Red Bay, Alabama

Well we are back on the road again...

The Doodles & I that is.

Kate is staying home this trip and will be visiting with family.

Looking for a quick mid summer getaway, I've taken an 800 mile trip

to the Tiffin Motor Coach Factory in Red Bay, Alabama.

I've come here to have some maintenance performed as well as 

make some slight modifications to the coach.  

The nice thing about Tiffin is that not only do they build them, 

but you can bring your coach back to the factory for service by

the people who know the thing inside and out.

It has been a hot and stormy summer so it was nice to get away.

I took this picture from the back deck a few days before we departed.

We departed on Friday morning Aug 7th.

8hrs later we were pulling into Winfield Army Corp Campground

on Lake Strom Thurmund, just NW of Augusta, Ga.

The campground is beautiful.   Almost every site is lakefront.

I was able to get satellite by positioning the Coach carefully.  The

dome antenna picked up 3 satellites right thru the gap in the trees.

The campground has 50 amp hookups which right now is a must due to the heat.

Our site #76 was delightful.  

I did have to unhook the toad however as you have to make a 3 point turn at 

the end of the road to come back, and you cannot back up with a toad

hooked up to the coach.

This was the evening view right outside the door.

A view of the pull thru space from the rear.

On Saturday we continued west another 400 miles and by 3:30 (Central Time)

we rolled in the Factory RV Park.   Camp Red Bay (CRB) it is affectionately known.

The service facility and RV Park is located on the site of the Old Red Bay Airport.

We are actually staying on the old Runway.  (hows that for recycling?)

There are about 90 Full Hookup sites.

Looking down my row back towards the office (red roof)

We are the first RV on the right.

There are 4 rows of sites.

The service center works on a first come first serve basis so on Monday

I will be visited by the scheduler who will go over my work order and get us into

the que.   I do have work being done off-site by local vendors too - so while I wait my

turn in the service center my time will not we wasted.

Since it's sunday - I decided to drive around and find all the places that I will be bringing

the motorhome to during the week.   I also wanted to see where the actual

Tiffin Manufacturing Area was as I plan on taking the factory tour while I am here and

get to see these big beasts getting built.

This is the gate to the main plant.  I will come here next week to take the tour.

The plant is enormous and covers quite a lot of acreage.

In one area, they store the chassis upon which the Motorhome is built.

Tiffin builds their own chassis for some models, and others are sourced to two other

manufacturers - Spartan, and Freightliner.

Freightliner is one of the big 3 heavy truck manufacturers (Tractor Trailers etc) in the US.

My coach is built on a Freightliner chassis.

The Chassis are delivered here with engine attached and ready to drive.

Just add a seat and you are ready to roll.

Here is a Freightliner Chassis waiting for the first stop in the welding shop.

These Chassis get driven around from point to point as the coach takes form

during the manufacturing process.

Here is a chassis as it moves from the first stop in the welding shop.

Notice the metal framing between the front and rear wheels. 

That is the start of the flooring that will become the cargo area.

This area below is known as the "Field of Dreams"

It is where the chassis are delivered and are awaiting their turn to

grown into a Motor-coach.

There must be 70 chassis here.

Below are two coaches that appear complete and ready for the paint shop.

Tiffin paints and clear coats all of their coaches with BASF paints and does not use 

decals for the stripes like a lot of manufacturers.  

Tomorrow morning I have an 8am appointment at the local Freightliner Shop

for a chassis service.  Lube, grease, differentials, safety inspection, etc.

Thursday and Friday I have appointments at two other local vendors.

Hopefully in between I'll get into the Tiffin Service Facility.

The convenient thing about all of this is that while they are working,

I still have my office with me so I can work in peace and quiet too.

In the next couple of days I'll take the factory tour and no doubt have something

to blog about when I do that as well.

Until then - the Doodles and I will hold down the fort.