Held up in Red Bay. . .

We left Florida some time ago. We had breakfast with Brandon and Megan and we took off and headed north. We played leap frog with the kids as they were headed up to Tallahassee for the FSU game. They left later than we did and we stopped for fuel. After we got back on the road, they passed us. Hah!

Phaeton Place had a few items that needed attention so we quickly made our way over here to Red Bay. When we arrived, there were no campsites available anywhere and we boondocked on the property out of the way of all the traffic. There were several of us over there, but we only had to spend one night there. The next day we were able to move to a campsite.

Since we arrived a day before our appointment, we went to see Terry's Uncle Bob. He is the last survivor of 18 brothers and sisters. Ma and Pa Pace were each married before. I think Pa Pace had 8 children and Ma Pace had 5. They were both widowed and then married each other and had 5 more children. Uncle Bob is the last one of his generation. He is doing well and it was great to see him. He had a bit of a scare, but he is doing well. He has some memory problems, but he was glad we were able to stop in to see him.

We had an appointment for our service work, but for the first time ever, we had to wait a day to get in for our appointment. I was a bit disappointed that even though I had submitted a request for the window we need, it had not been ordered and it would be a couple days before it was ready. We had a couple minor items done, but discovered that they were going to have to replace our wet bay again (second time) and also needed the main slide floor replaced. We had not planned either of these items, but we wanted them done. The slide has given us trouble since it was new, so hopefully that will be fixed. The big problem was that everything had to be emptied from the cupboards in that slide. We had replaced the couch with a credenza and my custom file cabinet, so that all had to be emptied and actually removed. We got that all done last weekend, THEN they told us they were doing the wet bay FIRST! Oh joy! But we managed. I was really tired of moving boxes just to get to the bathroom though. LOL Both of those jobs are now complete and we are waiting yet for the window and some touch up paint from where they kept pulling the inspection panel for the wet bay.

So Monday it will be two weeks since we got here. Not real happy about that, but am happy Tiffin is replacing defective, expensive items at their cost, so I won't complain. The service center has been super busy with 20-30 rigs arriving daily and no place to put them. This week, however, they seem to be catching up a bit and we had more people pull out today. Hopefully we will get finished early in the week and we will be out of here and rolling toward Texas. Not a moment too soon, either, because our beautiful fall weather has turned cold on us and we are having to run heat now. Mom and Dad arrived in Texas last week, so we are glad they are there safe and sound.

Today we took a break and went to Florence, Alabama, so I could get some prescription refills. We took a look at some RV lots on Wheeler Lake, but they weren't anything we were interested in. They were at the end of a development and we saw a sign in a yard saying, "NO Motorhomes, RV's not welcome." Nice friendly place, don't you think?

On the way back to Red Bay, we passed a sign on the highway for Bell Mont Mansion. Hey, we are always up for some spooky old haunt, so we drove down the road. We drove all around the area and couldn't find it, so got back out on the road only to see a sign, just a couple hundred feet from where we turned onto the road. Hah! We drove back down the lane and there was an OPEN sign in the window. We walked to the front and the door opened! A very nice tour guide welcomed us and talked to us about the house and the history of the families who lived there. The house is in the possession of the Alabama Historical Commission. It was built between 1828 to 1832 by a Scottish doctor named Mitchell and is Alabama’s finest expression of Jefferson Palladian architecture. It is brick, and is U-shaped with a courtyard in the middle and was one of state’s first great plantation houses. We had a very nice tour and I would recommend taking the tour if you are in the area. It has not been restored. It had fallen into disrepair for years and was heavily vandalized. Once acquired by the Commission, they set about repairing the structure which they have completed. Now they are starting on cosmetic work like wallpapers, carpets, etc. A very interesting and informative stop.

We are back in Red Bay now and will spend tomorrow relaxing. I found this little guy at the hardware store. He is solar powered and pretty bright once the sun goes down. LOL

Till next time. . .

Dale