Cruisin' the South

So we wanted to tour the Tiffin Motorhome factory in Red Bay, Alabama. Upon going “off duty” for the last time at Rock Island, we punched south into Alabama and over to Red Bay which is on the Alabama-Mississippi border. We had heard about the Tiffin service center with the full hook-up sites (120 give or take) but when we got there, they were full up.  There was one space remaining at a nearby self-service “overflow” campsite so we jumped all over it.  The tour was interesting to see how RV motorcoaches are made, at least by the Tiffin family. We are still interested in the 40’ Phaetons but will still take our time on making that final “leap” into the motorcoach world.

Trim boards waiting for install

A chassis waiting to be loaded up.

Next stop was another short stop-over at Gunter Hill Campground, a COE campground. Holy cow, this was one of THE most towing friendly RV campgrounds we have been in. The relatively new Catoma loop had fully paved, wide interior roads, all sites were concrete slabs, some of which you could park 5 buses end to end on, and there were many waterfront sites, the campground sitting on what is called the Alabama River Lakes. Very nice campground site-wise, but no store, pool, clubhouse, or other similar amenities. It did have a boat ramp and it definitely had spiders! If I take another mouthful/lungful of spider web, I’m gonna scream! The banana spiders here are HUGE and spin a web seemingly out of steel covering large distances from tree to tree and tree to ground.  We did a couple of days here to burn time until our reservation at our Florida stop.

Home at Gunter Hill COE campground.

Here's one of our new friends hanging around between the trees.

We moved on to Topsail Preserve State Park near Destin, FL. This was the only State park in the area we could find with spaces available for our stay of 4 days. Reservations are a MUST here at the Florida panhandle at this time of year, since the snowbirders are inbound for their winter stake-outs. The campground is a little tight as far as maneuverability, but the sites are OK.  The beach was about seven tenths of a mile walk or bike ride to, or the campground ran a tram/shuttle every hour on the hour from camp to beach, until 1800 hrs. daily. The beach area was fantastic, not crowded, white sand, but the only drawbacks were the amount of jellyfish the first couple of days, as well as the amount of the small clumps of seaweed floating in the water.  The last couple of days the jellyfish disappeared and the seaweed cleared up.  The water was hotter than bathwater, and the last couple of days got a bit rough for being Gulf of Mexico, due to the hurricanes/storms pounding Mexico. While here we cruised into Destin and checked out the Destin Commons outdoor mall. It is a large shopping mall laid out like a city so you can drive through and around it. We also ate dinner at a restaurant called the Marina Cafe.  Very fancy/swanky restaurant with indoor or outdoor dining overlooking the Gulf and excellent staff and service. For those with a taste for an occasional cocktail, their Bloody Mary’s are very tasty. The food was awesome and plentiful! We also found the Henderson State Park here in Destin. We would recommend Henderson State Park for anyone heading this way, if nothing else the rates were cheaper ($30 night vs. $42 night at Topsail). And Henderson was right on the beach as well.

The white sand beach at Topsail.

C'mon, let's go swimming!

The sun sets on Destin, FL...

From Topsail, we decided to try a stay at Ft. Pickens State Park on Santa Rosa Island outside of Pensacola, FL. We were having rain/thunder/lightning off and on because of the Mexico storms and it continued as we set up at the Fort, planning to stay for 7 days.  Between storms we went into Pensacola and toured the Pensacola Lighthouse, then the National Aviation Museum.  Very cool sights to see. The beach at Ft. Pickens again was not crowded, but the water was rough, there were tons of large jellyfish and parts and pieces, and it looked like a huge drop-off just off the beach.  We did walk looking for shells and stuff, saw a large turtle, a very large stingray, and many crabs scooting along the ocean floor. The fort had a self-guided tour and was interesting to see.

A couple of the Blue Angels from the top of the light tower.

The Pensacola Lighthouse.

Inside the Nat'l Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL.

One of the cannons at Ft. Pickens.

Ft. Pickens architects used the arch for added support in the sand.

The beach at Pensacola.

We cut our stay at Ft. Pickens short due to nasty incoming weather and the fort tends to get cut off from the mainland in bad weather, Gulf of Mexico waters coming over the road from one side, Pensacola Bay coming over the other. So we packed up and headed west to the SKP Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, Alabama. That is a very nice park with huge sites on grass. The Gulf Shores  was a short drive away with nice beaches and warm water. We got to check out Fair Hope, Foley, and some of the other small town areas. And when in the area, a must stop for breakfast is the Biscuit King. They have the “Ugly Biscuit” which is breakfast all rolled into a large biscuit, mmmm tasty! And for dining on the Fish River, Big Daddy’s is the place to go. The locals here don’t drive well either, cell phones glued to drivers’ ears or up in the texting position, weaving ALL over the place.

Well, time to move, onward and upward...

Lots of water in Tennessee...

The out-of-the-normal weather patterns are still following us. There has been above normal rainfall here in middle Tennessee and the seasonal temps have been cooler than the normal triple digits that locals say we are supposed to be seeing right now. For us, the weather has been pleasant...

While here at Rock Island, we just HAD to check out some of the other nearby State Parks. Burgess Falls State “Nature” area was just outside Sparta. I say “Nature” area because when we tried to find “Burgess Falls State Park” with Agnes (my Ford GPS system), it was not listed in the Parks section.  And even though the few street signs leading to the park names it as a State Park, our friend Ranger David here at Rock Island says Burgess Falls is specifically NOT a State Park, but a State Natural area. There were some pretty spectacular waterfalls here, and it is a popular place to swim for the locals. The trails are not overly strenuous unless you are accompanying a Princess who gets out of breath and “plops” in the shade when her physical burden becomes too great (AKA: Madison, our Cocker Spaniel).

Burgess Falls 

Dodgin' bugs and critters at Burgess Falls State "Park"

We took the kids (read: dogs) out to Fall Creek Falls State Park. It was a pretty good hike to the falls overlook, but very scenic and the falls again were spectacular. This was also another popular place to swim at the base of the falls.

The Cascades at Fall Creek Falls State Park. "Hi Kids!"

"You want ME to walk across THAT suspension bridge, are you INSANE?"

Fall Creek Falls

An orange creek at Fall Creek Falls State Park? Too much iron?

Fall Creek Falls

While here at Rock Island, we still had issues with a tiny leak in our bedroom slide during rain.  The mobile unit from Buddy Gregg RV in Knoxville came out to us and tried to seal the leak for good, but we later found the leak continuing.  Our friend Ranger David from the park recommended Southern RV out of Manchester to install some slide toppers we ordered through Camping World.  Southern RV showed up and did the install at our campsite and, voila!, leaks stopped.  A bit later in our stay we developed a leak in the plumbing behind the water heater.  With a couple other minor repairs needed, we thought we could go to our “friends” at Southern RV again.  I called them and made an appointment to bring in the trailer. At the appointed time, we dropped off the trailer for the repairs, Southern RV fully aware we were full timers.  We drove into town and putzed around, returning near closing time to find the trailer HAD NOT BEEN TOUCHED! I got the “we are still waiting to hear from the insurance co. to approve the work, we can’t do anything until then,” when I got to seeing stars. It gave all the veins in my neck a good work out too. I calmly (as best I could) splained that the repairs had to be done whether the insurance covered it or not, and there was now a waisted day behind us. Then, the veins got their super setted workout when the kid there told me, “Well, you are not our only customer, there are others ahead of you.”  OK, bye-bye Southern RV in Manchester, Tennessee and I hooked back up and rode off into the sunset...I would never recommend anyone to use Southern RV as a repair place or anything else... We found Newbies RV in McMinnville and they took care of our issues swiftly and successfully. Go to Newbies...

Jeanne ordered an inflatable kayak made by Sea Eagle while we were in Rock Island. We took it out a couple of times, once on Great Falls Lake (aka: the Caney Fork river), and once on the Collins River. It handled like a champ, my old partner Greg Quacchia would have been proud. Another of my old partners, Chuck Herzog, would have said, “Hey dummy, why not get a sail boat instead?”  We had fun paddling all over, I made Jeanne do most of the work (ha ha!). 

"C'mon, Jeanne, can't ya paddle faster?"

Notice, no paddle in my hands?

Speaking of Chuck Herzog, he and his wife Cindy just happened to be in Nashville during our stint at Rock Island and we hooked up for some BBQ and a visit here at the park. Chuck and Cindy had also done the Stone River Battlefield self guided tour, and he passed along the CD for the tour, which we made use of at a later date. Thanks, Chuck and Cindy, it was a cool tour.

Towards the end of our stay in Rock Island our friend Ranger Dava took us rock hopping down to the Great Falls/Gorge swimming hole. It was a cool hike, and the water was nice and in some places DEEP!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Cool shoes, eh?

And, of course, what stay in the Rock Island area would be complete without making a visit to tour the one and only Jack Daniel's Distillery in historic Lynchburg, TN? It was interesting to see the process and to discover this is the only location worldwide that makes JD whiskey.

Us and our new buddy, Jack.

This cave contains the spring which produces all the water used in the JD distilling process.

Nice ride...

Well, time to hit the road again, well rested and ready for some more splorin'. We had a great time as the Rock Island State Park Camp Hosts, we met some very nice folks and worked with some really really nice staff folks. If you ever get a chance, RISP is a nice place to visit, and be sure to stop in and say hi to Ranger David, Ranger Dava, Ranger Allen, Park Manager Damon, and Naturist Shannon. In the office  Donna, Vicky, and Eva will get you all settled in. Great times and great folks...(Yeah, all you maintenance guys and gals were great too...)

Now, on toward Florida...

Rock Island State Park

So, we take the gig as camp hosts for Rock Island State Park in Tennessee. They wanted at least a 30 day commitment, about 25 hours a week from us, and in return we get the free full hook up campsite. No real “job description”, and the only physical labor they wanted was cleaning two bathroom/shower buildings in the campground. The main function they wanted from their camp host(s) was to “meet and greet” campers, kinda the Walmart Greeters of the camping set.  Piece of cake...

The park is located basically in the center of the state, in the middle of the Nashville-Chatanooga-Knoxville triangle. There are two large rivers right here, the Caney Fork and the Collins, with a large dam which is used by TVA to generate power. With that there are some spectacular water falls and a large gorge area. As has been the case for the past month, rain tends to come down in buckets at the drop of a hat and disappear just as quickly, with temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s. The humidity has been bearable, some days a bit heavier than others. We have been taking our time checking out the local sites, as well as nearby towns. Getting used to the local critters and bugs is going to take some time. The park Rangers here said we should not worry about running into Copperhead snakes, a person encounters such a snake about once every 5 years. So much for Ranger math/statistics...We had 2 encounters within one week alone!

Twin Falls, water just pourin' out of the mountainside.

The Gorge just below the dam, a popular swimming hole.

Oops! The Gorge, just after a couple days of rain...

A view of the river, hiking down the Downstream Trail. Water still pourin' out of the mountainside...

Another "view" from the Downstream Trail...Mr. Copperhead blocking our passage.  He was about 3 feet long...

This was "Baby Copperhead" found trying to steal from the Pepsi machine outside the bathrooms at the campground.

One of our eerie friends, just cruisin' through our campsite.

We had to rescue Mr. Snapping Turtle from his wanderings through the traffic lanes of Hwy. 287. He was not too pleased with our unrequested assistance, he nearly snapped the branch off that I used to get him out of the road. Nasty little bugger...

We find flocks of these guys in and around the campground bathrooms...Cicadas, or what I classify them as "house flies on steroids"!

So far, the big towns we have checked out are Chatanooga and Murfreesboro. Jeanne really liked the Murfreesboro area, a town of about 100,000 which shopping-wise reminded her of Santa Rosa, CA. Plus, Murfreesboro is only about 1/2 hour away from Nashville.

The Tennessee River in Chatanooga.

There are a handful of small towns near Rock Island State Park; Sparta, McMinnville, Bell Buckle, Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniels distillery), Manchester, and Tullahoma, just to name a few. Everywhere we turn, Tennesseeans are EXTREMELY polite & friendly, and when they hear that we are full timers looking to relocate in this state, they invariably turn into recruiters, nearly begging us to move to whatever town they live in.

Antique shop in "downtown" Bell Buckle. More like a sight out of the movie, "Back to the Future."

"Vinyl Radio" playing in downtown McMinnville during their summer concert series. "Day on the Green", Tennessee style. They played 70's rock hits...

Well, our hunt continues. Until next time...

Nashville

So we packed up Max and his ma and moved on to the Nashville Jellystone Park. Max had fun there with more “Hey” rides and swimming in the pool. He is turning into quite the fish with his underwater prowess...We stayed at this particular park because it was a bit hard finding places with spaces, we were in the middle of the CMA “Fan Fair” and town was PACKED. We were able to walk around the downtown venue areas and we caught some of the performances in the various stage areas. It was OK, but we did get some rain. OK, a LOT of rain. The drawback to this stopover was that Nashville is a large tourist town and EVERYTHING gets marked up in price, so it can get a bit costly to spend any amount of time here.  Jenn and Max got to see the Gaylord’s Opryland Resort and Opry Mills shopping mall which are very large areas in themselves. While we were in Nashville we took the time to check out the Brentwood and Franklin areas, two suburbs of Nashville. Very nice... All good things must come to an end, and it was time to put Max and Jenn on a plane back to Looneyville (AKA: California). It was a bit tough to see them go.

Hangin' with Yogi and Mom at the Nashville Jellystone RV Park

Dancin' with Yogi's woman, Cindy Bear at Jellystone

Checkin' out Lauren Alaina at the CMA Fan Fair in downtown Nashville

Kickin' back for the ride with Mom on the 4-wheeler

Me and Oma and Opa at Gaylord's Opryland Resort

In front of the Aquarium restaurant in the Opry Mills shopping mall

Having lunch with the elephants at the Rainforest Cafe in the Opry Mills mall

On the walking bridge looking down to the Titan's stadium downtown Nashville

"What, ME worry?"

We then returned to the Rainbow/SKP park in Heiskell for a couple of weeks. The trailer had a small leak in the seals for the bedroom slide, so we had that taken care of while we continued to check out the area. Buddy Gregg RV Sales and Service in Knoxville did an outstanding job of taking care of us, they have a very large service program and an on site camp area for full timers.  We took a short jaunt up to Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky, the falls were interesting to see. We snuck over to Rock Island State Park outside of Sparta, TN, to check out a possible stint as Camp Hosts. It was a very green mountain area, and as it turned out, we got the host gig for which we committed at least for the month minimum that they requested, but probably will be there for a couple of months, we’ll see...

Tommy the Turtle came out to see us at the Heiskell Rainbow/SKP Park

My beautiful bride at the Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky

Our home at the Heiskell Rainbow/SKP Park

We also contemplated trading in the 5er and getting a Class A diesel pusher and “towed”. We found a 2013 Phaeton 40 footer that we really liked, so we started the process at the local dealer. Unfortunately, we quickly found that it is not easy to get financing if you are a full timer, even with the financing companies that claim to specialize in full timers (Essex being one of the more popular of them). Well, the deal eventually fell through, but we will continue our quest to get into a bus, albeit at a slow pace, no rush, take it easy...

On to Rock Island State Park...