Thurs. 6/11… (Decatur ,
AL ) Our Tiffin
tour was at 9:30 and Janie said to be there early so we left at 7:30 and drove
the 70 miles to Red Bay , AL .
We made breakfast to go so we could get going. The address she gave us
was incorrect so we drove around a bit before looking it up on the web. But we did make it on time and it was
definitely worth it. We have been to
several RV manufacturers and taken tours but only Marathon Coaches up in Oregon had one better
than this. After a short video you are
given a headset and a receiver so you can hear the tour guides. They walk you
through every part of the factory. They
do have items made offsite and the paint booths are also in another location
but everything is close by. We saw
Allegro Open Roads, Phaetons, Allegro Buses, Allegro Breezes, and Allegro REDs
in various stages of assembly. No Zephyrs (their highline model) were on the
line. They said they made the last one
for 2015 and are ramping up for a new improved model design they won’t start
until next year. At the end they ask you
to turn in your headsets and invite you to stay in the factory and walk around
and go in any coach in any state of assembly. Very interesting.
Afterward,
we met up with Rick and Janie who had to hang around to hear from service. They
told us that addressing their complaint about the coach’s ride would take some
time, as much as a few weeks. So they
opted to have ‘quick service’ done and have some of their minor issues
addressed/fixed. We needed to get back for Bailey so we took off, stopped at
Jack’s for fast food and drove back home.
They were coming to our park for a visit/dinner but got a call from
service so they hung around again. We
got back, rested a bit, and then went out to Camino Real for Mexican food. Not spicy but very good. We went home (through a major downpour!) and
watched TV a bit before giving Bailey a good long walk before going to bed. We
leave tomorrow for Tupelo , MS .
Fri. 6/12… (Tupelo ,
MS ) Our plan was to leave about 10:00am as we only
had a drive of about 120 miles this morning.
So I got up and took Bailey out for her morning walk before showering
and getting the coach ready to leave. I
met up with a lady from New Mexico
who asked me if I’d seen a black lab running loose. It wasn’t hers but she was concerned. I borrowed a leash from her and actually
found and got the dog. No license but he
did have a tag from an old defunct car dealership with a name. We checked
around the campground and learned that it belonged to a fellow from a long row
of townhouses just up the road. The dog must have been out for some time
because he was hungry! First I fed him a
bowl then my neighbor did then she gave me a bag to give him. Of course he ate that in no time. By this time Lydia was out of the shower so she
watched him while I showered. Later the
neighbor found a local vet that knew the dog and said we could bring him to her
which we did. We felt good because he
would be taken care of until they could get the owner to come get him. It was
our good deed of the day! I forgot to
take pictures but I did ask the vet to take one but it was while he was in the
kennel…
While
we were at the vet’s office I got an email from a vendor that I had placed an
online order from for a Garmin RV gps.
We wanted it delivered to the Memphis
campground for next week but they “won’t deliver to a campground” – go figure!
Anyway a call to a supervisor resulted in the email – saying fill out the form and
they would go ahead with the order. I
was able to forward it to the vet’s email and she printed the document that I
signed and then she went ahead and faxed it for me! That’s called pay it forward! I’m still waiting for the confirmation that
the item was shipped but at least we did all we can do.
Once
we got back to camp we buttoned things up and still got on the road by
10:00am. The drive today was all county
roads, both in Alabama and into Mississippi . We are now at The Campground at Barnes
Crossing in Tupelo MS. We planned to be here for five days (Fri-Tue.) which
allows us to wait for Rick and Janie to get work done on their coach and then
join us here. If we could cut it short in Tupelo
and extend in Memphis
we would do that. So we paid for three days (Fri-Sun) but heard later from Janie
that they need Monday for an alignment and Tuesday for the rest of the work.
But at least they are getting to the major ride issue and hope that what they
did will fix it. So the plan now is we
will leave here on Monday and spend the extra two days in Memphis (more to do there than here) and they
will join us on Wed. After getting
settled in and walking Bailey, we headed off to Taco Bell for a quick lunch
then went over to Best Buy. I had asked Lydia what she
wanted for her birthday and she wanted a docking station for our Sirius
satellite radio so we could use it in the rig and also out by our spa at
home. I had gone to a Best Buy before
her birthday but they said it’s only an online item now. So I ordered it to be picked up at the Tupelo store and she was
surprised when I turned around and had it in my hands! Points for me! Later we went and each got haircuts and then
returned to relax and watch TV.
Sat. 6/13… (Tupelo ,
MS ) This morning we had nothing planned. I had called our next campground in Memphis
to see if we could come in two days early but they are full (this park in RIGHT
across the street from Graceland). So we
will go ahead with our original plan to stay here until Wed. Rick and Janie
said they wanted to come over and visit since nothing happens at the Tiffin service bays on
the weekends. They called to let us know
they would be at our campground (about a 45 mile drive from Red Bay )
about 10:30. So we decided to go to the
Waffle House just down the street for breakfast. We found we still had time to drive into
downtown Tupelo
to look around. We also drove a bit more
to cruise by Elvis Presley’s birthplace.
We had seen it when we were last in this area but will come back with
Rick & Janie. We also stopped at
Kroger’s market for some items for dinner which Lydia will be making tonight. Rick and Janie made it when they said they
would and caught us right in the middle of bathing Bailey. She smelled like lake water so we said it was
about time to take care of that.
Afterward, we hung around for a few hours and then set off to Elvis’s
house. As I said we were here before (in
1990) and they have changed things up a whole lot. Back then all you saw was the house. Now they have a museum, a car similar to the
one used when they left Tupelo and moved to Memphis , a little walking
path in a park like setting, complete with the first church the Presleys
attended which was moved and restored and also an outhouse you first think was
used in the day. You can imagine what everyone thought when they first see it
on the property. “Is that THE place
Elvis used to take a s@#t?” The lyrics to Burning Love came to mind –‘I’m just
a hunk a hunk a burnin love’. Ok, enough
of that…. We watched a movie about his
early days and then walked around the house and then visited the requisite
souvenir shop and that was about it.
We stopped for ice cream to tide us over before the chicken teriyaki and rice dinner thatLydia
had going in the crockpot. Boy was it
yummy. After dinner we rested a bit then
the skies got really dark so R&J decided that they better get going. The afternoon thunderstorms are common here
and don’t usually last long but when they let go it comes down hard! They made it home ok and we cleaned up a bit
then settled in for the night.
We stopped for ice cream to tide us over before the chicken teriyaki and rice dinner that
Sun. 6/14… (Tupelo ,
MS ) No plans today except to re-fax the paperwork for the gps. Since I didn’t hear back from them on Friday
I decided to call. Seems they missed or couldn’t read one of the sheets. So I went to Staples and took care of that. I still hope to see it shipped tomorrow so I
can receive it Wed. or Thurs. We did some laundry, both in the rig and in the
campground and then Lydia
fixed ham which we just made into sandwiches which was simple and fast. We each
watched some of our taped programs and got caught up a bit. Altogether a relaxing and lazy day.
Mon. 6/15… (Tupelo ,
MS ) Another
lazy day. We slept in and had breakfast and then decided to go to the Tupelo Automobile
Museum . It is advertised as the largest collection
east of the Mississippi
and we knew it was a short drive from our campground. Before leaving we stopped
off at the campground office and paid for Monday and Tues and then set off. We arrived at the museum just after they opened so we found we were the only ones there. We paid the $9.00 ea senior/AAA rate and walked the place. They were
right – there are a lot of cars – 150 is what they advertise! But the place
wasn’t the biggest I have seen. The cars
are parked in chronological order from 1904 to 2014 (they have a ’14 Toyota
Corolla which is made at the Blue Springs, MS, assembly plant not far from
here). We saw the car Richard Petty drove to his 200th win and also saw a Lincoln that Elvis has purchased. I found no clear cut favorites but did see a few I would like to take
home.
We
drove back through town and made plans to come back up to Sam’s Club later in
the day and get something to fix for dinner. We walked Bailey again and this time
the city had come to open the fire hydrant to either run it or water the local
field just in front of our campground. Either way Bailey found it and had a
ball running through it and getting soaked.
We
rinsed off all of the dirt on her and then walked slowly back to the rig and stopped and talked with a couple and by the
time we made it home she was almost dry! We rested a bit and then decided to go
to the show since we had not been yet on this trip and it was a lazy day. We saw Jurassic World. It was ok but I thought just another special effects
movie with not much of a plot. Hey, the
dinosaurs get loose again, imagine that! Afterward we came home to let Bailey
out for a while then headed over to Sam’s.
We didn’t buy stuff for dinner so we settled on going to Five Guys on
the way home. I did get an email that my gps was shipped today and tracking
told me it should be delivered Wednesday which is the day we get in to Memphis . Yaay! We settled in and watched some TV.
So did you get the 760LMT?
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