Weekend at Camp Tiffin

Sunday, 3 February
Camp Tiffin — Red Bay, Alabama
Temps: Lo 30F / Hi 56F (-1C / 13C)

Despite an overnight low of 26F (-3C) Friday, we were comfy during our second night’s stay in front of Brannon’s service bays.  Saturday morning found us ready to move on to Red Bay proper.  Destination: the campground at the Allegro Tiffin Service Center.  It was a short drive, but by the time we negotiated an unexpected road closure that wasn’t accounted for in the directions for the campground, we had 10 miles (16 km) on the odometer.

Arriving mid-morning on Saturday, we found the campground less than half full.  A steady stream of rigs coming in today has filled all the sites in our row and the row across from us; there might be a few spots left in the row closest to the service bays, but not many.  As crowded as this place seems now, I’m told this is nothing.  In the spring/summer months apparently not only are all 93 campsites filled, but also the overflow is packed tight.

It’s so funny to see rig after rig lined up — all the same brand, but different models; some old, some new, some newer.  We have one thing in common … we’re all hoping to get things taken care of as quickly as possible so we can move on to do what we were intended to do — enjoy life on the road.

Before the campground filled up … we’re in #18 on the right.

Check in at the campground office was quick.  Before long, we were settled into site 18.  Camp Tiffin is really a big parking lot with pull through FHUs.  Well, normally the sites are FHUs.  At the moment the water is offline because of the cold overnight temps, but there are two places here where we can take on water if need be.  Considering the “Tiffin Shuffle” we expect to be doing moving from one bay or another, topping off the tanks won’t require us to move just for that purpose.

Wouldn’t want to be here for one of these front or end caps!

Soon after we were settled, it started pouring rain.  So, we ate lunch, completed the service list we’d been asked to return to the office before 6:00p, and settled down with our computers to catch up on our emails and internet browsing.  There is wi-fi at the campground, but when everyone hooks up, the speed leaves a lot to be desired.  Not a problem for us.  When the wi-fi becomes problematic, we just hook up to our own network … we’re getting good 3G reception with our Millenicom (via Verizon), boosted to five bars with our Wilson trucker’s antenna.

When the sun came out, we bundled up and went for a walk around the campground and service area.  The temp was the highest it had been all day — 46F (8C) — but the light breeze made it feel colder.  Still, the sunshine felt good and we got to know some of our neighbors!

Mom is impatiently waiting for junior to finish feeding so she can get going!

Left: Bovine Love!
Right: Who ya looking at?

We’ve had a couple of visitors since arriving here — both mod related.  First to come by was Trevor Nichols.  He stopped in Saturday afternoon to give us a bid on a custom-cut dash cover and show us samples.  After looking at pictures, we decided to add a custom-cut entry mat to catch all the dirt that gets tracked in despite our best efforts.  We also needed the binding on the slide carpet repaired.  By noon today (Sunday), he had all three jobs done.  (Separate post for the Mods page coming up.)

Trevor zipping down the edge of the carpet with new binding for a fresh look.

One side of the machine holds the thread (photo above); and this side has the binding spool.

Trevor used to work for Tiffin; he has since branched off and owns a small company called Nichols Customs.  He did an excellent job and we would highly recommend him.  (He can be reached at 662-279-4461.)

TJ Allison, who does cabinetry/solid surface work for Tiffin during the work week, has his own business after hours.  He stopped by this afternoon to look at the cabinetry work on our dream list.  TJ is going to get back to us with some pricing, but whether we can use him is schedule-dependent — his and ours.  He did suggest that a couple of the items on our list are best handled by Tiffin (some at no charge to us).  Nice to deal with an honest craftsman.

I wonder if these birds are lined up to get into a Tiffin service bay!

After TJ left, we took advantage of the blue-sky day to explore Red Bay a bit.  Finding parking wasn’t a problem and we wandered around town on foot.  Found a couple of neat murals, located the post office where we will pick up our general delivery mail next week, checked out the grocery store and pharmacy (just for the heck of it), made note of the days/hours the local museum is open, and located a few businesses to which we are going to give some of our money after we’re done with Tiffin.

Murals similar to this one can be found on a couple of the buildings in town.

Tomorrow we will be in Service Bay 10.  We have several things we want to have checked out/fixed, but the appointment we made with Tiffin is for having the leveling system and the driver’s window replaced.  Is that what will be done tomorrow?  We’ll find out when we get into the bay!

Somehow I didn’t expect to see a Kildeer in Red Bay, but it serves nicely as “The End!”