A timelapse of our stay at Red Bay Acres for Tiffin services, plus a trip to an offsite vendor.
campsite
Places we stay in our coach.
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.
Willow Beach Campground
We stayed at Willow Beach Campground in Scott, Arkansas. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River. Our second of two stays here, on the way to and from the total solar eclipse celebration in Paris, Texas.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-04-14
- Check out: 2024-04-15
- 1 night
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temp 81°F, low 61°F
- Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- Distant train noise
- Distant plane noise
Site:
- #F21, back in, concrete
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Fairly level, a little high on the driver side; used hydraulic leveling
- Asphalt driveway about 38 feet long, plus concrete pad about 40 feet long by about 10 feet wide
- No neighbor on driver side, grass about 50 feet wide to bathroom parking area
- Grass and trees to passenger side neighbor about 160 feet wide
- Picnic table on concrete patio under shelter
- Fire pit, charcoal grill, small standing table
- Mostly clean site (some cigarette butts and bottle cap-sized trash)
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 35 PSI water, somewhat inconveniently located
- No sewer connection
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 38 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- AT&T: 9 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 64-128 ms ping
- Verizon: 24 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Dump station
- River
Our review on Campground Reviews (from our first stay):
A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River
COE campgrounds are usually very picturesque and well-spaced. This one is no exception. Nestled between the river and a lake, there is a nice view either way. There’s lots of space between sites, although each site is not guaranteed to be very long or flat. Our site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome, but our tow vehicle had to park diagonally to fit in front. The [first] site was very sloped front to back and required multiple pads on the front jacks to get it level. Water & electric only, so plan ahead if staying for a while and need to dump your tanks. The dump station was conveniently located on the way to the exit. We camped at Willow Beach in a Motorhome.
Campground map (from last time; since we’ve been here before, they didn’t give us a map this time; we were in site F21 this time):
Interactive map:
Our site:
A nice view out our side window:
See the previous stay for pictures of other campsites and more.
Paris Fairgrounds for Escapees/Xscapers gathering
We stayed at Paris Fairgrounds in Paris, Texas for an Escapees/Xscapers total solar eclipse gathering.
Not a normal campground, but the fairgrounds does have a few full-hookup sites, along with a bunch of dry camping. We managed to snag one of the full-hookup sites.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-04-05
- Check out: 2024-04-14
- 9 nights
Weather:
- Mix of sunny, cloudy, rainy
- High temps 68-82°F, lows 52-62°F
- Some wind, gusts up to 30 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- Distant train horn noise on weekdays
- Other camping sections had generator noise, but not audible from our full-hookup section
- Some people noise and music
Site:
- Rally parking, full-hookup, on grass
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked nearby
- Unlevel, high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Site about 45 feet long by about 15 feet wide
- Mostly clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 80 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 30 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 27 ms ping
- AT&T: 110 Mbps down, 40 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
- Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 9-24 Mbps up, 85 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage bins
- Food trucks
- Rally
Campground map; we were in the “FHU Section” (Full HookUp):
An interactive map:
Our spot in the full-hookup section:
Utilities:
Other full-hookup sites:
A couple of aerial views, from someone else’s drone:
And some aerial views from my drone, a few days later; several rigs had left by then:
Our coach is the second-from-right one:
In downtown Paris, they have a 65-foot Eiffel tower, with a cowboy hat on top, of course:
Paris downtown lights:
Opening announcements:
Burgerland food truck:
Unremarkable burger, and nice fries:
Mexican food truck:
Mexican food:
One of the activities at this gathering was an all-day “lot crawl”, where each section takes turns to host food and/or beverages, and people from other sections visit to sample them and chat. Some people dressed up in costumes:
Bus conversion and old Beetle:
Food:
Facehugger:
Beverages:
Alien lifeblood:
Eclipse plates:
Jenn with our contribution, rather strong “astronaut martinis”, made with vodka, triple sec, and Tang:
Homemade camper:
On eclipse day, most of the participants gathered to view it:
The day started rather cloudy:
But the clouds moved off in time to get a great view of the total eclipse:
Some more photos in tomorrow’s post.
A couple of group photos after the eclipse:
We don’t go to rallies like this very often, and don’t participate with all activities when we do, but this was a good one.
Texarkana KOA Journey
We stayed at Texarkana KOA Journey in Texarkana, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)
An overnight stop just across the border into Texas, right off I-30.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-04-04
- Check out: 2024-04-05
- 1 night
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temp 74°F, low 45°F
- Negligible wind, gusts to 12 MPH
Noise:
- Freeway noise
- Nearby train noise (no horns)
Site:
- #C29, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t
- Mostly level, a little high on driver side; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 95 feet long by about 10 feet wide
- Grass between sites about 20 feet wide
- Picnic table
- Swing seat
- No fire pit
- Mostly clean site (some bottle cap-sized trash)
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
- 40 PSI water, conveniently located
- Too-short but good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 2-12 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- AT&T: 290 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Verizon: 2 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 140 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage bins
- Closed pool
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Easy access to the freeway
We stayed here one night on our way through the area and it was perfect for that. The pull-through site was long enough for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle without having to disconnect. Check-in was quick and easy. Some road noise, which is to be expected, but not too bad. We camped at Texarkana KOA Journey in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Dump station behind our site:
Closed pool:
Other sites:
A perfectly fine place for a one-night stop.
Willow Beach Campground
We stayed at Willow Beach Campground in Scott, Arkansas. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River. Our first of two stays here, on the way to and from the total solar eclipse celebration in Paris, Texas.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-03-31
- Check out: 2024-04-04
- 4 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy, some rain
- High temps ranging between 65-80°F, lows around 44-66°F
- Moderate wind, gusts to 28 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- Distant train noise
- Distant plane noise
Site:
- #F15, back in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Unlevel back-to-front; needed to use blocks under front jacks; used hydraulic leveling
- Asphalt driveway about 65 feet long by about 10 feet wide
- Grass between sites about 50 feet wide on drive side, 80 feet on passenger side
- Picnic table on concrete patio under shelter
- Fire pit and charcoal grill
- Mostly clean site (some cigarette butts and bottle cap-sized trash)
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 40 PSI water, inconveniently located
- No sewer connection
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 20-35 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- AT&T: 35-200 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Dump station
- River
Our review on Campground Reviews:
A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River
COE campgrounds are usually very picturesque and well-spaced. This one is no exception. Nestled between the river and a lake, there is a nice view either way. There’s lots of space between sites, although each site is not guaranteed to be very long or flat. Our site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome, but our tow vehicle had to park diagonally to fit in front. The site was very sloped front to back and required multiple pads on the front jacks to get it level. Water & electric only, so plan ahead if staying for a while and need to dump your tanks. The dump station was conveniently located on the way to the exit. We camped at Willow Beach in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
Interactive map:
Our site:
Arkansas River:
Utilities; power and water, but no sewer:
Other sites:
Playground and birds:
Info signs:
Boat ramp:
Snake on the road:
Sunset:
Video: Red Bay Acres and offsite vendors timelapse
A timelapse of our stay at Red Bay Acres for Tiffin services, plus a couple of trips to offsite vendors.
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 second stay here.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-03-24
- Check out: 2024-03-31
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy, some rain
- High temps ranging between 63-72°F, lows around 38-52°F
- One very windy day, gusts to 54 MPH, otherwise negligible
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Hourly clock tower noise
- A little neighbor and tech services noise
Site:
- #24, 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 wedge-shaped, from about 20 to 25 feet wide (their smallest “premium” site)
- Picnic table on 12 by 12 feet concrete patio; fire pit
- 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, 45 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- AT&T: 130 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- Verizon: 28 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 28 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 previous 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:
Our site this time; again one of the larger corner sites, though this was only barely larger:
I used my ladder to check on a leak behind our shower (a loose connection, easily fixed):
Stuff from basement bays piled up, while doing wet bay enhancements:
Clearing land behind the park was a little noisy:
Other sites:
Central pond:
We visited the onsite Red Bay Yacht Club several times (you know, land yachts):
Pond view from inside:
We ate some dinners there, including pizza and loaded fries:
Desserts:
Chicken wings and sandwich, while playing Phase 10:
Another night, tacos and more Phase 10:
Games:
Dog park:
We wandered across the road to the Happy Hollow Outdoors store:
Video: F.D. Roosevelt State Park campground timelapse
A timelapse of the view from our site of F.D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia.
F.D. Roosevelt State Park
We stayed at F.D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Another nice state park, though a little tight for a big rig.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-03-17
- Check out: 2024-03-24
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy; a couple days with some rain
- High temps ranging between 59-70°F, lows around 30-50°F
- Some wind, gusts to 29 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- #104, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
- Fairly level, a little high on the driver side; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 75 feet long by about 15 feet wide
- Slope to driver-side site 20 feet wide
- Grass and trees on passenger side about 75 feet wide
- Picnic table and fire pit on 20×10 feet gravel patio
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
- 40 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, somewhat inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 6-9 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 10 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 50-120 ms ping
- Verizon: 15-25 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- AT&T: 30 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Trading post
- Lake
- Park
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice park, a little tight for big rigs
Very few sites here are FHU, but they all have lovely views of the lake in one form or another. The roads into and around the campground are a bit narrow and windy to drive a big rig around comfortably, but if you take your time and pay attention it’s manageable. Lots of nice trails around the park for hiking and boat rentals are available at the lake. Nice camp store at the main building where you check in and a convenient trading post in the campground itself, where you can get snacks, bait, firewood, etc. In the spring, the pollen is positively ridiculous, turning every internal and external surface bright yellow. If you’re sensitive to such things, bring your meds. We camped at F. D. Roosevelt State Park in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
There was tree pollen everywhere; here’s some on our truck:
We used our griddle:
The visitor center; we went straight to our site, then drove our truck back to check in, since their parking lot is too small for our coach and toad:
Park info sign:
Visitor center:
This site, #113, would probably be my preference if we were to stay here again:
It has a nice private patio overlooking the lake, down a couple of steps:
Another Tiffin Allegro Bus:
Other sites:
Playground:
Tent sites:
Bathrooms:
Shelter:
Little free library:
Goose:
Lake:
Trading Post:
The nearby Liberty Bell Pool:
A narrow exit road:
