Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi- Gulfport, Mississippi (May 2024)

RV owners know that their campers need occasional maintenance. It makes sense that when you drag a trailer down the road at highway speeds, things are going to need repairs.

For Rosie, our Airstream trailer, the main door was showing signs of a problem. The door moved up about a quarter of an inch when you closed it from the outside. You had to slam it hard to close it from inside and I am sure that our camping neighbors did not appreciate that noise. 

Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi

Airstream owners know that there are some repairs that any RV service center can help with. Then there are Airstream specific repairs that you need to trust to someone who works on Airstream trailers. The door is a potential aluminum issue and that suggested that we needed to take Rosie to an Airstream dealer.

Since we purchased Rosie from Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi, we know that dealership. They have a Five-Rivet rating with Airstream, meaning their service department is top rated by the company. They also have John, the service manager.

We have developed a strong level of trust with John during our previous visits there. We are not alone because you frequently see John mentioned in a positive light in many social media posts from other Airstreamers. 

John met us as soon as we arrived at Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi. We went over the three things we had on our list. John told us that we didn't have to unhitch and he could have us on the road in 90 minutes. 

We went to the fast food restaurant next door and ordered their two for $5 special for breakfast and took our time eating. By the time we walked back to the service area, they were finishing up on our Airstream trailer. Becky looked at a few new Airstreams while I talked to the service technician. 

True to his word, John told us that our Airstream trailer was ready for the road midmorning. We settled up our account and felt good about our service visit there.

Cajun Heritage RV Park - Breaux Bridge, Louisiana (March 2023)

Our journey to this campground included an unplanned stop. We noticed a problem with Rosie, our Airstream trailer, and Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi’s service department said they could fix it. We arrived at Foley RV early on a Monday and unhitched knowing that we were a “work in.”

We were very grateful when John, their service manager, told us around noon that the repairs were done and we could continue on to our first campground on the WBCCI Cajun Caravan. 

Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi

The office was closed when we arrived at the Cajun Heritage RV Park. One of the camp hosts came to our rescue and guided us to our assigned site. That was our first experience taking with someone with a strong Cajun accent. I'm not sure what we talked about as I rode to our site in his golf cart, but it was enjoyable.

There was a problem with our site. It had a tree too close to the site’s entrance. The camp host moved us to another site and we were thankful for that. 

Sign at this campground

It was interesting when the camp store opened. Sure, it had the normal snack and camping supplies found in camp stores. It also had an amazing selection of liquors. 

Rosie in the campground

It was interesting to watch the other Airstream trailers arrive for the caravan.  It didn't take long for the park to fill with beautiful aluminum trailers.

This campground was interesting in that there was a huge area of grass in the middle of the campground. That made us feel as if we were camping in a large park. 

All the roads in this park were dusty gravel. We were amazed at how quickly our truck, Rosie and our dog were covered with dust. 

Our group traveled to Baton Rouge from this campground. Our youngest son earned a degree from LSU in Baton Rouge, so we were warned by him about the traffic there. It appeared that traffic problems were worse this time. 

Inside the "old" Governor's Mansion

At the "old" State Capital

Inside the "old" State Capital

Both Apple and Google Maps warned us of a 45 minute delay on our route to Baton Rouge then suggested an alternative route. We found ourselves on dirt roads and using a one-lane bridge to get to our destination. We were glad we were not pulling Rosie on that trip!

One of our “must do’s” in Baton Rouge was to visit LSU. There is a plaque near the Manship School of Mass Communication honoring our son. We were proud parents and glad we had an opportunity to see his plaque. 

Proud parents at LSU

We also saw Mike the Tiger, LSU’s mascot. Mike was enjoying a nap while we were there. 

Suzy meets LSU's statue of Mike the Tiger

There was a big change in weather our last day in this park. It turned cold and rainy. We were glad we hitched up the night before we had to leave for our next adventure. 

It rained while in this campground

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had a little shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with gravel and dirt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• Our sewer connection was about a foot off the ground. That meant gravity would never be able empty Rosie’s tanks
• The trash dumpster was in the middle of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There was a bathhouse in the campground. It was hopelessly outdated and frequently out of necessary supplies 
• The park advertised that it provided WiFi service. According to the office, it has been broken since the last storm 
• Speaking about the office and the camp store, this was the first campground store that could double as a liquor store
• AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, Fox, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Court-TV, CW, H&I,  LAFF, ME-TV and My-TV
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Selfie at the campground

Keesler Air Force Base FamCamp (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Biloxi, Mississippi (March 2023)

This was our second time camping in Keesler Air Force Base's FamCamp. The first time we selected this campground because it was close to Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi and we had a service appointment early the next morning. 

Office at Keesler AFB FamCamp

We reserved here once again because it was convenient. Our original plan was to spend the night in Keesler then head to our destination, which was the rendezvous campground in Louisiana for the Airstream Club's Cajun Caravan. Sure, we could have pushed it and made it to Louisiana in a day, but there were advantages to stopping for a night at Keesler's FamCamp. 

When we made this reservation, the first and best reason was that stopping in Biloxi allowed us to spend a few hour in Mobile to watch our grandson play baseball. 

The second reason is well known among RV'ers. Highways I-10 and I-12 are horrible in Louisiana. Several rivets popped and the leg on our main table broke the last time we drove on those roads. We could not come up with an alternative route, so we decided to take our time and to keep our speed to no more than 55 mph. Stopping for the night in Biloxi meant we could take it easy the next day heading to join the Cajun Caravan. We didn’t need any additional reasons to stop at Keesler for the night. 

Of course, our priorities changed when we discovered we had a problem with Rosie’s hot water heater. (Rosie is what we call our Airstream trailer.) We were able to add an additional day to our Keesler reservation so that we could arrive at Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi early Monday morning. Once again, our reason for stopping at this campground was to arrive early Monday morning for a service appointment at Foley RV. 

We arrived at Keesler after the office closed for the day. That meant the camp host checked us in and guided us to our site. We appreciated his professionalism and willingness to help extend our reservation for an additional day. 

Rosie in Keesler AFB FamCamp

Our site was intimidating in that there were two trees on either side of the site’s access. To make things more difficult, the rig across the street was too big for that site and spilled over onto the road. 

After several failed attempts to back into our site, a fellow camper walked over and suggested that we go around the campground and enter the site by driving over the grass behind our site. Then he added that most people assigned our site give up trying to back in and park by driving over the grass. We did and it was easy to park Rosie. 

As we we’re setting up Rosie, we noticed an Airstream trailer parked several sites away. It appeared suspiciously as if the people in that trailer were also heading to an Airstream caravan. 

It turns out that we were correct. They were heading to a caravan in Louisiana, but not the one we were heading to. 

We noticed the sounds of several trains that passed near the campground. The train was far enough away that the soft sounds in the distance were pleasant to hear. 

It turned out that Keesler was a good choice for our stop near Foley RV. We were able to arrive at Foley RV a little after 8 a.m. on Monday and they were able to fix our problem. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Most sites could be classified as "full sun" as trees were few and far apart
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie, our Airstream trailer. 
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpsters were at the entrance of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There was a bathhouse in the campground 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Bounce, Circle, Court-TV, ION, LAFF and ME-TV
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi - Gulfport, Mississippi (October 2021)

RV'ers know that some roads are simply bad for their  rigs. The bouncing on I-12 in Louisiana damaged the legs on our first Airstream trailer's table. Another road to avoid is I-59 heading north from Birmingham, Ala. Somehow the state has never been able to smooth out that road so that it doesn't toss around your camper as if it was in the epicenter of an earthquake.

We recently found ourselves pulling Rosie, our Airstream trailer, from Birmingham to Chattanooga. We tried to go slow enough to minimize any potential damage, but noticed the door didn't quite close as easily as before and the deadbolt lock was hard to engage. That meant it was time to visit Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi for some warranty service on Rosie.

We knew from purchasing our original Rosie that your RV dealer was important. We bought our first trailer from an Airstream dealer that was excellent in keeping our original Rosie in tip-top shape. That dealership was sold to a big RV chain that dropped the Airstream line.

When we started talking about getting a new Airstream trailer, we found in the Blue Beret, the Airstream Owners Association's magazine, that Foley RV was a "Five-Rivet" dealer. This is the Airstream Corporation's highest recognition for dealers, their service departments and their customer service. 

Sign at Foley RV

By the way, there is an Airstream dealer much closer to our house. We called once about a minor Airstream recall item. It appeared the service manager knew less about the recall than us. We followed by calling Foley RV and their service manager not only knew about it, he was able to tell us how to avoid problems until the recall fix packages were distributed to the dealers. That again pointed to the difference between a Five-Rivet dealer and a no-rivet Airstream dealer. 

Adjusting the hitch

There are a few "camping" sites behind the service bays and we would normally park there for the night. Rosie was ready in the morning, so we decided to get on the road early. We have a good chance of making it home tonight for a short break before we go out for more Rosie adventures.

Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi - Gulfport, Mississippi (March 2020)

For the second time in two weeks, we had to drag Rosie, our Airstream trailer, in for warranty service. While parking in our storage warehouse after our trip to the Airstream factory in Ohio, the power jack decided to give up. That would have been a game-stopper on our original Rosie because there wasn’t a manual override that allowed you to crank the jack up or down. If that jack broke, you were stuck.

New Rosie has a place where you can connect a crank and using what we described in my Army days as the “arm-strong” method, crank the tongue of Rosie up or down. While this is tedious, it allowed us to disconnect Rosie from our truck and head home.

Using the hand-crank to unhitch Rosie from our truck

Time was an issue because we had a beach trip scheduled to start less than a week after returning home from Ohio. A quick call to Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi successfully ended with the service manager saying they were very busy, but we should head to Gulfport and they would take care of us. That was a relief and we greatly appreciated their willingness to help us. 

We also appreciated that they would save us a spot in the camping area behind the service center. That meant we were at a great location to head to out next stop the following morning. 

We asked questions about things we didn’t understand about Rosie. For example, we were not successful in getting our two air conditioners to work at the same time. They made sure we understood how to use the thermostat. 

The Foley RV people also allowed us to use their Airstream cleaning supplies to wash Rosie. That was needed because one of us was accused of having used a dirty rag to wash Rosie the last time. 

It isn’t fair to describe this as a normal campground. It isn’t. This is a complementary parking site for Foley RV customers and we greatly appreciated it. We had 50 amp electrical service, water and sewer connections. And best of all, the service crew was able to replace our power jack, replace a missing rivet and answer our current questions.  

A

This must be classified as a successful stop and we appreciated how friendly, courteous and professional they were. 

Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi - Gulfport, Mississippi (January 2020)

Hello and Goodbye.

We scheduled a trip to Gulfport, Mississippi. It was time for some regular maintenance on Rosie, our Airstream trailer. In the past, this has meant a trip to the Airstream factory in Ohio. Instead of heading north, we decided to go to Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi. We heard from several fellow Airstreamers that this was a good dealer with a strong service department. 

While setting up our appointment, we asked a few questions about their inventory. We figured we could pass the time while they were repairing Rosie by looking at some new Airstream trailers. 

One trailer they expected to arrive from the factory in a few weeks piqued our interest. It checked most of the things we had on our “we wish Rosie had this” list. 

As we talked to a salesman over the next few weeks, we started toying with the idea of seriously looking at this new trailer before starting the planned maintenance procedures on Rosie. We realized that we could trade Rosie in instead of keeping our service appointment. 

It felt funny pulling into Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi knowing that we were really considering trading in Rosie for a new Airstream trailer. It didn't take long to make the decision. We were about to say goodbye to Rosie and say hello to a new Rosie.

I felt like we were taking a page from my brother's playbook. He had multiple dogs who were all named “Happy.” We were very comfortable with calling our trailer Rosie so the new one would also assume the name Rosie.

Our new Rosie was parked in Foley RV’s camping area behind their service building. They parked our old Rosie next to it to make it easier to transfer our things from one Rosie to the other. 

When we awoke the next morning, our original Rosie had been moved to another section of their lot. It felt funny seeing our original Rosie parked away from us. At the same time, we were busy setting up our new Rosie. 

Original Rosie after being moved away from the new Rosie

We were not alone in the camping area at Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi. One other new Airstream owner was parked in this area at the same time. Our neighbors were planning to take their new Airstream trailer to Montana. While that sounded exciting, January’s winter weather may slow them down.

Camping at Foley RV / Airstream of Mississippi

We planned to stay another couple of days when we saw that a big storm was heading towards the east coast and we didn’t want to travel in what was being described as severe storms going home. 

We said our final goodbyes to our first Rosie as we hitched our new Rosie to our truck, then we were off.

About to hitch up the new Rosie

Pulling out from Foley RV / Airstream of Mississippi

We made it home ahead of the storm and parked Rosie in the storage warehouse we use. We plan to go on a “shakedown” camping trip in a week or two. After all, we have to figure out where things go and we need to start discovering our new Rosie’s personality. 

Goodbye old Rosie. Hello new Rosie.