Sunday, May 31, 2015

First Day on Patrol

Hi All,

Today was our first scheduled day patrolling with the Wildlife Brigade.
Here's the view from our "office".

Grizzly bear #610 and her two new cubs were out intermittently most of the day. Here is a small part of the crowd with the Bears as brown dots in the distance.


Most of the day the crowd looked like this.
It's great to be back here.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Grand Teton

Hi All,

We made it! 

We are back at Grand Teton National Park for the summer.


Of course, the moose got here first!

We are very thankful for our wonderful life. As we talked about how lucky we are we looked at Ginger.

She has a good life too

Sleep, Eat, Treat, REPEAT
Lots of bear activity reported. We think we will get busy quickly.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Saturday, May 23, 2015

High Plains Hail Storm

Hi All,

In the past few days we drove across Kansas and on to the suburbs of Denver.

About 100 miles east of Denver the sky got black with lightning strikes every minute or two. Then the road curved towards the storm. Light rain, heavy rain, light hail then very heavy hail.

The hail chilled down the windshield so fast that there was so much condensation that the defroster struggled to keep up. When we finally got a clear view ahead, we realized the highway was covered with two inches of slush!

Thirty minutes later when we arrived at the campground we found ice packed around our folding step.

All is fine now. Tomorrow we drive across Colorado.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Monday, May 18, 2015

Grand Teton Here We Come

Hi All,

With the exception of oil and filter changes tomorrow morning, we are done in Red Bay.

This morning Chris Berry installed this beautiful computer workstation dinette and a new full corian table. It has a lot more storage and looks great. You can also see our reupholstered chairs.


In the afternoon we had the coach detailed.

Once back at the campground we were treated to a lovely sunset

which reflected beautifully on our freshly waxed motorhome!
We should be headed west by early tomorrow afternoon. We'll take about a week to get to the Tetons.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Friday, May 15, 2015

Almost Done

Hi All,

Today we made a lot of progress. The slide floor was replaced in the morning and the new cap rails were repainted in the afternoon.

The rows of motorhomes reflect in a chrome mirror. It is reminiscent of Levittown NY in the 50's. All the homes look alike!


After bringing the coach to the service bay at 7 AM, we went to a local hotspot for breakfast. 

Red Bay did not invest a lot of creativity in street naming.

In a serendipitous opportunity, our friends Buzz and Elaine Brody from NH were passing through the area and we got to spend some time with them.
We finished all of the Tiffin work today. We will finish up other service early next week and be on our way ;-).

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Factory Tour

Hi All,

Our coach was in a service bay almost all day so we filled some time on the Tiffin factory tour.

Big crowd today, about 30 people.

Once fitted out with safety glasses and a radio headset (to clearly hear the tour guide) we were off to the factory. The chassis shop preps the chassis before they go to the main assembly line.


Our floor is tile and we thought they were still built that way. Not quite! How about a single 24 foot sheet of computer cut solid surface material.

Slide outs are built separately then installed.

The wire harness shop has adopted the techniques used in the airline industry. Instead of using dozens of different wire colors, they use three. They run each wire through a machine that prints the color and function of each wire. That bundle in the foreground may look all yellow but each strand has a unique function and color code.

Tiffin began building motor homes in 1973. This  1976 model might be the oldest surviving Allegro.

Remember when avocado was the most popular color?

Here is a neat antique gas pump. However, the price shown is a cruel joke to people who drive 8-10 MPG motorhomes.
When we were here in 2008, Tiffin was producing nine coaches a day. At the worst of the recession they were down to three per day! They are now at 12 per day. Too bad the capacity of the Service Center has not kept pace.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Monday, May 11, 2015

Progress

Hi All,

We have made a lot of progress. Our factory service was completed today and, as usual, the Tiffin service techs did a great job. We love the new carpet. Even Ginger got new carpet!


The new dash mat looks great. Also in this photo is one of the reasons it is great to be in Red Bay. The long black defroster vents had deteriorated and crumbled when removed. No problem-a two minute walk to the parts store and $10 later we had new ones.
Still lots of work to do but we are making progress.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Sunday, May 10, 2015

More Local Highlights

Hi All,

Today we explored more local spots.
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Saturday, May 9, 2015

Muscle Shoals AL

Hi All,

We are making slow but steady progress on the coach upgrades. The new carpet looks and feels wonderful. When we got here, Tiffin service techs inspected us for recall items. They found two problems that we will have fixed but it will take an extra week.

Today we drove to Muscle Shoals, AL. First stop was the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. The museum is not too big but certainly not for lack of Alabama music talent.

Hank Williams, Nat King Cole, Tammy Wynette, Jim Nabors, Alabama and in and on. Speaking of Alabama, this is their first tour bus!


How about this magnificent Wurlitzer juke box.

After a delicious lunch in Tuscumbia, we drove to the Tennessee Valley Authority Reservation, a conserved area of nature trails south of the Tennessee River near the Wilson Dam.

Great, well maintained trails

with hyacinth and columbine filling the air with sweet fragrance.

The first bridge across the river here was built in 1832. Storm damage, burned during the civil war, train wrecks and rebuilding with steel filled the history. When taken out of service in the 1990's the lower deck was rebuilt for pedestrians.
It was a nice day but we are humbled recounting our Muscle Shoals day while friends Carroll & Marilyn Johnson are blogging about their trip through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Thursday, May 7, 2015

Sweet Home Alabama

Hi All,

We are back in Red Bay Alabama to refresh and rejuvenate our motorhome. In January we flirted with the purchase of a newer (2012) 40 foot Phaeton. We could not put a deal together so we focussed our enthusiasm on refreshing our 2007, 35 foot coach.

The work to be done includes new carpet, wider dinette credenza, reupholstered dinette chairs, all LED bulbs and lots of other repairs and tweaks (the list is over 40 items long).

Some of the work will be done at the Tiffin Factory Service Center but most will be done by local technicians, typically former Tiffin employees. 

The Tiffin service center has 50 service bays and a 110 site campground. Most of the coaches here are top end Phaetons, Allegro Busses and Zephyrs. There is probably $15-20 million of motor homes here.

Hopefully we can get all of the work done by the end of next week and be on our way to Grand Teton.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Goodbye Florida

Hi All,

After nearly six months in Florida, we hit the road today en route to Red Bay, AL and then Grand Teton.

We had a wonderful Florida send off from this flock of sandhill cranes.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Sunday, May 3, 2015

One More Day

Hi All,

We were sort of adrift for 12 hours today; condo checkout at 10AM, flight at 10PM.

After breakfast out we drove to Kapa'a to hike along the beach bike path. The irreverent Kauai book author said the hike/bike path would be completed when Lady Gaga draws her first Social Security check.

More beautiful ocean vistas



Next we drove to the Marriott to poke around

Nice pool.

The lobby has this magnificent antique wooden canoe on display.
We found a good Thai restaurant for an early supper then it was off to the airport. 

10PM Kauai-Los Angeles- Orlando arriving 3:51 PM Sunday.

After Monday getting organized, Carl & Sandy drive to Red Bay, AL for coach service.

Roberta & Elliot fly to Miami arriving about the same time. They will then drive north to Bellingham, MA.

Hope you all enjoyed our Kauai adventures. The four of us will be traveling together next to Croatia in April 2016. 
Love,

Roberta & Elliot,
Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Saturday, May 2, 2015

May Day Lei

Hi All,

On May Day there is a flower lei competition at the Kauai Museum.

We saw dozens of beautiful leis. This one won a major award.


Here are some close-ups of other winners.







Next stop was the Koloa Rum Distillery where we sampled several different local rums-yummy.
We spent the evening at the Art Walk in Hanapepe then back to the condo to start packing.

Love,

Roberta & Elliot,
Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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