We arrived in Red Bay, Alabama yesterday and are staying at the Tiffin campground right beside their service bays.  Last night Ben and and I walked to the grocery store (past the smelly dog food manufacturing plant).  After dinner Tom, Ben and I walked to the drive in for some ice cream. We got almost 13,500 steps just walking the streets of Red Bay.

The “campground”  (really just a concrete lot with full hookups featured Class A motorhomes everywhere in site.  Can’t beat the price though which was FREE.

Red Bay is definitely a Class A town of about 3,500 and home to the Tiffin Motorhome manufacturing plant (which is the brand that we have).  This morning we toured the manufacturing facility which was  very interesting.  Tiffin is one of the few family-owned manufacturers in the motorhome industry.  The first Tiffin motorhome was made in 1972.  Back then one motorhome a day was made.  Now eleven are manufactured each day and each one is customed ordered.  Some dealers figure out what is popular with customers and will order some for their inventory, but the average motorhome takes three months to receive from the time of the order.

The is a Tiffin motorhome from 1973, a year after production was started, complete with avocado fixtures and shag carpeting

This was a table with wraparound cushions in the back that went across the whole width.  When the table was down and it was a bed, it was wider than a kingsize.  There was another table with bench seats in the front.

It even came with a double sink and a four burner stove.  I haven’t see more than three burners in a motorhome now no matter how big it is!

Tiffin uses cherry or alder throughout their coaches.  All the wood is cut, formed and assembled in the building we toured.  The assembly was all done by hand and it was very interesting to watch the coaches come together.  When the coaches leave the facility we were touring, they are finished being built but they are grey.  The coach is driven across town to the painting facility.

The chassis for the gas motorhomes

Machines cutting the Corian countertops

 

While Tom stayed with our motorhome to get some small tweaks done, Ben and I went to the town’s family water park which was amazingly nice for a town this size.

Sweet Home Alabama!  

We arrived at Brent and Spring’s home in Brent, Alabama on Tuesday afternoon and were able to pull Big Hat (our motorhome) up in their driveway. We were parked with the cute little goats in one field , the horses were in the pasture in front of us, the chickens, ducks, rabbits were near the barn and the pigs were in the barn.  The weather was perfect and we enjoyed sitting on their front porch just talking.

We had a very nice visit with Brent, Spring, Kennedy, Tommy, Sherry, and Ben!!

Although this green shirt isn’t our official trip shirt, I really like it because “Where in the world IS Brent, Alabama??"

Here’s our official shirt for this trip:

Front view:  the actual design

Back view taken from the actual shirt after it was worn —LOL!

June 8 - June 11 Cleveland, TN  

After unhooking the car when we got into Cleveland near the Wendy’s, we took a test run in the car to Hazel’s house to see whether there was a good place to park the motorhome.  We decided we could back the motorhome - Big Hat - down her driveway and park it by the garage. 

During our visit we played lots of games of canasta and also introduced Hazel and Brian to Mexican train dominos.  We had a very nice visit!

The Amazon Fulfillment Center - Chattanooga

After leaving Hazel’s home we stopped at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Chattanooga and were able to take the 10:30 tour.  The building is  1.2 million square feet and the stocking of merchandise is done randomly within the facility.  Each bin on a shelve has a bar code.  When merchandise is put in that bin, the merchandise is scanned and the bin bar code is scanned.  I expected to robots finding the merchandise later, but all the stocking and packing was done by a human employee.  The labels and sorting was all mechanical though.  

The Fulfillment Centers are always named for the airport code for that city.

In some cities Amazon has two hour guarantee from order to delivery!  Workers starting wage is $15 - $17.50 an hour and are eligible for full benefits.  They can switch positions after 30 days to find the one they like the best.

It rained very hard all night and until noon this morning, so we spent a lazy morning in the motorhome. After lunch we drove to the Parthenon, located in the beautiful Centennial Park. The re-creation of the 42 foot statue of Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. The building and Athena statue are both full-scale replicas of the Athenian originals..

Originally built for Tennessee’s Centennial Exposition in 1897 of plaster, wood, and brick, the Parthenon was not intended to be permanent. However, the cost of demolishing the structure combined with its popularity with residents and visitors alike resulted in it being left standing after the Exposition. Within the next 20 years weather caused it to deteriorate.  It was rebuild on the same foundation in concrete from 1920-1925.  The interior was completed in 1931.

The inside is used as an art gallery and also holds the 42 feet tall and is covered with 8 pounds of gold leaf.

 

After seeing and touring the Parthenon we boarded a Gray Line Trolley for a tour of the city. This was supposed to be a narrated tour, but our first bus driver was less than spectacular.  We got off his bus to tour the state capital and walked down to Broadway and squeezed through the crowd of people.

The bronze statue named Musica

The Hermitage Hotel, the only 5 star hotel in Nashville, was build in 1910.

 

women’s restroomGene Autry’s horse, Champion, had his own room in the Hermitage Hotel.  All the furniture was removed, the floor was cover and then covered with hay.  Hotel staff would take him out two times a day and walk him around the Tennessee Capital.

Pictured above is the Tennessee state capital.  It was just about empty today.

It stays dry for us all afternoon while we were on and off the bus tour, but started to rain again when we were driving back to Jellystone Park, where we are staying.

Day 8 - We had a very enjoyable day in Nashville today!  In the morning we drove to The Heritage, Andrew and Rachel Jackson's home located about ten miles east of Nashville.  Originally the property contained the log cabin occupied by the Jacksons and two other log cabins occupied by their slaves.  A newer house was constructed between 1819 and 1921 with skilled slave labor. The house had four rooms downstairs and four upstairs with large central hallways on both floors.  In warm weather the central hallways were opened  in the front and back to form a breezeway.

After a chimney fire seriously damaged the house, Jackson had the current thirteen room home built on the original foundation.  He added the portico and six columns across the font.

This is the side view of the home with the front brick and columns painted white and the sides and back unpainted brick.

We listened to two narrations and enactments while we were there.  One was on dueling and the other was on horse racing.

Pictured below in the top picture is the two log cabins created when Andrew Jackson’s original home was cut from a two story to form two one story homes for his slaves.  The second picture shows a model of how it was cut.

Admittedly, I did not know much about Andrew Jackson before we visited his home, but here are a few interesting facts that I learned in the museum:

• He was the first President from a state other that Massachusetts or Virginia
• First President to ride a train
• First President born to immigrant parents
• Last President to serve in the Revolutionary War (he was 13)
• Only President to serve in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
• Only President to pay off the national debt
• First President to add running water  and install indoor toilets to the White House.
• Jackson’s pet parrot Poll attended his funeral service, but had to be removed after he started cursing at the mourners.Have you ever seen a two story coach on a train before?

Opryland backstage and The Grand Ole Opry

In the afternoon we scheduled a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry. We were shown the doors where the performers enter and sign in, the dressing rooms, and saw a 3D presentation of the legends of country music hosted by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.  We were also able to step on the stage and stand in the famed wooden circle as generations of country stars have done.

Each dressing room is decorated differently.  On one of the walls in this one there is a quote from Alan Jackson - “That’s what makes you so nervous—to think about the historical part of the Opry and how it’s played such a part in country music."

In a locker room was a quote from Brad Paisley on the wall:  “Pilgrims travel to Jerusalem to see the Holy Land, and the foundation on their faith.  People go to Washington, DC to the see the workings of government, and the foundation of our country .  And fans flock to Nashville to see the foundation of country music, The Grand Ole Opry."

The famed wooden circle that generations of country stars have stood in to perform.

We returned to the The Opry for the 7:00 show and it was fantastic!  Here are the list of performers.

Lorrie Morgan performing

This morning we drove to the Parthenon where we parked and walked downtown to Broadway Street and to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Along the way we saw the Union Station (now a hotel) and stopped to walk inside.

It was very nice inside and would make a great place to stay.

Outside of the Union Station Hotel

Guitar made from lots of odds and ends

 Once we got to downtown, we went to the Visitor’s Center to plan our activities.  This guitar and several others were decorating the walls.  Because of the outside glare, this is the other one I could photograph.  It’s made totally with crayons and is called Johnny Cash Ring of Fire.

 We ate lunch at Mellow Mushroom and were entertained by live music while we ate. It was so much fun to walk down Broadway and listened to the different performers at each place.

 Our next stop was the County Music Hall of Fame where we spent about three hours.

Webb Pierce’s Nudie Mobile was a customized 1962 Pontiac Bonneville and features a hand-tooled leather interior, a miniature saddle between the bucket seats, chrome=plated ornamental guns and horses, and steer horns on the front bumper.

The other car displayed belonged to Elvis.  His car was a 1960 gold plated Cadillac Series 73 Fleetwood limousine. the top was lengthened and the rear quarter-paneled windows were replaced by portholes.  The exterior sheen was created by twenty-four carat, gold plated highlights and forty coast of a translucent mixture of crushed diamonds and fish scales called “diamond dust pearl.” the backseat includes a telephone, refrigerator, refreshment bar, a record player and a gold plated TV.

Walking down Broadway

This is Broadway with the different stages being set up for the performers.

The Parthenon

Carrie Underwood sang one song live from the Parthenon and we were part of the audience.  We were earn given lighted sticks to wave back and forth while she performed.  We started waiting in line at 6:00pm and she performed live on TV 9:15.  It was fun to be able to be right next to the stage to watch her perform.

It was a hot, sunny day with temperatures around 84.  We walked 20,897 steps or 9.2 miles.

     Day 6 -This morning we moved the motorhome to the US Space Center Parking lot and drove the car to the town of Scottsboro, home of Unclaimed Baggage Center.  It was a 43 mile drive east of Huntsville located in a rural area of Alabama.  

     Did you ever wander where lost luggage goes??  The Unclaimed Baggage Center is a HUGE venue selling unclaimed airline luggage, clothes, jewelry, electronics, shoes and bags.  I am now the proud owner of BOSE wireless earplugs ($25) and Tom and I now have eight new pair of shoes, five of which still have the new tags on them!

We’ve for sale too—very cheap —LOL!

After leaving the Unclaimed Baggage store we drove back to Huntsville, hooked the car to the Motorhome, ate lunch and then drove to  Nashville.  Since leaving Lake Charles, we’ve been listening to Randy Travis’ new book Storms of Life which we really enjoyed.  We finished the book about 30 miles from Nashville.

We are staying at the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park which is only 1.5 miles from the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.  We walked over to the hotel this evening to see how nice it is.  The hotel is HUGE and has a beautiful atrium filled with magnificent plants, trees, waterfalls, in addition to light and water shows.

When we walked through the revolving doors at the entrance,, we share the space with two beautiful flower arrangements, something we’d never seen in a revolving door.before

In the front lobby we spotted this beautiful glass centerpiece.

The remaining pictures were all taken in the lobby.

 

 

 

 

 

    Today was our second day of touring the US Space and Rocket Center and it was definitely very interesting.  The first item on the agenda was a journey through our solar system in the planetarium.  It was our first visit to a planetarium and we were definitely not disappointed.  The detailed photography of each of the planets was magnificent .

    The second tour was a 2 1/2 tour of the Huntsville Operations Center, Space Station Development Lab, and the historic Redstone Test Stand.

Historic Redstone Missile Test SiteThe Bunker by the test site

      The most illuminating part of the tour for me was the fact that it cost $48,000 Earth-to-orbit cost to take a liter of water up to the Space Station.  So, scientists have figured out how to purify URINE, SWEAT, and other gray water items back to DRINKING water.  When Tom went to the bathroom, his urine was collected to run more experiments for reclaiming to purify for drinking water!!!

Read the labels!

     The Marshall Spacecraft Center designed and tested the Urine Processor Assembly for the International Space Station and participated with corporate partner Hamilton Sundstrand to develop the Water Processor Assembly.  Marshall’s team learned our to effectively reclaim water from waste sources like urine, hand wash, humidity condensate (some from human swear), oral hygiene and shaving.

A model of the women’s toilet in the space station.  The yellow cone is used when peeing.

Sleeping Sack used upright.It read Miss Baker Squirrel Monkey. Born 1957-died Nov.29,1984.  First US animal to fly in space and return alive May 28, 1959.

Space Camp is going on here at the Space and Rocket Center and there must me 1,000 kids attending .  The Space Camp Habitat pictured below is  where they sleep. There are several different types of camps available.  Space oriented camp programs, aircraft themed Aviation Challenge Camps, and robotics themed programs which are designed to promote science, engineering, aviation and technology.

 

Lunch was a pizza on flatbread

And lastly, my contribution to the space program -LOL!

Day 4 - We drove 124 miles from northeast of Tuscaloosa to Huntsville, AL

     We are staying at the US Space and Rocket Science RV Park ($20 per night), and toured the US Space and Rocket Science Center this afternoon. Tomorrow we are going back to view the Planetarium and take the bus tour.

 One of our tour guides in the museum was Luke Talley who helped develop the Saturn Computer system in 1965.  He told us that our cell phone have more processing capacity than what was available in a huge area back then.  The picture below is of him as our docent today standing in front of the poster of and of him sitting down in 1965.

Shown below Tom is holding some circuitry used in the Saturn in 1965 which is now embedded in polyurethane the size of a cake of soap..  Luke told us that today 18 million chips would fit inside the chip I circled in red! 

We were amazed to see how tiny the inside of the Mercury capsule actually was.  The astronaut could not be taller than 5’11”.  Tom didn’t have too much trouble getting into this replica, but he had a very hard time trying to get back out.  Can you imagine being on your back in this position for an extended period of time?

 

Notice the Lunar Roving Vehicle that folded up and fit inside the Apollo Lunar Module.  Once it  was unfolded, it held two astronauts.  Three of these have been driven on the moon’s surface and left behind when the Lunar Module left the moon (along with the “base” shown above with the legs.

This is a picture of a tire on the lunar roving vehicle.  It is hollow and feels like a metal cage.

Another summer and another opportunity to do some awesome travel.  We left our home in Lake Charles mid-afternoon on Thursday, May 30 and drove to the KOA Campground in Scott, Louisiana ($52.46 for the night)– a big 75 miles from our home.  Tom drove the car and went directly to pick Addalynn up at daycare while I drove the motorhome to the campground.  Once we all arrived at the campground we changed into our bathing suits and set off for the pool.

Addalynn enjoyed swimming with Pops at the campground

Day 2 - Lafayette KOA

     We were sad on Friday morning when it was time to say, “Goodbye”  to Addalynn for the next three months.

      While Tom took Addalynn to daycare, I took the motorhome to Breaux Bridge to get an inspection sticker. He met me there, we hooked up the car, and the next stop was Baton Rouge where we met Jonathan, Stephen, and Erin for lunch at J Alexander’s.I am certainly looking short these days between two of my tall, handsome sons, Stephen and Jonathan!

From Baton Rouge we stopped in Hammond where we had a nice visit with Tom’s Dad before heading east to Carrier, MS where we stopped to visit with Tom’s brother Glen and his wife Donna. We had a very nice dinner together and enjoy visiting with them and spending the night.

Day 3 - June 1- Carrier, MS to Tuscaloosa, AL

We left Glen and Donna’s and headed north toward Tuscaloosa, AL  Around 3:00 a trucker passed us and motioned that we had a problem.  We pulled over on the shoulder of the interstate and found that the back passenger tire on the car was shredded to pieces.  

     We changed the tire and replaced it with the car’s temporary tire and then drove about 30 miles to the Mavis Tire Center in Tuscaloosa. Our tire was under warranty so they replaced the old one for a new one.

     While Tom was getting a new tire, I took the motorhome and filled up with gas.  Today the gas was $2.29 a gallon, and we needed 61.3 gallons for a total cost of $140.94.  Today we averaged 6.6 miles to the gallon.

     Tommy and Ben drove up to Tuscaloosa and met Tom at the tire center.  I met all of them at the Iron Skillet where we ate dinner together.  They followed us to the Tannehill Ironworks Historical Park and Campground where we stayed for the night  We visited for several hours and then they left to return home. (Campground cost is $21.89).

Trip Summary 

• Total miles driven in motorhome: 533
• Total miles driven in car: 152
• Total fuel cost: $216.33

We enjoyed a day at Xel-Ha, an eco-tourism development located on the Caribbean coast about 75 miles south of our resort in Cancun.  

We swam with dolphins as soon as we arrived at the park and then after lunch snorkeled with them.

 

In the afternoon we also rode down the tallest waterslide I’ve ever been on.  The slide down was nice and gradual, but there was a big unexpected drop at the bottom.  This is a picture of the slide that I found on the internet.

A quick trip to Cancun was the perfect way to relax after a busy tax season.  After only a two hour flight from Houston we arrived in Cancun and had a quick ride to our resort, The Pyramid at Grand Oasis.  The resort is all inclusive with twenty-two restaurants, live entertainment and a room with a beautiful balcony located right above the beautiful Caribbean .  The pool was supposedly the largest in Cancun and had two swim up bars.

 

The view from our balcony.