are going to the factory or to a local diesel repair shop.  As far as the check engine light, your guess is a good as mine.  We shall see what tomorrow brings. 

The silver lining in all of this is we are at the factory service center, under warranty and not having their backs turned on us.

January 9, 2012 Still in Red Bay

Yesterday, Sunday, we spent the day in the motorhome most of the day.  It was a rainy, gray day warm.  I had brought some shrimp along thinking we might have that for New Year’s eve if we didn’t eat somewhere which is what we did.  So I steamed the shrimp and made some pasta salad for our Sunday dinner.  And then we watched football games.
  Saturday in our travels around south of Red Bay we saw areas of devastation- trees snapped off or flattened to the ground, some buildings destroyed or being repaired- and a sign stating 4/27/11.  So Sunday morning Tom talked with the folks in the campground office about this area.  There were a series of tornadoes  that went through that area on the date stated killing 52 people.
Today, we anxiously wanted to get the motorhome in for servicing.  Tom went to the bay area to inquire and again we were “next” and to check back in at noon.  So at this point we thought we could finally get the plant tour in.  There is one tour each day at 9:30am and the uncertainty of not knowing when we could be summoned for service did not allow us to chance going on the tour before.  The walking tour took us through the motorhome plant and there didn’t seem to be any area off limits.  Most of the makings of these motorhomes are done here.  Cabinets are made, the flooring and roofs are assembled and some chassis are made here as well as the exteriors.

                                           A Chassis going into assembly station 1.

                                Motorhomes in the final assembly station before being painted.

We were free to walk about the plant.  All the white and yellow wiring is cut to size and labeled for it’s specific function and then assembled for each motorhome.

After the tour ended we were free to go into any of the motorhomes that parked nearby.  A protective film, Diamond Shield, is put on the front of the motorhomes and, interesting, this application is done here at the factory by a Diamond Shield employee, not a Tiffin Motorhome Company employee.  The exterior painting is done at a division of the plant about 6 miles away.  We did drive out to the area but did not go into the facility.
When we got back to the motorhome it was about noon so Tom went to the bay area and was told to bring the motorhome up.  So we packed it up and moved it into the service bay but now we had a “check engine” light that was being displayed.  The tech said they would correct the cruise control problem (apparently this was a known problem) and check on that check engine light.  We left the motorhome and went to the Back Street Barbeque for lunch.  Returning back to the campground we had to go into the service area lounge as we could not stay with the motorhome in this service bay.  About 3pm Tom walked to the service bay and was told that the cruise control had been corrected but some other techs not working today were needed for the check engine problem. 

                   This is our motorhome in the service bay and the lifts used to raise it up.

Tom is to go to the bay area in the morning to find out what our next step is to be.  We are feeling quite frustrated at this point- we really want to be moving on but at the same time we want any problems to be corrected.  The techs seem to be knowledgeable but are so laid back that time doesn’t seem to mean anything to them.
It was another cloudy day with fog and heavy mist at times.  This evening there are showers and this weather is predicted for the next several days.

Click Here to see all of the factory tour pictures.

Today we thought we would go see a movie.  We wound up in Tupelo, Ms and went to two different movie theaters, but did not see anything we wanted to see,  The second theater we went to was located in a mall, so we walked around the mall for a bit and than went for a late lunch.  We got back to Red Bay and the motorhome just before a thunderstorm.  It looks like we are going to have a wet weekend.  We still have high hopes of having our worked completed on Monday and to be on our way to Arizona for the rest of the winter.

January 6, 2012 Still in Red Bay, Alabama

We waited all day in hopes of being called into the service bay to have our cruise control problem taken care of but it just did not happen. So--- that means we will be spending the weekend here in Red Bay. Tom checked in several times today and found out that the unit being worked on apparently had some serious electrical problems that the techs were having difficulty solving. But we are assured that we are next on the list.
Today was a partly cloudy day with temps in the 60's.
Tom gave me a Kindle e-reader last year for Christmas. With all this free time I have been catching up on my 20 plus books on the Kindle. I've accumulated (and continue to accumulate) most of these books by purchasing Amazon's Daily deal- each day a Kindle book is offered for sale for $.99 to $1.99. These are not the latest best sellers but I have found some interesting reads none the less. I just finished reading "God's Little Acre" a book written in the 1930's that was considered scandulous at the time. It was made into a movie in the 1950's and I did see the movie but did not remember much about it. Now I am reading a book "On Gold Mountain" that is about Chinese immigrants to the United States.

January 5, 2012 Red Bay, Alabama

Well, we are still in Red Bay.  This morning we were due to go into the service bay at 7am.  As we were preparing the motorhome we encountered a problem.  The bedroom slide on the driver’s side would not come in.  Tom went over to the service area and talked to Stanley, our tech, who came out to the motorhome and was unable to locate a problem without further investigation.  Stanley advised us to move to his service bay by moving slowly through the campground which we did.  When we got to the bay doors  we were directed into the building very carefully.  The slide problem was checked into and finally it was found that a plug had come apart under the bed.   New gaskets and a modified door handle were the solution to the water getting into 2 of the basement compartments.  By 8am we were finished in that area but Stanley had arranged for us to go to another area to have the cruise control issue looked into.  (Cruise control does not hold as we are traveling down the road.)  We were “next” on the list for that service.  Another period of waiting.  At 1pm Tom went back to see Stanley who checked on this next service and again we were told we would be next but probably would not get in until tomorrow.  When 3pm came and we had not gotten in we are hopeful that it will be tomorrow.
This evening we went to Jack’s for chicken dinner.  Jack’s is a fast food restaurant that is said to have the best fried chicken in the area.  The chicken was good- moist and hot.
The weather has gotten to be really nice.  The temps were close to 60 today with bright sunshine. 

January 4, 2012 Red Bay, Alabama

The weather has been cold here. The past 2 nights temperatures were in the 20's. Yesterday the temperature did not reach 40 degrees but today the temps were in the 50's and expected to be better tomorrow.
Yesterday we were told that we would get to the service bay by today so we stayed around the motorhome all morning awaiting a call telling us what service bay to come to and, finally, at 11:30am the call came through. When we pulled into the bay and talked with the tech about the problem with the black tank flushing system he asked us to dump the tank before he worked on it. So the techs were going to take their lunch break while we dumped. As we were waiting for techs to return and admit us into the bay we ate a bite of lunch. The head tech, Stanley, went over our list of problems and said they could probably address the issues in the 3 hours we were allotted. The black tank flushing system needed a valve replaced. A problem with one of our slides was looked at and, luckily, the intermittent problem presented itself and investgation found some loose wires. The valance over the window by the kitchen sink protruded about an inch from the wall at the bottom so that was readjusted to be against the wall at the bottom- (it was thought that something had been done at the dealership to create the problem). A small hole in a top corner of an awning was treated with something to prevent it from running with a record of this problem in case of further problems with it. About 3pm Stanley told us to be back tomorrow morning at 7am and they would finish up then with some new seals around basement compartment doors that water had gotten into.
After getting back into the campground and setting up Tom and I took a walk and then headed out to get some dinner and pick up a couple things from the grocery store. We ate at Gill's Grille here in Red Bay. It was okay but we prefer the Backstreet barbeque and the Mexican restaurant- hopefully, we'll remember that when we return.

This morning the Audio/Video repairman stopped by.  He looked at the TV and swapped a cable between the front and midships TV to see if that was the problem with the dropped Satellite signal to the midships TV.  While running that test, he pulled the JVC Radio/GPS unit and took it to his shop to extend the GPS antenna connector.  While he was gone, the midships TV lost the satellite signal again.  When the repairman returned he put the JVC Radio/GPS unit back in place and tested the GPS.  The unit worked fine.

He next checked another set of cables going to the midships TV and found a bad cable connector.  He replaced the cable connector and now the midships TV is working fine.

The persons that schedules the work in the service bays stopped by and gave us the choice of going into an express bay or waiting for two weeks to get into a work until completion appointment.  We chose the express option as we want to get on with our winter travels.  The express bay option means that we get called to a service bay where two repair techs will work on our unit for 3 hours, so we have to decide which items on our punch list is most important to have repaired.  Its now 2:40 pm so it looks like it will be tomorrow before our motorhome is worked on.

January 2, 2012 Quiet day

The chill has moved into Red Bay and along with it is wind. Although the sky is bright blue it is downright cold outside. I'm wanting to move on further south and hopefully we will be able to do so before the end of the week. The Tiffin factory is closed yet today but will open tomorrow and we are told that someone will be here about 7:30 am to go over the issues of our motorhome. Our black tank flushing system does not work, there is a hole in the big awning,the antenna to the GPS is not connected and a few other little problems that we hope will get fixed while we are here. Tom wanted to get a CB radio installed and our electric protection system installed while in this area. This morning we drove to an RV service center that would install those items and they will be able to do the work Wednesday if we are not being serviced here at the factory, otherwise next week. Well, if it doesn't happen Wednesday I think we will wait until Arizona to get that done, next week we hope to be near or in Arizona. We are finding time to get some reading done and I have done some reorganizing of the cabinets. Tomorrow we should have an idea as to how long we may need to be here.

January 1, 2012 New Year's Day

Happy New Year!! The fireworks and shooting of guns continued all evening last night and actually seemed to decrease until at midnight there was very little noise in this town. We spent the morning doing household chores. We cleaned up the motorhome after breakfast. Not being hooked up to water and sewer I am unable to do laundry in the motorhome so I took a load of laundry to the laundry room here and washed that load. I did bring the washed clothes back to the motorhome to dry in the drier. We drove out to the local supermarket to pick up a few things. I made the usual New Year's Day dinner of pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes and for dessert a not-so-usual fresh strawberry pie. The afternoon was spent reading, resting and watching football games. It has been sunny today but windy. Temperatures are expected to fall tonight.

December 30 & 31, 2011 - Tupelo, Mississippi

Friday the 30th was a quiet day for us. We did go to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch of a Mexican buffet that was pretty good. Afterwards we drove around the town of Red Bay getting a little more familiar with the area.

Today, New Year's Eve, we decided to go to Tupelo, Mississippi for the day about 50 miles from Red Bay.  Tupelo is most famous for being the birthplace of Elvis Presley so our first stop was at this birthplace.

We paid the fee of $10.00 each (senior rate) that allowed us to tour a museum, the house that Elvis was born, and the church that Elvis attended while living in Tupelo.

The house is a 2-room, bedroom and kitchen, house that his father built. Elvis was born in the house and lived there until his family moved to Memphis when he was 13 years old.

The Assembly of God church building was the church that Elvis attended and now has a video presentation of the church as it was in his day. His pastor is credited with teaching Elvis to play the guitar.

The museum had some memorilabilia of Elvis and pictures of his family.

Interesting visit without all the hoopla that is seen in Graceland in Memphis. We then had lunch at Romie's Barbeque restaurant, a good choice. Tom and I both had smoked turkey but with different sides. Tom had onion rings that were freshly made, not the frozen prepared ones that most places have. The baked beans, cole slaw, and potato salad were also made in house. We ended our day in Tupelo by going to the movies to see "War Horse", a movie that both of us enjoyed. Returning back to the motorhome in Red Bay we had a light supper and are now waiting for the new year as we have been hearing gunshots and fireworks being fired all evening long- obviously, somebodies are celebrating.

December 29, 2011 Tom's Birthday in Red Bay

Thursday, the 29th, was Tom's 66th birthday. I had planned to cook something other than oatmeal for breakfast but I slept late and we had some traveling to do. So after eating oatmeal we got on the road about 9:30am. We traveled around Chattanooga, Tn. on I-24 that cut through a small section of Georgia, back to Tennnessee and then we picked up state rte.72 until we were west of Huntville where we caught a rte. 24 to Red Bay- 209 miles. The day started out being sunny with a few clouds but as we were circling around Chattanooga and the lakes associated with the Tennessee river we had spells of fog, not dense but somewhat distance impairing

We arrived in Red Bay, Alabama about 1pm, central time- we gained an hour. Finding the Alegro Campground, the Tiffin company campground, was not a problem in this small town. There were a few, maybe 10, motorhomes on the premises so we had no problems securing a site. The factory is closed this week and is due to open on January 3,2012. Not having an appointment we will be here awaiting our turn and hope to get away before next weekend. After setting up we drove the Jeep into the town for lunch at the Backstreet Barbeque, nothing fancy but the food was good and servings ample. Being towed behind the motorhome from Maryland, the Jeep was in need of a good car wash which was done after lunch. Red Bay is in the northwest area of Alabama probably within a mile of the Mississippi line. It is warmer here in the upper 50's-lower 60's dropping down into the lower 40's at night.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 On The Road Again

Tom and I had a wonderful Christmas.   On Christmas eve we attended candle light church services at our church.  Christmas day we went down to Virginia to spend the day with Todd, Beth and our 4 grandchildren.  Todd and Beth prepared a wonderful meal of prime rib, baked potatoes and broccoli and cauliflower medley.  I added to the meal with cream of crab soup.  Rhubarb/strawberry pie, made by Beth, was dessert but no one was able to eat dessert after the meal so we were given pie to take home.

On Monday the 26th Tom and I finished packing things into the motorhome and then on Tuesday we left Taneytown about 9:30am heading south for warmer weather.  The morning was very gray and chilly and just as we finished hooking the Jeep to the motorhome it began to sprinkle rain.  Rain continued most of the day and we found the motorhome to be harder to heat with the front heaters  then our old motorhome. We eventually started the generator to get heat in the motorhome.  Traveling down I-81 through Virginia we stopped at a rest area to eat a bite of lunch.  As I was preparing egg salad a Phaeton motorhome pulled in ahead of us.  Tom said look what just pulled in and then we both said is that Bill and Rita (Fordham), friends from our Traveling Americans camping club.  Sure enough that was exactly who was in the motorhome.  Bill and Rita came back to our motorhome and we visited a short time and then discussed where we might stop for the night.  Rita called Fort Chiswell RV park, a park that Tom and I had stayed at a couple of times, and found out they were open and had sites so we agreed to camp there for the night.  Bill and Rita headed on down the road before us as they had already eaten their lunch.  When we pulled in at the campground the Fordham’s were not there and we were a little surprised.  We did know that they were having a problem with an awning but we didn’t see them in our travels.  But shortly afterwards, they did finally arrive and, yes, they had to stop shortly after our meeting at the rest stop to secure an awning that was unfurling.  After we ate our evening meals we went over to the Fordham’s and visited.   We had traveled 311 miles.  Even though it was a chilly evening we felt comfortable de-winterizing the motorhome and taking some water on board- some years it has been much too cold to do that until we were further south.

This morning Tom and I slept a little later than usual.  Just as I was raising the front night shade I saw Bill and Rita pulling out about 8 am.  Our travels today were taking us in a little different direction from the Fordham’s- they were headed for Casa Grande, Arizona and we are headed for Red Bay, Alabama before going to Arizona.  About 9 am we got underway from the campground but then we stopped for gas and propane at a Flying J’s a few miles down I-81.  We then continued on through Virginia to Tennessee where we picked up I-40 to I-75 to Chattanooga.  We are staying at the Holiday Trav-L park in Chattanooga tonight.  Chalked up 297 miles today.  Starting out this morning it was still cloudy and through Virginia there was a skiff of snow on the hillsides that had fallen during the night.  The wind had blown most of the night and continued this morning.  As we continued south the skies became clearer and the wind calmed.  It is a little warmer in Tennessee tonight, temperatures near 50 degrees.

More Catching Up and New Google Looks

Well, its been awhile since we have made a post to our blog.  When we are not on the road and busy with everyday things, Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas, the blog seems to take a back seat.  Since our last post, Google has changed the look of many of their programs.  They say they are trying to make the programs easier to use.  I guess the jury is still out on that.  One major change that I  like is making it simpler to include photos in our blog posts.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving in Virginia at our son, Todd, and daughter-in-law, Beth's house.  Beth's parents came down from New York also to celebrate Thanksgiving.  As with most Thanksgivings, there was too much food consumed.

On Sunday, December 3rd, we went to Bowie, Md. and attended the annual Christmas party of our Good Sam Camping Club, the Traveling Americans.  The turn out was very good and was a nice afternoon for all.

On December 11th we went to Pa. to have a family Christmas gathering at Leah's brother Larry's.  Like most parties, there was a lot of good food consumed by everyone. 

Our granddaughter, Madeline, turned 12 on December 14th, so we gave her some presents for her birthday. Next year will be big years for her and Anthony as they enter their teenage years. 

On the 14th I drove the fire engine around town with Santa Claus.  He was double checking addresses and his naughty and nice list before making his rounds on Christmas Eve.

It will not be long after Christmas that we will leave Maryland for warmer places in our motorhome.  Our first stop will be in Red Bay, Al to have some warranty work done at the Tiffin factory.  We have purchased a new 2011 Tiffin Phaeton in late September and like most new motorhomes, there always seems like there are a few bugs to be worked out.  After the factory stop, we will continue on south towards the Gulf of Mexico and than head west to Arzonia.

November 11, 2011 So Much to Catch-Up On

Oh my, where do I begin? It has been so long since I last posted on the blog and so much has been happening. Starting with today I want to be mindful of today's date and start by saying a "thank you" to all the veterans that are honored on this day and to one special veteran, my husband, for serving in the US Navy.

Now getting back to my last blog. We left the Outdoor World Campground on Friday, October 7th and went to White Oak campground near Strasburg, Pa. for a Traveling American campout. There were only 4 units in attendence as many of the group were just returning from a month long stay in Myrtle Beach. It was a nice weekend with pleasant weather. Tom and I along with Larry and Joanne hosted the weekend. Because of the small number we (the Hosts) provided breakfast on Saturday and Sunday as well as dinner on Saturday evening. Saturday breakfast was creamed chip beef on toast, Saturday dinner was pork,hot dogs, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, hot bread and pie, and Sunday breakfast was an egg casserole dish. Usually we have pot luck meals but with such a small number we felt it was just easier to do the way that we did.

Returning home we encountered a problem getting our new motorhome into the driveway with it dragging. We did get in but knew we had to devise something to prevent the dragging. Tom had installed small wheels in the rear of our last motorhome but that was not a workable solution for this motorhome as the weight in the rear is so much greater due to the diesal motor being located in the rear. A trip to Lowe's for some boards to aid the transition from the driveway to the road was in order.

So on Wednesday, October 26th, we backed out with the boards in place and still had some dragging. We went to Frederick fairgrounds for the Maryland Good Sam Samboree. What an event that turned out to be. The weather was fairly nice Wednesday and Thursday, so-so on Friday and then Saturday it snowed, yes snowed, all day- sloshy, sloppy snow- what a mess! It had been decided that our group would sell barbeque sandwiches and cole slaw at the Saturday flea market. I had made-up about 20 pounds of meat (approximately 80 sandwiches) into a pulled barbeque before leaving home, frozen it and then thawed it before Saturday so several of us could put it into crockpots to heat it up for serving. We were really dissappointed that we only sold about 30 sandwiches. It seems that the hot item was baked potatoes. Those that were sold we receive compliments on and even had several return customers. Well, we did that for the first and last times. The leftovers were divided up among our club members with them making contributions that netted us a little more than $70.00 profit. One of our club members became lightheaded necessitating a trip to the Emergency room via ambulance for him. After some IV fluids and some tests he was able to return back to the Samboree feeling much improved.

Sunday we left Frederick and travelled to Stafford, Virginia to be near our son,Todd, and his family as they were expecting the arrival of a new baby girl. We stayed at Aquia Pines campground just a short distance from Todd's. We enjoyed spending time and having dinner with Todd, Beth, 2 year old Parker and Beth's mom, Rose, on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings. Monday evening was Halloween so we were entertained with the trick or treaters coming to the door. After Beth's amniocentesis on Monday it was determined that the baby would be delivered on Wednesday morning by Caesarian section. So Wednesday November 2, 2011 Gabriella Paige Van de Bussche was born. Tom and I went to the hospital to meet our new granddaughter on Wednesday.

From 2011-11-02

From 2011-11-02

In the afternoon we picked up our 11 year old granddaughter, Maddy, from her mother's house and took her to meet her new sister and then out to dinner before returning back to her mother's.

Thursday morning we got little Parker and brought him to the campground. We went for walks through the wooded area, played on the playground and watched a big truck deliver a bulldozer to an evacuation site nearby.

From 2011-11-03

After lunch we returned Parker back home where grandma Rose put him to bed for his nap. In the evening we stayed with Parker while Rose went down to the hospital to see the mommy and baby.

Friday morning we left Virginia for Whaleyville, Md. near Ocean City. We were having the last Traveling American campout for the year at Fort Whaley campground. This campout is always a big turnout, we had about 15 rigs. The weather was cool but dry. Usually at this campground we have the use of a heated building but this year the building was being renovated so we only had a pavillion. It was a little chilly eating breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday mornings as well as dinner on Saturday evening but we did it. Quite a few of us stayed until Monday or later, so Sunday evening a group of 14 went out Pittsville for dinner. Tom and I left Monday morning. We made our normal stop at Fisherman's Inn on Kent Island for lunch and the returned home.

We tried different ways of getting into the driveway, did get in with some lesser dragging but realize that we need to get more boards to improve the situation for the next time.

Wednesday,October 5, 2011 Lancaster, Pa

Monday we continued north to Outdoor World campground near East Berlin, Pa.  We could have stayed there for 2 nights only as they were booked up for the weekend.  So we passed on staying there and continued on toward Lancaster and are staying at an Outdoor World campground, Circle M, near Millersville.

Tuesday we went to Roots country market.  We love going to the markets in this area with all the fresh produce and meat products.  Later in the day we drove to a nearby Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill.  There are several Stauffer’s throughout this area.  Years ago when we came to this area the Stauffer’s were a nice country market and nursery store. This store in the Millersville area is now a major grocery store with olive bars, specialty areas of coffee, teas and ethnic foods, large produce and meat departments.  The original store is now totally nursery.

We have been enjoying this time of getting familiar with this motorhome.  In the area in which we are parked in this campground there are several Tiffin motorhomes- 3 Phaetons and 1 Allegro Red.  We have been told that the Phaeton is the top selling motorhome for the year and we hear nothing but praise for the Tiffin company.  We sure hope the good reputation continues.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade

We were disappointed that our plans to go to Myrtle Beach were interrupted due to motorhome problems. The exhaust system problem was repaired about the middle of September. When life hands you lemons make lemonade, so the saying goes.
Tom and I had started to look at motorhomes this past January when we saw a Newmar Ventana with a bath and a half that caught our eyes at the Tampa RV show in Florida. We talked with a dealer in Tucson, Az. and had the ability to really look over a Ventana that the dealer had on the lot. We felt that the storage space was not as good in the Ventana as we had in our MountainAire so we put that thought out of our minds. Then with staying home in September we decided to go to the RV show in Hershey, Pa. with the thought of checking out motorhomes again and didn't see anything to really get us excited about. We then attended the RV show in Timonium, Md. and saw a Tiffin Phaeton with a bath and a half that caught our attention. A salesman was very informative but not pushy with trying to sell but the price was a bit much. So Tom started to look on the internet.

 We had decided that our Mountain Aire with 122,000 plus miles would need to replaced for us to continue traveling and we did not want to be much older before purchasing another motorhome. We were looking at used as well as new diesal motorhomes on the internet. The bath and half models had really interested us so we decided on either the Ventana or the Phaeton but preferred the Phaeton which we felt had more storage space, was equipped as well as the Ventana with a lighter price tag. Tom had bid on a Ventana that a dealer in Florida had put on Ebay and actually won the bid but did not meet the reserve price. He also had seen a Phaeton on the internet that a dealer in Alabama was asking for offers on. Tom submitted a offer for this Phaeton that included trading in our motorhome. About a week later a salesman finally called and discussed the offer and counter offered. After discussing it we felt the offer was probably the best we were going to get and decided to go with it.

This new 2011 motorhome was appointed better than the one we had seen in Maryland and the price was about $26,000.00 less so we made arrangements to go to Dandy's RV Superstore in Oxford, Alabama. Tuesday we left home and arrived at the dealership Thursday (September 29th) morning. Our salesman, Richard Green, talked with us briefly and the we were taken to the motorhome by a technician that spent a couple of hours explaining the motorhome workings with us. We then sat down and got the paperwork out of the way. We had arranged our own financing with our bank before leaving Maryland.

Tom had spotted a small ding in a compartment door so that had to be repaired as well as a few other little minor things and it was decided that these repairs would be done on Friday. After eating a late lunch, our MountainAire and the Phaeton were parked side by side so we could move our contents from one to the other. What an overwheming job! But we finally got the job done late in the evening and we were really tired. Friday morning at 8am the Phaeton was picked up and taken into the shop for the repairs to be done. We spent time with Richard Green, salesman, giving us a tour of the facility and then we went for a drive through the Cheha National Park and to Telladega racetrack. After returning we had to wait until about 4pm before the Phaeton was returned to us. Richard Green and Tom then took to a local gas station to get the motorhome fueled up paid for by the dealership. We were then on our way toward home in our new motorhome. We only drove about 70 miles north before stopping for the night.

Saturday we stopped in Sevierville, Tn. for the night. I have started to rearrange closets and cabinets from the hasty move that we made at the dealership. Today, Sunday, we are stopped for the night at Natural Bridge, Va. We had quite a time this evening I was preparing dinner trying to locate the can opener but finally after searching from Tom and I it was found in a storage box in the outside compartments. Such is life!

Tom check our home phone for messages and had a call from a man in Alabama that has already purchased our MountainAire. They sure didn't have that on the lot very long. The dealership was impressed with condition and the maintenance of the MountainAire having the mileage of 123,495 miles. Tom returned the call to the new owner answering questions and offering information. We wish this family many happy travels.

Tomorrow we are continuing north to Pennsylvania where we stay a few days at a campground near East Berlin and then going to the Lancaster area on Friday for a Traveling Americans weekend.

Good News, Bad News

The cooling unit for the motorhome refrigerator arrived Tuesday afternoon. Tom had talked with JR, the repairman in Gettysburg, and JR advised that we should not bring the motorhome to his garage until Wednesday morning. We have been having lots of rain and JR is located in a low area prone to flooding so he didn't want us have a flooded motorhome. So Wednesday morning we had the motorhome to JR by 9am. At 3pm JR called to say he had the cooling unit installed and it was working. We were 2 days late getting to Myrtle Beach and were anxious to be on our way so we threw all our "stuff" in the jeep, went to Gettysburg, loaded up the motorhome and took off south.

 We hoped to get south of Richmond, Virginia but as darkness set in the rain began to really pour. Also about at this point we heard a noise that sounded like an exhaust problem had developed. (We had had a problem with the exhaust system before that due to the heat had melted the starter leaving us stranded at a gas station in Western Maryland and having to be towed to a garage. The garage, a Ford dealer, installed a new starter that when we had stopped along the street by our house again the starter had melted and we needed to be towed to our local Ford dealer to have the exhaust system worked on along with another new starter.) After having this problem previously we were really anxious about what to do. So Tom spied a Flying J gas station near Fort AP Hill, Va. and we elected to stay there for the night. It is not the most ideal place to stay but it is free and as safe as any area to spend the night and if we were unable to start the motorhome in the morning finding assistance might be easier here than even at a campground, plus there is a restaurant that we were able to catch a late bite to eat and breakfast in the morning.

 This morning the rain had stopped when we got up so Tom did some checking further into the problem and determined that indeed the exhaust system had a problem in the same area as before and we decided at that point we needed to go home before we were stranded somewhere. So we traveled back to Taneytown, pulled the motorhome in the driveway and didn't dare turn off the engine, unloaded it and then took the motorhome to our local Ford dealer where it will stay until the problem is fixed.

From Gibson Header 9212011

The good news is that the refrigerator is working great, the bad news is that our motorhome is not and we had to cancel out reservations in Myrtle Beach.

We were planning to leave for the Labor Day weekend campout with the Traveling Americans on Friday.  Leah started the refrigerator on Monday evening and discovered that it did not want to work.  It appears that the cooling unit decided it no longer wanted to function.  What to do, What to do?????   Tuesday morning we called JR's RV Repair in Gettysburg, Pa and spoke with him about the problem.  We concluded it was the cooling unit that needed to be replaced. The unit is twelve years old and the average life is ten.  We ordered a replacement cooling unit Tuesday morning but it did not get shipped until Thursday.  We were hoping to have by Friday, but it will not be until Tuesday after Labor day before we receive it.

As soon as we receive the new cooling unit we will take it and the motorhome to the repair shop to have the work performed.  The next big question is "will the new cooling unit work?"  If it does not, we are back to square one.  But, we are going to think positive and know that it will work better the the unit it is replacing.

August 28, 2011 Surviving Irene

The hurricane's coming, the hurricane's coming! We had been hearing that for well over a week. Yesterday morning we woke up to cloudy skies. By noontime showers of rain were beginning to fall with mild winds. By evening the rain was steady and the winds were stronger and this continued throughout the night. This morning the rain started to slack off and by 1pm we had bright blue, sunny skies once again. Other than leaves blown off the trees everything else appears to be in tack. We consider ourselves lucky as areas south and east had some flooding and property damage.
We are hoping that the hurricanes quiet down for a spell as we prepare to go to Myrtle Beach next week.

Family Togetherness, Earthquake and Irene

Last Friday, August 19th, Tom and I along with our granddaughter, Maddy, drove from Taneytown to Stafford, Virginia where we met up with our son, Todd, and his wife, Beth, and grandsons, Anthony and Parker, to travel down to Duck, North Carolina on the Outer Banks. We had rented a beach house in the Schooner Ridge section of Duck for a week. We had the use of club house that included 2 outdoor swimming pools and an indoor swimming pool. The sun shone brightly most of the week. Tuesday was cloudy with a few showers. A lot of time was spent on the beach soaking up the sunshine.

From 2011-08-20- Outer Banks

We did ride down to the Jockey's Ridge Park and walked up the huge sand dunes and then continued on down to the Hatteras Lighthouse on Monday.

From 2011-08-20- Outer Banks

From 2011-08-20- Outer Banks

We cooked most of our meals. Barbequed ribs, low country seafood boil and seafood pasta to name a few.

From Drop Box

Maddy and Anthony enjoyed bogey boarding in the ocean. Parker liked to play in the sand but preferred swimming pool water to the ocean.
Wednesday, August 23rd, Tom and I spent that morning on the beach. Around noon we returned to the beach house along with Parker, Maddy and Anthony. Some sandwiches were made for lunch and Anthony carried some down to the beach for Todd and Beth. While sitting at the kitchen counter area Tom and I felt the house swaying and looked at one another saying we thought we had just had an earthquake. Maddy and Parker were on the lower floor and Maddy also felt the house sway. A little later Todd, Beth and Anthony returned and Todd said we had an earthquake- they had received a phone call from Beth's mother telling them about the quake and its location was close to Todd and Beth's home in Virginia.
During the week we were hearing about Hurricane Irene that was moving across the Atlantic Ocean but was not predicted to make landfall until late Friday or Saturday. By Thursday it was apparent that this strong storm was going to hit the Outer Banks area and a mandatory evacuation for all visitors had been ordered. We had hoped that we could stay until early Friday morning but were told that we had to leave or we would be escorted off the island by the sheriff. About 11am we had packed up and left our rented beach house a day early on a bright sunny day. The storm was not predicted to hit until Friday afternoon or evening. As we were leaving a mandatory evacuation had been ordered for all residents on Friday.
Tom and I are now at home awaiting the effects of the storm in our area.

A Weekend in Lancaster, Pa.

Last Thursday, August 4th, we left home about noontime and traveled to Lancaster County, Pa. to a campout with the Traveling Americans. We were east of Lancaster in Kinzer at Roamer's Retreat Campground. Two other rigs from our camping group were already at the campground and then more followed on Thursday and the remainder arrived on Friday. We had 9 units in attendence which is a good turnout. Thursday evening a group of us went to Plain and Fancy restaurant for a family style meal. Friday evening a bigger group went to Country Cupboard and Buffet restaurant- some ate at the buffet but Tom and I opted for ordering from the menu.
Saturday morning our hosts for the weekend had a nice continental breakfast. In the evening we had an Italian style meal with the hosts providing pasta dishes and the rest of us bringing a dish of salad, bread or dessert. I made a dessert called "peaches and cream" which was like a cobbler. Sunday morning the hosts prepared pancakes and sausages and others brought dishes to share, I took a bowl of cantaloupe. We had campfires on Friday and Saturday nights- Friday night the weather was fine for a campfire but Saturday night we had rain. In spite of the rain, several of us sat around the campfire with our umbrellas anyway.

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

During the day everyone does their own thing. Tom and I went to several of the shops and stores in the area.
Some of the folks left the campground on Sunday. Four of the units, including us, stayed until Monday. Tom and I rode over to the Strasburg area, stopped at the campground that the group will be going to in October, and registered for that weekend. We ate a nice late lunch/early dinner at the Iron Horse Cafe in Strasburg before returning to the campground.
Monday morning we returned home. It was a real nice weekend. The weather was fairly good for most of the time, had some hot days and a little rain.