By Bill Hendrix, F761SNovember 2008 High-powered roof vents can remove stale air, food odors, and that stuffy feeling without running the air conditioner. Here’s a chart that compares the features…

Birds are fascinating creatures. Some, as tiny as teacups, have the strength and stamina to fly 7,500 miles between Argentina and the Arctic in the spring, then reverse the route in the fall. They are colorful, songful, and comical.

One of the true giants in the RV industry, Winnebago Industries, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Throughout these five decades, the company has worked to establish itself as a leading motorhome manufacturer and has set the standard by which other RV companies are measured.

Krystal Enterprises, a privately held vehicle manufacturer located in Brea, California, has entered the luxury motorhome market with a new line of Type B and Type C coaches. However, this company is far from being a new kid on the block.

Throughout its colorful history, El Paso has progressed from a small adobe village of just a few hundred to a Western boomtown to the sixth-largest city in Texas. Today El Paso is still colorful, with modern-day nicknames such as “Sun City” and “Star of the Southwest.”

The Palm Springs Air Museum could be more broadly defined as a World War II museum. In addition to its impressive variety of planes, most of which saw combat during the war, the museum bulges with many other facets of the conflict that rocked the world from 1939 to 1945.

While planning the events for FMCA’s 80th International Convention, held in St. Paul, Minnesota, this past July, the subject came up of celebrating FMCA’s 45th anniversary — July 20, 2008. We decided we would serve anniversary cake to attendees on the last day of the convention.

I would like to bring two items to your attention this month. The first item deals with the merchandise coupons FMCA awards members for recruiting new members, and the other relates to the FMCA Mail Forwarding Service.

Wet Walls

I have a 2006 Damon Intruder that was built in 2005 and purchased in April 2007. When the temperature falls below 40 degrees and the humidity is higher than 50 percent, all the walls in the motorhome get really wet. This includes the closets …

Pleasure-Way Industries Ltd. has announced NHTSA recall 08V421000, which affects some 2007 and 2008 Ascent and Plateau Type B motorhomes manufactured between September 10, 2007, and August 11, 2008.

Switch Or Solenoid?

Dear RV Doctor:
We sure enjoy your column, but in an earlier issue, even though you gave a very thorough answer about 12-volt-DC troubleshooting, you forgot one thing — that is, to check the male and female connectors hooking a towed car to the motorhome.

Fishing Pole Storage

I store my fishing poles in a basement compartment, but they tended to get tangled up with other equipment. My solution was to purchase a cup hook and a tool holder from the hardware store and install them on a side wall of the storage compartment.

Jim Hodge, F12, a founding member of FMCA, passed away in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, on September 3, 2008, following a lengthy illness. He was 83.

Waterless Hand Cleaner

Ultra Cherry Pumice Hand Scrub from Permatex Inc. is a professional-strength waterless hand cleaner made to tackle tough cleanup jobs. The cleaner is formulated with finely ground pumice that provides a deep-scrubbing action to remove heavy grease, oil, adhesives, ink, paint, and more.

Gulf Stream Coach Unveils Type A Caribbean

Gulf Stream Coach has added the new Type A Caribbean, a full-featured, lower-priced diesel coach, to its lineup for 2009. The Caribbean is available in a 36-foot double-slideout floor plan and a 38-foot triple-slideout layout.

The Governmental and Legislative Affairs Committee includes FMCA members Frank Brodersen, who resides in Virginia but not long ago lived in Oregon; Paul DuBois, a New York resident who is the first vice president of the Northeast Area Association; and Vicky Ferrari, an attorney …

Most years, as winter approaches, we focus our travels toward the lowlands, with only short excursions into higher country. Here are 13 of our favorite national parks or monuments in the West and Southwest …

We spend a lot of time watching the sky. It helps us forecast weather conditions as we travel, exercises our imaginations with fanciful cloud formations, and provides a habitat for the soaring birds we like to observe.

In many parts of the country, November takes a bad rap for motor coach travel, so let’s give it a warm reception by preparing hot, comforting dishes.

Starling “Dad” Writes

Dear Editor:
I thoroughly enjoyed the column titled “Successful Starlings” in the October 2008 issue of Family Motor Coaching (“Window On Nature,” page 90). I particularly liked this article because I raised a starling from a hatchling.

Describe a favorite motorhome destination.

Ideas and advice from full-timers and other motorhomers who have learned from their experiences.

It is no simple task when selecting the equipment and service for satellite TV. The RV industry currently offers a very wide range of antennas for receiving satellite TV signals, with a baffling array of terminology that leads to more than a little confusion.

Stories of pioneer life on the prairie were written at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home in Mansfield.

Creativity is the mother’s milk upon which innovation feeds. It is the force that enables some to take a product to new levels. Such is the case with the all-new Country Coach 45-foot Veranda diesel pusher … 

GMC motorhome owners love it when someone stops them to ask about their coach. One of the first questions is usually, “What is it?” When told that it is a GMC, the second question is, “Didn’t they stop making them?”