Motor home enthusiasts to roll into Oregon
A little “Cascade Mountain Magic” is about to settle over Redmond, Ore.
In just two weeks more than 4,000 motor homes will rumble into the small Central Oregon town for the 72nd International Family Motor Coach Association Convention.
Beginning Aug. 16, and continuing for four days, up to 20,000 RVers will more than double the community’s normal population.
FMCA, an international organization for motor home owners, has more than 129,000 member families. It offers a host of benefits including a monthly magazine, emergency roadside assistance program, trip routing and mail forwarding.
“About 13 percent of our members are full-timers,” said Pamela Kay, FMCA director of communications. “The remainder use their motor homes for vacations and extended trips.”
For many members, some of those trips are to the two international FMCA rallies held each year. The next convention is in Albuquerque, N.M., in March 2005.
“There’s always a lot to do at these conventions,” said Kay from her office in Cincinnati.
Attendees can walk through the more than 800 display motor homes and marvel at their amenities. On view are production-line models alongside custom-built coaches.
People will have opportunities to talk with factory reps and browse through 450 booths featuring RV accessories, components and supplies.
Informative seminars, professional entertainment and social activities are also scheduled.
On the first day of the event is a seminar, “Before You Buy Your First Motor Home,” for people are not yet RV owners, but are interested in the lifestyle.
In addition to the “new RVers” class, dozens of other seminars are being offered. Topics range from diesel talk to insurance and risk management to maximizing your travel wardrobe.
One popular seminar that always attracts several hundred attendees is on digital photography.
“It seems most RVers have at least one camera,” said seminar leader Roy Boorman of Yorba Linda, Calif., “and more and more are turning to a digital because it’s easy to E-mail images back home to family and friends.”
One picture that attendees will want to E-mail back home from this event will be a shot of Tuesday’s headliner Frankie Avalon. The Kingston Trio and Brothers Four are also on the bill.
“We offer lots of opportunities for people to meet and mingle at the conventions,” said Kay. “People don’t have to worry about getting bored.”
Admission costs
Although “early bird” registration is over, Kay said that RVers, both members and non-members, can still attend and register at the gate.
• If you are arriving in a motor home, the cost for dry camp parking for four days and admission to all the events is $164 per coach for non-FMCA members. There is a reduced rate of $144 for members.
• There is a daily admission of $7 per person for walk-ins if all you want to do is view the new motor homes, go through the booth displays, take in the daytime entertainment and attend the “Before You Buy Your First Motor Home.”
• A Daily Passport admission of $32 per person provides admittance to the exhibits, all the seminars, and both daytime and evening entertainment. Children 12 and under are admitted free with an adult.
For more information
• The Family Motor Coach Association can be reached by calling (800) 543-3622 or going to the Web site at www.fmca.com.
• Photographer Roy Boorman can be reached at rboorman@earthlink.net.
Wheel answers
Here are a couple responses to last week’s question: “What’s your pet peeve about RVs?”
• Barbara (who prefers not to have her last name mentioned) from Pullman sent in an e-mail about noisy generators running for more than an hour at a time.
“Dry camping at a peaceful lake,” said Barbara, is “not a place to run a generator for long hours. I spent a weekend at Lake Roosevelt not long ago and all I heard was our neighbor’s generator. No bird sounds, or wind sounds, or waves lapping on the shore. I wished I had stayed home.”
• Commercial driver Richard Thain of Edwall, Wash., called in to talk about people driving diesel pusher motor coaches that are 45-feet long and are pulling a car or boat for a combined length of 65 feet or longer.
“Commercial truck drivers are required to take special written and road tests to pull a semi-trailer,” said Thain. “I feel that people driving those big RVs should be required to have some sort of special licensing and have a health certification.
“People with health issues can drive a big diesel pusher motor home but commercial drivers with diabetes or heart problems cannot drive a commercial vehicle,” he said.
In addition said Thain, “Commercial drivers are regulated to limit driving to 10 hours each day, but RVers can drive 24-hours straight if they can stay awake.”
Wheel question
Jim and Pat Greer of Spokane wrote in requesting resources for planning the route of their first major trailer trip “around snowbird departure time” in 2005. They are familiar with AAA, Good Sam’s, KOA, Trailer Life and a RV driving atlas; but would be interested in other books or Web sites.
They will be gone for up to five months and tentatively want to spend time in Gulf Shores, with visits to friends and relatives in Alabama, Las Vegas, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, Washington, D.C. and Michigan. Where would you send them for information?