Living Our Dream

Meridian, MS, Part II: Dunn's Falls

The day after we toured the historic homes in downtown Meridian was another beautiful fall day, so we decided to drive about 20 miles south to Enterprise, MS, to visit Dunn's Falls. Dunn's Falls is part of the Pat Harrison Waterway District, which is a state agency that provides recreational opportunities along the rivers in southeastern and east-central Mississippi.

Dunn's Falls is the site of a mill built in the late 1850s by a young Irish immigrant by the name of John Dunn. The 65-foot waterfall that cascaded over the bluff to the Chunky River below provided a good power source for the three-story cotton mill. Dunn's original mill no longer exists, but the 1857 Carroll-Richardson grist mill was moved to the site from Springs, GA, in 1987. The photo below shows water wheel with the Carroll-Richardson mill to the right.

When the Civil War broke out, and the new Confederate government confiscated Dunn's mill and put it to work under Dunn's supervision making blankets, knives and hats for the South's war effort. John Stetson practiced his hat-making trade at Dunn's mill for a time. After the war, the mill was converted to make flour. Inside the mill, you can see some of the millstones and bins that were transported to the site along with the Carroll-Richardson mill.

The mill changed hands several times after the war before it collapsed into the river below. No one is sure what happened to John Dunn, but one account we saw said he died in 1904.

The park at Dunn's Falls has a pond where you can fish and rent paddle boats. There is also primitive tent camping, a cabin to rent and hiking. We decided to take advantage of the nice fall day and do a little hiking. We started with the steep steps that go down to the river.

From below you can get a nice view of the river. Although swimming is not recommended, you can canoe on the river.

There is also a good view of the falls and the mill above. Unfortunately, there has been a drought in the southeast, and the flow over the falls is very low.

Back at the top of the steps, we headed off down the path to the primitive camping area. While the leaves had not yet begun to show much color this far south, a few leaves had fallen providing a nice crunch underfoot and the smell of fall in the air. It was a nice, quiet walk in the woods.

After our hike, we headed back to the motor home for the rest of the afternoon. We had another day to relax in Meridian before we continued on our way south. Our next stop was in familiar territory at the Escapees' Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL.

Meridian, MS, Part I: Historic Homes

From Red Bay we headed south to Meridian, MS, where we stayed at Benchmark Coach & RV Park. Benchmark RV has gravel roads and paved pads with grass between the sites. The sites are mostly pull-throughs, and they are fairly narrow. There are full hookups, free Wi-Fi and cable. Fifty-amp electric is available at each site, but for an extra charge of $3 a night for 50 amps we opted for 30 amps because it wasn't hot enough that we would need both air conditioners. Benchmark is a Passport America park which requires a reservation and cash to obtain the PA rate. The photo below shows our site at Benchmark RV.

The next photo is a view down the road past our site.

There are railroad tracks that run several hundred feet behind the campground. Fortunately, there weren't many trains passing by because they really roared and rumbled when they did. The train horns at the nearby crossings were pretty loud, too.

One of the first settlers in Meridian in the mid 1800s was Richard McLemore. He deeded a plot of land to his daughter, Juriah Jackson, and her husband who built a small, 4-room cottage on the land in 1858. The house was one of only 6 that was not burned by General Willian Tecemsah Sherman when he attacked Meridian on his infamous march to the sea. Subsequent owners enlarged and modified the house. In 1904, H. S. Floyd bought the house and expanded it to the 26-room mansion that exists today.

The home was divided into 8 apartments in the 1930s, and it was a rooming house until the 1960s. The building was purchased in 1968 by the Meridian Restorations Foundation with the purpose of restoring and preserving the home. The foundation renamed the house Merrehope (Meridian Restorations + Hope). The house is open for tours and can be rented for weddings and other special events. There are tours featuring Christmas trees and decorations during the holiday season.

An interesting feature of the house is a second-story suspended balcony under the main porch. The balcony is suspended by iron rods inside small, wood colimns. You can see the balcony to the left in the photo of the front of the house above.

When we stepped inside, the first thing we noticed were the striking red glass panels surrounding the front door.

The house is furnished with period pieces, although only a few of them are original to the house. The next photo shows the double parlor with columns dividing the two halves of the room.

The next photo shows the dining room.

Located on the same property as Merrehope is the Frank W. Williams house. Frank Williams, who was founder of United States Fidelity and Guarantee Insurance Company, built this home in 1885 as a wedding gift for his wife, Bessie.

The Williams house was originally located up the street, but it was donated to the Merrehope Foundation and moved to its present location beind Merrehope in 1979. The outside of the house is in poor condition with paint that is in need of restoration. Hurricane Katrina also damaged the porch and many of the shutters. However, the inside of the house, although unrestored, is in remarkably good shape. Most of the furnishings are original to the house. The photo below shows Margery in the men's parlor.

After touring both houses we headed back to the motor home to relax. One of the reasons we choose to stop in Meridian was there were a few things to see and do, but not too many. After our summer of extensive sightseeing, we were happy to stop where we wouldn't be overwhelmed by too many sightseeing choices. However, we still had one more thing we decided to see while in Meridian, so stay tuned.

 

Red Bay, AL

As we mentioned in our last post, we stopped on our way south in Red Bay, AL, to have the awning on our motor home repaired and to have the top or our front cap repainted where the clear coat had started to peel. The service coordinator began making the rounds of the new arrivals on Monday, and he got to us early on Tuesday morning. He told us the awning repair would take less than three hours which meant we would get into an express service bay within a day or two. However, he told us there would be a long wait to get into the paint and body shop, and he recommended a body shop in town where we could get the painting done much quicker.

Within an hour, someone from McKinney RV Body Shop stopped by our rig to take a look at the area of the front cap we wanted to have repainted. They gave us an estimate, and we made an appointment to take the motor home to their shop in town on Friday.

In the meantime, we investigated the cost of replacing the entire awning. Although the fabric of the old awning wasn't torn, it was discolored in several places, and the stitching along the top where the weather shield was attached was pulling out. Since we weren't happy with the condition of the awning fabric, and since we knew repairing the awning would be fairly expensive anyway, we decided to bite the bullet and replace the whole thing.

Since we were going to be scheduled for an express bay for our awning repair, Paul went to the service department to make sure replacing the awning would still fall into the three-hour repair category, and it did. He must have asked at just the right time because within minutes of his return to the motor home, someone came to the door wanting to know if we could take the motor home to a service bay right away.

Once Paul pulled the motor home in, the two technicians got to work quickly removing the old awning. Awnings are heavy and awkward; but obviously, these guys had done this before. In the photo below, workers use long support poles remove the awning while another guides the awning out of the awning rail from the ladder.

It took 2 1/2 hours to get the old awning off and the new one installed. The new one works better than our old one ever did. It operates much more smoothly, and the new fabric looks great.

We can't stop in Red Bay without taking a tour of the Tiffin plant. One of the reasons we like to do the plant tour is you get to see what's new because they let you go into any of the motor homes sitting in final inspection. The day after our awning replacement, we decided to go over to the plant for a tour.

Several years ago, the plant produced a peak of 13 motor homes a day. When we were there two years ago when fuel prices were sky high, they were only building 6 motor homes a day and working 4 days a week. Last year, they were building 7 motor homes a day and working 5 days a week. This year, they are still working 5 days a week, and they are building 10 motor homes a day. We're glad to see things are continuing to progress upward.

The tours start out with a short video in the visitor center outside the main gate of the plant.

The tours are still being led by Red, who is 83 or 84 years old, and who is still sharp as a tack. He is a former business owner from Red Bay who was recruited out of retirement years ago by the Tiffin family. He has delivered motor homes, he has represented Tiffin at RV shows, and now he leads the tours. Red is in the center of the photo below.

Inside the gate, there was definitely a lot more hustle and bustle going on. There were a lot more motor homes lined up, and there were more cars in the employee parking lot. Parts were also being shuttled back and forth by fork trucks like the one in the photo below.

Inside the plant, there were lots of workers scurrying about, there were lots of motor homes on the production line, and there was lots of noise. Red, who is very soft-spoken, has a microphone, and all on the tour are given headphones in order to be able to hear over the din.

Last year we described the basic steps in the production of a motor home in our post about Red Bay. To see our photos and read about that manufacturing process and about last year's visit to Red Bay, click here.

Last December, Tiffin Motorhomes created a big buzz at the RVIA national RV trade show by introducing a new compact, fuel-efficient, rear diesel motor home called the Breeze. The Breeze has recently started in production with a 28 foot model, and we saw two of them in the plant. The one on the photo below was getting the finishing touches to the interior, and was scheduled to go to the paint shop in a couple of days.

As full-timers, the Breeze is a little small for us; but we could definitely see buying something like a Breeze if we were to settle down somewhere when we're a little older and travel only part of the year.

As usual we were able to go into the motor homes sitting in final inspection at the end of the tour. We'll probably never be able to afford a new diesel pusher, but it's fun to dream.

Swamp John's is a restaurant that is quite well known around Red Bay for its catfish special. The special, which is available all day on Thursdays, includes 4 pieces of fried catfish, two sides and a drink for $7.00. Swamp John's is located just outside town in an old gas station. Most people eat inside, but you can dine on picnic tables under the canopy among the old gas pumps.

The inside is nothing fancy, but the catfish is good, and the price for the Thursday special is excellent.

We got up bright and early on Friday so we could get the motor home to the body shop as soon after 7:00 AM as possible. They were ready for us when we got there about 7:10, and they quickly began sanding and masking off the upper area of the front that needed repainting.

In chatting with the guys at the body shop, Paul found out peeling clear coat on the top happens occasionally because not enough clear coat was applied during the original paint job. Unfortunately, the problem usually doesn't show up until after the warranty has expired.

After Paul watched for a while, we took about a 25 mile drive to the Walmart in Russleville to stock up on groceries. When we returned, we stopped by the body shop to put the cold things we bought into the fridge and to check progress. Then we went over to the Tiffin customer lounge to hang out for a while.

The customer lounge is very comfortable with sofas, easy chairs, TV, microwaves, and vending machines. Often you can see people sitting around a table playing cards, dominos, or putting together one of the many jigsaw puzzles sitting around. Pets are allowed in the lounge, so Margery was able to get her 'puppy fix.'

When we returned to the body shop a little after 1:00, they were waiting for the last coat to harden a bit more so they could do some final buffing. The end result looked outstanding with an excellent color match and a good-looking, glossy clear coat. By the time we got out of there and got set up back at the Tiffin campground, it was around 3:00, and were were starved.

We were both hungry for Chinese, so we decided to try City King Chinese Restaurant in town.

We both love General Tso's chicken, and they had lunch specials for $4.95 that included General Tso's chicken plus fried rice or a spring roll. However, they also have a fairly extensive lunch buffet for $5.89 that also had General Tso's chicken plus numerous other entrees and side dishes, so we decided on the buffet.

The selection was great, and the food was pretty good for the price for a small southern town like Red Bay. By the way, you really know you're in the south when a Chinese restaurant serves sweet tea.

We got all the work done on the motor home done in less than a week, which was excellent considering the work included painting. We talked to people who were told the wait would be up to three weeks for body work and paint. Since ours was paint only, it wouldn't have taken that long, but using McKinney Body Shop was a good suggestion from Tiffin that probably saved us a week.

As we said earlier, we heard the Tiffin service facility gets busier the later it gets in October. We arrived on Saturday, and there were several rigs in the dry camp sites by Sunday Night. We left a little over a week later, and there were 20 rigs in the dry camp area by Sunday night.

Red Bay is in Alabama just over the state line from Mississippi. For our next stop, we're heading south and just back across the line to Meridian, MS, to do a little sightseeing.

Pittsburgh to Red Bay, AL

Just about the time we left Pittsburgh the weather finally warmed back up. It was in the upper 60s the day we arrived, but then the highs dropped into the 50s with lows in the 40s for the whole time we were there. It was also cloudy, rainy and dreary. When we left, the 5-day weather forecast was finally calling for partly to mostly sunny with highs in the 70s every day. Oh well, that's Pittsburgh weather for you.

In spite of the fact it was getting warmer again, we still headed south. Our first stop was at Caesar Creek State Park where we stayed Labor Day weekend. We arrived on Thursday, and as is usual for the middle of the week, we had the campground pretty much to ourselves.

As we described in our earlier post about Labor Day at Caesar Creek, the campground has electric only hookups (30 amp) and the sites are widely spaced.

The final destination for this leg of our travel was Red Bay, AL, which is where our motor home was built. Our electric awning had been acting up and frequently balked when we tried to deploy or stow it, and some of the clear coat paint on the top of the front cap had started to peel. We could probably get any RV dealer to repair the awning, but we wanted to stop at the factory repair facility in Red Bay to have the top of the cap repainted before the peeling got worse.

Tiffin Motorhomes (TMH) has a campground with about a hundred full-hookup sites adjacent to their repair facility. We have stayed there several times before - once to have fogged dual-pane windows replaced and a few times to tour the factory. We know from experience the campground empties out somewhat on Fridays and fills up again by the middle of the afternoon on Sunday. Once the full-hookup sites are gone, there are a couple of electric-only sites, then you get to dry camp at the far end of the campground. 

Because Margery had one last doctor appointment on Wednesday, we couldn't leave Pittsburgh until Thursday. Therefore, we had to make tracks to get to Red Bay on Saturday in order to have the best chance of getting a full-hookup site so we wouldn't have to dry camp with the highs in the upper 80s that were being predicted for Red Bay for the following week. That meant driving about 5 hours a day for three days in a row. We could have taken our time and arrived the following Saturday, but we hear the repair facility gets busier and busier as it gets later in October because early snowbirds stop for repairs on their way to Florida.

Our second overnight stop was at Bluegrass Music RV Park in Franklin, KY. Bluegrass Music RV has full hookup sites, some with 30-amp electric and some with 50-amp only. There is free Wi-Fi, the roads and pads are gravel, and there is sparse grass between the sites. Most of the sites have decent spacing for a private campground.

Bluegrass Music RV is a Passport America campground, but we thought the price was a bit high at $23 a night after the 50% discount. Some PA campgrounds discount their entire camping fee, but others discount only the base camping fee, then add on chargess for things like sewer hookups and 50-amp service at the full price. We're not sure because we didn't get an itemized bill, but we're guessing Bluegrass falls into the latter category.

The entrance to Bluegrass Music RV is between a Speedco truck service garage and the Pilot truck stop; and even though the campground has a large sign across the road from the entrance, the entrance is a little hard to see. We almost ended up on the truck scale at the Pilot. The campground is far enough from the road there wasn't any noticeable noise from the Speedco or the Pilot. If there was any noise from Speedco or Pilot, it was drowned out by the noise from the interstate.

The drive for our third day took us on Natchez Trace Parkway. Natchez Trace Parkway is under the juristiction of the National Park Service. It follows the approximate route of Natchez Trace, which was a Native American trail that was later followed by traders in the 1700s and early 1800s. The traders would take flatboats down the Mississippi, sell their cargo and sell the boat for its wood, then follow the trail back north. The trail ran from present-day Natchez, MS, to Nashville, TN.

Natchez Trace Parkway is a slower-paced, scenic drive that has a 50 mph speed limit for most of its length. Commercial trucks are not permitted, and there are no stop signs, no traffic signals, and no towns directly along the road. We drove it this time on a Saturday, and there were lots of bicycles and a little more traffic than usual, but it was still an easy road to drive. The road is lined with woods and farms, and there are pull-offs where you can see and walk the historic trace.

We arrived at the Tiffin campground in Red Bay in the early afternoon and got one of the last 4 full-hookup sites. The campground is intended to be used by those waiting for service, not as a destination campground, so it is nothing fancy. The sites are close together, and although most of them are pull-throughs, they are too short to leave your toad attached. But the campground does have full hookups, free Wi-Fi and cable; and at a price of only $10 a night it's a pretty good deal.

The campground is located on the site of an old airport, and the main road of the campground is the old runway. The rest of the campground is somewhat dusty gravel. The photo below shows our site at the Tiffin Allegro Campground.

There are occasionally one or two motor homes in the campground that are not made by Tiffin, and we even saw a 5th wheel there once. Those people probably were making a one or two night stop for a factory tour rather than waiting for service. Staying here is like suburbia where all the 'houses' look the same. You'd better remember your site number since it would be easy to park by the wrong RV!

The campground is pretty quiet on the weekend except for new people pulling in. By Sunday evening, the electric-only overflow sites were filled, and new arrivals were starting to use the dry-camp area. On Monday the bustle starts when employees begin arriving about 6:00 AM. Rigs start pulling out of campsites and into the service bays around 6:45. There are over 40 service bays.

There are two ways to get service for your motor home at Red Bay. You can make an appointment ahead of time and get right in on your scheduled day. The problem with that is the appointments were running almost a year out. They recently started a new system where appointments are made on a quarterly basis. We're not sure exactly how that works yet.

The other way to get service is to just show up and wait for an opening. This is what we do, and it also seems to be what most other people do. A few years ago, they designated some of the service bays as express bays for work that is estimated to take less than 3 hours. A lot of work falls into this category, and customers with small repairs can get in and out in a few days.

The paint and body shop at Red Bay is always very busy. Tiffin works with a couple of body shops in town, and they recommended one of those to us to get the top of our cap repainted. Since our peeling clear coat was a simple job of sanding and repainting, using the body shop in town would save us several days of waiting. The body shops in town are used by Tiffin all the time, and they are familiar with the Tiffin paint formulations.

Our awning repair fell in the under three-hour category, but we still had to "hang loose" to find out exactly when we would get called to a service bay. We'll tell you all about the rest of our stay in Red Bay in our next post.

Pittsburgh, PA

From Berlin, OH, we had a drive of a little over two hours to the home of our daughter, Lora, and our son-in-law, J. Michael, south of Pittsburgh. We went back to our old hometown for our annual doctor appointments and to spend some time with family and friends.

Lora and J. Michael have a nice gravel pad beside their garage where we park while we are there. A couple of years ago, Paul enlarged the gravel pad that was already there to better accommodate our motor home. On this visit, he also installed a 30-amp electric line. We had been using a 15-amp plug in the garage which was just enough to keep our batteries charged and to run some lights and the TV. Now we will be able to use the microwave or one of our air conditioners if we need it.

Lora and J. Michael also use the gravel pad for their travel trailer (they store the trailer at the garage of a friend when we are using the pad), and now they will be able to use the new plug as well when they plug in to run the fridge when they're getting ready for a trip.

Speaking of Lora and J. Michael's trailer, they have the 11-year old trailer that used to be ours before we bought our motor home. While we were in Pittsburgh, they placed an order for a new Laredo super-light travel trailer. We're very excited for them. They ordered the trailer from Clem's Trailer sales where we bought our motor home. We were very pleased with the price and service we got from Clem's, and it looked like Lora and J. Michael got a good deal there, too.

We arrived on a Friday and were able to relax on Saturday. After church on Sunday we drove over to Saxonburg, PA, to Penn's Colony Festival. Penn's Colony is an outdoor craft show featuring period crafts and folk art. The vendors are all dressed in colonial costumes, and the booths all have a colonial appearance. The photo below shows some of the costumed vendors in front of one of the booths.

Not only do the vendors dress in costume, but there is a colonial-era military encampment, battle reenactments (the fellow in red in the photo above is playing the part of a colonial British soldier), and entertainment. We enjoyed the listening to the bagpipers.

Penn's Colony Festival is held on two consecutive weekends in late September. This year is their 27th year. The next photo shows some of the approximately 200 craft and food booths at the show.

In the early years, Penn's Colony was held on the grounds of a church camp near Butler, PA, and we happened to have a seasonal campsite at the family campground at the church camp at that time. Although we had to put up with a little noise and traffic on the weekends of the festival, those of us who were seasonal campers got into the show for free. Penns Colony has grown significantly from 40 or 50 crafters in those early years. The property where Penn's Colony is held now is owned by the promoter and is used exclusively for the festival. This has made it possible to build permanent structures for some of the crafters.

We had fun looking, but we didn't buy anything - except food. We call the food at county fairs, carnivals and craft shows "fair fare." Penn's Colony had some good, but somewhat expensive, fair fare.

After our lunch of fair fare we had one more area of crafts to check out before heading home. The next photo shows J. Michael, Lora and Margery on our way to the exit.

We were busy during our stay in the Pittsburgh area with doctor appointments, projects, and visits. There was only one day during the 13 days we were there that we were both home all day. Paul worked on projects, and Margery cooked dinner for all of us on that day and did laundry, so we still didn't have time to just relax.

Another thing we did during our stay was to take Paul's step mom to lunch. We met at Bella Frutteto Restaurant. Bella Frutteto is in a little strip mall in Wexford, PA, near where we used to live in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh. For lunch, they have a wide selection of delicious pannini and other sandwiches.

Margery and Lora have a tradition of going to tea. In the spring, the tradition is "Tea and Toes" (they would go for pedicures, then go to tea afterward), but this fall it was "Tea and Kohl's." In spite of our busy schedule, they made time to go shopping at Kohl's after doing tea at Uniquely Yours Tea Room.

The girls enjoyed being pampered amidst the Victorian decor. Uniquely Yours offers 40 different gourmet teas, delicious tea sandwiches, and homemade desserts and pastries. In the next photo, Lora is checking out the selection of teas to try to decide which one she wants to try.

With the exception of a couple of return visits to the dentist during our stay for Margery (she had been experiencing problems, so she was expecting to have to have some work done), we were happy to receive good reports from all our doctors. We are ready to hit the road again.

When we arrived in Pittsburgh the high temperatures were in the upper 60s with lows in the 50s. By the time we left the highs were in the 50s with lows in the low 40s. Needless to say, we are heading south.