Red Bay -- Week #2

Well, week #2 in Red Bay went pretty well as planned.  After getting the leveling jacks repaired, the roof a/c motor replaced, and the new tires installed in Sheffield, GA with the 4-wheel alignment completed, it only left the paint repairs and battery replacements for this week.  We also needed to get the TPMS calibrated with our Honda’s computer.   The latter did not happen.  We called Tupelo Honda everyday, but their shop computer never got repaired.

At about 9:30AM on Monday morning, Bruce called me and asked if I was ready for the shop. Although still in bed working on my computer and fully hooked-up, we were there in about 20 minutes.  We were parked in his mini-campground about 100 yards away!!  From that moment, we were in the shop until Friday afternoon at 3:00PM………. without access to TV and our regular weekly shows and FOX news!!  The DISH could not find the satellites through the metal roof of the shop!!

We covered what needed to be repaired, and then drove to visit the Tiffin Service campground store where we picked up some T-shirts for friends in our local Allegro  club, and a door window for another member of the local club.  We then went to sit in the Customer lounge to watch a little TV and work on the computer.  

While we were on the road to Red Bay, the Tiffin Allegro Club sent out an email showing some new "RVing" T-shirts, and we got several requests to pick some up.  Here's a photo showing the shirt in 4 of the 6 available colors.  The other colors were hot pink and purple!

While in the lounge, we got a text from a fellow 2008 Tiffin Bus that is very similar to ours in color and floor plan.  We had previously met Bill and Nancy Morrison at a Tiffin rally in Florida earlier this year, and he had read on the Tiffin forum that I was going to be in Red Bay for two weeks, and he planned to arrive during our second week.  We made arrangements to meet at his Bus later in the afternoon where he had a technician scheduled to replace some cracked floor tiles.

We arrived a few minutes before the Technician, Craig, and met him when he showed up.  After watching the level of craftsmanship that he displayed while taking up and re-installing the tiles (3 of them), we scheduled him to replace some of ours the next day.  He is one of the “after-hours” techs in Red Bay, who work for Tiffin during the day, and does similar work after hours for owners at a lower price.

He showed up on Tuesday night and worked on the Bus inside Deaton’s paint bay where we were staying (and had the door key).  He replaced the one tile that had been cracked by the DS front slide, and was more difficult because it was partly under the slide.  

While he was there, we found two more that were cracked near the kitchen sink, and we made arrangements for him to come back on Wednesday afternoon to replace those tiles.

Meanwhile, Bruce and most of his crew had been working and planning their work to have us in a position to be able to leave on Thursday morning with the Bus ‘half finished, but drive-able”  so we could make our Custom RV (Brannon Hutcheson) appointment at 7:00AM to get our new sealed batteries for the coach side of the Bus.  He and his assistant had us in at 7:10, and ready to go by 8:15!  We had previously had the “tile replacement” on Brannon’s list, but he was really busy, and when we found Craig.  Knowing that Brannon’s time was short, made getting Craig to do the tile was a good decision.  When the other two tiles became evident, it became a great decision!!

Out with the old.........

.......and in with the new.

After returning to Deaton’s paint shop at 9:00AM, they got us back into the work bay, and got right back on the paint work!  The whole shop put a lot of extra effort into getting all of the hurricane repairs completed so we could be finished by Friday afternoon at 2:30PM…….. closing time! They begin work at 5:00AM............. and we were trying to sleep in the Bus!!

Bruce Deaton and his shop did a heck of a job, and did NOT take any shortcuts in work or quality. Patsy and I really appreciate having a place like this to get our Bus work done!!!

After settling with Melody Deaton, I drove the Bus across the street to another shop to get a chip on the Passenger side of the windshield repaired to, hopefully, keep it from crawling across to the driver’s side.   All was done by 4:00PM.

Our travel plans had us in Little Rock for the weekend to visit our daughter, SIL and granddaughter, Rachel.  We planned to stay there until Tuesday morning to watch her 1^st grade class do a Halloween parade at school.  

More on Little Rock and Rachel in the next post!!