Anyone going to FMCA Convention in Redmond, OR in August?

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We'll be there this afternoon.  BUT the Red Hat tea is from 3:00-4:00, so hopefully we'll have a non-snack happy hour before reheating our leftovers for a later dinner.  ;)  I should think we'll have more than enough time for both.  Is anyone else going to the tea?

ArdraF
 
Official numbers published this morning in the Redmond Rocks! News.

Family coaches - 2,008
Commercial coaches - 274
Total coaches - 2,282

It's a far cry from the 6,000+ a few years back, but at least it's still happening!  We also have a lot of First Timers and I saw quite a few people with day visitor badges.

ArdraF
 
I'll look for them.  Sounds good to me!  I was born without Whetstone's pancake talent.  Mine never quite turn out right.

Margi
 
ArdraF said:
It's a far cry from the 6,000+ a few years back, but at least it's still happening!  We also have a lot of First Timers and I saw quite a few people with day visitor badges.

Not only are FMCA events still happening, our friends purchased a "New to them Motorhome." So some folks are still buying!

They spent yesterday transferring stuff from one rig to another.  Terry helped them with the  new AV system and we drooled over the roominess of 4 slides. Sighhhhhhhhhhh.
Betty
 
Thank you to  Marsha and Tim for hosting an " overleft pot luck" at their rig this afternoon.  What an interesting array of foods.  Some I did recognize from  earlier happy hours  but most was new stuff.  Russ' glop was delicious. Marsha " cheated " and went to store for fried chicken! I loved the appetizer with cream cheese and asked who was the good cook...seems Trader Joes was the  supplier! Good weather makes SUCH a big difference at a rally.  We circled in the shade of the  neighboring  rigs and  ate and ate and then the circles migrated into pink and blue groups.  Thank you to Ray for  answering my call for him to move to the Other circle!

The girls circle did an introduction and after as many as  15 years of knowing  these wonderful women,  I learned new things  about them as we created a venue of sharing. Beth won for most interesting details.  You had to be there to "get this."

We had two new women who were neighbors of  our RVForum members and  joined us (for the  free food ? ? ?)  Nice folks who we hope we did not scare off.  We gave them the info on  RVForum.net


As some of you know Terry and I  have attended many rallies.  This one was among the best.  Sad for FMCA and our  struggling economy this rally was "small." But  it fit my needs better with fewer lines, shorter distances to the events and not  so crowded at the vendor  halls. The near perfect weather added to the fun.  So much better than happy hours in the snow and wind.

I'm thinking that Shirley who started this original post enjoyed the Rally and  made some new Forum friends.  She and Mike are delightful and  we know their  tribulations are over and the RV fun begins. We  will see them in Tuscon in Dec / Jan.
As we say our sad good byes to friends,  we look forward to the next meeting we will have out there on the road!
 
Betty, I couldn't have said it better.  It was great seeing everyone and meeting some new friends.  Our Motown entertainment tonight was great so it was a fitting ending to a good rally.

Two of our neighbors also bought brand new Tiffins.  The one next door is a Phaeton.  They were delivered while we were at the evening entertainment so both couples will be up most of the night doing the transfers.  With all the dust it's nice that someone put big outdoor carpets between their old and new rigs so they can try to keep them clean for at least a little while.

ArdraF
 
Our neighbors also bought a brand new Monaco. The wife said they have 22 years worth of stuff to move into the new coach, along with a huge ham radio antanna. I paniced a little when a salesman we had talked to drove up and parked that new coach next to us....was afraid Mike had bought us a new coach !!

Wendy
 
We sure enjoyed the get together, especially since Tim and I felt like we had not gotten in good visits with everyone.  It was so great to see folks again and catch up. 

The MoTown show was terrific and a good ending to the Rally.

Tomorrow we head to La Pine State Park for a few days to visit with old friends from 30 some years ago.

Marsha~

 
First thing  in the morning Russ and Terry will head to breakfast  at the Original House  of Pancakes.  Then we will caravan to our favorite boon docking spot near the John Day Dam.  Then I am off to our place in Idaho.  I have  been on the road too long.
Betty
 
Wow, Marlene and I missed a great finale. Sorry we couldn't make it. This has been a great Convention and having such large turnouts at our happy hours was so enjoyable.

We're sitting around now waiting for our DirecTV guy to see if we have a problem with our new receiver. Once he's done, we have a long 26 mile drive to Prineville to join up with a new (to us) FMCA chapter called 3-Ts. To dump, To do laundry, To rest ;) . Then a leisurely drive back home where we have to be right after Labor Day. Boy this summer is flying by.

 
We had a great time. Left the fairgrounds, saw the long, long line for the dump in Redmond so kept going to the city campground in Sisters where we only had to wait behind one other coach (5 more pulled in behind us), $5 to use the dump if you're not camping there.

Now parked at Richardson Park, west of Eugene, and will get 6 new tires tomorrow morning - decided it was cheaper than buying a new coach, although there were several we liked and it was close, very close.

Fixing nachos while we watch the Denver-Cincinnati game - Go Broncos !!

Wendy
 
Had a great time. Pleasant drive N to John Day Dam. Hot day, about 95F, but A/Cs took care of it and now have windows open at 11PM.

Saw 2 puzzles:
1- a full size deer-like critter with fawn type spots in a fenced in area next to a place with a display of many old tractors.

2-a crop of odd looking plants about 2-3 ft tall, bushy, with many ball shaped 4-6 inch flower clusters.
 
Wow!  What a great week!  Still can't believe how fantastic everything - and everyone - was!  We did have a problem though - damn, I thought we were over those!  We got to the RV park last night and went to unhook the toad and it was dead!  We just can't think of anything we did wrong - EXCEPT, that I was checking NEBA (neutral, emergency brake off, accessories) and Mike asked if the clock was always on.  Well, I couldn't remember.  So, I turned the key just ever so gently to the left to shut off the LED display of the clock.  Also, we locked the doors with the key remote.  Never locked it before, but heard at the convention that we should, so we did.  I'll repeat this in the proper category but wanted you to know that we did have a problem and hopefully you can help us once again with your experience.  I know one of you has a Saturn Vue toad but can't remember who.

Anyway, thanks for the great happy hours, and including us in the potluck and just generally welcoming us.  We felt the "physical" arms around us that we have only felt verbally for the last year.  Thanks again.
 
Mike and Shirley,

We have a 2006 Vue (V6, AWD). Saturn calls for the 30amp fuse to be pulled. It runs most of the accessories and things you can't turn off. We don't tow the Saturn anymore, but when we did I didn't pull the fuse for short trips (2 to 3 hours) but always did for longer trips. If I still towed the Saturn I would put a switch in the circuit because on days you travel for more than 7 hours you are supposed to run the engine and transmission in drive and reverse for x(?) minutes. It was a pain to put in the fuse, run the engine and then pull the fuse.

If you left the fuse in an any accessories on it could run the battery down quickly.

Glad you enjoyed the rally. Hope to see you next winter.

ken

 
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