Dark Wood Paneling and Harvest Gold & Avocado Decor

Monday, 18 February (Part I)
Camp Tiffin — Red Bay, Alabama
Temps: Lo 37F / Hi 63F (3C / 17C)

A cold and partly soggy weekend has left its place to  a warmish Monday with sunshine.  Our lows were in the 23-28F (-5 to –2C) range, so we’re glad to see them gone.

We hung around our condo on wheels for the entire weekend, venturing out Saturday night for dinner at Belmont Café with our new friends Curt & Deb (from southern Illinois) and Maria & Nigel (from the UK and Florida … depending on the time of the year).

Starting from behind me: Deb & Curt and Nigel & Maria.                        

When we set out on our “Red Bay Adventure” at the beginning of the month, we didn’t know how long we’d be at Camp Tiffin.  So we left all of February and the first half of March unplanned.  With our departure now imminent, we used the weekend to make some plans for the next several weeks.  In the end, we decided to stay in Alabama and split those weeks between the FamCamp at Maxwell AFB and Isaac Creek, a US Army Corps of Engineers (COE) campground.

By the time the sun came out mid-afternoon Sunday, we were ready for some fresh air.  Bundling up, we went for a long walk along the neighborhood streets that run by the country club.  No one else was around, and the only sounds we heard were birds chirping in the trees.

This morning (Feb 18th) we had a 7:00a appointment with Bruce Deaton of Custom Paint & Auto Body.  The Phaeton had some “tree-striping” that we wanted to have buffed out; and Mui wanted to get the diamond shield on the front of the coach shined up as well.  It wasn’t a long job and the Phaeton was ready for pick up at noon.  We’re very pleased with the work Bruce and crew did for us.  He doesn’t have a website that I could find, but you can contact him at 256-356-5695 should you require his services.

The narrow bay is not photo friendly, but of course I clicked the shutter once or twice.

Bruce’s shop is just steps away from the Tiffin plant, so our plan was to drop off the coach and take a tour of the facility while the coach was being worked on.  Since the tour starts at 9:30a, however, first we had to kill an hour or two.  Any other time, we would have gone for a long walk, but the early morning chill nixed that idea.  Instead, back we went to the Camp Tiffin lounge where it was nice and warm.

Brenda and Harold, former school teachers, conduct the once-daily tour.  Our small group of six  started out by watching a short promotional video in the visitor center where we were also equipped with safety goggles and personal audio devices.  The latter proved to be essential in some of the noisier parts of the plant.

   The visitor center/guardhouse is reminiscent of the one at the Paint Plant in Belmont.

As we made our way to what was the cotton warehouse when the Tiffin family operated a cotton gin, Brenda regaled us with tidbits of information — such as how Allegro was chosen as the brand name for the Tiffin motorhomes.  It turns out, Bob wanted a word that started with “A” … his wife, a music aficionado, came up with Allegro, a term that means cheerful or brisk, but is also interpreted as lively.

This painting by Shawn Wallace hangs in the visitor center; it features a 1973 Allegro,
one of the first motorhomes to be built after Bob Tiffin started up the company in 1972.

Brenda also told us how the town came to be named Red Bay.  The “red” comes from the color of the clay in the area.  The “bay” has nothing to do with being near water; it comes from the bay tree.

Left: the bay tree is partially responsible for the name of the town.
Right: The cotton gin that was once operated by the Tiffin family.
[I’m not sure on the last caption, so if someone knows otherwise, let me know.]

I’ve got quite a bit to share from the tour itself, so I am going to leave that portion of our day for another post, and just get on with the rest of the day.  But first, about the title of this post …

Just behind the Tiffin Plant Visitor Center is one of the early motorhomes built after Bob Tiffin established the company in 1972 — a ‘76 Allegro.  Brenda had encouraged us to check it out after the tour, so I did that while Mui was checking on our Phaeton.  What a hoot this rig turned out to be.  I wish I had looked to see how many miles it had on the odometer.  Sure hope they have plans to restore it to its former beauty.

The small interior made taking photos challenging; an ultra-wide angle lens would have been great.  Still, I’ll just post the pictures I took, and leave any words and thoughts to the readers of this blog.

We had about ½-hour before we could pick up the Phaeton from Bruce Deaton, so after touring the ‘76 gem, I joined Mui and we walked over to the nearby Subway for lunch.  And who should we run into there?  Bob Tiffin of course.  Other Tiffinites had encouraged us to stop by and say hello to him in his office, but this was even better.  He stopped by our table to say hi — I guess he could tell we were not local, and that could only mean that we were a Tiffin owner.  We invited him to have lunch with us, but he had a group of his managers waiting for him at the “corner table” for a power lunch.  Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of Mui with him, but …

… here’s a photo Mui took of Bob as we were starting our tour in the warehouse
where they stockpile the supply of hardwoods used in the cabinetry shop.

We were back in our site at Camp Tiffin by 1:00p.  But not for long.  Within 30 minutes, we were driving over to Express Bay 9 to have someone look at the rollers on the front passenger-side slide.  On a previous visit to Bay 8, the rollers had been jacked up to raise the lower kitchen cabinet sag by the sink.  All fine and dandy, but when we tested the slide a couple of times we saw bits and pieces of black rubber scraping off the rollers.  Turns out the rollers should have been left as is, and that side of the cabinets should have been shimmed instead.  Thirty minutes later, we were out of the bay with everything in good order.  No charge, thank you very much.

We wrapped up our day with dinner out with Curt & Deb.

This time we tried out the quaint and quirky Swamp John’s located on the corner of Hwy 24 and Hwy 247.  The ambiance of the eatery, which happens to be in what used to be a gas station, left a lot to be desired, but the food was good.  Far from healthy … but good nonetheless.  The portions were plentiful, so we’ll be having leftovers for lunch (or dinner) tomorrow.

If it looks like we’re at a gas station … well, we are — at least it was once.                   

Next up, the Tiffin main assembly facility …