Memphis, Sun Records & the Eclipse!

After being in Red Bay since the middle of August, we were finally ready to leave for Memphis to take delivery of our new motor home. While in Red Bay, Andy kept a close watch on the production process. That included being on the line every day. He learned lots about how the RV was put together and asked lots of questions, and yes, we were  able to have things corrected if they were wrong. It took a lot of his time but it was very valuable. (The technical things don't thrill me so I leave them to him.) We also wanted to insure that the extra things we had added (like wiring) were done correctly.

Jean with the chassis behind me. This is where it all starts!

I'm including pics of the build so you can get the idea of the work it takes to build an RV. 

The floor and part of the sidewall. 

Just some of the many miles of wires in the RV. 

Front passenger side slide with cabinets and couch before it gets installed. 

This is what it looks like in the paint booth. 

Finished product!!

Since our new motor home was ready, we left the campground in Red Bay and headed to Memphis. However, it would take the dealer about a week to fit it into their schedule to get it ready for us.That left us with some extra time to sight see. 

We'd been in Memphis before and had done the Graceland tour. This time we headed to Beale Street for a repeat visit. We also decided to take a tour of Memphis which included admission to the Rock 'N' Soul Museum. Beale Street is famous for the blues (such as BB King) and barbecue. We also sought out Sun Records. We had watched the show "Sun Records" on the CMT channel and became interested in it because it was the start of careers for not only Elvis, but also Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. The studio is preserved as it was and the spot where Elvis stood and recorded is marked with an X. Supposedly Bob Dylan came into the studio and went over and kissed the X and then left. The studio is still used as a recording studio today. It also has a replica of the radio station (WHBQ) that first played Elvis' songs.

Sun Records Studio

WHBQ radio station replica in the Sun Records Studio

BB Kings Restaurant (band playing while we had lunch) on Beale Street

Corvette Show on Beale Street 

Finally the day was here for us to get our new coach. Moving from one to the other wasn't too bad, but took up an entire day. The move also gave us a chance to take a second look at things and decide whether we really needed some things if we hadn't used them in a year (since we started full timing).  We purged and ended up donating some things. Moving offers a great opportunity to do those things!

Our chassis entered the plant on August 21st, the day of the total solar eclipse. Andy suggested that she be named "Eclipse". I agreed. Since FL only requires one license plate, Andy took on the task of finding an "eclipse" plate. I think he found a great one-it looks like it was made to be there!

Eclipse with her Eclipse license plate

We've had a few minor adjustments to the RV. Overall, we like our new floor plan and layout. Our new favorite feature is our theater seats which recline. :) We've gained some space in certain areas, and lost some space in others, so we're still tweaking our storage space and finding the right places for everything. 

This year has had a lot of transition in it and we're glad to be at the tail end of all of the changes we've made. Now we can just enjoy! We're headed to St. Augustine, FL in mid October and look forward to sightseeing in the oldest city of the United States.

Yes, we're still here, an anniversary, and more!

Sorry for the absence, but we've had a lot going on. (Not necessarily travel, either!) 

We made it through our first year of being full time RV'ers! (And we're still married!) It's been a interesting and fun year. I think we've learned a lot, and learned more about getting along with each other in a small place. Here's to more adventures!

Since we decided we like spending the winter in a warm climate, we have changed our domicile to FL. (Note to others: don't change your address twice in 6 months.) We made this decision right before we were to leave FL. This extended our stay in FL as we waited for titles to be transferred on our RV and car. (We couldn't do our driver's licenses until the RV title transfer was done.)

After that, we headed to AL and the Tiffin Service Center again. We've spent a total of 15 weeks there out of the 18 months we've owned our Tiffin. Because of all of the problems we've had with this current Phaeton, and after a lot of discussions with Tiffin, we are moving into a 2018 Tiffin Phaeton IH, similar to our current Phaeton but with some nice features we don't have now. That necessitated picking out colors and options. We hope to take delivery of the new Phaeton by the end of the summer. 

While in Alabama, we headed back to Florence hoping to take in the Muscle Schoals Sound Studio (MSSS). We had previously toured the FAME studio and MSSS was under renovation when we did that. This time the studio was open for tours. 

Sound Boards at MSSS

Record Covers 

Outside of the Studio

Notice the sound absorbers on the wall-they are actually Styrofoam packaging materials

The history is rich here, as it is with the FAME studios. Many famous artists, including Cher and Mick Jagger, have recorded there. The renovations preserve the studio as authentically as possible when the Swampers had it set up int he early 70's.  The Swampers are the musicians (who are also known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) who played on classic cuts by artists such as Aretha Frankilin, Paul Simon, Cher, and many others. 

I left Andy in AL to head to MN so I could attend some "grandma" days at school for Olin and for Hope & Chloe. While in MN, our Equinox started acting up again. Long story short, the second transmission in that car had failed, in less than 6 months! So after a long time waiting to see if GM would buy back our Equinox, we decided to look for something else. We truly believe that the Equinox should not be on the list of towable cars for RV'ers. We're now the owners of a Ford C-Max Energi, an electric hybrid car. 

So that's a new state and address, a new motorhome order, and a new car! And all the accompanying paperwork and other things associated with all of that. With all that's been going on, we haven't been traveling as much, and we've been places we've been before, so there hasn't been as much to write about. We did go to Grand Marais, MN for the 4th of July with family and are now on the east coast seeing family in MD. 

After this we will head to AL and wait for the new coach, then to FL. 

Daytona 500, Alligators and Swimming with Manatees

Our time in Florida has gone fast. It's amazing how quickly these nice warm days melt into one another. During our time here, we've had a few more adventures.

On Sunday, Feb. 26, we boarded a bus with 20 other people to go to the Daytona 500 race. Since we had never gone to a race, we figured it would be easier to let someone else do the driving and parking. We arrived about an hour before race time.

Fans at the Racetrack

The tall structure tells you the order of the top 15 racers during the race

Selfie at the Race

It was a bright, sunny day.  We knew it was going to be loud (we brought along ear plugs) but were surprised that if you went into the concessions area, it was even louder. They did have big TV screens outside but it was hard to see the race on those screens. There were several crashes that day, but none near where we were sitting. It was nearly 10:00 p.m. by the time we got back so we were glad someone else was doing the driving. 

When you think of Florida, you think of alligators. Since there were several places advertising air boat rides to see alligators, we decided to go on a tour. It was a cooler and windy day, so we didn't see as many alligators as we had hoped to. They hide in the grass so it is hard to spot them. At the end of the ride we had a good close-up view of one that appeared to be watching us. After a while, he moved to another spot so we got the chance to see one walking. 

Before we boarded the boat, Andy got the chance to hold a baby alligator (about 4 months old) 

Unfortunately, none of our pics got a good shot of the alligators. This was the first time we'd been on an air boat; they are very noisy. (They supply earphones to protect your ears.)

Last week we went on an excursion to swim with the manatees. We drove about an hour north to the village of Homossasa Springs to get to our destination. Our company http://snorkelwithmanatees.com/ supplied us with wet suits and snorkel gear as well as the boat and captain to get to the area where the manatees reside. We were in about 4-5 feet of warm river water. We had been instructed to just "float" along side the manatees and to let them come to us. Manatees sleep on the bottom and then come to the surface to breathe about every 20 minutes-still asleep! The first time one comes by you is unnerving, since they are big, 5-7 feet in length. However, they are very docile and quite friendly. One kept coming back to me to get petted again. I was lucky to see one that turned over on it's back so I could see it's belly. Manatees are actually related to elephants. 

Manatees by the boat

Andy & I in our wetsuits

More manatees just under the surface of the water

Monkey Island (6 monkeys live there) 

That was one of the most fun things we've done. We didn't even realize that it should be added to our bucket list until we got to Florida! 

And a parting shot, which can be titled, "Only In Florida". We/ve been amazed at the number of golf carts in FL, however did not expect to see this at the drive through lanes at the bank. 

In case you can't read it, it says Golf Cart Only 

Kennedy Space Center, the State Fair & the Gulf

One of our bucket list items for Florida was to go to the Kennedy Space Center. We accomplished that on Valentine's Day. While a lot of the displays were similar to the Huntsville location, you can't beat the history of NASA's space program that has occurred here. After checking in we boarded a bus that took us out to a launch pad and the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building). Midway we stopped to see the Apollo Saturn V display.

At the end of the tour bus drops you off at the Atlantis building where the space ship is displayed hanging from the ceiling. 

Outside of building

Part of the inside of the cargo bay

Another view

The pictures don't do it justice-it is a very large space craft. We enjoyed seeing it up close. Some other displays: 

Vehicular Suit - deemed not necessary by NASA although they worked fine

Mock up of the Hubble Space telescope

There was a lot to see and and take in and we didn't do everything on our list. The Sunday after we were there was the launch of the SpaceX spaceship taking supplies to the International Space Station. That would have been fun to see. While we weren't there in person, we did watch the launch on TV.

We were heading towards Jacksonville to see the Spyder Control crew when we ran into another glitch. After staying overnight at a Cracker Barrel, we were unable to pull in one of our slides. That necessitated a call to a mobile RV repair guy to help us push in the slide so we could travel again. We did make it to Jacksonville and then headed to Tampa (despite warnings we shouldn't travel far because of the slide) to General RV where we can get repairs done on the slide. Our frustration level is at an all time high with this latest set back! 

We found a campground in the Tampa area that had room, and we've been here for almost a week. Parts should be here tomorrow (we hope!). While here we were able to take in the Florida State Fair. Of course, we had to compare it to the Great MN Get Together! While smaller, they had a large midway and the requisite fair food stands. We happened upon a performance by Matt's Family Jam. This is a family band that we had already seen in Bushnell, so we stopped by for their 1/2 hour show. 

It rained that day so the temps were cool and the crowds less than they would have been. For the grandkids: here are two bouncy houses that they had at the fair.

Yesterday we drove to Anna Maria Island to see the gulf beaches. Ahhh, it's nice to dip your toes in the Gulf of Mexico. 

We've got about a month left here in Florida. We're enjoying the warmth and sunshine!

Transmissions, heading south and an Elvis sighting

Well, the end of 2016 ended with a bang. On the way to Sioux Falls, we had a warning light come on in our car. We scheduled a time to get it in as soon as was possible. Result? A blown transmission, in a car that was barely a year old. Since repairing it cost more than a new transmission, we opted for the new one. However, Chevrolet/GM said they would not cover it because we did not use proper techniques in towing the car. We are in dispute with Chevrolet over this. The rules in the manual are very loose, with phrases saying you "should" do this, not you must. Since we're out about $4K, we hope that they will cover at least part of the bill. We will see.

We headed for Memphis for New Year's Eve. While driving the car we smelled a burning smell that we had smelled at other times. (This was with the new transmission.) So we left the car in Memphis to get it checked out and make sure nothing was wrong. That necessitated a rental car so we would have one in Red Bay. Yes, it was back to the Tiffin service center again. This time we were only there a week.We still have times when we smell the burning smell. It's not the brakes, but we haven't figured out the cause yet.

During our scheduled service on our Freightliner chassis, the tech noticed that we had an oil leak in the engine that wasn't normal, and should be checked out. Great. Now we have to schedule service at a Cummins dealer. We tried one in Albany, GA but they didn't have the right equipment. So onto Florida we went.

This is our home for the next couple of months. This park is a mixture of homes and RV's. There are lots of activities here. I started taking a water aerobics class which I really like. 

We had not expected to see sand hill cranes walking around the park. You can get quite close to them.

Their heads are quite distinctive with the red coloring. 

We knew that we wanted to take in the Tampa RV Show, one of the largest there is. So we scheduled service at the Cummins dealer in Tampa and set off to take in the show. There were lots of vendors there. As usual, we found a few things that had been on our shopping list, like a clothesline to hang on the back of the RV, and a desk for me.:) Here's a picture:

One night we were trying to find a restaurant in Tampa. We missed the corner it was on and traffic was heavy so we looked for another restaurant to go to that was nearby. We ended up at Nicko's, which is a neighborhood diner. And look who showed up!

This is a fun place! Nicko (the owner) is a character and was going around entertaining people with tricks. He even went around with a burning wallet saying his wife "burns through all his money." We hadn't expected to be entertained so it was a pleasant surprise. 

The repair took a bit longer that we had anticipated. We're now back at Red Oaks and settled in again. Florida is expecting bad weather this afternoon, so we are hunkered down for the day. 60 mph + winds are predicted so we may end up pulling the slides in. Turns out even sunny Florida can have severe weather like any other place!