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Southeast (Gulf Coast), Texas, United States

Thursday, June 29, 2017

The Grandkids Summer Road Trip—#3

We pulled out of the Tom Sawyer RV Park at about 10:00am, and headed toward Red Bay….. about 130 miles away.

Aubrey was the navigator, and we shared some ‘chocolate Teddy Bear’ cookies on the road.  The first picture shows Aubrey and I using the new tray that I built for the trip, and Rachel and Matthew had their own bowl of cookies…….

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By the way, if it looks like I am posting a lot of grandkid pictures………. I am!!  I want their parents to see them still OK, and completely happy without the parents!!!!!!!

We stopped at Fulton, MS to top off the fuel tank, and since it was lunch time, Aubrey, Rachel and I waited in the Bus while Grammie and Matthew walked from our parking place to get us some KFC.  Rachel joined Aubrey in the Co-Pilot seat and I thought it was another photo-op!

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After lunch, we drove the last 25 miles to Red Bay, and got set up in the “Custom Paint Shop” 4-site campground right on Main St.  This campground is very convenient to restaurants and the Tiffin factory, and has full hookups!

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Since we had arrived early, we decided to take the grandkids to the local Red Bay Waterpark. I got the following two clips from a video……

Aubrey on Water Slide in Red Bay

Matthew on Red Bay Waterslide

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On Monday morning, I went to Bruce Deaton’s shop (Custom Paint and Body) next to the campground around 7:00am and he got us right in.  The parts were sitting there and soon were on the Bus!

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……And by the end of the day, all was well:

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The grandkids were still asleep when I pulled into the paint shop bay, and got up a little later.  I checked to see if we could get someone as young as Rachel, on a Tiffin plant tour, and it was OK, so we took it at 9:30am.  The tour began with a distribution of safety glasses and ear phones so we could hear the guides around all the noise.  There was also a video about Tiffin……

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We first toured the cabinet shop which is fairly new to the tour…..

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At the end, we toured some new Buses…… The grandkids now want me to get a new Bus!!!!

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As we exited the plant, we went through a 1978 Tiffin class ‘C’, a cousin of our first RV.  It had shag carpet, and Avocado green appliances!!

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Rachel and I did a selfie in the old coach…..

Poppaw and Rachel Selfie

After the tour, we had lunch at the “Mason Jar” restaurant on Main Street across from our campground….

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After lunch, the Bus was already painted and we picked it up and parked back in our camp site.  The rest of the day, we washed clothes, took showers, and rested into the evening. 

On Tuesday morning, we had the a/c repairman come to the campground and work on the dash air conditioner.  We think it is fixed, and afterward, Matthew and I washed to Bus’ radiator to improve cooling……… we will find out if we were successful tomorrow when we leave Red Bay, and head to Chattanooga!.

At noon, we opted to go to Belmont, MS, about 10 miles away, and let the grandkids tour the Tiffin Paint Plant.  It is a self guided tour (you just get safety gear and a pass, and walk around!

On the way to the tour, we stopped at a local store that is similar to Hobby Lobby.  Rachel went to the bargain room and found a $1 stuffed penguin………. and she was proud of her find.   We’ve seen her home and know she needs one more stuffed animal!!!

A note about the following pictures.  Right before the picture, she bumped her head on the car door, and cried.  I asked her to try to smile for the picture, and got the second picture……… a tough kid!!

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And then, all was OK!  We went on the tour, and they got to see the coaches come in all shades of gray, and come out the other end of the shop with shiny striped colors.

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The last picture is the outside of the security office at the paint shop……….. they got to see some original gas pumps and got to learn how they worked.

On Tuesday evening, Grammie made BBQ Chicken breasts, mac & cheese, and corn on the cob that she got at a Farmer’s Market this morning.  After dinner, she walked  the kids down the street to an ice cream shop for dessert while I wrote this blog…

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We have one more item to repair in Red Bay, and then we will leave on Wednesday morning for Chattanooga, TN.  On the first night here, the bedroom ceiling fan started squealing, and today, I bought a new motor and went to replace it when I found out it was the wrong motor.  I took it back to the Tiffin store, and they are going to try to get the correct motor in the morning…….. we’ll see!

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