September 1 – Red Bay, AL (Chapter 1)

We arrived in Red Bay, AL, early afternoon after a drive through Memphis (a town we love), but were unable to stay due to the rains of Hurricane Ida). We waved as we passed through vowing to return on our next sojourn. With an hour left on our drive we passed through Tupelo, MS, birthplace of Elvis. We thought we might have to go back and tour the singer’s hometown. Also, not far from Red Bay is the birthplace of Helen Keller in Tuscumbia, AL, Coon Dog Cemetery and the Rattlesnake Saloon.

When we got to town we went immediately to the Tiffin Service Center to turn in our paperwork that will put us in line for service. Tiffin will send someone out tomorrow, Thursday, to let us know the wait time before they can get us into a service bay.

We then went to Red Bay Acres where we will “camp” while we wait for service. RBA, as it is know here, is Red Bay’s luxury RV resort with their own restaurant, a fully stocked pond and pickle ball court. Red Bay has many places to “park” and hook up to support the influx of Tiffin owners getting service from Tiffin and the many 3rd party vendors.

The guy from Tiffin arrived around 9AM Friday and told us it will be a week to week and a half before a bay will be available. Now the waiting begins! We’re number 15 on the wait list.

We drove to The Fish Place in Belmont, MS, and had their excellent fried catfish. When in Rome. … To fill in the time we scheduled COVID booster shots for tomorrow. We’ll have to drive the 40 minutes to Muscle Shoals and Florence to get them.

After our shots, Saturday, we went to a Publix in Florence. Who would have thought Publix would have stores out here?! That evening we went to the Rattlesnake Saloon in Tuscumbia. The Saloon, located under a huge rock, took just 49 days to construct before opening on Labor Day weekend in 2009. Since its opening, it has been featured in magazines, music videos, and tv shows and has become one of the top attractions in the area. We met a couple of nice ladies, Cathy and Charlotte and rode down the hill to the Saloon in the taxi, a pickup with benches in the bed covered by a canopy. We joined them for dinner and music. The band, Backdraft, played country classics we all enjoyed.

Monday, Labor Day, we traveled to the Coon Dog Cemetery, aka “Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard” to join in the Annual Labor Day Celebration hosted by the Friends of the Coon Dog Cemetery. The Cemetery has become a popular place to visit when in the area. The popular 2002 movie “Sweet Home Alabama” starring Reese Witherspoon, even included a scene featuring a recreated version of the graveyard. The Labor Day entertainment includes music, dancing, food and a liar’s contest.

We spend time visiting with our fellow “Tiffanites” at the Red Bay campgrounds. We always meet a lot of nice folks as we travel around the country. As a matter of fact on each side of us are folks from Florida and we will no doubt try to keep in touch with them to see what they’re up to and where they are. Who knows, we could end up caravanning with them. We have friends from our neighborhood, Anita and Doug, staying a few sites away. We just never know who we’ll  run into when traveling in an RV!

We’ll stay in Red Bay until we finish the repairs and upgrades on our motorhome. When we got here we were number 15 on the wait list. Today we are number 3.

Stay tuned for more Red Bay action!