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My wife, Jeri, and I are avid sports fans, especially when it comes to Oklahoma University Sooners football. We discovered back in the early 1970s that a fun way to use our motorhome was to take it to the home games.

I’m a history buff. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a history scholar.

Trip planning has become much easier in recent years with so many more resources available to assist in the process. By using this wealth of information, travelers can turn a humdrum trip into an exciting adventure.

Like an island in a sea of new, state-of-the-art motorhomes, trailers, and fifth-wheels, David Woodworth’s RV was quite conspicuous at a recent RV show in St. Louis, Missouri.

Many RVers toy with the idea of visiting the Canadian Maritime Provinces, but they never seem to get around to it. I speak from experience.

It might seem a little unusual that thousands of visitors a year want to spend time on an island that has approximately 500 year-round residents (not to mention 500 or so horses), and see a famous hotel that originally was slapped together and ready for occupancy in just 90 days. But that is exactly what happens at Mackinac Island, situated in the Straits of Mackinac between the shores of Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas.
From May through October, crowds of visitors step off ferryboats onto this Victorian island for a day of fun or an even longer stay in a refreshing, old-fashioned world of yesteryear.

The Federal Department of Transportation requires that certain standardized information be molded into the sidewall of all passenger car and truck tires. Reading this information is a bit of a challenge, as some of the numbers and letters are self-explanatory but others are in code for conservation of space.

Most motorhome travel involves spending time on the highway, driving from city to city in between your campground stops. But the Inside Passage in Alaska is made up of islands and towns that can be reached only by airplane or boat.

Have you ever wished you’d lived in the gold rush era of the 1800s? Have you wanted to feel the thrill of picking nuggets of gold out of a rushing stream? Have you envied men and women who grabbed their own destiny and controlled it, instead of waiting for the years of Social Security and Medicare to “enjoy” life? Is there something hypnotic about the words, “Gold, gold, gold?”
Of course, the naysayers and the dream crushers are quick to remind us that not everyone got rich during the gold rush days of the American West. In fact, very few people did.

With the word “domestic” as its genesis, Dometic’s name was born in a brainstorming session at Electrolux (at the time, a Swedish corporation) in the 1960s. Originally set up as a U.S.

On the whole, I’d have to say that we RVers are by nature a finicky lot. We keep our rolling homes neat, clean, and running right.

According to product literature from Dieselcraft Fluid Engineering, diesel fuel contamination often can lead to engine smoke, loss of power, carbon buildup, and premature engine failure. To help improve the quality of the diesel fuel in your fuel system before it reaches the fuel pump, the company has developed the Dieselcraft Fuel Stabilizer.
This nonadditive, prefilter stabilizer is installed between the fuel tank and the primary fuel filter and uses a magnetic field inside the chamber to induce a small electric charge into the fuel, which is said to alter the molecular bond of the fuel.

Tiffin Motorhomes, C1717, reached a major production milestone on February 24, 2005, when the 50,000th Tiffin motorhome rolled off the line. More than 300 suppliers, customers, and employees cheered as the 2005 Allegro Bus was presented.

Although its name may evoke visions of a warm Baja beach with soft zephyrs stirring the palms, my wife, Saraine, and I took a Tropi-Cal motorhome in the opposite direction, north to Yellowstone National Park, with three passengers. A 2,700-mile trek from Mesa, Arizona, to Wyoming and the nation’s first national park, and then on to Las Vegas, Nevada, gave me an all-around experience in this coach.

Shoe bag used as storage bag to conserve space in motorhomeIn an effort to conserve space in the motorhome, we found it useful to hang a shoe bag on the outside of our bathroom door. In the pockets we place items that we need during our travels, such as pens, pencils, scissors, staplers, baggies, and other goodies.
John & Alice Ann Sundquist, F195423
Houston, Texas

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Indoor Clothes Hanger
After doing laundry, my wife likes to hang some of our clothing on hangers to finish drying.

Commercial mixes offer masterful shortcuts in the galley. But if you have allergies or other dietary concerns, you can make your own.

Have you ever seen a snowy owl in the wild? We haven’t; we try to stay out of the snow. We wouldn’t count it among our “life” birds, but we have seen one on the silver screen in the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Depending on your source of information, New Mexico has more than 150 ghost towns, or 60, or maybe 50. The state’s most famous “ghosts” are, of course, the few that are well publicized and cater to tourists.

Occasionally we learn that an FMCA member has successfully dealt with and resolved a motorhome parking rights problem. These situations make good object lessons for the rest of us.

If you visit an Olympic Snowbirds rally, expect to have such a great time that you find yourself joining the chapter before the weekend is over. At least that’s what most guests end up doing, according to chapter president Denny Nelson, F205137.

First of all, you don’t have to be an FMCA executive or a full-timer to become a rally host. All you really need to do is to step forward and say, “I will,” which really means, “We will.” And if your wife is a school secretary, and the “I will” rally is scheduled near the end of the school year, well, you are really brave.

If you check the Contents page for the location of the “Technical Inquiries” column in the April 2005 issue of FMC magazine, you won’t find it listed. No, we’re not playing an April Fools’ joke on readers.

The e-mail address provided for Spatial Data Sciences Inc. (SDSI), the company that provides free trip routing for FMCA members, was incorrect as listed in the February 2005 “FMCA.com” column (page 120).

Every four years FMCA sends out a Membership Profile Questionnaire, or survey, to a random sample of members in order to collect statistical information to place in the FMCA Media Planner. FMCA uses the Media Planner to attract advertisers and commercial business based upon the demographics of FMCA members and other information about the membership.
Each time the survey is performed, we try to share the highlights of the responses with our members through this column.

As I write my article this month, I am at home in Oklahoma for a few days. My wife, Jeri, and I just returned from the Western Area Rally in Indio, California, which took place January 12 through 16.

Need a new theme for your next trip to or through Georgia? The siren song of the mighty Chattahoochee River has bidden travelers since ancient times. It’s no less beguiling today, a shining stream that divides most of Georgia from Alabama and widens into Lake Seminole, one of the best fishing lakes in the South.
Let’s look at a map.

Virginians call it “the Peninsula.” Outsiders may know the large coastal expanse of land that is bordered by the York River to the north, the Chesapeake Bay to the east, and the James River to the west, as the home of Newport News.
Either way, it’s an area with a fascinating history. A few examples: the Jamestown settlement and the surrounding woodlands were home to Captain John Smith and the legendary princess Pocahontas.

FMCA members have an opportunity to belong to one or more of the association’s 480-plus chapters. In fact, some folks have told me that they believe the real fellowship in FMCA lies within these groups.

We all have heard stories about the coach owner who did all the maintenance per the recommended schedule, watched the temperature gauges, and yet the engine blew with disastrous results. How can this be? Could it possibly be a defective part, improperly torqued bolts, or manufacturing contamination? Who knows, but it happens.

One normally wouldn’t expect to explore a swamp without a canoe or a boat, but the fascinating facets of the mysterious Okefenokee can be sampled during a daylong circle tour of Georgia’s gigantic, nationally famous swampland.
Good roads, major entry points, and nearby campgrounds promise a pleasant journey for motorhomers. It’s a moving armchair exploration, certainly not difficult, and yields an interesting view of what the area’s first inhabitants called the “land of the trembling earth.”
The entire Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge sprawls across approximately 396,000 acres of southeastern Georgia and is administered by the U.S.

In 2002 Mark and Jocelyn Fechner, founders and owners of American Carriage Originals, C7791, of Tehachapi, California, relocated their coach conversion business from a 7,800-square-foot production facility to a new multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art complex. The new facility sits on five acres; houses 28,000 square feet of indoor bays, shops, and office space; and includes five full-hookup sites for visiting coach owners.

Olympia, Washington, is not as well known as Seattle, but it has come a long way since the first settlers arrived there. The town, which wraps around Budd Inlet at the south end of Puget Sound, was called Smithfield back in the 1840s.

We could never figure out a good place to keep our toothbrushes when traveling in our motorhome. We were in a home-improvement store one day and found some wire guides with adhesive tape on the back.

Spec Tools’ Twin-Action Box WrenchSpec Tools’ Twin-Action Box Wrench is designed to work where other wrenches can’t, thanks to its squeeze-handle turning action, which eliminates the need for swing room when working in tight places. Using a patented, reversible mechanism, the wrench turns 45 degrees with each squeeze of the nonslip, rubber-gripped handle.
The tool also works as a conventional box wrench and as a box ratchet, making it possible to access nuts on long bolts that even the deepest sockets can’t reach.
The Twin-Action Box Wrench comes with 10 metric/SAE inserts; three low-profile metric/SAE sockets; four screwdriver bits (two slotted and two Phillips); and a 3/8-inch adapter that fits any 3/8-inch socket, extension, or adapter.

Gulf Stream Coach Inc., C2697, based in Nappanee, Indiana, has added another floor plan to its lineup of luxury motorhomes. The 2006 Friendship G7 8387 is a 38-foot, triple-slideout coach built on a Freightliner chassis that comes standard with a 350-horsepower Caterpillar engine, a six-speed Allison transmission, and a full air-ride suspension.

When a 2005 Mandalay arrived on the West Coast this past November, I jumped at the chance to take my turn behind the wheel of this luxurious, diesel-powered motorhome. For a week, the 41-foot coach — model 40B — took me across a broad range of driving scenarios and Southern California landscapes.

Stew is a wonderful word that summons memories of grandmother’s kitchen and the taste of slow-cooked meals steeped in delightful flavors. Whether you speed up the cooking process in a pressure cooker, slow it down in a crock pot, or simmer everything on the stove until you can stick a fork in it, here are some easy, one-pot meals to try on your next trip.
Chicken Stew
This recipe feeds four but it easily can be multiplied or divided to feed one, two, or a crowd.

The Underground Railroad refers to the efforts of free citizens to aid individuals, and sometimes families, in escaping from slavery prior to and during the Civil War. The “railroad” provided an opportunity for sympathetic white Americans to play a role in resisting slavery and in providing freedom for all.
In August of 2004, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in Cincinnati, Ohio, to help educate people about this incredible operation.

Barrier islands are found on coastlines all over the world. In the United States, you won’t see them along the rocky coast of the Pacific Ocean, but they’re very common along the Atlantic coastline from New England down to the southern tip of Florida, and along the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.
Why barrier islands — also known as barrier spits — exist is still debatable, but the general agreement seems to be that they were formed approximately 18,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age.

During the summer of 1967 five couples with motor coaches gathered on weekends to camp at the lakes in Kansas. They decided to form a club and invited others to join.

“Participate, volunteer — and have fun!” was the challenge issued by charter member John R. Kelley, L6562, to fellow chapter members and guests attending the Heartland Travelers’ 15th anniversary rally October 15, 16, and 17, 2004, at Walnut Creek Lake and Recreation Area near Omaha, Nebraska.

Q: In the July 2004 issue of FMC in the “Cummins: Built-In Confidence” story (page 73) it is stated that the oil change interval is “15,000 miles or one year.” I hope you are right, but my Cummins operation and maintenance manual (pages 2 through 8) calls for the oil and filters to be changed every 6,000 miles or six months for my 500-horsepower ISM engine. Cummins’ policy will make me think hard before buying another one.

The “Fuel Price Survey” in the January 2005 issue (page 64) listed the tax for diesel fuel in Oregon as .001. The correct tax should be .240.

FMCA is continually striving to encourage and entice its members to join a chapter. It is frequently said that the true enjoyment of FMCA is experienced through chapter membership.
I have often compared FMCA chapter membership with belonging to a family, and chapter rallies to family reunions.

The Governing Board of the Family Motor Coach Association recently passed several bylaws amendments. Changes to Article VIII of the FMCA Bylaws specifically impact Executive Board member term lengths.
The Executive Board consists of the national president, senior vice president, secretary, treasurer, and the 10 area vice presidents, as well as the immediate past president.

I could hear the boom of thunder off in the distance as my wife, Teri, shook my shoulder. “Honey, wake up!” she whispered tersely.

Islands, islands everywhere. The East Coast of the United States has a bounty of small islands waiting to be explored.

Ask most Americans if they have ever been to Jacksonville, Florida, and they are likely to respond, “Well, I’ve driven through it.” Perhaps that perception will change as the city hosts the National Football League’s Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6. More people will undoubtedly discover that Jacksonville deserves to be recognized as a destination in its own right.
Jacksonville covers 759 square miles in northeast Florida.

In our travels we often encounter fellow RVers who pine for a new motorhome, with dreams of varying features not present in their existing traveling abodes.
Mine is a case in point. Fifteen years ago I purchased a 1972 Newell motorhome whose size and basic layout satisfied our needs.

When you own a company that builds fine log homes, you must have skilled craftsmen in your employ. And if you also own a motor coach, it makes perfect sense to have those craftsmen customize it in a like manner.