The lake at the bottom. Big enough for us to take a boat ride!
And the Summer Begins
Our time at Tiffin was well spent and we got a number of items taken care of both at the Service Center and by the Red Bay After Dark guys. There are a number of the service techs that work at Tiffin that also have their own businesses and they will come work on your coach after hours. We had our slide toppers replaced by Tony and Chris one afternoon while we waited to get into a bay and it only took them an hour! After our 8 day wait we were in a service bay for 2 1/2 days. Not only did Tiffin complete our entire To Do list but they saw a slide that was just starting to malfunction and repaired that was well. We know a lot of people have issues with the fact that Tiffin will not make appointments for service and you have to wait your turn but, as always, they constantly exceed our expectations.
Since Red Bay does not have a lot to offer as far as entertainment we always look for things to do a bit farther afield. We went to Florence, AL for the Smoke on the Water BBQ festival and spent a lovely day hearing good music, eating great BBQ, and they had a classic car show too!
While we waited in Red Bay for service I started to book out the rest of our summer. It is getting increasingly difficult to find campgrounds, especially around holidays, and I knew I needed to get in gear and set things up for the summer. We knew we wanted to be in Williamsburg and found a great campground right in the center of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown but we could not get in when we originally planned so we had to adjust our schedule and had to fill a couple of weeks enjoying Alabama and Tennessee. That is the great thing about being full-time, we can wander as we choose and make adjustments as needed.
We found another hidden gem of a campground in northeast Alabama. We have found that the city and county campgrounds tend to be very nice, spacious, and well maintained. Jackson County RV Park in Scottsboro, AL is a VERY nice campground with a beautiful lake, BBQ restaurant, marina, and lots of wildlife. Though it was only a short three day stay we rode our bikes around the campground, ate lots of BBQ, and enjoyed walking around the lake.
Next up was Lazy Acres RV Park in Lenoir City, TN. We originally chose this campground as it was close to a Freightliner Service Center in Knoxville. We needed to get our yearly service on our chassis done and this made for a perfect stop. Though we did have to spend 15 hours at the service center as they too are first come first served, we did get everything needed done and we had time to enjoy the area. Lazy Acres is again a hidden gem of a park and they are building on to make it even better. This was also the first time we had been near a large city for a while and we had a lot of shopping to do. Not only groceries, but craft, music, and electronics stores as well as Camping World. Getting restocked after being in the boonies!
We needed to fill a week before we could arrive in Williamsburg so we spent some quality time investigating Central Tennessee. We try to mix up our interests during our outings – we both enjoy hiking, I get historical places and Jon gets caves! There was a trail in the RV park that connected to the East Lakeshore National Recreation Trail and we hiked all along the lake and through the hills.
We took three excursions – one to the Museum of Appalachia,
one to Fort Loudoun, and
one to the Lost Sea Adventure.
With a quick one night stop at the Wytheville KOA, (btw we have stayed here many times over the years as we traveled from PA to FL and it is MUCH improved) we finally made it to Williamsburg. We have been here a couple of weeks and have lots to share but I think I will save that for our next post.
Till Then!