2015 Alfa Owners Club Rally

In some ways this year's AOC Rally has been the best of the three we have attended. 

One of several dinner gatherings in the Ballroom. 

We have been enjoying pot-luck meals, catered meals, and group restaurant meals every evening, along with many "Happy Hour" get-togethers. We could join in for coffee and donuts every morning, but on most mornings we prefer to sleep in and make our own breakfasts.

We feel we know more people than in previous years, and know who to ask if we have a question.

This year we skipped some of the product seminars, because we had already heard them. Craig went to some of the "tech talks", and we both went to the "travel talks".  On our list were talks about Mexico, the Rockies, Alaska, and the Maritimes.  Some of the presentations were by other Alfa owners who had traveled by themselves, and some were by Alfa owners who traveled with the Adventure Caravan company as customers and as employees. There are advantages to both. The caravan approach has the advantage of professional planning and having a wagon master and other guides available to help if you need it. You do not have to make your own reservations, or worry about getting lost or stuck. You travel with a group and enjoy a social atmosphere and group meals. But you do pay quite a lot for these advantages. To quote my brother: "It's like the difference between a cruise and a boat ride."  

On the other hand, if you travel on your own, you can go where you want, and stay for as many days as you want.  Of the trips we heard about, only traveling in Mexico for the first time would tempt me to have a paid guide.  But that may change in the future!  Did you know you can go on an RV Caravan trip in Africa? Who would have thought!

We also took advantage of "Rally Discounts" to have our coach washed, oxidation removed, and a good hand waxing. Our holding tanks also got a thorough power cleaning and all the sensors are reading correctly again. We have never had a black tank clog, but the gray tank has smelled bad lately, and a good professional cleaning was called for.

We have enjoyed some good conversations about traveling in an RV, and have gotten some great ideas and advice from others.

Our chapter of Alfa owners, the Mavericks.

We all try to avoid discussions about politics, but did have one good round where no one really got mad.  That is a rarity these days since it seems everyone is so polarized and unwilling to listen, myself included!

[From Craig]  Wednesday night we went to a dinner and "entertainment night" that we signed up for at our Alfa rally.  The dinner was good, as was the conversation 'cause we were sitting with our friends from our chapter.  Then came the entertainment which was a jazz quintet.  After two numbers, I asked Merikay what she thought of bailing out early, and she said that was OK with her.  After the third number I gave Merikay a high-sign that I was ready to leave.  I said good night to our friends at the table, and Merikay creatively added that we had to get home to walk our dog.  As we're leaving, one of our friends called after us "but you don't have a dog!"

Which some other people around caught onto, leading to general laughter.  At such times I love Merikay more than ever.

Friday was departure day, and we all got a breakfast in a bag from the resort and headed out in all directions. We stopped in at the Purcell Tire dealer in town to get a slow leak checked (caused by a loose valve stem) and got in line behind behind another Alfa for service.

Then we were on our way to Surprise, AZ to visit my brother and his wife. They have also sold their home and now live in a delightful little place in the Sunflower Resort. 

Hopefully I will be posting more often as we start traveling and exploring more of Arizona and Utah in the next several months.

Catch Up

The remaining days of the Alfa National Rally were just as much fun as the first. Dinners every night, swimming, excellent seminars, wine and cheese sponsored by the resort, a pet parade, and time when some of the Alfa owners who have done modifications had their rigs open for us to see and admire. Throughout the week there were drawings for many prizes. They must have given out 100 gift cards of one sort or another. The resort gave away a free weeks stay, Freightliner donated several repair or service jobs including one for $350. Alfateers were the most generous donating a $1900 TV replacement package in addition to several hundred dollars worth of other stuff.

We did not win anything other than a token prize from one of the vendors. But that was OK. We feel we came away with so much. Although it would have been fantastic to get the TV package!

Craig, My sister iin-law Gerie, and my brother Keith

On Sunday we drove about 90 miles to Surprise, Arizona and stayed one night at the resort where my older brother spends his winters. He has been RVing for a lot longer than we have. My sister-in-law made a very nice dinner for us.  They have an older park model there and were excited to show us the brand new one they just bought. It was still being installed on their new lot. Very nice. I hope we can visit them again next year.

Monday we headed north to Williams, and tomorrow we will be at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

My feet are very happy to finally be heading to the Canyon!

So happy I wanted to dance with this par baked loaf of bread from Trader Joe's!





















We had heard that Williams was an interesting old town. I planned on spending the afternoon there.  However, many of the shops were closed or empty. We spent about an hour looking for what several people had recommended, but we were not impressed.

The air was pretty warm, but the wind came up again in the afternoon. My eyes were very irritated, and the lady at the RV park front desk said there was a lot of pine pollen in the air.  I'm going to take some Benadryl tomorrow.  Hope it helps.

Although there is a lot of green around, Craig found several of these trees that are not yet showing any buds or leaves. At 7000+ feet, the sky is incredibly blue!  Quite different from the brownish dust filled sky around the Phoenix area. I hope we get some good sunsets when we are at the Canyon.

Coming here is a big deal for me. The Grand Canyon has been on my "bucket list" for most of my life.