Word play. . .

Terry went to Mickey D's here in Alabama yesterday and ordered a sausage muffin meal. He got a sausage muffin and milk (you know, meeeelk, not meal) Hah. I said he should have ordered the sausage muffin mill, and he would have gotten the meal deal. I told him shame on him because he was bred and born here and he should have been ready for that. Hah! Me? I use "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" a lot. Everyone here is so gracious with we "Yankees" and allow us some leeway.

We are in Red Bay and the boys have been working non-stop on the coach. They had to rip out the entire wet bay where the holding tanks are housed from one side to the other. The supporting boards which were wrapped in weatherproof coverings. . . (well, in a perfect world they were) apparently weren't and the wood all rotted away. They carried it out in a trash can. The new wet bay floor is in and it is caulked and covered in fiberglas. Two of the three tanks are in, but nothing is hooked up. We are truly roughing it. I told Terry we are just pretending we are in a KOA camping cabin with air conditioning and have to walk to the bath house. Not a bad deal. We did NOT want to go to a motel. Since we have a dog, it would have meant a pet friendly establishment and the pickings are few in this area. If they had not gotten the tanks back in, they would have had to send us packing, however, because local law says we cannot stay in the motorhome if the possibility exists that fluids will drain out. Hmmmm. No water in the tanks, not hooked up to water. . . not sure what danger exists there. At any rate, the boys got enough put back together that we are able to sit in our spot and sleep in our own bed. We are close to the bathhouse, so it's as convenient as it can be. The bathhouse here is open all night and it is as spotless as the lounge and other accommodations here in Red Bay. A real "thumbs up" for Tiffin.

The insurance company has been by and inspected the damage to our tanks and no one seems to be able to find a cause for the problem. We do know that there was some caulking and "foaming" that had to be done. It's possible that road water splashed up and entered through cracks in the fenders, etc., underneath and eventually caused the damage. No one seems to be pointing any fingers yet. That may come later. They all appreciated Terry's emergency fix of using angle iron to add support and elected to leave those pieces in. We are hoping Tiffin steps up to the plate and takes care of part or all of this repair. If they don't, Terry said when he shops for another coach, it will be a Foretravel. Hah! I'm game. . . .

We're meeting all kinds of dogs in the lounge. Anna Nicole was here, but sadly has left with her parents. She is a 2 1/2 year old Bassett Hound rescue who lives up to her name. She is the sweetest dog, has a smile on her face all the time, tail wagging, and acts like she knows everyone! Sunny is a former breeder dog who actually has several offspring who have been in the show ring. Most of the rest are rescues like Neal and they all get along well. All are on leashes and Neal is usually in his stroller, but I did let him out on the floor today. The laminate floor in the lounge is cool and the dogs all seem to like it.

We learned how to play a new game today. . . it's called "Marbles," but it has a board a lot like "Aggravation" and uses cards as well. I'm not much for board games, but I do enjoy watching it played. I did join in when Terry took off to check on the motorhome progress.

We will be here through the weekend, but hopefully will be finished by Wednesday next week. At that time, we head back to Indiana because we have tickets to a Moody Blues concert with Jim and Nita, my sister and her husband.

Till next time. . .

Dale