Caverns and White Sand

Yesterday, January 20th, we spent most of the day in Carlsbad Caverns.

We went in the Natural Entrance Route, a 750 foot descent that swiches back and forth for much of a mile. This route ended at a rest area in one direction or to the Big Room Route in another direction.

We stopped off at the rest area for a restroom break and a snack of a shared sandwich before going into the Big Room. The Big Room Route was was 1 1/2 miles long but was fairly level walkway. The Big Room, by far, is the most beautiful route covering over 8 acres of formations.

An elevator returned us to the above ground level. It was an enjoyable day even though we had been through the caverns several years ago.

This morning we left Carlsbad traveling north to Artesia and then east to Alamogordo to visit the White Sands National Monument. The trip started through flat country but after turning west we encountered some hills. At one point we were in a valley that had farms and a creek with real water running (in this part of the country most riverbeds are dry). We then began a gradual ascent through more hills and began seeing snow on the hillsides

When we reached the town of Cloudcroft we were over 8600 feet in elevation. The descent from Cloudcroft to Alamogordo was much greater than the ascent as it was 6% grades most of the way.

We were pleased with the way our new motorhome handled this trip. The 152 mile trip took us about 3 1/2 hours. When we got to Alamagordo we checked into Boot Hill RV Resort (Passport rate $16.71), a very nice RV park. After eating lunch we took off in the Jeep to White Sands National Monument.

                       Our first stop was at the Visitor's Center where we watched a short film.

We then drove the Dunes Drive through the park. The Dunes Drive goes 8 miles into the heart of the dunes. The dunes look like snow drifts along the sides of the road.

Kids were on the dunes with the disk type sleds sliding down the dunes like sledding in snow.

The disk sleds can be purchased at the Visitor's Center Gift Shop for $10.00 and then if returned $5.00 is refunded. We walked around some the dunes. This white gypsum sand is extremely fine almost like flour and so white.

The surrounding mountain rocks contain gypsum and it is from that source that the sand is created. This 275 square miles of gypsum sand is the worlds largest gypsum field. Like all sand dunes the dunes are constantly moving and changing with the force of the winds. Before leaving the park we took a mile hike on the Dune Life Nature Trail, a trail that had signs posted along the way about the plants and animals that are common in the dunes. A very interesting place to visit. Sand is not allowed to be taken from the park and riding over the dunes is forbidden.

We returned back to Alamogordo and ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda, which we enjoyed. As we were driving to a shopping mall to find a salon where I could get a haircut we received a call from Larry. He and Joanne are in Santa Fe, they are working their way west on I-40. He encountered some strong winds in his travels today.
I did get my hair cut and then as we returned toward the campground we stopped at a Pastachio nut shop- pastachios are grown in this area. We didn't buy any as they were more expensive than what we are able to purchase at other places, isn't that often the case?
After the walking through Carlsbad Caverns yesterday and then today the White Sand today Tom and I are suffering with soreness in our legs muscles.

January 19, 2012 Change of Plans

Yesterday, Wednesday the 18th,  we continued our travels across I-20.  We stopped in Abilene for fuel and then thought we would grab a bite to eat for lunch.  Across the street from the gas station was a shopping area that set back from the road but a Wendy’s was along the road  and appeared to have a connecting parking lot from Wendy’s to the shopping area.  Tom turned into the Wendy’s and sure enough the parking lots did not connect so around Wendy’s we drove and luckily Tom was able to manipulate the motorhome around and back out to the main road once more.  We then spied an empty parking lot next to a Chili’s restaurant where we were able to park and then we had lunch at Chili’s.  By the way we got diesel fuel at a Fina station for $3.69, the best price around as other stations were about $.20 a gallon higher.  We stopped for the night at Whip In RV Park in Big Spring, Texas, a distance of 338 miles.  The weather was sunny and temperatures were in the upper 60’s dropping into the 30’s during the night.

We had planned to continue west on I-20 but when we looked at the next leg of the trip we realized that campgrounds are few  until El Paso.  El Paso was well over 350 miles, a distance greater than we like to travel in a day.  So we decided to leave I-20 and go to Carlsbad, New Mexico.  This morning we left Big Spring, Texas on I-20 and shortly we got on  route 87 to La Mesa, Texas and then route 180 to Carlsbad, New Mexico-195 miles.  Traveling through Texas and into New Mexico we passed by fields that were being prepared for cotton planting, saw several cotton gins, a large peanut processing plant as well as oil wells and natural gas pumping stations-and a few small towns.  When we got to Carlsbad RV Park we realized that we had crossed into mountain time so we gained an hour.  The weather here is wonderful with temperatures reaching 80 or above.  After setting up and eating some lunch we went to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens which is located outside Carlsbad on a hill that overlooks the city.  The 1.3 mile pathway goes through different types of desert vegetation and passes by native animals as Mexican wolves, javelinas, bison, mountain lions, bobcat, elk, pronghorn as well as birds and reptiles.  It was a nice way to spend the afternoon in this wonderful weather.  Before returning back to the motorhome we stopped at Lowe’s (Tom always needs something from Lowe’s) and the Walmart to get a few groceries and some medicine for the nasal congestion that Tom has been suffering with since Alabama.  We plan to stay here for 2 nights before moving on west.

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.