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.

30/31OCT09 - Cartersville, GA (near atlanta)

Friday morning we started our drive to the Tiffin RV factory in Red Bay, AL, to try and get our dash heater fixed. We decided to split the drive into two days, and stop after one day driving somewhere north of Atlanta, GA, and spend two nights. We picked a military facility called World Famous Navy Lake Site on Lake Allatoona. No one is sure why this military campground is supposedly “world famous”, but it was small and very scenic facility. The lake is an Army Corps of Engineers creation and used by more than six million people per year.

http://allatoona.sam.usace.army.mil/

Saturday morning we decided to head back down the highway to Atlanta for a walkabout. Our first stop was the Varsity Drive-In, supposedly the largest drive-in the world. It is over eighty years old, and has obviously expanded in every direction to accommodate the daily hoards of customers. In fact they have over 600 parking spaces! Thankfully Georgia Tech was playing an away football game, or we might not have gotten in. They are famous for their chili dogs; and you better have your order ready when you get to the front or someone will be yelling - "What'll ya have? What'll ya have? What'll ya have? Have your order in your mind and your money in your hand!" The chili dogs were okay, but Dan really liked the Frosted Orange drink (kinda like a melted creamscicle).

http://www.thevarsity.com/

Next stop was the Olympic Centennial Park built for the 1996 Olympics. We were going to take the Coca Cola tour at the World of Coca Cola. But they wanted $15 per person; we figured that the tour would give the history of the product, and be one big merchandising commercial for Coke. So we skipped it. We spent the rest of our time exploring the park, before heading back to the RV to get out of the rain.

http://www.centennialpark.com/

Trivia – if the Olympics are two hundred years old, why is it called Olympic Centennial Park?

27-29OCT09 - Gaffney, SC

After saying good-bye to our friends the Guldenschuhs we decided to head to the Freightliner service facility in Gaffney, SC, which is also the location of their Freightliner Custom Coach Chassis manufacturing plant. We had small leak in dash heater core & wanted the service that was done in Mt Vernon, WA, checked out (see our 01SEP BLOG about how bad that servicing was & why we wanted it checked).

http://www.freightlinerchassis.com/mhMain.asp?page=service

Enroute we decided to stop at “Harrys Grill & Piggys Ice” in Hendersonville, NC. There's a cluster of advertising statues -- including a bunch of cows, some pink elephants, an Esso tiger, two Shoney's Big Boys, a chef holding a burger, and Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. The statues have been accumulating there since 1980, when the ice cream store (then just known as Piggy's Ice) first opened. There's more inside, including a Colonel Sanders statue, a Ronald McDonald, and lots of vintage signs, as well as a full-size Hooterville Jail. And the food was pretty good.

We made it to Gaffney mid-afternoon and checked into the service facility. This facility only handles “custom” Freightliner chassis; which means no semi-trucks, only RVs, school busses & delivery trucks. It appears that over 90% of their business is RVs, many of them heading south for the winter. Since we didn’t have an appointment, they worked on our “problems” off and on for 2-1/2 days. But they wouldn’t fix the heater leak because that was added by RV manufacturer after the chassis was delivered.

Wednesday morning, to kill time, we took the factory tour at the plant three miles down the road. This Freightliner plant only makes “custom” chassis (ie busses, RVs & delivery trucks), not standard semis. Before the economic melt down they were producing twenty RV chassis a shift, and then fell to two a day! Things are picking up and they have rehired 200 workers of the 500 they laid-off.

Next we went for walkabout in Gaffney. The town was pretty quiet, and it appears its big claim to fame is its water tower painted like a giant peach (locally called the Peachoid). During our walkabout we discovered Harold’s Grill (as discovered by Guy Fieri of Food TV). We did not see the episode on Food TV, but apparently Harold’s is known for their chili dogs, and chili burger (not chili on a burger, more like a sloppy Joe). They also have a long list of cheap sandwiches starting at $.99, but most are in the $1.25-1.50 range. They even have one that is made with bacon & egg spread! Corrie went with the Buffalo wings special; and Dan went with the chili hot dog & chili burger (all very good). Eventually the owner came over and began describing some of the “southern” items we were unfamiliar with and even gave us free samples, like fat back (a very salty cross between bacon & pig skins), and chow chow (a local relish). Corrie liked the chow chow, so we bought a quart jar, but passed on the fat back.

http://www.haroldsrestaurant.com/

Thursday afternoon, 29OCT, they finally finished on our RV, but we decided to wait until Friday morning before getting back on the road. Since they wouldn’t fix the heater, we will head to Red Bay, AL, and the Tiffin RV factory to hopefully get it done?

23-26OCT09 - Waynesville, NC (crossing paths)

On Friday, 23OCT, we arrived in Waynesville, NC, and set up camp next to our good friends Anneke & Chuck Guldenschuh. See the below BLOG entry about our last visit with Guldenschuhs.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/01/11-13jan09-perry-navarre-fl.html

After setting up camp right next door to them we got together for the first of several informal hors d’oeuvre, drinks & dinner together. Even though it has been over ten months since we had lasted visited; that’s the beauty of RV’ing, you can cross paths down the road and instantly catch up. Two nights were spent playing Mexican Train Dominos. It is amazing how four very well educated adults can read the same rules (supposedly written in English) and come up with 4 different interpretations!

The next morning, 24OCT, all of us headed into Asheville for a walkabout. Turns out several festivals were occurring, along with a walk for Alzheimers, and a Halloween costume contest for dogs. Lunch was at “Jack of the Wood Public House & Brewery”, which featured excellent Irish pub grub.

http://www.jackofthewood.com/

Next we headed to Grove Park Inn. The Grove Park Inn is a historic resort hotel on the slope of Sunset Mountain in Asheville. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the hotel is an important example of the Arts and Crafts style. It also features a $44 million, 40,000 square foot, modern subterranean spa. E.W. Grove owned Paris Medicine Company, originally based in Paris, TN, before moving to St Louis. Its primary money making product was Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic which was an elixir containing quinine. This formula supposedly would help tame the raging chills brought on by malaria. At one time the number of bottles of Chill Tonic outsold bottles of Coca Cola. After touring the Inn the women head to Arts & Crafts Center, and the men headed to the Antique Car collection.

http://www.groveparkinn.com/

Trivia – what automobile is featured on the back of the old ten dollar bill?

Sunday we headed to the Stompin’ Ground in Maggie Valley for the Hall Fame Clogging Championships. Turns out the Stompin’ Ground is home of the American Clogging Hall of Fame and this was the last weekend of the big competition.

http://www.achf.net/index.html

Next we headed to the town of Cherokee on the way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The town is located in the heart of the Cherokee Indian Reservation; unfortunately it is one big tourist trap, with countless shops selling fake Indian items, jewelry, t-shirts, etc. The reason we were heading into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was to complete our drive of Blue Ridge Parkway (see our preceding BLOG for details). The Park is at the southern end of the Parkway allowing to us visit the Park, while completing our drive of the entire Parkway.

Monday, the Guldenschuhs and us did pretty much nothing, taking care of some small errands and lounging around the RV park. We did play putt-putt golf at the RV park’s course. Both ladies made hole-in-ones on the eighteenth hole; and if we had been playing football, they would have been flagged for excessive celebration! That evening we headed to the Casino in Cherokee, where Corrie won $85 and Dan lost $20. See the Guldenschuh’s BLOG for their “view” of our time together. Tomorrow back on the road.

http://goldenshoervtrip.blogspot.com/2009/10/crossing-paths.html