September 5 – October 2, 2021
Tiffin Allegro Campground
1402 7th Street Northwest
Red Bay, AL 35582
We brought our Bus back to the Manufacturer to have our punch-list items resolved.
Life on Detour
09/13/2021
Replacing our travel trailer with a new motorhome was quite the adventure.
I haven’t posted any photos or stories from the road in a long time. Ever since we got serious about replacing our travel trailer with a motorhome, we’ve been on a detour and life became less predictable. We spent time in places not because we wanted to, but because it was part of the process. Who enjoys staying in Tampa, FL in August? We drove from South Dakota to Florida, because Tampa was where we were going to buy it. On our way there, we stopped in South Carolina and looked at one that we ultimately ended up purchasing a week later. In Tampa, we dealt with bad sales people (really bad). In trying to find a new motorhome in stock (or soon to be in stock), we learned how bad the supply chain issues are and what crazy trickle-down effects they have. This is a world turned upside down. At times, it felt like East Germany 40 years ago.
Back in South Carolina, we got a taste of the quality issues that can plague even brand new units. Bad enough for us to change plans and drive our brand new motorhome right back to the manufacturer in Red Bay, AL. We now have a fridge that works. All the issues on our punch list are being addressed by the people that truly know their stuff. They even point out and fix issues we have not found yet.
We are starting to relax. We will hang out here in Red Bay until all is done, and then make our way up to the Northeast.
Our first week in Red Bay
09/15/2021
We have been in Red Bay now for over a week. Marion in Bay 2 put a solid 5 days of repair work on our Bus. He does excellent work and we already feel better about our new home. On day 2 we finally got a new fridge installed. The heated floor is working as it should and many of the about 40 items on our punch list have been addressed.
What’s next? We have three more stations ahead of us: Tile, Cabinets, and Paint.
Working during the day when our home is in the service bay can be stressful. There are only 3 places to hang out: the Pet Lounge, the Allegro Club, and the Hospitality Center Downtown. Finding an appropriate place to have client meetings is not always easy.
Overall, we started to slow down a bit after the very busy months of looking for a Bus. The new question is:
Do we have enough time to visit the Northeast before the winter without being in a rush all the time? Let’s first see when we will be done here in Red Bay.
One more week in Red Bay
09/25/2023
It’s been about 3 weeks. Our bus is in much better shape today than it was when we arrived. We keep learning a lot from the Tiffin technicians, from other RVers, from local businesses, and also simply from being in the bus longer and using more of its features. The other (chilly) day we started up the furnace for the first time. It is so quiet and works so well that I want to go to Canada now 😊.
It took us a while to understand how the system works here at Tiffin. How they schedule us through the different stations. They are not the most transparent people to begin with and then JJ and I combined only understand half of what they are saying. We have to stay on top of things. Overall, we are very happy with the work they provide. Not everything is perfect and not everyone provides the same quality of the work – like everywhere else. The only complaint we hear frequently from others is the waiting time.
The siding on one of our slides has some delamination. This will be addressed coming week by a third party 20 min from Red Bay. It’s probably the highest risk repair for us from a schedule perspective and it comes at the end of our stay. It could be done in 2-3 days, or it could take the whole week, or even much longer, in case the panel breaks when they peel it off. We shall see…
We skipped a few repairs that are not essential now in the interest of getting out of here. We will be back within a year and complete it then. It’s all marked in the system, so Tiffin will handle it under warranty.