By Charlie Adcock, F311374
National President
October 2014
My Fellow FMCA Family:
Well, this certainly has been a fast month. National senior vice president Jon Walker and I left Essex Junction, Vermont, site of the Northeast Area Rally in July, and ran down to Syracuse, New York, for a site visit along with FMCA executive director Jerry Yeatts, investigating the possibility of holding a summer Family Reunion there. Afterward, Gloria and I traveled to Oswego, New York, to the three-chapter Harborfest rally, hosted by the Pen-Ny Mixers, Fingerlakers, and New York Centrals. Our rally hosts were Jim and Sherry Miller. If I counted right, close to 100 coaches were in attendance. What a wonderful time we had visiting with those chapter members.
Gloria and I left Oswego and drove to Elkhart, Indiana, where we spent a week with Jon and his wife, Sondra. While there, Jon and I visited many of the manufacturers in the local area, including several component manufacturers. If you think the RV industry is not coming back to life, you need only to drive through Elkhart to see all the RVs — both motorized and towable — parked in every vacant lot, waiting to be delivered.
Jon, Sondra, Gloria, and I left for Redmond, Oregon, on August 2, and traveled 2,921 miles, arriving in Redmond on August 6. It was an uneventful trip. I did not run out of fuel, nor did my low-coolant light come on.
If you were not at FMCA’s 90th Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Redmond — nicknamed “High Desert Sunrise” — August 13-16 at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, you missed a really good party. We had a total of 1,876 coaches; that number included 1,474 family coaches and 402 commercial coaches. The 600 or so volunteers did a super job of hauling us around via trams and activity carts, making sure we were safe, monitoring seminars, and, of course, getting us parked, among other duties. I could go on and on about our volunteers. We could not put on such a wonderful event without them. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And, of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning our area hosts, Andy and Kathie Balogh, outgoing and new national vice president, Northwest Area, respectively, and their volunteer coordinators.
During the Governing Board meeting on Wednesday, August 13, the FMCAssist medical evacuation and travel assistance program was voted back in as a covered member benefit, included within your membership dues. I hope this is something none of us never need, but should that need arise, it’s there for us. Provided FMCAssist coverage goes into effect October 1, 2014. Coverage will be extended to all FMCA family members throughout North America, including full family (F), life (L), and associate (A) members. Another good thing about the FMCAssist benefit is that it is a great tool for recruiting new members. I challenge everyone: If you recruit one member this year, I will recruit five. You do the math and see where we will be one year from now.
This year has been designated as the Year of the Chapter Officer. I would like to thank each and every chapter officer for his or her hard work in keeping the chapter together and functioning. Without leadership, it would be hard to continue as a chapter. Please do your part and assist your chapter(s) however you can. The advantages will come back to you in many ways.
Our first night of entertainment at the Redmond Family Reunion was a three-venue event. We had three wonderful acts performing simultaneously on three stages: The Young Bucs with 1950s-’60s doo-wop music; 1970s and 1980s classic rock hits from singer Johnny Goodrum; and a variety of tunes from young singer/keyboardist Brady Goss. So, you had your choice of the type of music you wanted to listen to. This seems to have gone over really well.
For the second night of entertainment, we had William Florian, a former lead singer for The New Christy Minstrels. He was outstanding. And on Saturday night, Johnny Counterfit, from Nashville, Tennessee, kept us in stitches with his impressions of Johnny Cash, Bill Clinton, and numerous other famous people. And an interesting fact is that he’s originally from Oregon.
The coffee-and-doughnut crew were smiling every morning while serving up hot coffee, hot chocolate, and lots of fresh doughnuts. We had a couple of hours every morning to get to know each other and visit; to pick up a local newspaper; and to read our daily newsletter, which FMC editor Robbin Gould was so gracious to prepare for us.
On Saturday morning at our annual membership meeting, we installed the newly elected national vice presidents for the 2014-2016 term. Dick Gibbs is taking over for Rick Ricordati in the Western Area. In the Northwest Area, Kathie Balogh is taking over the steering wheel from her husband, Andy. The Baloghs did not have any trouble changing out their AVP “eyebrow” (attachment to the membership plate). In fact, Andy said the bolts were rusted, and he could not remove it anyway. David Kessler stepped in for Alfred Vormittag in the International Area. Jane Roush was sworn in for her first term with the Great Lakes Area; she had just completed the remainder of Jon Walker’s term when he was elected national senior vice president last year. Also, in the Eastern Area, John Reynolds was re-elected to his second two-year term. Gary Adams was on hand to administer the oath to all the Executive Board members at one time.
I’d like to mention June Davis. For those of you who know June, she and her husband, Leonard, were in Redmond and have been active in FMCA for many years, including June’s time as national secretary. I was able to talk Leonard into serving as safety officer and June into singing the Canadian and American national anthems on two separate occasions. Her voice is as beautiful as ever.
FMCA’s next big Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase will be held in Pomona, California, March 26-29, 2015. I hope everyone can be there. I’m sure FMCA events manager Chris Lusk and his crew will have a great agenda planned for us.
For all you pickleball players, I would like to have a pickleball tournament in Pomona. I need to hear from some of you, because I would like to find someone who knows how to put together a pickleball tournament. I do not know the first thing about pickleball tournaments, though I was able to see a demonstration in Redmond by A.J. and Irene Fraties from the Bend (Oregon) Pickleball Club, and I gave the game a whirl myself.
By now some of you might be asking, “Just what the heck is pickleball?” Well, it’s a bit like tennis, badminton, and Ping-Pong all rolled together. Players hit a lightweight plastic ball over a net using a paddle-type racquet. The court resembles a tennis court but is smaller. Pickleball is becoming increasingly popular at RV resorts across the Sunbelt and in other places. In fact, FMCA will be a sponsor for the 2014 USAPA (USA Pickleball Association) Nationals Tournament, November 2-9, 2014, at the Sun City Festival in Buckeye, Arizona. We hope to promote FMCA and the motorhome lifestyle to this group of folks.
Things went pretty smoothly for me before and after the “High Desert Sunrise” Family Reunion; no breakdowns, no fuel problems. But as Gloria always says when we do have difficulties, “We’re only making memories, anyway.” So, I’ll close for now. I’m looking forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming area rallies and/or future Family Reunions (see the Association Calendar, page 88 in this issue, for dates and details).
And remember: “It’s all about having fun!”