We moved into our 38 foot Safari Zanzibar motorhome in Fall 2000. Since 2004, we've spent our winters in Yuma, Arizona, and work at various locations in the western US during the summer. We are active cyclists -- Mandy and I each have a road bike and a mountain bike, and we have a tandem that we ride together. Its a bit challenging to take all 5 bikes with us as we travel, but that's helped by the room in the Honda Odyssey that we tow behind the motorhome.
We worked last summer at Meteor Crater, Arizona as tour guides. Meteor Crater is located 35 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona, just south of Interstate 40. We had a great time there giving hour long interpretative presentations during a one hour hike along the rim of the 50,000 year old crater, which was created by a meteor which weighed over 300,000 tons.
Here we are with our fellow guides Terry and Merilee on a hike we took around the 3 mile perimeter of of the crater.
This is our good friend Eduardo, the head tour guide at Meteor Crater, with Mandy on our visit to Wupatki Monument, north of Flagstaff.
For more information see the Meteor Crater website: Meteor Crater.
During our summer at Meteor Crater, we came to the decision that it was time to replace our 2000 Safari Zanzibar motorhome, and, after much research and soul-searching, decided to purchase a new 40 foot Tiffin Phaeton.
We joined the Tiffin RV Network on the Internet, which is a group of Tiffin Motorhome enthusiasts, and got all sorts of great information. We scoured the Internet, looking for the best deal, and finally decided to buy it from Davis Motorhome Mart in Memphis, TN. We placed our factory order with them, and then when our job at Meteor Crater ended in September, we took off for Memphis and picked up the new coach from our salesman Brian, moving in on September 26.
From Memphis, we went to Red Bay, Alabama, where Tiffin has its factory, and had a few things "taken care of" (a process all RV'ers are familiar with) and then headed back west toward Yuma for our usual winter stay. We stopped in Texas for several weeks in late October and early November, attending our first Tiffin rally, seeing some friends,
and attending our son Kevin's wedding . . . . . . . .
Here is Mandy with our new daughter-in-law, Stephanie
Stephanie and her maids of honor
After the ceremony, Kevin and Stephanie with the Judge
Mandy, our daughter in law, Christy, and our granddaughter, Gabrielle
The reception was lots of fun, but there were several people who we suspect were gate-crashers, and who signaled to us with a strange single-digit wave . . . . .. ?????
After having way too much fun in Texas, we arrived back in Yuma for our usual winter stay on November 16. Since then we've been cycling around the Yuma area with the Foothills Bicycle Club, Greg has been working at Mr. B's Bicycle Shop in the Foothills area, and we've been having fun with old friends here.
We've also had the opportunity to introduce a number of our new friends to the Yuma area. We spent a delightful day in Algodones, Mexico with Mark, Sue, Richard, and Patsy, who we'd met in Texas at our first Tiffin Rally.
We also spent an interesting (and wet) day going with them to Slab City, near the Salton Sea just west of us in California. Its an old military facility which is now a hangout for a bunch of interesting folks who are dropping completely out of society --
During January we also managed to take time to go to up to Quartzsite, Arizona for the annual RV show and gathering there, and just a week ago, to go to Casa Grande, Arizona for the second annual Gypsy Journal rally. We met up with our friends Mark and Sue, and Richard and Patsy there and had a great time.
At Quartzsite we also made a commitment to work this summer at Adventureland Amusement Park in Des Moines, Iowa. While we're there we're also planning on riding RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa), and the park has given us the week off to do the 500 mile ride. We're already in training!!
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