Yikes! Unscheduled detour from Buffalo, New York to Red Bay, Alabama!

Note:  This is a "blast from the past" post as we work our way backwards to catch you up on our previous destinations. We recently hit the road again and are working our way toward Denver by way of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and New Mexico. We will not be doing any "real time" posts until early March when we visit Kansas. Kansas will be the first of 19 new states that we will visit this year in the final leg of our adventure.

 

August 15 - 27, 2020

By Marty 

As we wrapped up our visit to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, NY we were to head east toward New England. Regrettably we had to change our plans and make a 900 mile detour to the Tiffin Motorhomes Service Center in Red Bay, Alabama due to a repair issue with the Beast.  The total detour was 2,100 miles because from Red Bay we then drove 1,200 miles to Massachusetts to return to our previously scheduled route!

The repair issue was with the rear driver's side slideout. The slideout has been cranky recently. At setup it was coming out cattywampus and getting stuck after extending just a few inches. I could muscle it a bit from the outside while Janell operated the controls on the inside, but it was getting worse. I feared having the slide fail in the extended position and leaving us unable to drive anywhere.

Before taking the drastic measure of driving 2,100 miles round trip for the repair I did the following:

- researched Youtube and RV repair forums for solutions;

- took the Beast to the Buffalo Tiffin dealer's service department (they were unable to diagnose the issue);

- called Tiffin service center phone support in Red Bay (they couldn't advise me on a do it yourself fix either); and

- called Tiffin dealer's service departments in New England (none of which could get us in for 6-8 weeks)

RV repairs are the bane of the RV owner's existence, at least for those that aren't talented "do it your selfers".  The typical RV dealer service department competence level is generally low and the demand for service is very high. It is the norm to wait a month or two for a service appointment. When you live full time in your motorhome this can be a problem!

Tiffin's service center has a great reputation and efficient process so, to get our issue fixed correctly and soon, we decided to take the Beast back to the mother ship.

I'll tell you more about Tiffin's service center in Red Bay below.

We drove 900 miles over two days, stopping for one night at the Two Rivers Campground in Carrollton, Ky. The map above, which is on our refrigerator, reflects our passing through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee on our way to Alabama. We did nothing in those states, but they still qualified for a sticker. While in Red Bay we also visited Mississippi.  More on Mississippi below. 

Funny anecdote about this map:  We got it for the outside of the Beast before starting our travels. The map background is magnetic. When I went to put it on the motorhome it promptly slid to the ground. That's when I realized that the entire skin of the motorhome is made of fiberglass, not metal!  So we bought a new blank adhesive map, which is the one you see in the side panel of this blog.

Janell had the great idea of taking the magnetic map, cutting it in half, and putting it on on the fridge. Now we can follow our travels from inside and outside the Beast! If you look closely you will see that Willie is monitoring our travels too!

 

We stretched our legs at a rest area in Ohio on our 500 mile day one drive.

The Kentucky river was not far from our one night stand in Carrollton.

A favorite of Janell's, we played this song as we crossed into Alabama:

Sweet Home Alabama

After our two day grind we settled in at Red Bay Acres.  No sign of Oliver or Lisa!

At Red Bay Acres it's all Tiffins all the time!

A beautiful Alabama sunset beyond the Red Bay Acres restaurant and office.

Perched on the bridge railing is a camera shy heron. I couldn't get very close for a photo without scaring him off. I'm not as close to him as it appears in this photo. I used my digits to enlarge it.

Pretty Alabama clouds

 

This beautiful butterfly touched down on Little Red just long enough for a photo. 

While in Red Bay we had time for some sightseeing. Our first, and my favorite, excursion was to Muscle Shoals and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, about an hour northeast of Red Bay. 

This sound studio is legendary. No, really, it is legendary! The studio existed for only nine years in this location after it's 1969 opening. In that time over 75 gold and platinum records were recorded by artists  such as Bob Dylan, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Paul Simon, Bob Seger, Rod Steward, Cat Stevens, and Willie Nelson, to name a few!

In 1969 the Rolling Stones slipped into town and recorded "Brown Sugar", "Wild Horses", and "You Got to Move". The Stones were in the middle of a USA tour that year which culminated in December with the infamous Altamont Speedway Free Festival.

For more history on the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio read this:

 

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio History 

 

The studio closed in 1978 and was occupied by two different non music related businesses before being abandoned in the late 1990's.

The building was later purchased and eventually restored to it's original studio condition and reopened in 2017 as a museum while also operating as a recording studio.

This is a trailer for a great documentary about Muscle Shoals and the incredible music that came out of this small Alabama town. The documentary features Fame Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, and the common link between the two: The Swampers. Curious?  Check this out:

Muscle Shoals documentary trailer

Just a few miles from Muscle Shoals, in Tuscumbia, AL we toured Ivy Green, the Helen Keller Birthplace museum.

Who, of my generation, could forget this scene from "The Miracle Worker", starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke:

A clip from the Miracle Worker

The water pump is intact outside the house. Regrettably I failed to take a photo of it!

Instead you get this bed and beautiful quilt.

If you want a quick refresher on Helen Keller and her remarkable teacher, Anne Sullivan, here you have it:

Helen Keller bio 

Ms. Keller was not a tall woman...

Janell made a friend while touring the Ivy Green grounds. This kitty followed us around for some time.

Red Bay is in the far northwest corner of Alabama and our RV park is only about 200 yards from the Mississippi border.

Red Bay is only 45 minutes from Tupelo, MS.  We heard there had been multiple Elvis sightings in Tupelo so we headed over to check it out.

Our first Tupelo stop was for lunch. I opted for southern fare and it was delish!

Our first Elvis sighting!

 Elvis sighting #2

You may have figured this out by now, but Elvis was born in Tupelo. Cool story above about Elvis' first guitar.

Elvis #3 is three dimensional(ish)

The Elvis Presley Birthplace has a nicely done museum and the restored home in which he was born. Elvis lived in Tupelo until age 13.

No, that is not Elvis. It's a nice lady who was there to tell us a few things about the home and Elvis (and make sure we didn't steal anything.)

Elvis at 13

Two statues known by one name - "BECOMING", symbolizing the transformation form Elvis, The Boy to Elvis, The Entertainer.

 

So, back to the purpose of our 2,100 mile detour... 

 

I will explain how the repair situation works at Tiffin. If your coach is under warranty (1 year or less) you can "camp" for free in the Tiffin Allegro Campground above  It is adjacent to the service center and consists of two rows of gravel sites with full hookups. It holds around 90 coaches.

If you're no longer under warranty you fend for yourself at one of the dozen private "campgrounds" in Red Bay. The going rate is $25/night for a paved or gravel parking lot with hookups.  We sprang for the brand new "real" RV park, Red Bay Acres, which cost $50/night with full amenities and, most importantly, wifi.

The Tiffin service center has 53 bays!  

 

There is a catch though:  they don't make appointments. It is "first come, first served", so you arrive in Red Bay, register at the service center and then wait a few days or longer before you get into a bay. Each morning Tiffin publishes a list to the waiting coach owners showing you where you are on the list. If you are low on the list you can run around and see the sights. When you get near the top of the list you need to stay local and wait for a phone call that could come at any point in the work day. When you get the call you quickly prepare your coach for travel and drive over to your assigned bay. Once you are assigned a bay it is yours for as long as it takes to fix all of the items on your list. Each afternoon you pick up your coach at around 3:00 p.m to go back to your RV park. You bring it back again the next morning if there is still work to be done. Repeat this daily until the work is done.

 

In addition to our "emergency" repair we already had a list of minor items for Red Bay. We had planned to visit Red Bay over the coming winter when we toured the southeast.  The work on our coach took just one afternoon and a good part of the following day.

 

The Beast is in bay 34 above and below.

A partial view of the 54 bay service center

This is a short clip I took of the service center interior:

 More Beasts

Ken was was a good guy and our very able tech. About that emergency?  Ken fixed it in 45 seconds...

There is a control sequence on the main panel that will "synchronize" the two motors that move the slide in and out.  We were mildly flabbergasted (is that a contradiction?) that neither the Buffalo Tiffin dealer nor Tiffin phone support were aware of this fix.  See what I mean about poor competency in the RV service industry?  Oh well, what's the big deal about a 2,100 mile detour at 9 miles per gallon?

After Ken solved the issue we asked him to show us again so that we could video it for our reference in case the issue occurred again.. Here is that 46 second video: 

How fast would one have to drive to embed 40' of your motor home into a brick wall?  Haha!

This is one of the RV "parks" that are scattered around town. At any given time there are several hundred Tiffins and their owners scattered around this little town of 3,000 people waiting for service or in service. 

On Friday, Aug 28th we started our 1,200 mile drive to Boston, where my sister Mary lives, from which we will launch our New England leaf peeper tour.  This drive was to be done over three days. Tally-ho, right? Well, not exactly...

 

We encountered another challenge with the Beast and were waylaid at the Baltimore Freightliner shop for three days. We started to notice a vibration in the drive train on our drive from Red Bay and it was getting worse. The Beast's chassis is made by Freightliner so they do any repairs to the chassis (i.e., not Tiffin.)  It took almost three days for the Baltimore Freightliner shop, working with Freightliner corporate in South Carolina, to diagnose and approve the repair. 

 

It turns out the repair was a failing U-joint, which should have been diagnosed much more quickly. We had to fight with Freightliner to have the repair covered under warranty.  I called Tiffin, who leaned on Freightliner, and the repair expense was ultimately covered by Freightliner.

 

While Freightliner was dilly-dallying with the diagnosis we spent two nights dry camping in the Freightliner storage yard.  

 

That is the end of the repair detour saga. We are now ready to spend some time visiting with Mary and her family in Boston and then start our exploration of New England in the Fall.