Belmont, Mississippi: Imagine That - Another Year Bites The Dust

First of all, many thanks for the phone calls and best wishes for my birthday. It has been a great day today, up to and including meeting some new friends today.

MLA and I spent the early morning here at the Tiffin RV service center and then went to Tiffin's paint facility in Belmont, Mississippi. They have about 40 new 2009 RV's of every make and model sitting outside, waiting to be delivered to the dealer / new owner. Lots of beautiful coaches. Pretty impressive when you consider the average price of each RV was around $250K. Some more, some less (duh Dale, that's how averages work).

Like kids in a candy store, MLA & I wandered around looking at all of the new features that have been added for 2009. Mind you, the coach we have now meets all of our needs however we know when we sell the house (notice I said when not if) and start RVing full time we will need more storage space. More storage means you need a bigger, longer RV. Bigger, longer RV means you need a bigger diesel engine. Etc., etc., etc. All that means you need more $$$ -- funny how that works.

We met another couple, Tony and Linda, extended RVers from San Antonio, who are at the Tiffin factory watching their new top of the line Zephyr being built. They are -- naturally -- very excited to watch their dream RV be created from a bare chassis to completed luxury motor home. The coach is in final stages of being painted and they will probably take delivery in a few weeks. Too cool.

We probably spent 30 minutes in the hot Mississippi sun with them talking about our RV experiences; they are just so easy to talk with. Tony was interested in the motorcycle lift we are using so we told them to stop by later back at the campground and take a closer look. Tony and Linda left while MLA and I decided to check out a few more units on display behind the paint facility. Incredible coaches everywhere you looked. I have a really bad case of 'bus envy' and "Iwantitis".

Spent the afternoon getting the last warranty items on the RV resolved only to discover one of the issues we thought had been resolved is still not working correctly. Means we will be in Red Bay through the weekend until at least Monday evening. Better to get it fixed correctly while we are here than have to make another trip.

The issue? The entrance door sticks sometimes after putting the levelers out; sometimes it works great and sometimes it does not. Tiffin reprogrammed the levelers and tightened a very loose leveler controller. Better but still not right.

We also had the 'Allegro Bay' decal installed on the front of the RV over the Diamond Shield protective cover. MLA is thrilled to have it in place.

Since the 4th of July holiday is coming up we had made reservations at a campground in Hot Springs, Arkansas from tomorrow through the 4th of July weekend. We rarely make reservations more than a day or two in advance however we thought it might make sense with the holiday. So we called them this afternoon and changed the reservations. Now we will have to see if we can get this door jam/leveler issues resolved early next week and get on our way. I have a strong urge to be 'moving on'.

Late afternoon Tony & Linda stop by to look at the motorcycle carrier. Hour and a half later we were still talking, laughing at each other's stories. What a great couple. We asked them to join us for dinner and decided to go to the local Mexican restaurant. Spent another couple of hours laughing and talking during and after dinner. What fun: good food and good company plus, since it's my birthday, we had to get the Fried Ice Cream. If you have not tried Fried Ice Cream you need to correct this oversight; it sounds wacky however it tastes delicious.

This weekend we will head out of Red Bay to explore a little further afield. Last Wednesday I drove MLA over to the Helen Keller's birthplace about 30 minutes from here; she really enjoyed touring the grounds since she had read 'Miracle Worker' many times as a child. There is a Helen Keller festival tomorrow with live entertainment in the evening; maybe we'll head over there. Or maybe we'll head to Tupelo, Elvis Presley's birthplace. Not sure which one we'll do; might have to decide by a flip of a coin.

In any case, we are having a great time.

Until next time -- See Ya!