Home to Red Bay Alabama January 3-12, 2020

Day 1 Friday January 3, 2020 We departed about 7:30AM and headed for Red Bay Alabama, the home of Tiffin Motorhomes. We need to get a paint defect and a few other items repaired on the motorhome. We have tried to go through and use everything in the new-to-us motorhome before making this trip so we can get everything fixed that needs it. We have found nothing major wrong, just a few fairly minor items. Some items we have fixed ourselves.

We stopped for the night in Madison GA at a Walmart. We drove through about 20 miles of really hard rain before arriving here. There was a car that wrecked on a bridge so we had a 2-3 miles backup of traffic. After getting parked we went in and stocked up on a few grocery items for the trip.

Day 2 Saturday January 4, 2020 We departed about 7:30AM and got through Atlanta without much traffic since it was Saturday. But when we got to Birmington AL we got into a mess. We saw road signs that I-20 was closed downtown so we took the exit that was suggested but then decided that was the wrong thing to do so we looped back around and got back on I-20 only to get in a real snarl in the construction downtown. We had to detour through some real narrow streets that had been set up as detour streets and the GPS kept wanting us to stay on I-20 which was closed to through traffic. We finally found our way out the mess and got on the road we needed to be on. The companies that provide the maps to the GPS don't keep them up to date because this construction has been going on for a long time and I check for map updates just before we departed.

We finally arrived in Red Bay about 2:30 CT and setup in the Red Bay Downtown RV Park. There are 4-5 small RV parks in Red Bay to accommodate all the motorhomes that come here for service. Tiffin has their own RV park at the service center but it is only for motorhomes that are 1 year old or less that are here for warranty service.

After getting setup I went to check in at the service center and got our paperwork filled out. They don't give appointments so you get on the list on a first come first serve basic. Monday a Tiffin employee will come to our motorhome to go over our repair list and the we will be called when they are ready for us. So we don't know how long we will be here.

Day 3 Sunday January 5, 2020 Today was a lazy day of waiting. We went to McDonald's for breakfast and then later we rode around the area a little and checked some of the other campgrounds in the area that cater to motorhomes coming here for service. Then we went to the local fast food place called Jack's for a big double bacon cheese burger before returning to the motorhome for the day.

Day 4 Monday January 6, 2020 Jason from Tiffin Service Center came about 10:30AM to go over the repair list I turned in Saturday when we got here. He said we might get called to go for our repairs tomorrow. Then a worker from Nichols Custom came and installed three vent covers on top of the motorhome. I installed them on our prior motorhome but I really don't like to get on top of it.

About 3PM we got a call from the Service Center to be at bay 9 at 7AM tomorrow. YEA!!

Day 5 Tuesday January 7, 2020 We got up about 5:45AM to be at the Service Center by 7AM. We were one of the first to arrive but there was a long line behind us. They have over 50 service bays and within a few minutes most were full of motorhomes. Charles and Dayton would be the technicians working on our MH. They introduced themselves and we went over the repair list I had turned in and they went to work. Technically since we were in an Express Bay they were supposed to only work on our list for 3 hours but they worked on it for about 5 hours. They did a good job getting everything done that we asked for except one item and I told them to skip it since their time was past being up. That item is not causing a problem and I know how to fix it if it does cause a problem.

We returned to the campground and setup the MH again. About 3PM we got a call to be in bay 42 at 7AM Wednesday morning to check out a couple of mechanical items. They are not causing a problem on out MH but I have read on our users forum that several people are having a problem with these to items.

Day 6 Wednesday January 8, 2020 I took the MH to bay 42. They checked and said our MH have the versions of these two items that have not been an issue, so in about 15 minutes we returned to the campground and setup again. Then we went to McDonald's for a late breakfast. About the time we finished we got a call to go to bay 20 for the repair to our small paint issue. I pulled in the MH and Clinton the painter explained what he had to do so we went to the waiting room to relax. He called us about 3PM to pull the MH out of the bay for the night. He hoped to finish today but he was not satisfied with the way the paint repair looked and I was not either. It had a run in the paint so we will return tomorrow at 7AM for him to redo it.

Day 7 Thursday January 9, 2020 We were back in bay 20 at 7AM for Dillon to redo the paint repair. He finished about 12:45PM and I checked it out. It looked like factory paint so we completed the paperwork, paid out bill, filled up with fuel and returned to the campground for the night. We will leave Friday morning for home. We have payed for one more night stay here but there is bad weather on the way for this area and we are going to try and get ahead of it.

Day 8 Friday January 10, 2020 We were packed and rolling by 8AM. We mostly had good weather for our 250 miles today – just a few spots of light rain. We stopped in Acworth GA for the night at a Cabela's. They have some RV parking sites behind the store so we pulled into one by a curb so we could get our LR and bedroom slides out. After a late lunch we walked around the store but didn't see anything we couldn't live without. Cabela's is part of Bass Pro now and they both are a paradise for outdoors people. One other RV and a trucker without his trailer stayed in the spots beside us for the night.

Day 9 Saturday January 11, 2020 We ate a little cereal and was on the road by 7:30AM hoping the traffic around Atlanta would not be too bad since it was Saturday. We took the I285 bypass rather than taking I75 through downtown. Traffic was not too bad. After about 2 hours we exited the interstate to see if we could find a parking space near a Cracker Barrel. They advertise RV and Bus parking but the spots are way too short for most RV and probably most buses. We pulled into a parking lot for a closed restaurant that was in from of Cracker Barrel and went in and had a good plentiful breakfast.

We stopped for the night at Columbia Camden RV park about 1:30PM. We needed a full hook up site so we could empty our tanks before getting home tomorrow.

Day 10 Sunday January 12, 2020 We got some winds and heavy rain last night as a storm blew over, but I sleep right through it. We slept in this morning, had breakfast and got departed at 9:30AM for the last leg of our trip before getting home. We stopped about 80 miles down the road for fuel at the Loves's Truck Stop, then again to fuel up ourselves for lunch before arriving home about 2PM.