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This month, one of FMCA’s newest chapters is celebrating its first anniversary. The Western Slope Rovers formed in August 2003 and is the first FMCA chapter to encompass the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

During the Carolina Cruisers’ April 2004 rally at the Walterboro Rice Festival in Walterboro, South Carolina, attendees spent a day away from the festivities to help make life for others a little better, while at the same time remember a good friend.

Recently we’ve received several questions regarding the auto-park brake system used on some Workhorse P Series gasoline-powered motorhome chassis. To help owners understand how the system works, what could cause it to fail, and the results of such a failure, we contacted the company for an explanation.

The telephone number for Xplorer Motor Homes listed at the end of the article about the Xplorer Xtreme in the July 2004 issue (page 116) was missing a digit. The company can be contacted at (800) 343-2771.
FMC regrets this error.

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Chevrolet S-10 Towing
The “Towables For 2004” article (January 2004, page 66) indicated that the Chevrolet S-10 4×4 pickup truck with an automatic transmission is towable four wheels down without modification.

Just about every association uses some sort of incentive to recruit new members. But no matter what that incentive is, the bottom line is that the person joining the group must believe it’s worth the price of membership, or he or she wouldn’t align with an association and an ongoing annual expenditure.
With some professional associations, potential members take the organization’s test and thereby apply for and receive certification, as well as continuing education credits to maintain that certification.

FMCA’s 72nd International Convention — dubbed “Cascade Mountain Magic” in honor of the host area — will take place at Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond, Oregon, August 16, 17, 18, and 19. We visited Redmond in 2001 for a convention and have chosen to return to this location for many reasons.

This is the final installment in FMC’s three-part series highlighting the major diesel engine manufacturers — Caterpillar, Cummins, and Detroit Diesel — that supply power plants for the ever-growing type A diesel-pusher motorhome market.
No other place embodies Americans’ fascination with and love of the automobile more than Detroit, Michigan. It’s where the auto industry grew up.

As the 10th largest state in the country, Oregon is expansive enough to offer a variety of scenery: seashore, desert, fertile valley, forest, meadow, mountain, plateau, and lava land. It also boasts an amazing collection of scenic byways from which to explore these many realms.

While some RVers think of fans as being the antiquated predecessor of air-conditioning, and useful only on mild days, fans actually are very practical for year-round use. Air-conditioning has certainly changed our lifestyle during the hottest months, but properly used ventilating fans can make that lifestyle even better when combined with air-conditioning and heating systems.

While traveling, we try to keep our laundry to a minimum. I like to clean my face each day with a clean washcloth, but this makes extra laundry.

The four-wheel Rydeon RV Buggy is reported to combine performance and convenience with ease of disassembly and storage. Designed for those who want increased mobility along with speed, comfort, and safety, the scooter has a maximum speed of 10 mph, a range of 25 miles, and is said to be able to climb a 38-degree grade.

Buddy Gregg Motor Homes, C3326, located in Knoxville, Tennessee, hosted a special luncheon and open house this past June to showcase its new paint and body shop facilities.

As the moon coasted through the Oregon evergreens and the ever-present April storm clouds, the condensation from our breaths dissipated before our eyes while we huddled beneath the Girard remote-controlled power awning. The campfire warmed our hearts, but raindrops hissed as they dried and died on the fire ring’s hot rocks.

This month, let’s get the kids cooking indoors and out, learning as they go. Here are several simple, safe recipes they can tackle for starters, along with your help.

More and more young families are living full-time in an RV these days, working as they go, and homeschooling the kids. Whether children are part of your full-timer’s life all the time or are just occasional visitors, here are ways to make the roving life happier, safer, and more educational for kids of all ages.
RadioShack offers all types of electronic fun for restless passengers, as well as electronic toys the entire family can use at the campsite.

Those who live or have traveled in the Deep South have, no doubt, seen kudzu. Some would insist that you don’t have to seek out this plant, but just look out the window while cruising down the highway.

I (Kaye) have been a committed do-it-yourself, make-it-yourself person for many years. So, when I decided to focus this month’s column on creative uses for vinegar, the filing cabinet and my computer’s hard drive were already crammed with ideas — more than 70 of them.

Convention Committee Chairman/National Senior Vice President
Conventions play a significant role in the success of the Family Motor Coach Association. FMCA president R.G.

Motorhome owners are not typically known for carrying many extras on the road, for obvious storage reasons. But on board coaches in the GMC Cascaders chapter, you can expect to find a variety of extra essentials.

After serving for eight years as the governor of Maine, Angus King became “king of the road.”
The day after he left office in January 2003, Mr. King; his wife, Mary Herman; and their two children — Ben, 12, and Molly, 9 — hit the road in a new 40-foot Newmar Dutch Star motorhome to see America.

Q: I remember reading an article on how to safely check air pressure and properly inflate the tires on a motorhome. The article recommended the use of an air hose extension of some six feet or so that would keep a person out of harm’s way in the event that a tire blew while being inflated.

An article about wireless Internet access in the June 2004 issue (page 82) inaccurately stated that Kbps stands for kilobytes per second. The correct definition is kilobits per second.
In addition, part of a sentence was missing from the text of the article on page 86.

Each year we review the participation of the FMCA membership in the various events that FMCA sponsors. FMCA’s leaders are always looking for ways to increase the number of members who participate in association activities.
Membership in FMCA now exceeds 129,000 families.

FMCA’s Executive Board and standing committees recently completed two weeks of May meetings in Cincinnati. It is amazing to see how well the elected officers and committee members from across North America gather and work with the Cincinnati staff to get our business completed.
We all arrive excited to see each other and eager to get to work on FMCA business.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, is more than the namesake of Winnie the bear, who was made famous in books by A.A. Milne and now is a popular Disney character.

Oregon has a major problem when it comes to offering scenic views: it has too many. A visitor can quickly go into panorama overload.
Where do you go? What do you see? Crater Lake? Mount Hood? Silver Falls? The Columbia River Gorge? (You can insert dozens more locales here.) What about the coastline? Even that can be a formidable exercise, for it’s not just “the coast.” It’s the North Coast, the Central Coast, and the South Coast.
The coast arguably may be the best choice.

This is the second installment in FMC’s three-part series highlighting the major diesel engine manufacturers — Caterpillar, Cummins, and Detroit Diesel — that supply power plants for the ever-growing type A diesel-pusher motorhome market.

Take the grandkids to New York City on their summer vacation? Some of our RVing friends questioned our sanity.
We’ll admit, the campground we stayed at wasn’t exactly in New York. Liberty Harbor Marina and RV Park is in Jersey City, New Jersey, but directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

A small child might use a simple word to describe southern Oregon’s Crater Lake: “blue.” Artists might portray the color as cobalt, sapphire, or indigo. Scientists might concentrate on the facts behind the brilliant shade.

Whether installed as original or aftermarket equipment, many motorhome accessories add to the quality of life on the road. One of the best examples is an RV patio awning.

A convenient way to keep the rubber gloves you use to empty the holding tanks handy and dry is to clip them together with a spring binder clamp. The clamped glove then can be hung from a screw placed into a wall or door of an outside storage or utilities compartment.

Mary Moppins Cleaning System offers Advantage, a waterless wash and protectant that does not contain petroleum distillates. According to product literature, Advantage works on a variety of surfaces, leaving them clean and protected.

Creative Mobile Interiors, C9705, a coach conversion company based in Grove City, Ohio, has successfully entered the type B coach conversion market with the Sprinter PLV (personal luxury vehicle).

The 21.6-foot motorhome is built on DaimlerChrysler’s Sprinter chassis, which is supplied through Freightliner Custom Chassis, C1905. It is powered by a Mercedes-Benz 2.7-liter turbocharged five-cylinder diesel engine that is said to deliver up to 27 mpg.
Like many other high-quality coach conversions, the Sprinter PLV can be equipped with a wide range of amenities depending on the owner’s preferences.

The Xtreme is the latest type B coach from Xplorer Motor Homes. Xplorer, founded in 1967 and located in Brown City, Michigan (a town that lays claim to being the birthplace of the modern motorhome), specializes in custom-built coaches.

For 2004, Tiffin Motorhomes has added an attractive new floor plan to its popular Allegro Bus line: the new 40 QDP. Built on a Freightliner XC-Series chassis, this very comfortable 40-foot diesel pusher boasts striking graphics, four roomy slideouts, and plenty of power.

Summer is closing in, making it less likely you’ll want to spend your time cooking in a steamy galley. Here are recipes to help you beat the heat by cooking quicker, cooking earlier in the day, cooking outdoors, or not cooking at all.
Beef And Mushroom Salad
To make this cold, beefy, main-dish salad, grill extra steak the day before or purchase deli roast beef.

The evolution of the computer age and the exploding scope of the Internet have changed the face of business and personal communications. A high percentage of RV travelers have computers, cell phones, and e-mail capability.

Want to step aboard a historic ship? Many can be toured as parts of museums or historic displays. These 13 sites are most interesting and accessible.

Lucky the full-timer who can say, “My way is the highway!” Still, life on the road presents its own unique challenges. Here is a harvest of news and tips for the happily houseless.
Death and taxes
Of all the reasons full-timers choose one “home” state over another, inheritance taxes are usually the least important.

With Father’s Day coming up on June 20, we decided to find out whether other animal species have fathers that deserve to be honored. Granted, we didn’t discover any other fathers reading bedtime stories or playing catch with their young.

Friendship, good company, and good times are just a few of the benefits that the Midwest Coachmen chapter offers. And with 112 member families and 39 years under its belt, its members must be doing something right.
This group is one of the first three chapters of FMCA, which all received their official charter on April 10, 1965.

Kaye Holbrook, L10271, passed away on April 5, 2004. An FMCA member since 1973, she served as the association’s national secretary from 1977 to 1981 and as national senior vice president from 1981 to 1982.

Q: I have heard that not operating your air-conditioning unit can cause its seals to dry out and leak. I am planning on storing my coach for the better part of a year or more.

Dear Editor:
As an FMCA member and an attorney, I have been asked by several of my fellow RVers about whether Florida residents need a Class D license to drive a motorhome. Some of my friends were concerned when they received mixed advice on driver’s license requirements for RVers.

The membership database for the Family Motor Coach Association is a complex collection of information. But it’s quite organized, and the file management was developed based upon members’ lifestyles.

Finding a site for FMCA’s international conventions is a very difficult task. It is challenging enough to find a facility that can accommodate our needs physically.

A fantastic array of entertainment awaits those who roll into Redmond, Oregon, for FMCA’s 72nd International Convention, August 16 through 19, 2004, at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center. Members attending the “Cascade Mountain Magic” get-together will be treated to a musical voyage back to the 1960s where they’ll visit with a teen idol; party with legendary Las Vegas showroom stars; and gather for a relaxing sing-along with folk music pioneers.

Thousands of FMCA members will point their motorhomes in the direction of central Oregon this summer. They’ll be headed for fun at the association’s 72nd International Convention, to be held August 16, 17, 18, and 19 at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond.

The summer rally season is upon us! If you have not attended one of FMCA’s area rallies or international conventions during the warm-weather months or at any other time of year, you are missing out on some of the best experiences offered by the association.
If you have attended a rally or convention in the past, you likely have seen members of the Frustrated Maestros in our familiar “red and whites” performing music at various times during the event, but mainly during the breakfast hours. We hope you enjoy our music and, we promise, it is fun for us, too.
The original Frustrated Maestros chapter was founded by Bob Gobrecht, L14273, who attended his first FMCA international convention in Tampa, Florida, in 1978.

Beginning this month and continuing in the July and August issues, FMC will highlight each of the three major diesel engine manufacturers — Caterpillar, Cummins, and Detroit Diesel — that supply power plants for the ever-growing type A diesel-pusher motorhome market.