A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 332 miles from Red Bay, Alabama to Rutledge, Georgia. Including some clips from the truck perspective, a branch falling from the coach roof onto the truck, and six, count ‘em, six attempts to get level at the destination!
Month: May 2024
Travel from Red Bay, Alabama to Rutledge, Georgia
We drove our coach 332 miles, about six hours of driving, from Red Bay, Alabama to Rutledge, Georgia.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map:
Water streaming off our slide topper as we brought in the slide, from recent rain:
Toading up:
We left Red Bay via downtown:
SR-19:
On to I-22 East:
A bathroom break at a truck stop:
Our coach in travel mode:
Paladin in his nest on the stacked dining chairs:
Fun with zoom:
I-65 South:
Birmingham:
I-20 East:
Fun with zoom:
I-20 East:
A large load:
Fuel and lunch stop:
91.717 gallons:
Heading to the parking area, with Paladin on the passenger chair:
Parked:
We had Popeyes for lunch:
A branch on the roof; we found it on the truck when we arrived:
Talladega Superspeedway; apparently there was a NASCAR race on:
Eisenhower Interstate System sign:
Fun with zoom:
Welcome to Georgia:
Entering Eastern Time Zone, where we’ll be until July:
Another bathroom break at the Georgia Welcome Center truck parking:
Atlanta:
SR-11:
I chose this route to go over this railroad crossing, as the one in downtown Rutledge has a very high crown:
Horse properties:
Hard Labor Creek State Park:
RV check-in area:
Trading Post:
The camp host happened to be in the trading post when we checked in, so she offered to guide us to our site; that’s the driveway on the right:
Paladin surveying our steep driveway:
Yeah, doesn’t look very level:
MagSafe charger on bedroom wall
I used to plug my iPhone in to a USB cable on my side of our bed, to charge it overnight. But when Apple made the switch from Lightning to USB-C for their iPhones, I needed two cables there. Jenn got a MagSafe charger on her side of the bed, which inspired me to get one for my side.
For my one, I decided to just mount it on the wall (or a wall trim, to be precise), using Command strips (which enable easy removal). Here’s my charger:
The power cord for it runs down behind the trim, behind the little box (that holds cough drops), and under the window inside a conduit:
The power supply is tucked in a corner:
Then an extension cord goes down the wall (along with the wire for the Spyder panel) and under the bed; this is normally hidden by the bed and pillows:
The MagSafe charger and Jenn’s chargers are connected to a multi-headed splitter:
This is it in place under the bed (hard to see amongst all the other wires):
Plugged into this socket, that used to power the subwoofer, which we don’t use:
On Jenn’s side, she has multiple MagSafe chargers, plus a cable for her iPad:
Another look at my new MagSafe charger, next to the Spyder panel:
My iPhone on the charger; it attaches magnetically, so seems to levitate on the wall:
Why is it vertically offset? This is why; using Apple’s new StandBy mode, that shows widgets (I use different ones nowadays):
A nice enhancement.
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
An out-of-sequence post: I noticed that I had missed posting about an attraction we visited while staying in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.
We’re fans of Japanese gardens, and this was one of the better ones.
Map:
A slow line for lunch:
Cafe menu:
Jenn’s bento box:
My teriyaki and spring rolls:
An art:
Yep, it’s Florida — caution, alligators:
Bridge:
Turtles:
Bridges:
Gate:
Pond:
Tree:
Rock garden:
Lanterns:
Bridge:
Waterfall:
Gate:
Lizard:
Bonsai garden:
Turtle:
Lantern:
Courtyard:
Exhibit:
Tea room:
Water feature:
Lizard:
Pond and bridge:
Waterfall:
Turtle and lizard:
Pond and bridge:
A nice garden, worth a visit.
Video: Red Bay Acres and offsite vendor timelapse
A timelapse of our stay at Red Bay Acres for Tiffin services, plus a trip to an offsite vendor.
Red Bay Acres RV Resort
We stayed at Red Bay Acres RV Resort in Red Bay, Alabama. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice full-hookup RV park in the hometown of Tiffin Motorhomes. Our third stay here.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-04-15
- Check out: 2024-04-21
- 6 nights
Weather:
- Mostly cloudy, some rain
- High temps ranging between 69-83°F, lows around 49-64°F
- Some wind, gusts to 30 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Hourly clock tower noise
- A little neighbor and tech services noise
Site:
- #32, back in, concrete
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Somewhat level; used air and hydraulic leveling at different times
- Concrete driveway about 60 feet long by about 12 feet wide
- Grass between sites, 15-25 feet wide on passenger side, 15 feet wide on driver side
- Picnic table on 10 by 12 feet concrete patio
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 60 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, fairly conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 50 Mbps down, 13-40 Mbps up, 42 ms ping
- AT&T: 190 Mbps down, 20-29 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage pickup from site
- Package delivery to site
- Onsite restaurant
- Pond
- Hometown of Tiffin; local RV repairs
Our review on Campground Reviews (from our first visit):
Nice place to return to after service
This is the place to stay when in Red Bay for service. It is a beautifully maintained park, with all the sites facing the fishing pond. All the other parks in town were basic gravel lots. The one drawback is having to back in to the site when coming back from service each day, but that’s not a big deal. The concrete pad was nicely level and all the utilities were good. It’s also nice to have the Yacht Club on-site for a bite to eat at the end of the day. If you’re looking to get service done on-site, make sure to check the list of approved vendors. We camped at Red Bay Acres RV Resort in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Lost Pines Coffee had decent coffee and baked goods for a midday pick-me-up. The Natchez Trace Parkway is fairly close and a very nice scenic drive.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
We opted for a standard site this time, but requested a site range towards the back. We got a site next to the first site we had, perhaps the best of the standard sites — and next to a sibling coach, a 2018 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40AP (ours is a 2017 40SP):
They deliver packages to the site (most of the time; sometimes they call for us to pick up). But when packages are delivered before we arrive, we pick them up on arrival. Paladin thought they were a good place to sit:
The central pond:
Red Bay Yacht Club, where people can relax while their coaches are being worked on, or grab a bite to eat:
On our first night, we had chicken wings, pizza, and “cheese sticks”, that they had to clarify were not what most people would expect, mozzarella sticks, but basically cheese pizza cut in strips (but tasty dipped in ranch dressing):
Peach cobbler for dessert:
We ate half the pizzas, and took the remainder home, along with some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for another day:
We only had one drive-to service this time. We went to Sparks Drive Inn for lunch during that:
Another day, we went to The Fish Place for dinner, with a super-slow drive through (we waited out front for over half an hour):
Tasty enough, though:
Another day, back to the Yacht Club, where we had the two Friday Specials:
Other sites:
Still a nice RV park. We’ll no doubt stay here again in the future. We might be back in December (though it might be too cold then?). But currently have no plans to be anywhere near Alabama in 2025. So we’ll see.