Saturday, July 1st.   Well, here we are in Lancaster, South Carolina at Mike's brother's house.   Muggy and hot, just like I remember the south in the summer time.   But no worry - we have lots of "sweet tea", Corona and lime, and a nice swimming pool!

So let me catch you up quickly:

Headed out of Red Bay late afternoon on Thursday, June 29th.   Service on the coach was all done by mid afternoon on  Wednesday, then we just kicked back and relaxed, did some laundry, polished the bugs off the front of the coach, and toured around Red Bay a little bit.   Went to the Coon Dog Cemetery about 15 miles outside Red Bay - a fun, funky place.  Only registered coon dogs can be buried there - have to have permission from a board of directors.  It's obvious these people LOVED their coon dogs!   Then we drove out further to check out the Rattlesnake Saloon - one of the top 5 "strange places to eat" on the Food Network channel!  It's built in a natural cave down in a ravine (or "holler", as they're called in the south).  You get picked up by the "Saloon Taxi" (a 4x4 pickup with seats welded into the bed) and down this steep gravel path you go, bouncing and holding on for your life.  Had a fun meal, but didn't get really great pictures due to poor lighting.   We "borrowed" some from a website - Just Google "rattlesnake saloon, Alabama" for pictures that do it justice.  It was closed on Wednesday, but we did go back Thursday on our way east and had lunch.  A great adventure!

We also did the Tiffin factory tour and the paint shop self-tour on Thursday morning.  We are so happy we bought their wonderful product!  The factory was amazing - they finish 12 coaches a day, and every one of them is pre-sold to a dealer before it is started.  It takes about 15 days from start to finish to construct one of the bigger diesel coaches.  Everything is computerized and you can even come and watch your coach being built if you order one.  The employees were so nice and answered all our questions - the workmanship was very impressive.  Tiffin builds almost all their own components so they have absolute quality control.   The "line" is on a schedule and they can tell within a 15-minute period exactly where a particular coach is.  Every coach  has a six-digit ID # and every part on the coach is marked with that number, even the wiring! There are over 2 1/2 MILES of wiring in one of the coaches.  One of the pictures below shows them assembling all of the wires for a wiring harness.  The paint shop was also amazing - 12 paint bays that will hold up to a 45' coach, and again, an assembly line process.  We still can't figure out how they do all the swirls and paint, even though we stood there and watched it!

The service techs and people at the Tiffin service center were also amazing - so helpful and accommodating, and took care of every little detail we asked about.  They have 42 service bays! We were in #32.  Many of the people there with their coaches told us they make the trek on a regular basis for service and "tweaks".  Of course, they live a lot closer than 3,000 miles, like us!

Headed out from Rattlesnake Saloon about 4:00 on Thursday.  Drove to just east of Birmingham and dove into another Walmart RV Park spot about 8:30.  Quick dinner and to bed.

Up and on the road by 7:30 on Friday, eastbound!  Ran the interstate (I-20) to make better time, so easy driving.  However, outright downpours quite a bit of the time.  The rain was so heavy you couldn't see 50 yards in front of you!  Tried to get a picture but it was hard to capture.  It was like driving in heavy fog in our area. Everything was pretty and green, much like at home, but we have no idea what the names are for any of the vegetation. Happy reunion at the Tolle house, steaks and veggies on the grill, good conversation and to bed.  Sabrina was, sadly, really hurting - she took a bad, bad fall in the Walmart parking lot and it really aggravated her fibromyalgia, so she was in bed.  Hopefully she is feeling better this morning.   We slept in on Saturday, and enjoyed a lazy morning.
Change of plans for the afternoon - headed out to Case Lake and went kayaking with Casey and Hannah (she is living with them for her final year of school).   Had a blast - saw turtles, lots of birds, and no encounters with SNAKES!  There are also no alligators in this part of South Carolina.

Off to church on Sunday morning and brunch at Cracker Barrel.  Stocked up on groceries, and back home - salmon dinner tonight!

Things we learned:

• Drivers in the south DO NOT know how to merge onto freeways.   Casey says it is not unusual to see a driver stopped at the "yield" sign at the bottom of the on-ramp, patiently waiting for no traffic! 
• Southerners LOVE their cemeteries.   Everyone we saw was beautifully maintained, all of the graves were decorated.
• When it rains, it pours here.   We have rain at home, but this is like a tropical monsoon!
• We are not the only part of the country with place names you can't pronounce - and most of them are based on Indian names as well.
• Gas is much cheaper here - last tank we paid $1.87/gallon!
• Fire ants are NOT fun - they are everywhere, and as soon as you stand still they have you! 
• Thank you, Casey, for telling me the only snake you have seen on your property was where our motorhome is parked!  (It was, however, a black snake (non-poisonous) that he accidentally ran over with the lawn mower) so I feel a little safer.  I HATE SNAKES!

Mike and Glennis