Franklin NC to Home - June 24 -16, 2016

Day 14 – Friday June 24, 2016 After breakfast we drove to the historic section of downtown Franklin and walked through several stores. Lena is looking for a cast iron biscuit pan. We stopped for an ice cream cone in one shop. They have a nice historic section. It it still hot even though we are in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains but when the sun starts going down it is nice enough we can sit outside in the shade and read.

Day 15 – Saturday June 25, 2016 After breakfast we drove about 25 miles to the town of Cullowhee to attend an Arts and Craft Fair at Western Carolina University. There were about 95 craft booths with some really nice items. We purchased a couple of items and a couple of bakery items. Of course I was most interested in wood items. One booth had some of the best Intarsia work I have ever seen.

On the way back we stopped in Sylva and checked out some of the antique stores looking at their cast iron. We returned to the motorhome and rested for awhile before going to a Mexican restaurant for supper and then to the historic section of Franklin to attend a free Bluegrass music event. They block off a side street so people can bring their chairs and set and listen to the music.

Day 16 – Sunday June 26, 2016 After breakfast we packed up and moved on a little closer to home. After 200 miles we stopped at Tanglewood Campground which is part of a county owned park in Clemmons NC. We have stayed here several times. It is a nice campground and a good place to stop and breakup the drive. We quickly set up in site 13 and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Day 17 – Monday June 27, 2016 After breakfast we packed up again and drove the last 200 miles home. We arrived about 2PM and put the motorhome to bed in the RV barn. We are thankful for another safe and mostly uneventful trip. 

Red Bay Alabama to Franklin NC - June 21-23, 2016

Day 11 – Tuesday June 21, 2016 We got the motor home almost ready to depart and drove downtown to the Tiffin Factory to take the tour. This is our second time taking the tour and it still fascinating to see how they build them. To me it looks like organized confusion. There probably is not another manufacture that will let you take a tour like this. You are taken right in the plant where the employees are doing their job and can walk right up to the work stations and talk to the employees and touch and feel the product everywhere except the welding shop.

At the last station there were several almost completed units that were getting final touches. Even though the employees were all over the motor home doing final touches we were allowed to go inside them and look all we wanted and ask questions.

We picked out a new right off the line 2017 Phaeton 40' AH that we think we will get just as soon as we win the lottery.

After leaving the plant we got a quick lunch, checked out of the campground and departed Red Bay. We stopped for the night outside a small town named Woodville Alabama at Parnell Creek RV Park. I checked in and was assigned site pull-through site 45. We quickly set up as we did not have to unhook the Jeep. This is a clean well kept RV Park but like most privately owned parks/campgrounds the site are close together so they can pack as many sites on their space as possible. Our site was on the side of the Park nearest the highway so we heard traffic all night and didn't sleep as well as normal.

Day 12 – Wednesday June 22, 2016 We got up early, ate breakfast and departed about 8AM. Before we got to our destination we traveled through parts of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and on into North Carolina. The drive down highway 64 was very pretty. We arrived at The Great Outdoors RV Resort outside Franklin NC and was assigned to site 1. The couple that was checking in ahead of us had a restored Model T Ford on a trailer behind their motorhome. One of the staff escorted us to our site. The resort is almost full.

Later in the evening we took a walk around the resort and met a couple that we had met at a couple of Tiffin Motorhome Rallies and another couple that owns a Tiffin Motorhome. We all use the same Tiffin Motorhome Internet Forum to share information about our motorhome and experiences.

This is a well maintained resort but I expected the sites to be a little larger. The resort has new owners since 2012 and they have done a lot of updates to the resort. I noticed when I was in the office checking in, that there was a plastic construction wall installed. I just assumed they were renovating the office. Later we found out someone recently had accidentally driven their truck through the wall and had knocked almost the entire exterior wall down.

Day 13 – Thursday June 23, 2016 After breakfast at Shoneys we drove back up highway 64 to Brasstown NC to visit the campus of John C Campbell Folk School. They teach all kinds of classes at the school from woodworking to blacksmithing to jewelry, spinning, etc. The school was started in the 1930's. I have wanted to take a class here on woodturning for a long time, so since we were so close to the campus I wanted to visit it. Just my luck this week was all kids week so the woodturning studio was not open. All the classes this week are setup for young people.

We took some back roads on the way back to Franklin and also visited a few campgrounds. We stopped at Walmart for a few groceries before returning to the resort. It is a few degrees cooler here since we are in a little higher elevations in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains so after supper and a walk around the resort we set outside and read until bedtime.

Red Bay, Alabama - June 17-20, 2016

Day 7 – Friday June 17, 2016 The Tiffin employees start early so we got up about 6:30AM not knowing when they would come by to discuss our repair needs. Their procedure is to come by your site early the morning after you check in and your paperwork is processed. By 8:15AM two different employees had came to visit us. One to tell us one of their recalls for defective roof rails did not effect us and the other to discuss our requested repairs. We might get the windshield replaced today but the windows and slide issues will probably be Monday or Tuesday which is much earlier than we expected.

We got a call about 10AM to go to service bay 46 to get the windshield replaced. I stayed and watched the process. By 11AM they had the old windshield out and the new one in. Then they broke for lunch and glued the windshield in after their lunch break. I met Lena at the customer lounge. About the time they were ready to have us pull the motor home out of the bay a thunderstorm with heavy rain came through so they waited until after the storm passed. We got the MH about 3PM and set it back up in our site. Then we went to the Piggly Wiggly for some eggs and to 4^th Grill and Restaurant for a late lunch/early supper.

Day 8 – Saturday June 18, 2016 Today was a slow day for us. Tiffin does not work on weekends so nothing will get done until at least Monday and probably later. We went to the local Farmers Market about mid morning and only one person was there so we went to a produce stand on the main road into town and got some peaches and tomatoes. We checked out the other three small campgrounds in town that take the overflow when the Tiffin Service Center Campground is full. Then we returned to the motor home for the day. Several more motor home arrived for repair service. We did some reading and relaxed for the remainder of the day.

Day 9 – Sunday June 19, 2016 We went to McDonald's for breakfast and returned to the motor home. The owner of the motor home next to us is from Colorado. He came over to talk to us. We shared similar experiences about traveling in a motor home. Several more motor homes came in today. The campground was full by the end of the day with many more in the other campgrounds in town. Late in the day we walked around the campground and stopped and talked to some of the other owners.

Day 10 – Monday June 20, 2016 Today is wait and see when we might get called into a service bay. We checked out the “scratch and dent” store and talked to a man in the Allegro Club office about the benefits of joining the club. It is a Tiffin Motorhome owners club.

About 10AM Trevor Nichols came by and measured for a dash mat. He has a custom shop across the street and does a number of custom mods for motor homes. We also ordered wheel well/tire covers. The ones I have been using for years are a PITA. He is making some that snap on to the side of the motor home with 4 snaps.

I was cooking some burgers for lunch about 12:15 when we were called to take the motor home to service bay 10 to get the slide lubricated and two fogged windows replaced. We were back in our site at 2:45PM with all our repairs done. Trevor came back and installed the new dash cover and wheel well covers. We are happy campers.

We will stay here tonight, take the factory tour tomorrow and then start making our way back home.

Wallace NC to Red Bay Alabama - June 11-16, 2016

Day 1 – Saturday June 11, 2016 We departed at 6:45AM for Red Bay Alabama. We had to get 6 new batteries, new OTA TV antenna, wind deflector on the door, new windshield and three windows replaced in the motorhome. The windshield has split from where a rock hit it last year in Calgary Canada on the way to Alaska. The windows in the motorhome are dual pane and two of them have fogged bad. Our batteries will be 6 years old in October and are due for replacement.

We stopped for fuel and breakfast outside of Wallace and was on our way about 8AM. We arrived about 3PM at Old Salem Campground near Greensboro Georgia after driving 363b miles. It sits on the banks of the Oconee Lake that is owned by Georgia Power. I had reserved a pull-through sit so we would not have to unhook the Jeep but when we got to the site there was no way to get in and out of the site without unhooking the Jeep. The campground is nice, paved streets, large gravel sites like a state park, with electric and water hookups, bathhouses (that we don't use) and a dump station. It was really hot today so we had to run the generator going down the road this afternoon so we could run one of the roof air conditioners. The dash AC just will not keep it cool enough inside when it is 90 degrees outside.

Day 2 – Sunday June 12, 2016 After having breakfast we departed about 8:30AM. We drove a few miles down I-20 and stopped to fuel up at a Pilot Truck Stop.

We got through Atlanta Ga with only a short construction delay but the East bound side was backed up for a few miles for road construction. We arrived about 1PM CST at Lakeside Landing Marina and RV Resort in Cropwell Alabama. We were not sure if we wanted to stay here more than one night so we only paid for one night and I told the lady at the check-n desk we might stay for 3 nights. She told us to ride around and pick any open site and call her with the site # we chose. We decide on site 11. It had a nice shade tree and was just a short distance from the lake.

The campground sits on the banks of a large lake which joins Coosa River and has 200 sites They have a “gold mine” here: a convenience store with fuel pumps, marina with boat launch, boat and RV storage plus the campground. It is a nice campground but we think the word “Resort” in the name is a little generous.

We noticed a few ants inside the motorhome this morning. There was a sign at the campground we stayed at yesterday that stated there were ants in the campground but what is unusual about ants. Well when I began to hook up the water and power I found LOTS of ants in the storage bins. There must have been thousands in the bin where I keep the boards for the jacks. I sprayed them with ant killer and cleaned out the bin as best I could. We will not be staying at Old Salem Campground again.

Later in the day we went to the local Cracker Barrel for a late lunch/early supper followed by a quick stop at Wal-Mart for more ant spray and some fruit and vegetables. When it cooled off some we walked down to the lake and watched several boats being taken out of the water by the staff. They use tractors to put the boat trailers in the water and then pull the trailer out when the boat is loaded and then drive the trailer and boat back to the storage facility.

Day 3 – Monday June 13, 2016 We found another campground we think we will like better so we departed at 7:30AM and headed to Clear Creek Recreation Area on Lewis Smith Lake in the William B. Bankhead National Forest. It was about a 99 mile drive. When we got close to the campground, our GPS took us on a narrow back road and then told us to turn on to another road that was not there other than a narrow dirt path so I kept driving and found the entrance to the campground in a few miles.

We were allowed to pick our site so we unhooked the car and drove around and decided on site 45 in the Hoot Owl Loop. It sits right on the bank of the lake with a short path down to the waters edge. It has lots of shade and plenty of space between sites unlike most privately operated campgrounds. This is the type campground we like.

We were set up by 10:30AM. Later I got the grill out and cooked some hamburgers for lunch with some good home grown tomatoes we bought in Chinquapin before we departed on this trip. After lunch we took a walk around loops Hoot Owl and Fox then returned to our site to relax and read for awhile. A shower of rain came through but it did not last long.

Later in the day the camper next to us returned with his black lab dog. The dog was soon down in the lake really enjoying itself. The man had a canoe, a kayak and a jet ski at the waters edge and got in the canoe and tried to get the dog to get in but he was having too much fun splashing and swimming in the water.

Day 4 – Tuesday June 14, 2016 After breakfast we took a 2 miles hike along a bike trail by the lake. I was told there was a waterfall by the second bridge on the trail but when we got there it was a dry fall – no water coming down.

There are some trees in the campground that have huge leaves. I am not sure what they are but I am guessing some type of Poplar. I measured one that was 12” wide and 24” long but there were others larger. Lena held one up to her and with the tip of the leaf on the ground the stem was at her waist.

After lunch we set outside and enjoyed the cooler temperature and read until a rain cloud came up about 5PM. We decided to pack up our outside stuff so it would not get wet since we are leaving here tomorrow.

Day 5 – Wednesday June 15, 2016 It is still a little cooler this morning than it was a couple of days ago and lower humidity so it is nice outside and overcast. This is a nice quiet, clean and peaceful campground. We would stay here longer but we have an appointment tomorrow at 7AM in Vina, Alabama (about 95 miles from here) to get some things done to the motorhome so we will be leaving here this morning.

We departed about 9:30AM and arrived in Vina about 11:30AM at Custom RV. We connected the motor home to power. The shop has 5 power and water hookups for customers that will be here overnight. Later we drove into Red Bay and had a late lunch/early supper. A storm blew through about bedtime with lightning, thunder and heavy rain. We lost power for few minutes.

Day 6 – Thursday June 16, 2016 We got up early and had the motor home ready to pull into the shop at 7AM. Lena went to McDonald's to get us some breakfast. Brannon and Jason quickly began working on the motor home. We should be ready to leave about lunch time. Then we will go to the Tiffin Service Center to get the windshield and three windows replaced. After 6 new batteries, new wind deflector at door and new over the air TV antenna we were ready to leave by noon. They also found/fixed the noise coming from the front air conditioner. A piece of tape had come loose and was flapping between the air conditioner and duct work.

After I jump started the Jeep (Lena left it switched on when she came back from McDonald's) we drove to Tiffin Service Center Campground and checked in and got our service number and set up in site 3. The heat and humidity has come back with a vengeance. The campground is an old airstrip and there is NO shade trees anywhere. They have about 50 service bays and 93 sites in the campground and about 3/4^th of them are occupied and are here for some type of service. I talked to the manager of the windshield shop and they might replace our windshield tomorrow but not sure about the three windows. I also will ask about our squealing slide tomorrow also to see if there is a fix for that.