Wonder if you've run into Mike Sturgill. He's a Bullshifter based out of PHX and he does a lot of brevets. Super nice guy - he was super encouraging to me on Bike Journal when I first started doing brevets. We'd been online friends for years and I finally met him at the White Mountain Double Century a couple of years ago.

(I probably already asked you this after you first started doing brevets so forgive me if I did! I just think Arizona+brevets=Sturgill.)