Star Date: 10142012 Sunday

Just returned home from our first stay at a campground and our first rally.  It was held Friday through Sunday at Lazy Days Campground in Seffner, Florida, a whole 30 minutes away from us in Tampa.  The event was the Tiffin 2013 Product demonstration and 40th anniversary of the Tiffin Motorhome Company.   Several Tiffin reps in from Red Bay, Alabama, held several seminars including a panel discussion answering questions from the approximately 150 attendees.  Many of the questions concerned the Phaeton and Allegro Bus models which are the high end models, approx. $300k and up, way up!  It was amazing as to the amount of problems those coaches have but I guess the more complex the coach, the more things to go wrong.  During the product demos on Saturday, we sat in the 2013 version of our model, the 36' Allegro RED, where we managed to capture the head guy there from Tiffin, Danny Inman.  After getting acclimated to his accent (and without laughing), we picked his brain for over an hour.  It was invaluable time as I left feeling much more confident on how to use our coach.  Additionally, the changes made to the current model made me glad I have our 2009 coach.  There was only one new feature I would like, a cover under the shower skylight to block the sun.  So we made a stop at Camping World and bought a sheet of sun blocker and plan to create a custom fitted sun shield attached with velcro.  We also bought 3 insulated pillows for our 3 vents which fit perfectly.  After a bit, removed the pillow and felt the hot top and the cool bottom.  Should work wonders to keep the coach cool when on the road.  Speaking of cool, the coach worked flawlessly and the a/c's kept us cold.  On Saturday, we even got the cable tv to work after Danny explained the one button in an enclosed cabinet I need to push to switch from antenna to cable.  Met many nice fellow rver's, Sarah and Jeff of Seminole, Bill and Connie of Bradenton, John Wheeler of Lakeland who belongs to the FMCA chapter "Tiffin Travelers" and who promised to email info to me on the chapter and also from a course he took at Freightliner concerning our chassis.  The rally included 4 buffet meals plus an ice cream social.  The food was good and plentiful, too much so.  All the beer or wine you can drink thus this blog post after returning home.  Diet city this week -- at least until Thursday when we leave for the next rally in Sarasota with the Roll’N Rebels chapter.  Until next time, happy travels.