8/31/2011 The Gateway Arch, St Louis

We arrived in St. Louis yesterday. What a view of the Gateway Arch from our campground right across the river. We are going to go tour the Arch again today or tomorrow. Interesting tidbit is we are camped next to another Tiffin Allegro Bus. It turned out to be an acquaintance from down in the Rio Grande Valley from two years ago! Small world!
Will post more later.

8/30/2011 Red Bay to Sikeston, MO - Lambert's Cafe

After 2 weeks in Red Bay, we decided to leave yesterday. We had new tires put on the motorhome and Lexus and some minor repairs done to the motorhome plus Doug got some parts for some of his pet projects that he wants to do in cooler weather. We did not get our wet bay floor replaced as we had hoped. We will make an appointment for the spring when we are heading north and have it done then.

Soooooo..... once we decided to leave, we packed up in 30 minutes flat and we got motoring toward St. Louis.
Lots of cotton growing in the area around the Mississippi River.

Here is the mighty Mississippi River.... In April this whole area was flooded.



We decided to stop in Sikeston, MO for the night and to have dinner at Lambert's Cafe, home of the throwed rolls. RV friends had told us about the Hinton RV Park and that Lamberts will come and pick you up for dinner. We weren't sure what to expect but it was a real experience! Lots of delicious food and fun AND they do throw the rolls across the room!

Here is their website in case you are interested in checking it out:

http://www.throwedrolls.com/shopcontent.asp?type=Sikeston

8/24/2011 - Insulating the front cap

Yesterday, we spent part of the morning in a repair bay here at the Tiffin Repair Facility. Stan and Jonathan were our techs. They were super. We were in and out in 1.5 hours with everything on our list taken care of. Homer and I stayed in the coach while they worked on it - I thought it would be a good time to get some computer work done.... but that didn't happen! Word quickly spread that there was a big German Shepherd in the coach and we had multiple techs stopping by to meet the big guy. Homer loved meeting them all!

Last evening about 9 PM, Doug decided it would be a good time to put the new insulation into the front cap of the motorhome. Since we are sitting here in Alabama awaiting our turn for a repair to the motorhome and temperatures are in the high 90's with heat indexes well over 100, we were motivated to do what we can to keep the cold air on the inside and the hot air outside. I had read on the forum on http://www.tiffinrvnetwork.com that the front caps of our motorhomes (the area over the large windshields) are not insulated. Several folks have put insulation up in there which has made a world of difference when parked facing the sun. We ordered a new type of insulation made from recycled denim jeans - http://www.greendepot.com/greendepot/product.asp?prod_name=Bonded+Logic+Ultratouch+Multi-Purpose+Roll&pf_id=BLPMULTIPRROLL&dept_id=5100&s_id=0& - and we installed it last night. We now have a R factor of 16 in the cap. The insulation is super to work with.... You can cut or tear it and it doesn't itch like fiberglass. The biggest job was getting the TV down and back up in its spot! Here are some photos of Doug putting the insulation in.....

8/21/2011 Helen Keller's Birthplace - Tuscumbia, AL

We gathered all the throw rugs, Homer stuff, and the bed items this afternoon and went looking for a laundromat with large washers. We ended up 40 miles away in Tuscumbia, Alabama! We certainly are in rural Alabama! While searching for a laundromat, we stumbled upon Helen Keller's birthplace. It was such a lovely setting, but unfortunately it was open today.




I love the small towns of Alabama. It is like going back in time how the towns were 60 years ago.
Above is the main street of Tuscumbia and below is the county courthouse. So quaint and beautiful.

8/18/2011 We're in Red Bay, AL

Many thanks to the link to Classic Coach Works by Lucy, one of the Tiffin.net folks! We saw that and called them last Monday morning - We were tired of the loud noise of the AC! They sent one of the AC covers to us and it arrived in PA on Thursday morning. By Thursday noon, Doug had it installed and we could not get over how much quieter the AC is with it there. Here are two photos of the install.

The first photo is a thin piece of plywood that they send that must be installed to block the air dump. You do loose the capability of the air dump but we had never used it in 4 years of full-timing so it didn't seem to be a problem to us.

The second photo shows the completed installation. They matched our headliner perfectly just by them telling us what year Allegro Bus we have.


It was a whirlwind the last few days in PA, but we finally got on the road south on Monday late afternoon. We were on schedule for a 9:30 departure when the last item of business, raising the leveling jacks did not work. To make a long story short, after trying many things, Doug called and got a tech who directed him how to raise them manually and we got underway. God just knew we needed some more time chatting with our friends Ken and Marilyn while we waited for the tech to call back! We stopped at a Walmart in Lexington, VA the first night and were just ready to retire for the night when a work crew showed up and started tearing up the backtop. Why the store manager didn't tell us when Doug asked her permission to stay the night, we don't know so we ended up moving next door to the Lowe's parking lot for the night. Next night we stopped in Pigeon Forge. The campgrounds were really empty except for the seasonal renters. The area has really been hit hard by Obama putting fear into vacationers. We were told by our campground that it was their worse year on record. Yesterday, we drove into Red Bay, AL via Chattanooga. Here are some views of Lookout Mountain going through Chattanooga. It was once again so humid that you couldn't see too far.
Quite a scary view as we rounded the mountain, got out first view of Lookout Mountain and started our decent to Chattnooga. Due to the construction, we were right at the edge in a VERY skinny lane. I almost jumped in Doug's lap! I'm glad he was driving!

Above, we are almost down to river level. Below, we are right along the Tennessee River. The end of Lookout Mountain is straight ahead. The river makes a big u-turn here.



Above and below a river boat pushing a large group of 8 barges... two across and 4 long.




We'll be here in Red Bay for probably a week or so as we have maintenance, repairs, and new tires put on the motorhome.

August 11, 2011

I am finally caught up to the present! In just 4 days we will be on the road heading south and west. It will be good to get moving again. BUT first we have a family reunion to attend and a bunch of details to take care of. Next post should be sometime next week.... Standby....

7/18-26/2011 Oma's RV Trip to Washington, DC - days 4 to 6

Day 4 - We moved the motorhome.
We had stayed at Pohick Bay Regional Park just south of Mt. Vernon. It is a lovely campground that is rural and quiet but with easy access to downtown DC via the George Washington Parkway. Unfortunately, they were experiencing problems with their electric so in our mid-vacation, we moved the motorhome up to Lake Fairfax Park which is close to my (Nada's) brother's house so we could visit with him and also see some sites in that area of DC.

Each night we ate together at a different restaurant. The first night it was Taste of Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant (delicious!), the second night it was Italian - La Pergola, and the third night in was Arties.

That is Doug and Marina above. Below is Oma, Greg, and Chase. Chase seems to like his new Bob, the Tomato, from Veggie Tales.



Above is Sam and Ginger and below is Sam and MC, Marina's mom.

It is always good to see our family and spend some time with them.


Day 5 - A visit to the Smithsonian's Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport

The Smithsonian has a super display of large aircraft at Dulles Airport. It took us most of one day to see the collection. It is not as big as the Museum of the Air Force at Dayton, OH but it is still great.
Above, Oma is watching an incoming commercial flight land from the public tower.



Above: One of 5 experimental Blackbirds - they can fly twice the speed of sound. We have seen 3 of them. Below is the Enola Gay - one of the planes that dropped the nuclear bomb on Japan.



Above, Oma is looking down the hangar toward a Concord - the fastest passenger airplane.


Above and below is a P-47 which Opa flew in WWII as a fighter pilot in Europe.



Above is an overview looking at the WWII airplanes including the P-47 and the Enola Gay.
Below is a close up view of the Concord.



Above is the Virgin Atlantic – the plane Steve Fossett flew around the world non-stop in.



Two views of the space shuttle, the Enterprise.

7/18-26/2011 Oma's RV Trip to Washington, DC - days 1 to 3

We usually take Doug's mom on an RV vacation each summer while we are visiting in Pennsylvania. This year she wanted to go to Washington DC again and see some more of the sites.

Day 1 - Some of the Monuments on the National Mall

First stop was the World War II Monument.

The Price of Freedom Wall - each star stands for 100 servicemen who died during World War II.





Next stop was the Vietnam Memorial.

We were able to locate the name of one of my (Nada) childhood friends who died in Nam.



After resting in the cool shade (it was close to 100 degrees) we then headed to the Lincoln Memorial. The two photos below are from the same spot. One looking toward the Washington Monument and the other looking the other way toward the Lincoln Memorial. Notice the Reflecting Pool is under reconstruction.






The next memorial, and our last one for the day due to the heat causing our meltdown, was the Korean War Memorial. There was a ceremony of some sort going on at the memorial by some Koreans. Unfortunately, for us, we could not tell what it was about because they weren't speaking in English and the signs and ribbons on the flowers were not in English.










Day 2 - The Washington National Cathedral

We spent a beautiful day at the cathedral. Such a magnificent structure and impossible to catch the immensity or beauty by camera.






Above is the main altar. Below is the view from the choir toward the back of the cathedral.



Above is a cross made of refuse from the World Trade Towers in New York.




DAY 3 - A luncheon boat cruise up the Potamac River from Alexandria to Georgetown and back. The food was delicious and the view was unique. The first photo I borrowed from the Nina Dandy's website - http://www.dandydinnerboat.com - since there was no way I could get a photo of the boat.



Above, Oma and Doug with the boat captain. He is an RVer when he is not navigating the boat up the river!

Above, a view of the inside of the boat. Below is a view of Alexandria and the Torpedo Factory.



Above is a view of Reagan Airport. It was so humid that the photo is foggy. Below is a view of us squeezing under a railroad. We just barely made it under the bridge due to the tide being just after its high point.



Above is the Kennedy Center and below you can see Watergate on the left and the Kennedy Center on the right.



Above are the Washington and Lincoln Memorials. Below is General's Row - the homes of the Chiefs of Staff.