Saturday – Mule Days

We had read on TRVN that a local town, Winfield, AL, was having a festival of sorts called “Mule Days”.   They had a parade, arts & crafts, and a large flea market.  With very few forms of entertainment in and around Red Bay, we opted to check it out…………. even thought, it was raining when we woke up on Saturday morning.

We drove the 50 miles, and arrived about 11:00am.  We had just missed the parade, obvious from all of the “brown apples” in the middle of the streets!!  It was still raining, and it must of really rained earlier, because everybody was wet, and a lot of the products under the canopies was also wet!  In fact, even though they had paid $50 to get the booth, most of the vendors was closing shop and loading up their stuff.  It was a very large affair, but the rain just beat them down.   Here are some of the pictures:

The kids still had fun, like the one running through the ditch and those on the bungee rides………..

After we left, we saw a lot of the wagons and mules being hauled home.  The first picture shows one of the rigs stuck in the grass/mud at the high school where they parked.  They used a front end loader to push it out.  The others, we passed on our way back to Red Bay:

When we got back to Red Bay, the sun came out and it was a nice day.  We walked around the campground, and visited with other Tiffin owners.

Friday – Tiffin & Red Bay

We left Tupelo this morning, and made the 50 mile drive to Red Bay.  When we arrived at the campground (which is on the site of the service center), we were asked if we had a preference for which row that we camped in!!!  I was surprised, because usually at this time of the year, with all the snowbirds stopping in for repairs on their way south, it is full!!  I think it was timing, because it has almost filled up by nightfall.

We got parked and set up, and then I filled out the paperwork for our service appointment next Monday.  We also cleaned the Bus on the inside, and washed the few bugs and dirt off the front.  Because of the dust at the campground, we won’t wash the whole Bus until we are ready to leave.

No pictures today……. more tomorrow!!

Fall Trip – Days 2 & 3

On Wednesday morning, we left Alexandria, and drove to Natchez, MS, where we picked up the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The road is not open to commercial traffic, and the speed limit is 50mph.  It is a small two lane road, which is well maintained, and provides a peaceful drive.

During Wednesday, we drove to Jackson, MS…….. about 200 miles.  We had dinner at an Outback restaurant, and spent the night on another Wal-Mart parking lot.  We also fueled up on diesel at the Jackson Flying “J” for $2.34/gal. 

On Thursday morning, we finished the next 175 miles of the “trace” to Tupelo, MS.  We arrived in Tupelo about 4:30pm.  We had planned to visit with Karen and Benny (the sales person and service manager) at Sherman RV, where we bought the Bus, but it was too late.  We went to the Tupelo Walmart to stock up before we headed to Red Bay, and decided to spend the night on the parking lot.

Here are some pictures along the ‘trace’…..

Mount Locust:

Scenes along the route:

In contrast to Texas, which has been in a drought all year, this area has had a lot of rain……. especially in the last two weeks:  (Some reflections pools)

We stopped at a settlement called “French Camp”:

On the Road -- Fall Trip

We left Tuesday for our Fall trip.  This trip is coordinated with our appointment at the Tiffin factory for warranty repairs, and some modifications.  Our appointment at the factory is on Monday, September 28, and we have an appointment for the modifications at Custom RV for some modifications.

Our plan was to arrive at the Red Bay campground at the factory on Friday morning to ensure a site would be available.

On Tuesday, we drove down to Freeport, TX and took the coast road to High Island, TX, which included the Texas ferry ride to the Bolivar Peninsula.  We wanted to see the progress on the Hurricane IKE repairs.  We found that a lot of rebuilding has been done, but a whole lot more is left to be completed!

We had coated the front of the Bus and the windshield with Rejex because it is the time of year for ‘love bugs’.  It turned out that the bugs were not out because of all of the rain.  Here are some pictures on the ferry ………….

Some Pelicans flew along with the ferry:

Once we got onto the Bolivar Peninsula, it continued to rain on us all the way to I-10.  It continued to rain as we drove to Alexandria, LA and spent the night on a Wal-Mart parking lot.