What do you do for entertainment?

This is the question my brother Ted asked me this week when I told him we would certainly be here for  another week.  Well, during the week we wait a lot.  As I've mentioned, no one gets in too big a hurry to get things done, but when they do, the Tiffin guys do a great job for sure.  Although that doesn't sound too entertaining, it does force us to find things to do in and around the motor home.

The week-ends are another story.  First on my agenda was to retrace steps to find the house with natural air conditioning we saw a while back.  Kitchen on one side and living quarters on the other side separated by an open air porch.  Simplicity of design before electricity / air conditioning.

Since this is our third week-end in Red Bay, we decided to venture further.  While waiting for a pizza I wish I had never eaten, I was reading a local paper advertising a Dulcimer festival on Saturday.  We took off around noon for Tishomingo State Park west of Red Bay into Mississippi.  I don't know much about Dulcimers, but that's the whole point of an adventure.  The day was absolutely clear with just a bit of a chill.  We discovered yet another gorgeous state park.  Nestled deep in the park was the park lodge. Outside, a flatbed trailer had been covered with a cloth skirt for a make-shift stage.  Groups came form nearby states to perform. Some beginners, some quite skilled.  Usually the lead person, such as Peggy Pearl (allegedly a distant cousin to Minnie Pearl?) would be named, and the others were named as "friends."  

There are different types of Dulcimers.  Pictured on our picture page are mostly mountain Dulcimers.  I've included one that is a hybrid of dulcimer and banjo.  The groups also included guitars, mandarins, or the combo dulcimer/banjo.  One guitar I have never seen before is the Martin back-pack.  I think it's just small enough to fit in the Whale.

The Dulcimer, a three stringed instrument, has a rather high, tinny sound.  Folks lay it across their laps to play.  We agreed the groups with Dulcimers, guitars, and other stringed instruments had a much richer sound.  Some groups had vocalists.  The lyrics told stories or were gospel.  Some just made us laugh.  Some groups even had "team" t-shirts.

Reluctantly, we had to leave after a couple of hours of foot tapping music in a beautiful setting.

Homecoming in Red Bay

Once an educator, always an educator...  all things school interest me.  On the way to the post office Friday afternoon, we literally stumbled on Red Bay's homecoming parade.  Main street was blocked.  So why not stop and watch?  No exaggeration - every student in Red Bay Schools (Fulton County Corporation) was in or at the parade.  Most were riding on a fire engine, ambulance, or pick-up truck.  There, of course was a homecoming queen, a football queen (chosen by the football players) and a "queen" for each grade level from 7-12.  I know this only because the lady at the post office was keeping me informed throughout the parade.  She asked me, "I don't suppose you have parades like this  where you are from?"  It sounded like a question, but I think it was really an assumption based on my accent.  Interesting...  the observer being observed.  I told her we had similar celebrations absent the 7th and 8th grade queens and the pee wee cheerleaders.

With any luck at all, our warranty work will pick back up tomorrow.  We had tile installed in the bedroom Friday/Saturday.  While that was being done, we wandered the back roads around Red Bay and drove to Fulton Campground on the Tennessee Tom Bigbee (Tenn-Tom) Waterway.  When we leave Red Bay, we will be spending some time there.  The Tenn-Tom is the waterway folks use to navigate from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico.  It was once our dream to live on a sailboat and travel the Tenn-Tom to get to the Gulf.  Now we'll camp and just look at it. Much safer that way.

Hopefully, the floor in the driver's side slide will be replaced tomorrow.  They have to take the entire slide off the side of the Whale which means we have to take everything out of the cabinets etc.  I call this forced re-organization.  Amazingly, they can complete this in one day.  We have cabinet work done on Wednesday evening on that same slide which means the stuff all has to be taken out again.  That should be the end of the major "fixes" on the inside.

Also while here, we are installing up-dates to our data equipment.  External wi-fi and cell phone antennas with amplifier on the cell phone antenna seem to be the way most are going.  Satellite seems to be falling by the way side.  Jerry and I have two different phone services, and we each have hot spots on our phones.  These give us almost total coverage in the U.S. and secure connections when the wi-fi we are closest to is weak/show/unsecured.  The antennas will boost our service...  we hope.

Tomorrow...

I'm starting to realize time has different meanings in different places.  Like the concept of tomorrow- it could mean within the next twenty-four hours, or it could mean in 2-3 days.  As we settle into our 2-3 week stay in Red Bay, we're trying to adapt to the rhythm of daily life here.  I have to admit that after 30+ years of "if you can't be on time, be early,"  I've had to take a breath a time or two.  Jerry seems much more in tune with all of this.  To date, we've shown up at the Red Bay Museum (only supposed to be open Tues. & Thurs. 1:30-4:00) several times only to find it closed.  I feel like maybe we slipped into a parallel time space out of sinc with the rest of the town.  We'll keep trying.

We've met a lot of people so far who live and work in Red Bay.  Everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful.  When I called the post office to ask if it was OK to have mail sent general delivery (some RVer's tell us some post offices get cranky), the person who answered the phone, Denise, was very excited to say yes.  She told me that's how they get to meet new people from new places.

We even had help picking out ice cream in the grocery store.  We were standing in front of the freezer, and another customer gave us some insight, unsolicited, about the brands we did not recognize.  She was right. It was good!  I know this sounds like such a small thing, but I believe it says a lot about the culture of a community.  The owner of a shop downtown spent at least 25 minutes making phone calls to help me figure out why the museum wasn't open.  Talk about owning the problem until it's solved.

In addition to all the cool stuff we are having done to the Whale, one of the best parts for me is the stories Jerry is telling me.  Although he was born in Michigan and raised in South Bend, IN, his mom and dad's relatives are mostly from Arkansas and Tennessee.  So after 32 years of marriage, I'm hearing more about his memories of visiting an uncle who lived in Tiptonville, TN and stories about his grandmother's house that had no electricity or plumbing.  We actually drove by an abandoned house yesterday while wandering around that Jerry tells me looks just like his grandma's did....  a kitchen on one end and living quarters on the other end, and the ends are separated by a completely open air porch - all under the same roof.

Another "best part" (I have lots) is the longer we stay, the more we get connected to local produce and products.  There's an 80 year old woman who brings loaves of freshly baked sour dough bread to the campground for sale.  She used to deliver it directly to coaches, but they had to make her stop and just bring it to the office.  They were afraid she would fall and hurt herself.

We can also get "fresh from the factory" eggs.  Unfortunately, the weather got chilly the last few days, and the chickens went on strike.  We're hoping there will be a settlement soon...

I'm not usually a big sausage fan, but there's a person who makes breakfast sausage locally and delivers packages to the campground.  If there is such a thing as gourmet sausage, this would be it.  Outstanding flavor!

Harvest here is an important event.  When we first drove through town, we saw several places of business have elaborate fall decorations on the sidewalk with bales of hay and pumpkins.  But as we drive more of the countryside, we see more and more like decorations.  This really speaks to the connectedness of the community, or maybe there's a fall decoration ordinance...  I may have to research that more.

2-3 Weeks in Red Bay, Alabama

One of four rows of RV's waiting for service.
Not the most scenic but serves the purpose.

We spent all of Tuesday, October 2nd breaking our first made cardinal RV rule.... do not drive over 150-200 miles per day.  We drove over 500 miles on Tuesday in order to get to the Allegro Campground in Red Bay, Alabama early on Wednesday.  Red Bay, population  3,300, is home of the Tiffin Motor Home Manufacturin, and all roads (actually none directly) lead to Red Bay when your Tiffin is still under warranty or you need work done.   This is quite an operation.  The campground is actually a giant parking lot accommodating about 150 RV's with full hook up all the way to dry camping.

Dry camping means you better come in with your tanks empty 'cause there's no dump station.  We were lucky to get water and electric hook up when we pulled in.  On Friday we were moved to a full hook up.  Good thing...  the belly of the Whale was almost full.

We had an appointment on Thursday.  Before we knew it, a technician wanted to check out three areas of the Whale that had become problems - the cap rails on the roof, the floor in the water bay area (where all the hook-ups are) and the floor in driver's front slide out.  Behind door number three we won a new floor in the driver's side slide-out.  That wasn't even on our list!  The company is checking every RV that comes in for service and will fix whichever one or all of these problems whether the RV is still under warranty or not.  We have other warranty items as well.  Our stay will be lengthy.

The company has about 50 work bays.  You can either make an appoint months in advance, or you can just drop in for "Express Service."  Getting an appointment is about as easy as winning the Lotto, but if you call seconds after midnight on the date given to schedule three months away, you might get lucky.  Some folks who drove in for "Express Service" have been waiting for a week or two to get in.  Tiffins don't have any more issues than any other large piece of machinery.  The overload comes from folks wanting their coaches fixed by the technicians who know the coach in and out.  These guys are really good!  People are willing to wait.

There's also this whole underground of technicians who do custom modifications after hours and on the week-end with the company's blessing.  While we have been parked here, we have already seen some of the modifications others have had done (show and tell), and we are ordering changes also.  The work is done by those who work for Tiffin.  They are reasonable, and the work is well done.

The other great thing about being here for 2-3 weeks is we get to explore the area.  Red Bay, at first glance, is not the vacation spot of America, but that's  not what we're after anyway.  Both Jerry and I want to experience whatever location we are in as part of the journey.  More about Red Bay, Alabama tomorrow...

One day in Sioux Falls

Our day in Sioux Falls started at 8:00 a.m. Central time at Alternative Resources, our mail forwarding service.  The folks there are so helpful! We picked up our mail and actually saw our address "spot."  The Whale would definitely not fit.  We filled out paperwork to register to vote before driving downtown to the Municipal Building where we got our new drivers' licenses.  Three ladies handled a steady stream of customers.  They could give lessons on the right way to run a license bureau.  Then we went down stairs to submit our registrations to vote,  and we voted.  From beginning to end the whole process took less than 1.5 hours.  Just like that.  We are SD residents.  On the way out of the Municipal Building, we were stopped by two folks who were getting petitions signed.  "Are you SD residents?"  I almost said "No, I'm a resident of IN" but caught myself.  They were petitioning to have snow trucks not leave the mound of snow at the end of residents' driveways when they plow.  After years of dealing with those mounds left by snow trucks, I felt it was a cause I could join.

We spent another few hours exploring Sioux Falls.  My first impressions were that it's bigger than expected, and the city seems to be one continuous strip mall.  They claim to have over 400 restaurants.  I wonder if McDonald's counts as a restaurant? We discovered a bread shop, Harvest Breads, where bread is baked hourly I think.  All I can say is mmmmmmmm!

At 2:00 p.m. we headed south and drove from fall color to late summer green the further south we traveled.   Interstate 29 meanders down the west side of Iowa and Missouri until you get to Kansas City.  Because we are headed to Red Bay, Alabama to get the Whale serviced, we are now headed east on Interstate 70 out of Kansas City and will be taking various smaller state roads to get to Red Bay.  There's no direct way to get there (very small town) which means we will be seeing the countryside.

Our stop last night was in St. Joseph, Missouri - Wal-Mart parking lot at Exit 50.  Even though we have made several trips before in our motor homes, it's different when you know this is your place of residence, and establishing "ease of use" procedures is more important for the health of the marriage.  For example, when the slides (pop-outs / cheeks) are all in, there are a couple of "no passing zones" down the center aisle.  If you are headed in opposite directions, one person must back up.  We've also discovered when we pull into a parking lot for the night, RV etiquette is you only open slides on the curb side.  No blocking traffic flow.  We always park with  the driver's side against the curb as those slides give us more room to move around.  Thus, eliminating the "no passing zones."  We continue to figure things out as we go.

The First Full Day

Yesterday was our first full day of travel as we make our way to South Dakota.  I confess...  I do believe in omens - weather being one.  Yesterday was incredibly clear and warm as we made our way across southern Minnesota.  Based on the advice of a friend, Lee, who delivers motor homes all over the U.S.  and Canada, we chose to travel south of Chicago and pick up Interstate 90 across the southern section of MN.  We made two "detours" to check out fall colors and whatever else we stumbled across.    Check out the pictures on "Picture Perfect Places We Wandered."

As we drove west, we saw two different windmill "farms, " Evidently MN invested 3.3 million around 2009, and the biggest news of the day was they didn't turn in cold weather dubbing the area in winter a "no spin zone."  I was unable to find any updates on that aspect.  They must be doing something right though.  The initial purchase for the state was fairly small, and what we saw were many more than I could count.  I downloaded this YouTube video of the turbines at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elj_FMnbmk8

They are mesmerizing.

On the domestic side, I had this great idea to make beef stew while we were running down the road our first day.  The inverter is always on when we are running since we have a residential refrigerator that requires electricity converted to 110.  We discovered Rival Crock Pots don't like electricity converted from 12 volt to 110 through our inverter.  Now lest you think I've gotten smarter since retirement, understand I don't have a clue about electricity, but I do know when something is burning.  Where there's smoke, there's fire.  Off to Bed, Bath and Beyond for another crock pot.  It wasn't until the second one started smoking that we realized what was going on,  Hopefully, I pulled the plug before permanent damage was done.  Who knew some appliances don't like some types of electricity?  Yet another lesson learned.

We seem to have brought new meaning to the word "travel."  Our departure date of Sept. 15th has come and gone.  Still in Elkhart...  but journeys are happening.  Given the gift of time, we've spent more great time with family and met new friends.  This last Saturday a gathering of good friends literally weathered rain and hail to attend our "open house."  The more people showed up, the better the weather got.

We've organized and reorganized and peeled off more layers as we wait to get started.  No one needs that many clothes.  We've learned we don't have to be in motion to be on a journey.  Patience and flexibility have been ingredients for keeping sane under conditions that can't be controlled.

Enough of that.  We want to go!  That is the main reason for doing all this after all.  It looks like that just might happen soon.  The infection which has kept Jerry tethered to Elkhart General Hospital each morning for antibiotics is under control.  Packing is almost complete.  Our new tentative departure date is this Friday, September 28th around noon.  We will travel to South Dakota first.  Then we head to Red Bay, Alabama for Whale maintenance.  After that we are back to Elkhart for important family celebrations.  Then south to Naples, Florida for warm weather and close friends.

...  and a continuation of this entry is as of 3:00 p.m. Friday, September 28th we are on the road!!!  After all this time, it's hard to believe we are finally headed out of town.  First destination - Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Since our official state of residence is now SD, we must go there to get drivers' licenses. The rule is we must stay 24 hours to get our licenses. SD is one of a handful of states that allow RV'ers to do this.  While we are in Sioux Falls, we will pick up our mail (mail order service) and get to see where our address is.  They keep telling us it's a real place, but I suspect I can't park the whale in that spot.  More about that later.  We hope to get to Sioux Falls by Saturday night in order to do some wandering on Sunday.  Licenses and voting on Monday will finish our business in SD for this year.  Then we are on to Red Bay, Alabama for warranty work on the Whale.  I'm eager to see what SD and points south look like in early fall!