This airplane is a Great Lakes biplane, often used for aerobatics.

At first glance, you might think that a traditional dinghy isn’t good enough for the owners of this motorhome, that they tow an airplane to get around with at the destination.

Actually, David and Marlene Goldsmith were just on a business trip. They own Golden Aviation, a custom-aircraft rebuilding company in Monette, Missouri, and had driven to Phoenix in their 1992 Fleetwood Coronado to pick up the airplane. A customer had ground-looped the Great Lakes biplane during a landing attempt and asked the Goldsmiths to repair the damage.

Rather than head straight home, the Goldsmiths took a side trip north to Grand Canyon National Park. These photos were taken at their site in the Trailer Village campground there. From the Grand Canyon, they planned to drive to Albuquerque for Thanksgiving with relatives before returning to Monette.

The Goldsmiths, who have been in the aviation business in Missouri for 27 years, began  RVing about 22 years ago in a 1982 Dodge Champion. They lived in Kansas City at the time and often took the little motorhome to Branson, Missouri, to

listen to country music. In the late 1990s they began using their current motorhome, the Coronado, to haul airplanes. So

David and Marlene Goldsmith

far they or one of their 15 employees have made a dozen such trips. Once they drove all the way to Anaheim, California, on a delivery.

A licensed pilot, David said he’s never been tempted to use an airplane on the trailer to explore with once they reached a destination. “But for the long trips, it sure would be nice to fly and have the motorhome waiting for us there,” he said.