We left Lake Guntersville, AL, after spending 10 days at Blue Heron RV Resort, and look forward to the next part of our trip which should be a couple of days in Florence, AL, before a scheduled service appointment at Tiffin's service center in Red Bay, AL. Wouldn't you know the Tennessee River has started to flood in Florence, and McFarland Park had been evacuated since we called for reservations the day before?!
After driving all the way to Florence, AL, we continued to the Tiffin Service Center in Red Bay, AL, arriving on Wednesday, September 7. As dusty, crowded and busy as the Allegro Campground is we were glad to be assigned to a site and get semi-settled in, when we began to see several old friends waiting for their appointments in the service facility as well. Having friends and making new friends while you are here usually makes the days go by so much faster. We share impromptu dinners, go out to dinner, discuss where we've been, where we're going, and what is going on with our coaches, etc.
We arrived for our 7:00 a.m. appointment in service bay 48, as directed, and were informed our short list of issues was extended to 2 very large service issues we would have never noticed. We had to leave our coach/home for one night and Tiffin sent us to a charming country cabin close by called Sleepy Hollow, where we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves after all this stress! We were the first couple to stay in the cabin, and we look forward to returning sometime when we're back in the area. After we returned to the service bay the next day and told everyone how comfortable the cabin was there will definitely be a waiting list of Tiffin Motorhome owners who opt to stay here while their coaches are in surgery.
It was necessary to replace the driver's side slide floor as well as replace the wet bay floor, all warranty issues that required many hours of labor. While in Red Bay we usually spend some time with our favorite custom woodworker as well as an off-site electronic guru who have transformed our coach/home into the consummate MAN CAVE for this year's football season. New sound bar...new HDMI receiver and switch for the outside entertainment center. "Are you ready for some football"? as they say.
The area south of Russellville, AL was devastated by a very rare EF-5 tornado (the deadliest tornado in the U. S. in 56 years) on April 27, 2011, the same day the tornadoes hit the Cullman, Tuscumbia, Arab, and Lake Guntersville areas. The town of Hackleburg, AL, doesn't even exist anymore, and most of Phil Campbell, AL, is gone as well. The people of this rural area have lost everything. The numbers of people who died in these combined tornadoes is astounding...The latest count we heard was 337! We can't imagine the livestock, pets and economic devastation that has taken place. In talking to local people we were told they had to immediately sell the livestock that survived the storm due to the severity of all the injuries. Trees could not even be processed for lumber because the wood had been so twisted in the tornadoes. There are many people still reportedly living under tarps. If any readers are interested in sending anything to these areas, we can provide a name and address of an individual who will coordinate any donations (in the Phil Campbell or Hackleburg areas).
We're almost ready to pay our bill to the Tiffin Service Center as well as the Allegro Campground and be "on the road again". We'll be taking our time to get to our next destination, but it's the beginning of oyster season and we're going to head for Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Santa Rosa Beach, FL, for the next couple of weeks. Safe travels to all of you. We hope to hear from you soon. Happy Fall, y'all!
