Elvis is Back and so ARE WE, Home At Last

After leaving Red Bay, AL where we learned from a local resident that we should stop in Tupelo, MS to visit Elvis Presley's birthplace. We did and visited his birth place and home as well as the Turelo Hardware where Elvis' mother purchase his first guitar instead of the 22 cal. rifle he wanted. I beleive Elvis rode with us from Tupelo to his Memphis Mansion as we could hear noise on our RV roof and cargo bay. According to stories he was a shy person by nature so he did not come out and visit with us during the trip. Our pet, Trixie did bark several times during the trip between Tupelo and Memphis which confirmed Elvis was likely onboard. We did play his music on the Sirus Elvis radio station. When we arrived in Memphis and checked into the Good Sam's RV Park next to Graceland I believe we did see Elvis running from behind our RV toward his mansion.

We found Graceland to be much more interesting than the ghost stories about Elvis. He was an unique and interesting person and his home reflected that. It was quite nice and could be referred to as an stylish mansion. His furnishings reflected his celebrity status since money did not seem to be an object. All of his gold records and plaques are on display along with various awards, clothing, stories of his career by his friends and business associates. The home is furnish the same as when he passed twenety five years ago. We missed the 25th celebration of his life by a week, however there many gifts of appreciation from people from all over the world still on display from the week before. The mansion tour takes about 4 hours to see everything. It is a self guided tour with the aid of a recorded narration of various rooms and displays. You access them on personal earphone sets. You can revisit the various displays and rooms as you desire and catch one of the many shuttles back to the tour center where you purchase your tickets to begin the tour. It is a worthwhile visit for anyone that likes Elvis' music and want to know more about his lifestyle and music career. We came away from the tour with a whole different perspective on this great and talented artist.

The tour center has an Elvis' Auto Museum, his two jet airplanes, Lisa Marie and Hound Dog, the latter a small business type jet. Lisa Marie was his toruing jet and I believe a 707 or one of those. You are able to go inside both planes. Also, there is a museum on Elvis' clothing and why he dressed as he did. It is narrated by a very close friend of his so there is some personal stories. Of course there are resturants and gifts shops galore at the tour center, which by the way is directly across the street from the mansion. Our RV park was right behind the tour center so we could walk to it through a back gate. Really convenient!

We spent two days at Memphis and on the day we left drove into Little Rock. What I tell you next will probably surprise most of our close friends and family that know us well. Okay, we visited the Clinton Library. It was mostly out of curiosity though we did find the building to be interesting, modern and in a nice setting along the Arkansas River. We spent about two hours inside viewing and reading the displays. I think it could have been better presented had someone other than President Clinton doing all of the narrations. (Possibly we had been influence by our visits to the great Americans homes who had founded our country in Viginia earlier in our trip) A third party would have been better in our opinion. Most of what happened during President Clinton's administration we were aware of and our take of his narration and print brushed over some of the events not so flattering to him which might be expected. He seemed place blame on the lack of some of his and Hillary's accomplishments on the other political party. There is an adjoining college campus for students to study political topics. What I found a little unusual was that the library gift shop was offsite and on the edge of downtown and not in the library building. It was about a quarter of mile away but the library did have a shuttle to take you there if you wanted to shop. We passed in order that we could get to our next destination which I believe was a KOA 20 miles into Oklahoma. We actually missed a closer KOA because you know who was on the cell talking with his brother. We did we needed to get to Amarillo, TX on the upcoming Friday so we could visit my sister, niece and her family who now live in Dalhart, TX where the land is so flat you can see the curve of the earth!

We made Dalhart on Saturday, August 24th and had a great visit with Bobbi, Cindi, Tim and all of the kids. It was great to see them and catch up on everything and get see the town we have heard so many humorous stories about. The reason they live in this panhandle town is that Tim's job with Hilmar Cheese Company in California sent him there to help with the opening of their new cheese plant. It is rurual and the closest shopping towns are Dumas about 50 miles away or Amarillo about 80 miles. We spent a couple extra days in the Amarilloa area as a little altenator problem developed just as we arrived in Amarillo. Thank God, there was a Freightliner dealer there to repair it, but as in Reno they had to order a part. For those interested a diesel motorhome altenator with labor and diagnosis' is almost one bill, like in a thousand. The good part about waiting was we got to visit some extra days with my sister and niece who came to Amarillo. We had a nice lunch at Furr's.

We visited the Quarter Horse Museum before heading out of Amarillo to Holbrook, AZ and then into Laughlin, NV where Carole, aka "Gamblin Annie" proceeded to win $720 to end our trip before returning to California. She began the trip by winning $200 in the Reno lay over and $1400 in Minnesota at Mystic Lakes. That about covered the cost of our diesel fuel for the 7,009 mile trip.

It felt so good to get home. That was a long time away (74 days). But we hope, God willing, to do it all over again next year. We're thinking of NY, Maine, etc. We met lots of great people (lots of full-timers) on our trip. One lady was on her way to Africa to be healed by witch doctors (true!) and another one was here from Nova Scotia (Carol really liked her) and so we picked her brain for next years trip. We met a couple from South Dakota who were so sweet we have been e-mailing with them. Most of the RVers we met were friendly and eager to get to know you. A tip for any trip like this: drink only bottled water. At one site we were washing dishes and the water was brown.

Until next time, signing off and back to our normal routines. John & Carole

Special Motorhome Blog, Red Bay, AL

While Carole did the last trip blog I thought I would do one on my visit to the Tiffin manufacturing and paint shops and on some of the motorhomes I inspected. It is obvious that more Allegro Bus' are under construction, closely followed by Phaeton's. Tiffin is producing 10 motorhome per day vs a year ago when they were only doing 3 per day.

The manufacturing plant tour is loosely done, you have almost free rein to wander off and inspect whatever construction stage you want to. The tour takes you right through the assembly lines and you can speak with the employees, touch and feel the items being installed. It is quite a sight to see, seems to be alot of confusion at first until you get oriented on the different lines and how everyone is doing a certain task and the unit is moving on to the next stage. Basically, the chassis is driven up to the line at which time all the chassis wiring and anything being installed under the floor is completed. Then the subfloor platform, for those to have floor tile, it is installed in one slab the complete length of the motorhome. The floor tile is installed on a 3/4" plywood platform over at the paint shop 8-miles away and brought over on a flatbed trailer. Suction cups are used to transfer the tile slabs onto the motorhome platforms with a hosit. Anchors are shot through the tile and removed later and the holes filled. From this point holes are cut into the floor for various vents, plumbing, wiring and etc. As the home moves on the cabinets, dashes, plumbing fixtures, and etc installed. The walls are laminated and computer milled for the steel framing in the the huge slabs of insulation panels and hosisted into place once moved to the appropiate assembly line. The walls are installed and then cutting of openings for the various models are done as well as storage compartments installed and carpeted with liners. Some modifications are done to the Ford chassis units at the front to eliminate road water problems that apparently could develope. All models are being built at the same time and are intermingled along the production line. Each order sheet has a name on it and where it is to be delivered. Ironically, one of the orders that our tour guide grabbed to look at and show us was a 36' foot bus. The order was for "Bob" which is the aka used for the big man, Bob Tiffin. So, we know Bob will be showing up at a future rally in a 36' Foot bus.

Inspections are continuely done on each motorhome by the foreman's and many returned to the finish line at the end where corrections are made before or even after they have gone to the paint shop. The paint shop is in Bomont, MS a short drive west. It is a series of large buildings connected together by common walls. My estimate is there are roughly two dozen paint booths there and probably over 100 motorhomes in various stages of paint. I was quite impressed with the cleaniness of the shops, could eat off the floor, much different than the manufacturing operation. Again, you are free to roam the premises as long as you wear the safety glasses and ear plugs and can go in and out of the motorhomes. I spoke with a number of the employees who were quite informative. The primer looking unfinished units make an amazing appearance transition form start to finish. The paint shop is a must see if you are in Red Bay whether you are a Tiffin owner or SOB. The tours are open to anyone with an interest.

The pictures above are of the new Breeze and interiors along with some others of the Red Bay RV Park. Hope you enjoy them. Will send other pictures later.

Harrisburg, Charolettesbille to Nashville

Now may be the time to admit that we can't remember the exact sequence of our trip in the last few weeks. We went through the plantation of President Taylor and the Berkeley. If you don't know, Berkeley was the scene of the first Thanksgiving (See picture of archway and water in background). I know, you thought it was in Jamestown but just recently they have certified that it happened where we stood at Berkeley. Lincoln met there twice with his general McClellan during the Civil War. Robert E. Lee's wife Martha was given shelter there during the war. Here is a little trivia: did you know that Robert E. Lee was married to Martha Custis, General Washington's great granddaughter? Thats enough history for now.

We thoroughly enjoyed the plantations and stories we heard. John and I are so full of historical facts that Stan said we should be giving the tours. We left all that history(Mount Vernon, Monticello, Monpellier, Monroe's Ashland-Highland, John Marshall House, Jackson's Hermitage, Historical Harrisburg and etc.) and traveled on to Nashville and went to the Grand Ole Opry. What friendly people (not like Washington). Our RV park, the KOA, gave us $10 off each night because they are still repairing all the flood damage that happened in May. We saw the Opry the Memorial Auditorium since they aren't back in their regular threatre yet. It looked like they'll be all repaired in about a month or two. What nice people there! Guess what? They actually speak to you and don't just grunt.

As I write this we're in the Tiffin park in Red Bay, AL. We're here with about 200 other rigs. All waiting for our turn for service work in the 48 bays. We got all our work done but I damaged our carpet trying to clean some spots and we're waiting until Monday when they will replace it then we'll head out again toward Tupelo and Memphis this time. The best part of Red Bay is the people. They have a big waiting room that is furnished like a living room and our Anthony would have a ball there! You know, Mr. Pride & Joy! We took the factory tour with "Red" their 85-year old tour guide. Red is an interesting fellow and is probably the best person for the tours. He recounted how in 1931 he harvest cotton on the site of the factory and how Bob Tiffin turn his gin workers into factory workers building their first RV's. And of course, when touring we got to see and touch the new Breeze. It is nice, but a little to tight in the bedroom for us. However, John & I fell in love with the new 34' foot Allegro Red. It is the roomiest and most well laid out floor plan of the shorter Tiffin motorhomes. Also, though an entry level rear engine diesel (aka RED) on a Freightliner chassis they appear to have already upgraded it to at least a Phaeton level or better in the 34' model that we saw on the finish line. It was not in their current brochure. They do have it in their website now.

At the Allegro Club, Jimmy and Cynthia have been gone. They went to the FMCA rally in Oregon and are scouting out a rally site in the Northwest for a 2011 Tiffin rally. We ordered a new Tiffin outdoor mat for our RV while there. Tiffin has a great RV store on site and of course John had to spend time their spending money on foolish things, deodorizer, T-Shirts, Wheel Liners, filter wrench and etc.

We went to Florence yesterday and found out that the University of Northern Alabama is there. What a beautiful school and city. The school looks like buildings in Washington DC. The city is clean and has a modernized its downtown that appears to be very active. It was 96 degrees, so we did not get out and walk around that afternoon until getting to Wally World to restock. Which reminds me, John drove 15 miles to purchase beer at a package store since Red Bay is in a dry county. We learned that in the revolution hills, they still might still make moonhine. We can believe it after making a trip to Coon Dog Cementary. A coon dog must be the most valuable possession as the 300 plus graves we observed, the majority of them had fresh flowers on them

When we leave Memphis and Little Rock we will up date the blog.

Washington DC Visit

We arrived at Cherry Hill RV Park in the DC area on July 28Th and were there until August 9Th. We must have walked a trillion miles while visiting all the sights or at least it seems like it. How best to describe the visit, very interesting, educational, fun, warm to hot humid days and some of the most unfriendly people you would ever meet at the various government exhibits and museums. And they talk about how rude and unfriendly Californians are, give me a break! DC sets the record! The few friendly soles that we did meet were really nice and helpful and kept us charging forward.

First stop was the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum followed the next day with a tour of the Capitol Building (Best Lunch Place). Over the next couple of days we visited the American Natural History Museum where the most crowded room was where the Hope Diamond was on display with other valuable jewels and minerals (Mostly women, the men fled) and then the American History Museum. Somewhere in the next few days we spent a day or two of rest and visited the White House, Supreme Court, Lincoln and Washington Memorials, Viet Nam, Korean and World War II memorials. On the final day we spent time at the National Art Gallery where you could view century old paintings of amazing quality and condition. I took a second trip with Stan & Julie up into the old U.S. Post Office Building that had been restored and you could take an elevator up to the tower where you could view the entire city from about 300' with the view over the tops of the cities buildings which was made possible when congress voted to not allow any building to be taller than the capital. Makes for an interesting city without high rises.

Two of our side trips were by auto to Arlington and Mount Vernon and were highlights of our visit, especially Mount Vernon and being able to stand and learn why George Washington and his family acquired this property to build their home and farm. Great views of the Potomac River and of the plantation. After touring Mount Vernon and learning more of its history and giving thought to all his famous visitors to Washington's home, most of which were involved in the building of America, it makes other parts of history seem insignificant. Especially what is happening in DC these days.

At Arlington, General Lee's mansion had some impressive history and views of DC. The sad part of Arlington was all grave sites of our brave soldiers that had given their lives for our freedom. The Kennedy family is buried there as well as other prominent military men and women including Audy Murphy.

Our friends, Stan & Julie Grebiec arrived on Friday August 6th and that night we enjoyed taking a night tour of the city which gives you a whole different prospective. Over the next few days we all enjoyed catching up on the gossip and how we all had spent our times after they moved east from California. Of course we continued our sightseeing with them. It was nice to have someone with us (that way when I wonder off as I usually do Carole was with someone and did not get lost). Campsite BBQ and Farkle was fun too, though Julie felt like this was not her game. Stan caught on right away, winning every game.

Cherry Hill RV Park in College Park, MD is a good location if you are visiting the area in your RV, they have bus service at the park to get you to the Metro Stations or Union Station. We usually took the Metro rail (subway) since we could drive a couple miles to the station and ride on into the City for less than a dollar each way (seniors!) and not have to worry about finding parking.

When we left DC, we headed south into Virginia to Harrisburg, Jamestown and Yorktown for four days and then to Richmond and Charolettesville for three more days. Our next blog will fill you in on our visits there with pictures.

Our Cincinnati Visit

We drove south from Elkhart, IN approximately 265 miles passing through Kokomo and Batesville before arriving at the FMCA Membership Office and RV Park. Our first three days as members was free of charge and the next three cost only $20 per day with full hook ups. It is a very clean park, small, 24 concrete spaces and lots of lawn. It was a great location for visiting Randy & Katherine and the grandchildren, only 5 miles from their home. Our rear jack and door hinge had been delivered to their home as promised by the people at Tiffin. Master replaced the hinge and sought out a RV dealer to replace the jack. Found a wonderful Tiffin dealer just north in Fairfiled, OH, Tom Raper RV and while they were booked up three weeks, they gave him an appointment on the day we left Cincinnati and their service department had us up and going within 2-hours of our arrival at their shop. No more "Rock N Roll" though we all were getting use to it. And off to eastern Ohio where we found a great State RV park to lay over for the night before passing through Wheeling, West Virginia.

Randy and his family were great. It had been two years since my masters and I had seen Mary, age 5 and Michael, age 4. Sarah, age 16 had been to CA to see us last summer. Mary and I didn't quite get along at first, a territorial thing. I decided that I would rest one day and all the humans went to the zoo and came back and played Farkle. Mary was a great player even for her age. The only down side of our visit is that we all miss them again before we even leave. It is a very different world where they live in Cincinnati. Quiet, shady, rolling hills with one- and two-story colonial homes (all white). Humid too! I (Trixie) was having a ball in their backyard with the short cyclone fencing. I chased cats and dogs and hid in the shrubs. We enjoyed being able to visit and then go to our own RV nearby and rest.

Oh yeah, while our RV was repaired they dumped me off at some groomer to give me bath and then went next door to "Jungle Jim's." They said this was a super, super large interional grocery store with items from all over the world. It is truly an amazing store and worth a stop if you're nearby. They have items there like duck feet, whole pig heads, etc. I personally don't know why anyone would want those things but somebody must, I prefer duck jerky and pupperoni's.

We are heading out to DC via West Virginia and Maryland. Will be at Cherry Hill Rv Resort in College Park, MD, it is the closet park to DC with good sub-way access. We are going to do 10-days of sightseeing and plan on meeting up with our motorhome friends, Stan & Julie Grebiec who have moved to Florida from the San Francisco Bay area. We are looking forward to visiting with some nice familiar faces though we have enjoyed the many different people we have met so far on our trip. Look forward to the DC blog.

Minnesota to Elkhart, IN

With tornedo's to our back we made the trip to a little community just north of Chicago called Marengo with one night stay in Lodi, WI. Yes, Lodi like in California. Not only that we passed through Oakdale on the way. The heat and humidity started to rise as we were just past the Mississippi River. Wiscousin has a great rest area on the river there. We stayed at the Smokey Hollow Campground in Lodi only because we could take their shopping cart to the town and do our shopping at the Piggly Wiggly Market. We probably could have taken it to Chicago? Oh, by the way they are still growing corn and soy beans, it has now been about 800 miles of it!

Our first visit to downtown Chicago was fun and interesting from a newcomers view of its vibrant structures, streets, canal, restaurants and people. We enjoyed the evening downtown before returning to Marengo. Leaving Chicago was another experience with the toll highways. Between Chicago and Elkhart it only cost us $40 in tolls. Two of which were within 5-miles and cost over $20. To add insult to travelers, they made sure the toll roads equaled California's rough surfaces and added a little narrowing and a zig and zag here and there. Of course we learned from the locals in Elkhart, there was another route we could have taken. Ugh!

If it wasn't for the RV Industry, I do not think there would be an Elkhart with the 17 manufacturers of RV's and related industries. They apparently are making a recovery but you can still see evidence of closed businesses. It rained hard upon our arrival at the Elkhart Campgroung, 390 spaces on grassy pads. Our most enjoyable part of this visit was to the RV Hall of Fame Museum located on the east end of the community. A worth while visit and I must say a very well done for such a new point of interest in the community. Mae West even owned a RV that was specially made for her and on display. I did not realize it but people had ideas about RV's back at the turn of the 19th Century only they called them "Housecars". If you have a chance to visit the museum, do it, its fun and interesting.

Where to next? Cincinnati, here we come and we have a jungle surprise to tell you about there.

Custer to Mystic Lake Minnesota

Our next stop after leaveing Custer, SD was Salem, SD at a small but very nice RV Park, Camp America. It was an overnighter in a small rurual location run by two women. Lots of grass, nice trees and level sites. Leaving this location passed through Sioux Falls into Southern Minnesota and crossed the state to Albert Lea where we spent the next two nights at the Freeborn County Fairgrounds. We could not pass up a visit to the "Spam" museum in nearby Austin. A worth while visit for those who remember being raised on Spam Sandwiches. Hormel did a great job of documenting Span's history as well as their other products. A fun place.

From there we moved on north about 140 miles to Mystic Lakes Casino in Prior Lakes, MN to spend 4-days of site seeing and I do not mean looking at corn and soybean fields that we have seen for the past 4 or 500 miles of highway travel.

Leaving Minnesota $1200 richer thanks to Carole's casino luck proved to be a wise decision. The following day, tornedo warnings were in the news for this state. We especially enjoyed our stay at Mystic Lake Casino RV Resort aka "Dakota Meadows". This park is similiar to Jackson Rancheria but larger and in our opinion nicer as it has trees. Draw back, no cable TV for those that like cable programing. They have Tipi's to stay in if you want to rough it and a nice golf course. Lots to see around the area, it is green everywhere and of course lots of lakes. Mystic Lakes is located 20 miles S/E of Minneapolis-St Paul and a 10 - 15 minute drive to the Mall of America where you have your choice of 520 stores and an amusement park loaded with rides for adults and children.

Our next stop will be Marengo, Ill northeast of Chicago and Elkhart, IN to be posted later.