The 29th annual FMCA South Central Area Six-State Rally, dubbed the Roundup At The “OK” Corral, was held October 8 through 11, 2002, at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Oklahoma. The event took place just a few days after FMCA’s 68th Premier International Motorhome Extravaganza in Hutchinson, Kansas, and many of the 450 motorhomes in attendance were driven straight from the wet, muddy convention.

Q: My wife and I are planning a trip from the San Francisco Bay area to the East Coast and back. I would like to buy a laptop computer so that we can keep in contact with our friends and relatives via e-mail.

Dear Editor:
After attending FMCA’s convention in Hutchinson, Kansas, we were on our way to a Tucson Drifters chapter rally in Branson, Missouri, where we were to co-host the event.
We entered the small town of Parsons, Kansas, approximately 80 miles from Hutchinson, and came to a stop at a light on Main Street. We then experienced an RVer’s worst nightmare.

As the New Year rolls around, it seems an appropriate time to communicate with you about your member benefits. FMCA provides its members many benefits that are specifically tailored to the traveler and, in some cases, the motorhome owner.

The proposed FMCA Bylaws state, “The President is FMCA’s chief elected officer. The president shall promote FMCA’s welfare and programs and preside at all meetings of the membership, Governing Board, and Executive Board, and shall exercise supervision and control of the affairs and business of FMCA.”
This description of the president’s duties is simple and straightforward, and except for being more concise, is basically the same as the one in the current Bylaws.

Your motorhome came with an instruction manual, but your life didn’t. It’s a big world out there, with no shortage of off-ramps and activities to pursue.
Now, I’m not one to interfere (okay, maybe I am), but I’ve given your traveling lifestyle some thought, and I have a few recommendations.

I remember watching Lisa Whelchel, F264975, on television years ago as Blair Warner, the self-centered rich kid she portrayed in the 1980s sitcom, “The Facts of Life.” So, sitting in her motorhome discussing her life, then and now, was quite an experience. Lisa is nothing like the character that catapulted her to teenage stardom.

When it comes to insurance, I am usually as much in the dark as the next person. However, when I found out about the Deductible Reimbursement Insurance Plan — group travel accident and medical deductible and co-insurance reimbursement coverage that is being extended to FMCA members — I immediately became interested.

As a base camp from which to inaugurate a late-winter sojourn along California’s central coast, the bucolic and provincial town of San Luis Obispo is as near perfect as a place can be. The town’s name means “Bishop Saint Louis” in Spanish, and it is often referred to by its initials — S.L.O.

When I complained to my husband, FMCA Insurance and Risk Management Committee chairman Dick Sherman, about how difficult it is to understand the association’s Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) policy, he pointed out two things: 1) It is not a policy that I see in the magazine but simply a description of the policy; and 2) It seems perfectly clear and straightforward to him.

Membership in the Family Motor Coach Association brings with it a wealth of benefits that are of value to the motorhome traveler. Some of these benefits are obvious — the subscription to Family Motor Coaching magazine, for example — and some are not so obvious.

The Recreation Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) has completed work on its comprehensive RV Safety Education Program, and it is now available to FMCA members. RVSEF, a nonprofit safety education organization, provides safety education materials and services to the RV community.

Approximately 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, California, is a region called the “Inland Empire,” filled with prospering businesses and suburban communities. It’s close enough to L.A.

When getting our motorhome ready to roll, on occasion I have neglected to lower the antenna or stow the jack pads before taking off. Since I needed a nudge to remember these items, I came up with a simple reminder by using spring-type clothespins borrowed from my wife’s clothespin bag.
I disassembled the clothespins, painted them red (any color will do), and reassembled them.

Meguiar’s Deep Crystal System is a multistep process that cleans and protects the painted surfaces of RVs and other vehicles. According to company literature, the 1-2-3 format eliminates confusion about what products to use together and provides an integrated system that cleans, polishes, and protects a vehicle’s finish.

The “Go Fast” Blue Bird, a specially outfitted 2003 43-foot Blue Bird Wanderlodge LXi, was at the center of opening festivities for West Virginia’s largest outdoor festival, Bridge Day, held October 19, 2002, in Fayetteville.
Governor Bob Wise got the event started from a special platform placed on the roof of the motor coach, which was parked on the 876-foot-high New River Gorge Bridge. Later, an estimated 400 BASE (Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth) jumpers parachuted into the gorge.

The site was Hutchinson, a city affectionately known as “Hutch” to the 43,000 residents who call it home in south-central Kansas. The event was FMCA’s 68th Premier International Motorhome Extravaganza, which took place October 1, 2, and 3, 2002.

The 19th annual Rocky Mountain Ramble was held August 27 through 30, 2002, at the Adams County Regional Park and Fairgrounds in Brighton, Colorado. It was the first event hosted by the newly formed Rocky Mountain Motorcoach Association Inc.

Many of these “stuffed” recipes can be prepared ahead of time at home and refrigerated or frozen. For safety’s sake, remember to keep everything cold.

We finally had our new motorhome, a diesel-powered 40-footer complete with slideouts. Its gleaming-white exterior was emblazoned with beautiful graphics in several shades of brown.

According to Jaimie Hall, author of Support Your RV Lifestyle! An Insider’s Guide to Working on the Road ($19.95, Pine Country Publishing), the biggest change in full-timing during the past five years has been the massive growth in the number of people who work on the go. Many went full-timing with the intention of working along the way, but others have returned to the workforce because they want to buy a new motorhome or have found that they truly enjoy working.

Loss of habitat is the number-one threat to native creatures and biodiversity. The introduction of non-native plants and animals to a specific area or region comes in second.

Resealable plastic bags should be high on a traveler’s list of must-have accessories. They provide secure storage for items and do it in a way that saves space.

Q: I would like to know whether a 1995 Nissan Pathfinder, two-wheel drive with automatic transmission, can be towed four wheels down without a drive-shaft disconnect?
Richard Hotard, F301483
Thibodaux, Louisiana
A: We weren’t conducting our annual towing surveys back in 1995, so we don’t have information about specific vehicles from that model year. The information we published then was in more generic terms.

Dear Editor:
I am a resident of Hutchinson, Kansas, where FMCA held its recent convention. I just want to take a minute to express my thoughts about FMCA’s visit here and the impact it had on the people of our community.
You all made a significant financial contribution to Hutchinson by eating in our restaurants and making various purchases in our shops, gas stations, and entertainment facilities — which we very much appreciate.
But what I really wanted to tell you about is the emotional impact your visit had on some of us.

Editor’s note: Mr. Eversmann presented the following report to the FMCA Governing Board during its meeting in Hutchinson, Kansas, this past October.
I would like to provide you a summary of the significant things that have been happening within the Family Motor Coach Association.

Our initial contact with any potential FMCA convention site usually starts with the facility’s staff. Such was the case with the Kansas State Fair Association in Hutchinson when we first contacted them in 1999 about the possibility of the fairgrounds hosting an FMCA convention.  The site played host to the South Central Area Six-State Rally that year.
From this initial contact right up to the time the last coach had left the fairgrounds after FMCA’s Motor “Home On The Range” convention in October 2002, I have had nothing but thanks and praise for general manager Bill Ogg and his staff.

Gold was hidden in Arizona’s Bradshaw Mountains; silver, too. And copper, in huge, profitable amounts.

Strange and wonderful things happen in life, and the explanations for why they happen often make for interesting reading. Such is the case not once, but at least twice, with Newell Coach Corporation.
The history of the company — how it got started and why it continues to thrive in the provincial northeast corner of Oklahoma — is a fascinating two-part story.

We drove west toward Vicksburg, Mississippi, roughly following the route that Union General Ulysses S. Grant took during the Civil War as part of his unrelenting campaign to take the city on the hill.

Following its successful 1999 purchase and subsequent upgrade of General Motors’ gas-powered motorhome chassis manufacturing operation, Workhorse Custom Chassis, C8291, ventured into new territory this past July by unveiling its new R Series diesel-pusher chassis to industry insiders gathered in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In an effort to provide motorhome customers with more choices and options, the new Workhorse diesel chassis will be equipped with Cummins engines in three horsepower modes. The standard engine is the 350-horsepower ISC power plant, with an optional 330-horsepower ISC engine also available.

The corner shelves in our motorhome’s shower are in a handy location for bars of soap or shampoo containers. But the shelves are designed to shed water as well as any item placed on them.

A replacement suspension kit from Holbrook Specialties promises to improve the ride and towability of a Jeep CJ. The asymmetrical springs of the Holbrook LongLeaf spring kit are approximately 10 inches longer than the vehicle’s stock springs.

Motorhomers who want to explore the natural wonders and rural history of Minnesota may be interested in Shawn Perich’s new book, Backroads Of Minnesota ($19.95, Voyageur Press). The book leads travelers on a scenic tour of the Gopher State, revealing many of Minnesota’s hidden treasures.
Included in the book are more than 30 recommended drives that visit many of the parks, rivers, lakes, and other sites that capture Minnesota’s colorful history.

It seems safe to say that if any company can create a coach that offers as much luxury as is implied in the term “mansion on wheels,” it would be Newell Coach of Miami, Oklahoma. Newell builds custom coaches that epitomize luxury and range in price from $700,000 to more than $1 million.

When you decide to make your motorhome your full-time residence, one part of the process must be to take a look at your insurance coverage. The RV insurance policy you had as a homeowner and part-time motorhomer won’t cover all the bases.

November has been designated “National American Indian Heritage Month” in the United States, so we decided to recommend some sites to visit to help celebrate the occasion. Those who live in or are visiting the Midwest or South will notice that none of the mound-building American Indian cultures are represented in this month’s column.

Winter camping is a snug and cozy time, when meals are more fun to make, because they warm up the interior of the coach and fill it with great aromas. The family is hungrier, fresh from the ski slopes or biking trails.

Some years back, we lived in an area that claimed to be the foggiest place in the United States. Old-timers said the location had been used during World War II to test the ability of pilots to land their planes under extremely foggy conditions, and the airport in the northern California town of Arcata had some of the most consistent fog anywhere.
More recently, we checked some weather maps and found that the area along the northern California coast still is as foggy as we remembered — more than 60 days a year the visibility drops to less than a quarter-mile.

With colder weather creeping up on us, we’re reminded that winter isn’t far off. But for some FMCA members, winter is a lifestyle rather than a season.

Members of FMCA’s Golden Spike and Western Bounders & Buddies chapters have enjoyed many good times at rallies and different outings throughout the years. But every so often there is one exceptional rally that will be talked about long after it’s over.

Q: What kind of information do you have on braking systems for towed vehicles? Can you recommend any system? I have a motorhome with hydraulic brakes and I will tow a Honda Accord.
Don Rader, F169185
Veradale, Washington

A: The July 2001 issue of FMC magazine included an article (“Supplemental Braking Systems,” page 60) that provided brief information about more than a dozen different supplemental braking systems for towed vehicles. The systems were not tested.

The “Holding Tank Headaches?” article that appeared in the August 2002 issue (page 68) was not properly attributed to Tony Suddon, its primary author. Mr.

Approximately four years ago, FMCA leaders decided to begin the process of developing a long-range plan and modernizing the association’s governing documents. The first step was to establish a committee of FMCA members who would be charged with bringing forth a plan that would help to direct the association’s future.

A few years back, my wife, Joan, and I flew from Hong Kong to Los Angeles with only brief stops in Tokyo to refuel and in Honolulu to clear customs. Although we fortunately had seats with plenty of legroom, the long flight had taken its toll.

I have now completed one term as president of FMCA and would like to thank everyone for their support this past year. During the Governing Board meeting on September 30 in Hutchinson, Kansas, association business included an election of the four national officers for the 2002-2003 term.

If you’re looking for small-town America, then a visit to the village of Waynesville, Ohio, is in order. Located in the southwestern part of the state, this quaint town is a mecca for those seeking a slower pace.

Traveling by motorhome is a comfortable way to visit different parts of North America. But the cozy confines of your motor coach may cause you to become too relaxed, allowing your natural defenses to slip.

You exit the diner . .

Since the beginning of civilization, man has sought a bigger stick — to protect his family, keep the belongings that were his, and, on occasion, to take the things that weren’t. This most likely will continue until his time on Earth is finished.
In the early morning of July 16, 1945, in the bleak desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on a site code-named “Trinity,” man found the ultimate ”stick.” With a flash as bright as a thousand suns and an earth-gouging roar, the first atomic weapon was exploded.