A Motorhomer's Day in Red Bay

If you've been a Chronicles reader for a while, you may know that we love Red Bay.  It is the home of the Tiffin Motor Home company and the mecca for Tiffin RV owners.  It is a small town with lots going on.

I realized many do not share our love for the town because it is a small town.  Years ago I responded to the notion, "There's nothing to do in Red Bay" with a post of "Nothing to Do in Red Bay?  Here's 101 Things to Do".
Not all the things listed are nearby and maybe not directly in Red Bay, but we love it here anyway.

We also love it here because we can get things fixed on our motor home.  The Roadrunner always senses when we head this direction and two days ago was no different.  We had a low air pressure gauge act up and the red light on the dash indicated an issue.  And the alarm was beeping!  So we have an appointment with Bay Diesel to get that fixed.

The issue presented itself in Oklahoma.  The red light and beeping and gauges would intermittently sound off.  Besides being a little unsettling, we wondered how serious the issue was and if there was some damage going on.  We took the Roadrunner over to the Cummins center in Oklahoma City and the tech assured us it was probably a loose wire or a controller issue and no imminent serious issue.  We continued on I-40 to Memphis, then down to Tupelo where we stopped in to see our friends at MCH Kenworth.

Their analysis matched those of the techs in Oklahoma City so we are looking forward to our appointment tomorrow at Bay Diesel.

Today we are scheduled into Custom Paint and Body to get new air horns on top of the coach.  Our current ones are pitted and rusting badly, so we are getting new aluminum ones.  Melody tracked some down for us at the Tiffin Parts Dept and Bruce or one his guys will install later this morning.

We also chipped/crack the corner piece (some call it an arrowhead) of trim on our DS front slide.  The trim piece is right above the bay door which can touch it if we are parked on an uneven site.  Most of the time I watch it carefully when I open that bay door next to the wet bay door, but a few months ago, the bay door 'touched' the corner piece and it cracked.  So Bruce will replace that and rivet it into place.  And give us an extra one in case it happens again.

Yesterday we had an appointment at Brannon's Custom RV in Vina, Al.  It was about a 20 minute drive from our campground (Red Bay RV Park at the edge of town) and Brannon and Jason went over our list.  We needed our Travl'r DirecTV satellite dish re-calibrated.  Our Winegard Rayzar Over-the-air TV antenna wasn't working, so we wanted them to check that out too.

We also had a problem with our Driver Side (DS) rope lights up near the ceiling.  A loose connection made them inoperable.  Our bathroom shower door was not closing correctly and we had a loose wire down below that we found in the bay area.  We wondered if that had anything to do with our low pressure issue.  We weren't sure but asked Brannon to check it out.

We also had a problem with the new/updated LED headlights.  We had those installed last fall but had a fail on the DS with one of the projector bulbs.  Brannon replaced that as well as the same bulb on the Passenger (PS).

Brannon is the best.  He gets the job down quickly and professionally.  He called about 10:30 said he had re-calibrated the DirecTV satellite dish and found the settings were not correct on the Razor.  He also repaired the rope light and was going to replace a couple of small braces on the inside of the shower door which was causing it to be a little uneven.

After lunch we picked up the coach at Custom RV.  Brannon confirmed the loose wire was an extra bay door wire and not related to our air pressure problem.  We left feeling great about that and the other things he fixed.  He always fixes things right and at a fair price.  We also asked about our AGM batteries.  They are about 6 1/2 years old and we wondered if they were nearing the end of their life.  Brannon said the rule thumb is 6-8 years of life for Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) batteries and 4-6 years for regular batteries.

Yesterday after we dropped off the Roadrunner at Brannon's (at 7:00 AM), we went over to Belmont, MS, for breakfast at Sparks Restaurant.  It has the best breakfast in the area.  The ham and cheese omelet I ordered was larger than I expected so it was all I could do to eat it.  Pam had bacon and scrambled eggs and wheat toast.

Along with some coffee, we enjoyed the food and did some local people watching, The big table in the restaurant is where the daily locals come.  They had 8-10 good ole boys that obviously meet for breakfast and sit at their own table marked "SMART persons table".  ?  Not sure what that means but it is probably some private joke.  Or it means the things they talk about rise to the level of smart people.  I think they were probably solving most of the worlds issues.  It is a fun place.

Next we went over to the Tiffin Service Center.  We ran into Glenda and say hi to her.  She used to run the parts store but now does the cleaning with another lady.  Next I went back into the cabinet shop near bay 26 and said hi to Tanya.  She has been there 4-5 years and is liking the woodworking.  She and another fellow install the shades in the road runner back when she was doing that work.

We had time for the morning tour at the Tiffin Visitor Center.  Pam stayed in the car and took a little nap to help her get over her cold while I went on the tour.  I always love hearing the story and I learn something every time we walk through the many buildings on the tour.  The tour has improved over the years and is the best in the RV industry.  Bar none.  It is definitely worth the time and effort to come and see how these things are built.

After the Tiffin tour we went to the Piggly Wiggly market deli for lunch.  We had mashed potatoes, gravy and friend chicken with a small portion of cherry cobbler for dessert.  Next we went over to the Allegro Club at the Tiffin Service Center.  And we went over to the Parts store to find a few things.

Brannon finished up about 2:00 PM so we went back and picked up the Roadrunner and took it back to the campground.  Later I joined Gerri and Art for happy hour at their site where we talked with some neighbors and socialized for a bit.  Pam fixed a great dinner of fish and a baked potato with some steamed broccoli.

We watched the news and then some baseball before turning in.  It was a beautiful day in Red Bay.  We always enjoy coming here.  Not only for the people but also because we get things fixed which brings a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!