Making the Best of Things and Finding Adventures - Red Bay, AL

When you find yourself having to make the best of things, finding adventures is definitely the way to go. First off, we are still at the Tiffin Motorhome facility in Red Bay waiting to have a recall issue and some other minor problems corrected. Tiffin has a "campground" that enables customers to continue living in their coaches as we wait for our service, but the campground is pretty basic. We have hook-ups but there are no amenities - no pool, no club room etc. Since they don't do appointments, there is generally a wait of a week or two when a customer arrives and we've been told we'll be up sometime next week (we've already been here a week). On the plus side, having service done here means returning to the mothership - they do nothing but build and service Tiffin motorhomes, unlike dealers who might work on every make and every type of RV. These are the experts and Tiffin's reputation is second to none. Since we aren't on a strict schedule, we're fortunate to be able to play the waiting game but not gonna kid you, it's been frustrating. The weather has been unseasonably cold here - no, not Chicago cold but we've been wearing coats, which we had hoped to never have to do again. On the other hand, I always said that winter would be tolerable if it only lasted a month and in this case it won't be quite that long (we hope!) before we can be on our way south again. And we're staying toasty in the moho.

Red Bay is in the northwest corner of Alabama and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So about the finding adventures thing...we'd been taking drives to nearby towns to shop or just see the local sites and we really hit pay dirt a couple of days ago. We drove out to Muscle Shoals, about 40 miles from here to pick up a prescription at Walgreen's and on the way back we decided to seek out a place I had read about called Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve. Following the GPS took us off the main road and down a narrow gravel road that started getting progressively scarier. Just about the time we started imagining we heard banjo music and decided to look for an opportunity to turn back, we found the preserve "office" which was a simple house in a cleared area. We were greeting by Faye, a lovely lady and the owner of the privately owned preserve. She gave us a trail map - there are about 15 miles of hiking trails through the 700 plus acre property - and pointed out a few of the highlights that would be within the first mile or so. So we started out and soon came to the waterfall.

We spent some time there since you can walk over the rocks and get right behind the falls without getting too wet and of course, I can't resist a waterfall.

We hiked on further to an overlook marked on the map as "The Point" and it did not disappoint either. The place was absolutely spectacular and I'm afraid we barely scratched the surface since we had not come prepared for a long hike - no water or appropriate shoes. But we are definitely planning to return before we leave this area. Faye and her husband are amazing people. They own the entire property, they have built and maintained the trails and they share it with anyone who wants to hike through it at no charge. Not even a request for donations. Both are retired teachers and just very inspiring folks.

Next up was - ready for this one???

We had been hearing about the coon dog cemetery since we got here and of course we had to go check it out. It was about 5 miles down a dirt road and it was probably one of the most bizarre sights I've ever seen. Apparently, only coon dogs can be buried there and it dates back to 1937. We walked around and saw dog graves from 50 and 60 years ago, and others from this past year. Every single grave had flowers on it.

This place is pretty much pure Alabama and I'm really glad we experienced it. One of a kind, for sure.

Our plan from here is to stick around till next Wednesday, then close up the moho and leave it to be serviced while we're off on our Christmas travels. The drive to Atlanta (where my brother and nephew live) is about 4 hours and that's where we'll be heading. From there we'll fly to Seattle for Christmas, so we'll be gone a couple of weeks before getting back here. Hopefully, we'll be all ready to roll by that time. We're ready to head south and get out of the cold!

Taking care of business - Red Bay, AL

Ok, time to update the last couple of weeks since I sloughed off through the holiday weekend last week. We were delighted to welcome Kristin and Billy as our first guests over the Thanksgiving holiday at Tropical Palms RV Resort in Orlando FL. Bill and I arrived on Wednesday morning, after just a short jaunt of less than 2 hours from Tampa and had plenty of time to get set up before leaving for the airport. We did find a very small hitchhiker had made the trip from Tampa with us - I found a tiny lizard (about an inch long) in our sink. I'm pretty sure it rode along with Frosty the shrub since the kitchen sink is where Frosty sits while we're underway. I admit I screamed when I found it - I know, one inch - but it was just unexpected. Bill got it safely outside with a piece of paper. Good thing it didn't go down the drain, which it would have if we had turned on the water without noticing it. So hopefully Lizzie the Lizard is now making new friends in her relocated digs in Orlando.

So Billy and Kristin arrived on Wednesday afternoon. After snacks and drinks at the moho we went to Margaritaville for dinner and found John Frinzi playing. It was great seeing John again, although a cold front had come through and that Florida boy was bundled up to a comical degree on that stage.



The weather got better the next day and for the rest of the weekend, and while it wasn't float-in-water warm, the sun kept shining and all we needed were light hoodies in the morning and evening.

On Thursday we got an early start and spent the day at Universal. We made a beeline for the Harry Potter experience and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It is set up as several streets exactly like the books/movies.


There are magic wand shops, owls, little stands where butterbeer is sold and of course...Hogwarts in all its glory. Absolutely amazing. Which brings us to the Harry Potter Experience ride...hoo boy. Now, I'm not a roller coaster fan, or a fan of any kind of ride much wilder than a merry-go-round. Kristin wisely opted out of this one but I really wanted to go for the whole experience so I dutifully waited in line with the boys and got the whole experience. I will say that once it was over and I stopped shaking, I was glad that I had done it. But would I do it again, knowing what it's like? That would be a hell no! It's actually an incredible ride - it puts the rider in a game of Quidditch, flying through the air, spinning, dipping, rising and dropping, going incredibly fast...sensory overload in a way that I've never experienced before. I barely survived it. Of course, both guys loved it. So anyone thinking about it, be forewarned. But if you like really wild rides you won't be disappointed.

After recovering from that we spent the rest of the day pretty much doing everything Universal offers, which is a lot. Kristin and I stayed off the rest of the wild rides but the guys did them all. We finished the day with a not-so-traditional "Friendsgiving" dinner at Bob Marley's restaurant which was fabulous.

Friday was Epcot, which everyone knows is Kristin's happy place. She was twirling around with joy from the minute we got there and she was a great tour guide. We made the round of all the countries and a few of the rides and stayed till the night was over to see the fireworks show, which was the best I've ever seen. After a great dinner in Morocco with a belly dancer as entertainment, it was time to leave...really, Kristin!

Saturday was a chill-out day. We learned that a musician known as Captain Josh would be playing at the poolside patio at our RV park so we decided to head over there in the afternoon. Turns out Captain Josh is from Key West, has played at Meeting of the Minds and will be at Music on the Bay in February so we quickly realized that he was one of ours. Although we'd never seen him before, we all became new fans. He did a great show, with some trop-rock but all kinds of music and he threw out music trivia questions throughout the afternoon. A couple of times he offered up CDs as prizes and yep, we came home with two of them, thanks to Bill the Trivia Master! It was a great day.

Sunday, sadly the Bears lost and Billy and Kristin had to leave. It was a great weekend and we were all sad to see it end. Until next time!

We left Orlando on Tuesday morning, for the two day drive to Red Bay AL. The Tiffin plant is located in Red Bay, Tiffin being the maker of our motorhome. Red Bay is sort of the Mecca of all Tiffin owners - eventually we all make a pilgrimage here. Tiffin as a company has an excellent reputation, and back when we decided to look for a motorhome, Tiffin was our choice. Since RVs are much like boats - things go wrong with them - we had acquired a laundry list of issues to be addressed and Red Bay is the best place to get them all taken care of. Since we bought our moho gently used, we also want to have them check to see that all recalls and maintenance issues had been taken care of.

We arrived yesterday and are at Camp Red Bay. It's a pretty basic, no frills campground but we do have full hook-ups. The downside is that the service is first-come, first-served with no appointments. So upon arriving, we checked in and then met with a tech to go over all the things we wanted done and/or checked. We will probably be here at least 2 weeks before everything gets done. The bigger downside is that the weather is about to turn foul here - we will be seeing 40s and possibly even overnight 30s in the next few days. And this is one time that we can't make good on our plan to head south whenever we have to put socks on, so bummer. Hopefully next week will be better. In any case, we're stuck here for a while so we'll just have to find something fun to do in the area while we're waiting. In any case, we'll be flying to Seattle to spend Christmas with the family and then Atlanta to visit my brother and nephew so if we end up having to leave the moho here for a while it's a good time to do that.

We are looking forward to January, when we'll be able to head back to someplace warm!