10NOV-02DEC09 - Houma, LA (and red stick)

On 10NOV we arrived back in Houma, LA, and set up camp in our daughter, Rebecca, and husband, Raymond’s driveway. For more on them and our last visit to Houma, check out the below link:

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/01/14jan-09-houma-la-via-biloxi-ms.html

As usual another home remodeling project was in progress, the installing of laminate flooring in the living room, hall, and bedrooms. If you were reading this BLOG in APR08, you know that the kids bought this house at that time; and during the initial remodeling we discovered parquet floors in these areas. At that time we refinished them and thought that was the end of it. Unfortunately having two large dogs in the house destroyed the finish. Rather than trying a different refinishing product, it was decided to cover them with durable laminate flooring.

From 16-19NOV, Dan had to attend a conference in Baton Rouge for his part time employer, NCBRT. We decided to take the RV to a county park in Baton Rouge so that Corrie could accompany him. One night we had dinner with John Rials (a former NCBRT associate) and wife, Laurie. They have become very active RV’ers in last couple of years and are looking forward to becoming full timers. Dan also introduced Corrie to his favorite diner for breakfast, Louie’s Café a LSU institution since 1941. If Frenchie the cook is on duty, Dan recommends sitting at the counter so you can enjoy his constant (and sometimes nonsensical) conversation.

http://www.louiescafe.org/
Also during this time Joe stopped by several times for dinner and/or BBQ’ing. On occasion he even participated in a spirited game of Yahtzee. He was even fortunate enough to be off work for Thanksgiving and spent the day with us at Rebecca & Raymond’s. It was a beautiful day and the younger adults even went to the park to throw a football and kick a soccer ball. Although all three of them were athletes in school, it is obvious that they have been sitting on the couch too much playing video games! After Turkey Day it was off to the local Xmas tree lot to get a tree and decorate it for Christmas.

After recovering the turkey day feast, we decided to continue with the house renovation. Soon after the house was bought major work was done on portions of the electrical system, but there wasn’t enough money to do everything needed. So at the end of November we called the same contractor and continued with upgrading portions of the electrical system. This included adding a true 30 amp RV plug on the front portion. Now all we need is a sewage dump connection, and we will have full hook ups at Rebecca & Raymond’s.

01-09NOV09 - Red Bay, AL

Sunday afternoon, 01NOV, we arrived at the Tiffin factory RV park in Red Bay, AL. We got one of the last spots with hook-ups; unfortunately this meant there were a lot of RV owners waiting for repairs ahead of us! Turns out that the size of the RV park has been increased by over 40 spots, but still some people had been waiting over two weeks for servicing. For more on why we return to the factory for repairs, see below BLOG link.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/12/19-21nov08-red-bay-al.html

http://www.tiffinmotorhomes.com/

After a couple of days of sitting around, we accepted the fact that we were going nowhere fast. At the same time our daughter, Rebecca, called Corrie and asked if were going to be in Houma, LA, soon? Turns out she wanted to go to the casinos in Biloxi with a girl friend and needed a dog sitter. So the decision was made for Corrie to take the Toad and head to Houma, while Dan & Gumbo waited for repairs to be made at some unknown date.

Thankfully, one week later, 09NOV, the factory technicians got around to fixing the items on our work list. As expected the heater core being in an almost inaccessible location took the longest time, but it all came together at the end of the work day. Since Tropical Storm Ida was expected to come ashore that evening, Dan decided to remain one more night in Red Bay, AL, before driving by himself to Houma.