Months ago we made an appointment to get work done on our motor home. We were going to stop in at Red Bay on our way to our real destination in Canada. But now it looks like this is our destination instead.
We have lots of little things to repair, and a few big things that have to be done. We saved them up because we have an extended warranty that will pay for these repairs--under their terms. That includes a certified repair shop that will go to the trouble of documenting the needed repairs, and submitting it for approval to the warranty company before work can begin. But mostly we are here in Red Bay, Alabama, because this is the birthplace of our motor home. We stopped in at the campground at the factory, to see the line of Tiffin Motorhomes that stretch as far as you can see.
We have stayed in that campground before, but not this time. This company used to have the reputation of taking care of their motor homes for life. People would drive from all over the country to wait for up to a month to get their motor home repaired at these bays with the reputation for being the best. But that era seems to be over at Tiffin. They have fenced off about half of the camping spots, and a new sign at the entry informs us that only "motohomes" less than one year old can now park here." It's usually a very social experience, visiting with other Tiffin owners, but during this pandemic we didn't talk to anyone.
Some of the best repair technicians have started their own businesses around Red Bay, and that's where we are headed. We've read great things about "Custom RV." We've had this appointment for months, because with their fine reputation they are booked solid. We are glad they will go to the trouble to deal with extended warranties, and it was a bit of trouble this time. We had an appointment to start work on a Tuesday, so we arrived the previous Friday so they could get the warranty company's approval ahead of time. They have electrical hook-ups, so we are camping next to a field, trying to keep ourselves busy with cleaning projects while we wait.
We should mention that we crossed another state line to get to this destination. Red Bay is in the northwest corner of Alabama, so Denisa had to snap the obligatory state sign picture. This one isn't very impressive along this narrow highway.
Besides cleaning the front of the motor home, we're also doing cleaning projects on the inside while we wait. We are finding things in little-used cabinets that we had forgotten we had with us. We are also playing games every day. We are attempting to play every game that we tucked inside the motor home over five years ago. Because we are usually busy planning our next adventure, or enjoying the sights of our present location, we've had little time to play games. But this season we are playing all the two-people games--cribbage, yahtzee, qwixx, rummi-dice, backgammon, speed scrabble, sequence, boggle . . . During this period of isolation, we even invited others to play games via texting and phone. If you take a picture of the boggle board, you can text it to your sister to play too!
Another game we haven't played in five years is tennis. We dug out our old tennis rackets that were buried deep in the motor home basement, and then headed to the tiny town of Vina. Just two miles down the road from us, it didn't look like this court had been used for a very long time. But we swept off the rocks, and tried to remember how to swing a tennis racket. We had to remember that it was a totally different swing and distance and bounce than we are used to with pickle ball. But it was good exercise chasing all the balls we missed.
Then to further confuse our muscle memory, we got out our pickleball rackets and balls and played a few more games. That was crazy, as our minds and muscles had to rethink this slower game. We didn't see another soul in this tiny town, so it was good isolating exercise for us.
We're looking for other exercise at this season's destination. We found a gravel road at an abandoned industrial site that makes a safe (albeit very boring) walking track. Two different days we went into the town of Red Bay, and took five-mile hikes along the streets and on the only walking trail. It's just a quarter-mile long, so this trail becomes as boring as our industrial site soon.
You would hope that a town with "bay" in the name would include some water feature for boating. But in this case, it refers to the bay trees found in this area. A memorial bay tree is planted on main street in honor of the town's name sake.
So we are now hunkered down at this season's unusual destination. We have some ideas for drives along some lonely back country roads, so we're hoping that even in this isolating season of wandering, we'll find some wonders.
You are relatively close to us. How we wish times here different. We could have met up. But remember we have two RV sites on our property. 50 amp full hook up. If you need a place to settle for a spell, you are welcome here. We could shout to each other. The sites are about 75 feet from the house. You might even be here when our latest family of ducklings are hatched. And yesterday a Canada geese family moved in. Mom and Dad and 4 babies.
ReplyDeleteWhile looking for something to do over there, check out the Coon Dog Cemetery. I don't think it's too far away.