One More Day At Tiffin

The next morning FRIDAY Ole Norris came to see us about scheduling.  He said about 3 weeks.  I think I blacked out.  Never have we waited that long.  I went to see several people to include Bob Tiffin.  He was gone for the day (football) and it was Friday.  Wade – The head Service Guy knows me and that I hold his people accountable for their work. He was next in line so I went to see him.  For the first time with him I figured I would use honey.  I knew I couldn’t get in for repairs with out seeing Bob and Wade knew I would go see him Monday. So we worked out a deal.  Bob would see our coach in Pomona in a few weeks and he could look at the paint swirls.  Our water tank flooring is starting to give way but they checked them out and they said they were OK for now. So the deal is that in December I call him (Wade) on a Friday and he would scheduled me to come in Monday and stay as long as it takes to repair everything to include removing all tanks and redoing the flooring, recover the driver and passenger seats, water leak in slide out & replace the driver’s window – free……

My little green man was standing guard.

 

So, we decided to leave but then we remembered we were cooking dinner that night for Dave & Brenda who are do in.  We decided to stay.  

They came over for my cooking?They didn’t look so happy in this shot.  I guess Tiffin owners look like this when they are in for repairs or it was waiting for my cooking.  I cooked 4 slabs of baby back ribs and they were pretty good if I say so myself.  I used Brenda’s cooking instructions.  They smiled a lot after dinner probably because of the beer.  It’s the first time that we could actually set down and talk to these guys.  It always seemed that they were real busy or we were.  It was a real nice evening and we enjoyed their visit.  It was a nice note to leave on. 

Where to go – Florida or Texas. We decided Texas.

See Ya………..

Better Late Than Never

Today is Sunday AM so I will back track to Thursday.  Thursday we forgot about the Time Zone changing.  We left about 6:45 but it was really 5:45 local.  At least we tried to leave.  It’s been over 10 years probably since we were in a park and left so early – maybe never.  Well, you can’t see anything and that’s when accidents occur.  We (I) had one but I’m not telling you what happened.  I have to think up some excuses first.  We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Hey, $10.66 plus tip and out the door.  We like Cracker Barrel. We got onto the Natchez Trail Pky again. Hardly any traffic as usual.  We arrived at Red Bay about 1 or so. 

See ya…

Departure Day Adventures

Well, us, Denny & Susie left about 8 AM with the Walt/Kellie in hot pursuit.  About a half hour we all stopped for breakfast.  Damn it was really good.

Sometimes these little places are really great.  It had locals in there and we talked to them a litttle.

Now this is a breakfast and it tasted better than it looks.

 

Plenty of parking and even for Walt.

Orange rock – they grow them pretty around here.

Then we all continued south.  Walt stopped and got gas.  I think he already had it from breakfast.  Denny/Susie and us continued on since we are going to break up down the road.

 

The next adventure was that Denny called us and said he had a blow out.  We turned around (I-65) which took about 20 minutes to get back to them.  Yep, he blew an inner rear passenger side.  He called coach net and had two tires on the way.  The date on his rear tires are 2002.  He was way over due for new tires. Since there was nothing else we could we all agreed we should head on down the road.  He called about an hour or so later and was back on the road with two new tires. 

“This tire had that much tread left.”

“Susie, I’m telling you that tire should have lasted another 8 years!”

We did 375 miles today and ended up at Bowling Green near the old Camping World Hq.  We hit some 20-30 winds today along with a little rain.  We were kinda pooped out and ready to rest and chow down which we did.  We got about 250 miles to do tomorrow to get into Red Bay.

Oh, my Nikon slipped off a table during a stop.  Whew, it’s survived a three foot drop test.

Also this is my cockpit set up.  That’s a Doran Tire Pressure monitor in the left window.  The computer is the Silverleaf engine monitoring system/Streets & Trips and then a Garmin next to it.  They set on my table that I just got up in the Goshen area.  I also have a Wilson cell phone extender behind the left rear side of my chair.  If you look real good you can see my additional navigator on the dash (cat). I have to leap into the seat but that is my daily exercise.

Today was another day of adventures.

Our Last Day Pics of the Battle

Here’s Frank in his Glory getting ready to leave for Livingston.

There’s Marlene ahead of Frank driving their pickup and pulling their trailer.  She’s in her glory driving being without Frank.

This was about 9 AM they left.  I had just finished washing the coach. I started about 7 AM.  The water left a lot of water spots but it’s suppose to rain tonight so they will go away.

In the afternoon a farmer type guy came to pick up his tractor that had been setting next to our coach.  He got it at an auction here but hadn’t picked it up yet.  Yes it was real close to our rig but with the help of several guys, it was loaded and gone in about an hour.

Then it was to Golden Corral for about 50 of us.  It went very well considering all the characters that were there.  We only had one food fight and dressed up only one bun.  Kellie had to go to the bathroom a lot.

That night about 9 PM a wind storm came like a bat out of hell.  We put in two slides on one side it was that bad.  Then the rain came and it was off and on all night long.

Here our some pictures of the last great battle from a few days ago.

 

Here come Bud & Cathie in the distance.

 

  

And the Little Green Man has regained his dinghy.

We depart for Red Bay tomorrow, home of all Tiffin's to which all return usually many times. Of course if we get a call from Lazydays down in FL we will by pass Red Bay.

See Ya………….

Slowing down A Little

It was this morning that I was suppose to be over at the building at 0645 to help with breakfast.  I helped with making the pancake batter.  No rocket science there or I wouldn’t have been doing it for sure.

  

No complaints.  Pancakes, sausage and some ham.  I think because it was free.

I have never seen clouds like this.

Frank and I helped Larry with his coach.  He had some problems filling his tires full of air.  Me and Frank had a lot of extra hot air to share.  Larry reinstalled my Silverleaf into my little notebook computer (Acer). I tried using it in the big computer but it was just that – too big.  I think this will work out just fine.

Then it was back to the building for the 4 o’clock thing.  Skipper Bear was there.  I guess you could say he’s the Escapees mascot.  Every year he gets auctioned off and people carry him around with his diary.  We had him a few years ago (2004) and took him to Alaska.

Joe Tenpenny was there and gave us a history class of the VCRs.  that was pretty neat.  The first official VCRs were there and that was Jon & Sue Glick.

Then usings, the DelSarios, Orrs, Fennels, and Hinmans went to this little restaurant for dinner.  We were it.  Not crowded at all and even the opposite.  The food was pretty good and the service was too.  The comradely was even better.

We returned back to the fairgrounds.  Some of us sat out and others went for walk.  It got dark (duh) and we all retired (again).

Oh, our sales rep from Lazydays called us during the day.  We have been talking to him over the past few weeks. He’s got a 07 Holiday Rambler Camelot that appears to be what we are looking for.  We shall see.

See ya……….

We Won The War

But first.  Yesterday I was asked to help with the next breakfast and I said sure.  I was informed to be there by 6:45.  I was and nobody was there.  Maybe I got the time wrong.  I came back at 7:45. Nobody there.  Bottom line - I got the day wrong. It’s tomorrow.  Details, details.

Last night they had that Mexican Horse thing going on. Here’s what they left. The picture speaks for itself. The trash barrels were almost empty. True dirt bags.

 

On the fairgrounds was this little house. Pretty neat. Carol & I could live in this out in the woods somewhere.

Black squirrels are all over the place.  I think these little things are so cool.

 

Some people went for a tour of some air museum and some people filled water balloons. 

Some even got dressed up for the final battle. The battle to end all battles.   

Two great forces joined to go into the final battle - the Yellow Force and the Orange Force (formerly the Elkhart Gang). We are a force that could not be defeated.  We numbered in excess of thousands (about 60). Here we are eating our last meal before battle.

Joe Tenpenny joined the Yellow/Orange Force and became a colonel immediately.

In battle, photos are not a high priority.  Thus few were taken. But we have reports that they’re were a few neutral brave souls that took some hidden pictures.  These are coming up the chain of command and will be posted immediately upon arrival.

The battle plan was simple.  Trick the opposing force (Bud & Cathie Carr) into a gauntlet and then to have no mercy. It worked.  After 5 minutes of ruthless bombardment of water balloons and even a water hose, they surrender and joined the Yellow/Orange Force for a night of entertainment.  The little green man played an important role in this and regained his dignity that they stole previously in battle.  Pictures will follow for sure.

Then we had VCR initiation.  Those that are setting will be initiated.  No further pictures can be made public due to the somber (also sober) and secret procedure. The one behind them are their sponsors. Notice the yellow and orange battle attire.

Then we had an auction for the Escapees C.A.R.E Program.  We had a secret auctioneer.

Items to be auctioned.  

And one of the great winners of ……… bag and hat. I think those items brought an several million dollars. They were true collector items.

 

The losing opposing force left in darkness and shame and will never be heard again as the Goshen Gang. Bud tried not to have his picture due to the shame of the final battle.  He’s calling the rest of his force and telling them to lay down their water guns in defeat.

Kellie is saying this was fun let’s do it again.

 

Yesterday I made a boo boo on the blog.  Bob and Betty Bear’s SKP number is 42 and not 47 as I reported.  Sorry you two lovebirds.

Again, pictures of the Great Battle (slaughter) will be shown at a later date.

See ya……..