Well, where do we begin . It's been a few days since our last update so sit back, pull up a chair and read what's been happening.
Dennis forgot to mention that we had met our motorcycle insurance agent in the Tishomingo State park a couple of days ago so he wanted to add this picture. You know Mr. Geico the Gecko!
Confused as ever, he forgot which way was forward.
Thursday 4/11 - Another early morning (5:20a.m.). Gotta get Buttercup to the Red Bay Paint Co. by 7:00 a.m. Since we had some time to kill, we walked across the train tracks, to the Tiffin Motorhome Company. They have a free (you know Dennis' motto "free is me") tour of the plant we decided to take, even though we had already taken it several years ago. Then we drove over to Belmont, MS where Tiffin has all their new motor homes painted. First time we had been there. Huge operation. Tons of employees. Was taken back by the amount of work and expertise it takes to paint just one motor home. It's definitely not" paint by number" :))).
Buttercup getting painted at the Red Bay Paint Company, their employees are ex Tiffin employees.
Finished product looked new! Nice job.
These pics are of the paint factory where new coaches are painted.
Putting on decals to paint over them, then peel them off to leave the base coat.
We picked Buttercup up around 2:00. Filled her up with diesel fuel and topped off her propane tanks. Back at our campsite by 3:15, will stay one more night in Red Bay. Will settle up in the morning and "get the heck outta Dodge"!!!! Celebrated our "release" at the 4th Street Grille for dinner. So we're back at home after dinner, and I think I hear music coming from somewhere. We open the door and hear a loud speaker playing a rendition of "How Great Thou Art"and "Taps". It was crazy!! Maybe it was coming from the local funeral home, but who knows!!! They could have been practicing and checking out the loud speaker for sending out weather warnings, only in Red Bay.
Friday 4/12
It was nice not HAVING to get up at the crack of dawn this morning. It was also nice getting up knowing that soon we would be on the road out of Red Bay. 19 days was quite enough. By 11:00 a.m we had "settled up" and were on the road!! Believe me, we didn't shed any tears on the way out!! Dennis did some negotiating with the powers that be and had thousands of dollars of work and parts dwindled down to the cost of a dinner. The camping was cut in half because of the recall work done on the roof and floor as well. Even though we were here for a while, the Tiffin product and its owner Bob Tiffin will make it right, AWESOME!Dennis and the owner of Tiffin Motorhome Company, Bob Tiffin.
We headed toward Tupelo, MS to catch the Natchez Trace Parkway south. Several days ago we had taken a short trip on the parkway with the motorcycle. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to make the Trace our pathway south toward New Orleans. Had lunch at one of the historic sites along the way. Got the chairs out, fixed a sandwich and enjoyed the views!!
Lunch on the Trace, can't get a whole lot better than this setting!
Then back on the road. While riding along we pass a sign that said "Tornado Damage - April 2011". What a site to see. Both sides of the road for miles looked like someone had taken a knife and cut the trees in half midway up. It was something to see. We have a video but it would not load so you will have to check it out when we get home.
There are several campgrounds on the Trace. No hookups (no electric, water, sewer). We chose the "Jeff Busby" site for the night. Stopped around 3:00 to "set up camp". All sites were filled, so we "boondocked" in the parking lot. We grabbed a bottle of water and hiked through the woods up the trail to "Little Mountain", one of Mississippi's highest points. Beautiful views. Then hiked back down to fix some dinner. Got decent TV, got the generator going - we're snug as a bug in a rug!!
Saturday 4/13
Our night in "seclusion" worked out well. Back on the road early still heading south toward Jackson, MS to catch I-20 to I-55. What a gorgeous drive. Passing through hardwood forests, cypress swamps, lakes, beautiful fields with flowers, cows, horses. Seeing lots of birds,motorcycles, bicyclists, other RV's riding by. Trees are just budding - showing many shades of green!! Wildflowers along side the rode are something to see!! Just passed a couple riding horseback!! Will be sorry to leave the Trace.
Lunchtime today was quite different than yesterdays lunch on the Trace. Today we were in the parking lot of a Love's Travel Center truck stop!! Not quite the same!! Ate lunch and got the map out to pick where we were heading. Wanted to get somewhere near New Orleans, so we chose the New Orleans East Kampground. About a mile off of I-10 in Slidell, LA. Pulled in about 4:00 and
got settled. Dennis did a great job driving us here. We're about 30 miles from the French Quarter, so not too bad. Had grilled chicken tenders on the grill, then took a walk around the campground. Nothing fancy, but a nice place. Watch out for the gators, they say!!! Got great TV and WIFI, so we're happy!!
We watched the evening news for the weather forecast and see where we might get some "severe weather" in the night and tomorrow morning. Well that certainly came true - the weatherman hit it on the head. It was about 1:00 a.m. we woke up to a bad thunderstorm - rain was coming down in buckets!!!!! Thunder & lightning was everywhere!! Finally calmed down and we got back to sleep.
Sunday 4/14
Woke up about 6:30 a.m. to another bad thunderstorm - thought we were in the middle of Katrina!!!! Turned on the TV to see the radar showing bright reds & yellows. More thunder, lightning, wind, and was raining cats & dogs!!! New Orleans and the area got 3 to 4 inches of rain. Thought we were going to float away, but we weathered the storm okay. Taking it easy today for the moment (it's about 10:00) - Depends on the weather as to what else will come our way later. Will keep you updated.
So enjoy the pictures and we'll talk to you all soon.
Robin & Dennis
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