After leaving Red Bay, AL we spent 5 days travelling to Star Valley, WY for the summer, arriving in Star Valley on June 16. During our trip, we attempted to avoid travelling around any cities where demonstrations were occurring. The only city we could not entirely avoid was St. Louis. However, we were able to stay well out of the city proper by utilizing the beltway. There was one moment of high concern as we approached an overpass that was packed with what appeared to be protestors. Thankfully, when we got close enough to determine who the demonstrators were, they were supporting Trump 2020. No cement blocks came through our windshield.
As we settled into Star Valley, watching the national news was very concerning, between demonstrations and COVID 19, the news was pretty depressing. As time progressed, we made many new friends and caught up with old friends. We foung that we had many friends in Wyoming.
So, for lack of better things to do with all the political and Covid insecurity, we spent the summer of 2020 shopping for a nicer (larger than the Arizona Legends lot) 1/2-acre+ lot on which to build a 1200sf (minimum residence allowed) 2 bed/2 bath house with a 2-car garage plus a full-sized (20'x48') RV Garage. Star Valley Ranch is about 45 miles south of Jackson (Hole) WY, between Alplne and Afton WY, and about 5 miles east of the Idaho. Land sales there are going through the roof because everyone seems to be leaving California, Oregon and Washington and large cities and looking to move out of the metropolitan areas and toward red(der) states. Wyoming being one of the most conservative, where free speech and gun ownership (open and closed carry are both lawful without a permit) and where it is beautiful wherever one goes, as well as having no state tax and being very RV friendly has a growing draw of conservatives fleeing blue states. They say that the Billionaires are moving to Jackson (Hole) WY, which is forcing the Millionaires into Star Valley, and consequently the land and homes are being sold quickly and prices are skyrocketing. Since our arrival in June we had found some 1/2 acre lots on one of the golf courses for sale at about $20,000. No sooner we started to look at one, it was Sold. Finally, by contacting an owner that was listed as an owner but whose lot was not even on the market, we convinced him to sell it to us, at a price of $50,000. That may seem steep but suffice to say that by the time we left WY in October those same 1/2 acre golf course lots were selling in the $60,000 - $70,000 range. Who knows where they will be when we get back there in May 2021. See plans and lot photos.
Before leaving Benson AZ we posted a For Sale listing on Zillow for the Arizona Legends proprerty. Shortly therafter Bill also created a website featuring photos from the basic lot, through its construction to the finished product and that of the resort and its features and benefits. A couple of months later a couple from NC, impressed by its ample detail of photos and a 90-minute phone conversation with us made us a Full Price CASH offer. They had just retired and have a 42ft 5th Wheel, which they planned to reduce to a motorhome and wanted to down size their house too, which was waterfront and they were tired of all the storms on the NC coast. Win-Win for them and us. The more we talked about the house at Arizona Legends, they would say that it was as if we had designed the house especially for them.
At the Star Valley Ranch RV Park we HAD TO leave every October and were not allowed back in until May, yearly. At the Town of SVR however, there is no restriction and the HOA dues (same as at the RV Park) include the plowing of all the streets in the town, when it snows, so one can stay as late as one wants to, return as early as one wants to, or even stay all winter if that's what one wants to do. During the winter months, when it's too cold or due to snow one can't play golf, the golf courses are converted to cross-country skiing tracks and some for snowmobiling. Of course snow mobiles are also usable off-road and along the sides of the roadways and are a popular means of transportation, seen readily at the grills and saloons in and between the various towns. During this summer we also placed our Star Valley Ranch RV Park lot for sale and sold it for $9,100 more than what we had paid for it just 12 months earlier, and with those funds paid for the Town of Star Valley Ranch golf course lot, about 1 mile to the north. As part of the sale conditions, since the new owners already had other plans for the rest of the summer, they allowed us to stay on the RV lot, RENT FREE (we just paid the electric and taxes... after all, fair is fair.) We also offered to winterize it when we left for the winter, and open it up for them next spring, before they get there on June 1.
So at the end of October we winterized the shed and put up the chains and moved on to Red Bay AL (to the Tiffin Service Center) to address the rest of our coach defects that they would not address during our first visit there in May-June 2020. To recap, this was almost as disappointing a trip as the first one. On the first visit the rig spent 5 days in PAINT, and most if not all the issues were left unresolved. This second visit the rig was in PAINT ANOTHER 10 days, and STILL so many issues were left unrepaired even after spending a total of 15 days in the paint shop. So hopefully on the third trip (hopefully it won't take them as long in PAINT, we'll be able to get everything done. Other issues were also left unrepaired. The Spyder system which supposedly controls all the electronic systems is a piece of SH**. The tanks never read right, the touch buttons are supposed to light up blue to indicate that whatever they control are ON or LOCKED, but sometimes they do and sometimes the don't, so one either thinks that something is on/locked, when it is not, or vice versa. Very confusing! The temperatures are always off by 6-10 degrees, and on and on with the different issues. Frankly, on a $400,000 motorhome, one does not expect that one has to do this and then that for it to work correctly; but at least IF they had told us these caveats, we would have just bought a Thor product instead, which would be guaranteed to have all these same issues, BUT would have saved at least $100,000, instead of being willing to pay the higher $ because it was a TIFFIN, and one could expect more. No more... especially now that a TIFFIN is actually a THOR, now that Thor bought out Tiffin. The one thing that always attracted Tiffin buyers to the Tiffin products, is the knowledge that "IF anything is wrong with a motorhome or trailer, Bob (Tiffin) will see to it that it is made right to the customer's satisfaction." Sadly, that is no longer the case with TIFFIN, and now more especially true, now that it is actually just a THOR with a fancier name with name recognition. However, BUYERS BEWARE.... IF you buy a Tiffin Motorhome of Trailer, you lose the right to complain about it later, because you have been warned. All you are buying is a Thor with a Tiffin price tag.
So, AGAIN after spending another 4 weeks at the Tiffin Service Center, and still only getting a some of our issues resolved, we decided not to waste anymore time there and went on down to visit our friends in Florida. However, we will be returning to the Tiffin Service Center for one more try, to resolve our on-going list of issue that continue to plague or motorhome. Also the longer we go since having purchased it, the more things break on it, even though it is not even a year old yet. Now, on the road to FL from Red Bay AL, the right trun signal stopped flashing on the dash electronic display. Thankfully, the right turn signal (outside) on both the back of the RV and on the tow (Edith) still work... just not on the in-dash display. We reported it to 'Spyder Mike' (the Tiffin liaison with the Spyder System company) and other so-called 'technicians', who say that they have NEVER heard of THAT problem before. So obviously TIFFIN sold us a Lemon, and despite several attempts to speak to BOB, he continually refuses to talk to us. I guess he only speaks to thos that are going to praise him, especially knowing that he was going to sell his company, he no longer cares about the customers that got him to where he is now.
NEXT post will be of Wreaths Across America, Dec. 19, 2020 at FNC Bushnell FL...
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