FMCAssist To The Rescue
Dear Editor:
We would like to express our appreciation of the FMCAssist Medical Emergency and Travel Assistance Program provided by FMCA to its members. My wife was faced with a life-threatening illness, and we were about 2,300 miles from our home, on a six-month trip out West. We were faced with at least a four- to five-day trip back home to Pittsburgh from Las Vegas during the winter months.
We called the Seven Corners assist line, and Amanda made all the arrangements for us. Mark, our driver, met us at the coach, and we took a cab to the airport and flew home without any issues. About four or five days later, our coach arrived at our home, and I took the driver to his next assignment (only about 6 miles away), and the coach to storage.
The FMCAssist benefit helped us greatly in a very difficult time. I am not sure my wife would have been able to make the trip back home in the coach, and all I needed to get the ball rolling was a note from the surgeon regarding her condition. The situation was handled very professionally by all of the staff members at FMCA as well as those at Seven Corners. Many thanks for a job well done. We have been FMCA members since 2013 and are on our second coach (both Entegras). We can’t wait for a full recovery and to get back on the road again.
John & Flora Stoneberg, F435625
McMurray, Pennsylvania
Engstrom Story Appreciated
Dear Editor:
Thank you for the article by John Johnston in the April 2017 issue about the Engstroms (“Mobile Music Ministry,” page 80). Carl and Ruth have been friends of ours for years.
Carl was raised on a farm in southeast Montana between Ekalaka and Baker. My first remembrance of the Engstrom family was about 1953, when I was 10 years old. Carl and his sister Ruth, teenagers at the time, came to our church and performed a mini concert. They sang beautiful harmony that we don’t hear much of today.
We just missed hearing them in Wenden, Arizona, this past February, as we returned to Montana earlier than we had planned. I know they were enjoyed by the church family there with their message in song.
Thank you again for the article. It was very well done.
Jerry (Corky) & Leola Harkins, F172190
Billings, Montana
Finally, “Our Perfect Place”
Dear Editor:
Secluded in the town of Webster, Florida, is a motorhome resort with the friendliest people, loads of activities, and quiet surroundings (sorry, no train noises; only cows), plus some of the largest paved sites you will find. They also have an annual tire day, when you can have your new Michelin tires mounted on your site, discounted though the FMCA Michelin Advantage Program.
We discovered this resort two years ago. After 15 years of full-timing, we thought we would never find our perfect place (we have). We try to get feedback from those who have stayed a month or more, and 99 percent say they love this place. We can only assume the other 1 percent prefer train sounds.
Check out Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort (www.floridagrande.com; 352-569-1169). To quote a famous person, “It’s all about having fun.”
Ron & Shirley Happe, F289905
Evansville, Indiana
History, The Future
Dear Editor:
My wife, Kathy, and I have enjoyed the motorhome approach to RVing for a good long while. I saw my first Winnebago on a car lot in Dallas, Texas, in 1967. Oh, boy, how I wished I could have owned one of those early Winnies.
The real start to the motorhome market was fired by the innovative masters of invention that early on had the vision to build their own motor coaches. So began the advent of a group of like-minded individuals who gathered to swap information and advice, and enjoy the fruits of their labors at the same time. Welcome the Family Motor Coach Association!
We understand and cherish FMCA’s roots and would not do anything to undermine the accomplishments of those early engineers. It seems that a good many examples of their work are protected in various historical collections around the country. God bless ’em.
Kathy and I currently enjoy a 2004 Dolphin Heritage. We purchased it as a preowned coach from a lovely couple that, at 92 years of age, had to leave the lifestyle. They shed tears as we drove away. I mention this only because we are well aware of the emotional attachments that can be made enjoying the motorhome lifestyle.
I am grateful to the FMCA Executive Board for recognizing the need to make the changes that are on the ballot in Indianapolis this summer. I have a son, nephew, and several good friends who aspire to owning a motorhome at some time but for various reasons have towables now. In my son’s case, it is the fact that he has dually diesel pickups for use on his place. Even when I made him a very generous offer on the coach we were selling, he did not need the additional chassis, etc. I would venture to say there are a good many motorhome owners who began their RV experience in a similar manner. I think we only need to look at the numbers and the types of RVs on the road and in campsites to see where some great prospective members are having fun enjoying the experience.
I hope they will see FMCA for the wonderful folks that we are, and not as an organization that is only an extension of the country club mind-set.
We are looking forward to a newer, bigger, and better FMCA and to having a lot more fun down the road.
Bill Snyder, F32132
Amarillo, Texas