The Red River Rovers chapter is a friendly and caring group open to all motorhome owners. In fact, fellow members are considered family. We gathered for the chapter’s 15th anniversary rally June 9-12, 2016, at Durant/Choctaw Casino KOA in Durant, Oklahoma.
What is the recipe for fun, relaxation, and camaraderie within an FMCA chapter? It’s easy to define. Variety is the one key that will keep existing and new members participating rally after rally. Mix it up! Plan new events! Liven up old events! Make sure all members have FUN.
Fifteen motorhomes from the Colorado Columbines chapter arrived on May 11, 2016, at the Holiday RV Park and Campground in North Platte, Nebraska, for the group’s first rally outside the Mountain time zone. What a rally it was!
The GMC Greater Midwest Classics chapter celebrated its 25th anniversary at a rally held July 7-10, 2016, at St. Cloud Campground & RV Park in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
A 50th wedding anniversary is cause for a grand celebration with friends and family. King and Jackie deBord, L16686, reached that milestone in 2002, and they held their golden jubilee during that year’s Northwest Area Rally in Moses Lake, Washington. It showed just how much FMCA meant to the couple.
Memorial Day is also a day for honoring military personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice. The holiday this year allowed my wife, Mary, and me to deepen our memories of those who died in service to the United States.
Don and Margaret Hoffman, owners of Hoffman Coach, joined FMCA in 1966 and became members of several chapters. But none of them were near the Hoffmans’ northwestern Pennsylvania business and home, so in 1975 Margaret led the way for a new chapter in western Pennsylvania.
The rain outside couldn't dampen the enthusiasm inside the clubhouse at the Wild Frontier RV Park in Ocala, Florida, on April 15, 2016. The Tailgators chapter was celebrating its 20-year anniversary.
It’s a cool, sun-filled morning in June at the Elkhart County 4H Fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana, as we sit and chat with Jane Roush, president of Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (GLAMA). We are at GLAMARAMA 2016, the area’s annual rally.
Members of the Orange Blossom Special chapter gathered March 10-14, 2016, at Lazydays RV Resort in Seffner, Florida, for an event dubbed the Reunion Rally.
FMCA’s Tucson Drifters chapter is a fun-loving group with more than 40 member families from Tucson, Arizona, and surrounding communities. Our membership footprint extends north to the Phoenix metropolitan area and south to Sierra Vista, Arizona. We recently concluded our rally season with our first photo contest.
Members of the Monaco America chapter enjoy traveling in their motorhomes, visiting new places, attending rallies, and meeting with our FMCA friends. But there’s another important aspect of this international chapter.
Wisconsin Voyagers members celebrated the chapter’s 25th anniversary when they gathered for their first rally of 2016. It was held May 23-27 at Harbour Village Campground & Water Park in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. A few charter chapter members attended.
In April 1991, a group of northern California FMCA members led by Bruce and Alice Ackerman formed a new FMCA chapter. Members elected Bruce chapter president, chose the name Sierra Ramblers, and decided to hold six rallies a year. From its start with 25 families, the chapter has grown to about 70 member families today.
An Alpine Coach NorCal chapter rally took an especially festive turn when hosts Les Kloppenburg and Genene Barrel invited chapter members to attend their wedding ceremony on the Sunday of the rally.
Longtime FMCA member Gordon Groene, F47166, passed away on March 21, 2016. The Groene byline has been familiar to Family Motor Coaching readers for decades.
For 29 years, members of the Heartland Execs. chapter have gathered to rally with friends. Last fall, our destination was Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.
Linda Kendall, F396891, begins reading FMC from cover to cover on the day it arrives. That is, if she can get it away from Mikey, who she described as “a stray dog that adopted me” 17 years ago.
Joining a new group can cause a tremendous amount of nervousness. Will I fit in? Will the group like me? Am I cool enough to hang out with such a crowd? For my husband, Ryan, and I and our two young daughters, attending our first FMCA Family Reunion & Motorhome Showcase this past March in Perry, Georgia, turned out to be as easy as eating a piece of pecan pie.
The River City Travelers chapter delivered dog food, leashes, cleaning products, and other supplies to Patriot Paws Service Dogs in November 2015. The chapter, based in the San Antonio, Texas, region, selected this organization as its 2015 Christmas project. RCT members collected supplies used in the care and training of the dogs and more than $500 in cash.
Motorhomes have been a part of my family’s life for 45 years. And over that span of time, we often mixed business with pleasure.
Motorhome owners who are not members of FMCA sometimes ask me why they should join. Maybe that can be answered by describing a recent rally of the Carolina Ramblers chapter. The location was special, but the rally itself was typical of those we have attended over the years.
A new FMCA chapter can get its start in any number of ways. This is the story of a chapter that owes its existence to fun and games. Well, one game in particular.
The Coaches for Christ – South Central chapter had a banner year in 2015. Our 10th anniversary rally was October 10-14, 2015, in Conroe, Texas.
In 1995, Bob and Cheryl Preul purchased a Rexhall motorhome and looked for a related club. They found none, so they contacted FMCA. The Rexhall International RV Club took off from there. To celebrate the chapter’s 20th anniversary, members gathered September 23-27, 2015, for a rally at Comstock Country RV Resort in Carson City, Nevada.
Swinging Golfers International, an FMCA chapter, was formed in 1985 by members devoted to playing golf at outstanding courses, traveling the country in their motorhomes, and socializing with people who share similar interests. The chapter’s 30th anniversary rally in September 2015 was held at the RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.
In September 2015, 30 members of the NorCal Rex RV Club gathered at Casa de Fruta RV Park in Hollister, California, to celebrate the chapter’s 15th anniversary.
The Friendship chapter can trace its beginnings to a question, one that a number of people were asking in the early 2000s: Why not hold a rally for the West Region of the Southeast Area?
Members of the Hokie Travelers celebrated the chapter’s 10th anniversary on September 6, 2015, on the campus of Virginia Tech, whose sports teams are nicknamed the Hokies. Hokie Travelers is one of several FMCA chapters created by sports fans of a major college or university.
While attending a large FMCA rally in northern Colorado in the summer of 1999, a group of RVers from the Colorado Springs and Monument areas met and decided to form a small, more intimate chapter closer to home. They called it the Pikes Peak Rollers.
Amid the bayous and crawfish, members of the GMC Motorhomes International chapter of FMCA gathered at the Patterson Civic Center and Kemper Williams Park in Patterson, Louisiana, from March 27 to April 2, 2015, to celebrate the unique motorhome and enjoy the hospitality of southern Louisiana. The chapter’s convention attracted more than 90 GMC motorhomes.
The Georgia Funseekers chapter of FMCA celebrated its 25th anniversary August 13-16, 2015, at the Charleston KOA in Ladson, South Carolina, a suburb of Charleston.
When the Gulf Coasters chapter holds a rally, it officially runs from Friday to Sunday, although members typically start arriving on Wednesday. Such was the case when the chapter held its 30th anniversary rally June 19-21, 2015, at Anchors Aweigh RV Resort in Foley, Alabama.
Anyone who has watched the popular “Survivor” reality TV show knows that the goal of participants is to outwit, outplay, and outlast the competition. But it was more about who could outsmart, out-laugh, and out-fun fellow competitors when the Vancouver Islanders chapter held a similar contest at its first rally of 2015.
Since 2012, annual fundraisers organized by the Rocky Mountain Country Coachers chapter have reaped $42,000 in donations for New Life Center, a domestic violence shelter in Goodyear, Arizona.
How do you make GLAMARAMA 2015 better than GLAMARAMA 2014? Start with a great base of volunteer leaders. Add a mix of new and returning volunteers. And then, demonstrate the importance of saying “thank you” to each rally attendee.
RVers gathered May 14-17, 2015, at the Fulton County Fairgrounds in Wauseon, Ohio, to celebrate those 50 years of fellowship, food, and fun.
Corbett Pool, L140306, enjoyed building things. As a volunteer with FMCA Chapter: Habitat for Humanity®, the retired Marine Corps colonel helped construct more than 30 houses around the country, and he served as team leader on most of those projects. But just as important was his gift for building relationships.
In October 2014, my husband and I took a road trip to Newmar’s headquarters in Nappannee, Indiana. We had been there before, so we looked forward to Newmar’s hospitality; excellent customer service; and the unique, friendly town of Nappannee. This time we came for an inspection and update of our coach.
Since 2009, the Professional R.V. Vendors chapter (PRVVC) has organized food drives at Family Reunions and regional rallies. As a result, tons of nonperishable food and thousands of dollars have been donated to food banks that serve needy people. Last year alone, the chapter collected more than a ton of food.
Our FMCA experience began in 2007 when we purchased our first motorhome, a 40-foot, 2008 Winnebago Tour. We joined FMCA without knowing much about the organization, except that it represented many people who were active RVers.
During their 60-year marriage, Tony and Geri Innocenti, F56315, rarely were apart. Whether at church, in their motorhome, at FMCA rallies and Family Reunions, or at home in Victoria, Texas, they were an inseparable pair.
The Suwannee Valley Vagabonds chapter marked its 25th anniversary with a rally January 9-11, 2015, at Oaks ’n’ Pines RV Park in Lake City, Florida.
When their son and daughter competed on the rodeo circuit, Geraldine “Geri” Ann Innocenti and her husband, Tony, F56315, traveled by motorhome to events mostly within an hour of their Victoria, Texas, home.
The Central Florida Roadrunners chapter gathered October 17-19, 2014, to celebrate its 40th anniversary at Travelers Rest RV Resort and Golf Course in Dade City, Florida. Twenty-five coaches attended.
The Lebanon Valley Expo Center & Fairgrounds in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was the setting for the Penn Coachmen chapter’s 45th anniversary rally July 17-20, 2014. Seventy-six members attended. Ron and Carol Becker served as rally masters.
While camp hosting at Foscue Creek Campground in Demopolis, Alabama, Tony and Marijke Schellenbach, F83597, have met many nice people. They can now count Ernest and Ruth Aulick among them.
The CHAI-Chavurat Yehudim chapter was formed at the 2004 FMCA Family Reunion in Albuquerque, New Mexico, shortly before the Jewish holiday of Passover. Since then, nine of the Jewish-oriented chapter’s rallies have centered on the celebration of Passover. These rallies have been held at full-hookup campgrounds all over the United States . . .
In 1974, in the midst of a worldwide gasoline shortage and spiraling inflation, a group of RV enthusiasts decided to organize and form FMCA’s Over The Hill chapter. Several versions circulate as to how the group decided on the name, but whatever the reasoning, the chapter has hurdled many hills and is still going strong 40 years later.
Jane Key, L23527, wife of former Rocky Mountain Area national vice president Perry Key, died on November 8, 2014.