RV Adventures

We are about to attempt another first, an RV Rally.  Specifically, the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Glamarama 2014.  We joined FMCA primarily as a way to learn more, they have a host of resources.  We found this rally being held in Goshen, Indiana was the only one we could attend in the next 4 months, so we went for it.

We left home on Monday at 6:00 p.m. for the 8 hour drive.  No, we did not drive the whole way.  We decided to try staying in a truck stop for the first time!  At about 9:00 p.m. we stopped at a Flying J in Ashtabula, Ohio.  We kept the slide-out in, chilled a bit, and then went to bed and slept wonderfully (amazing enough!).

We were up at 6:00 the next morning and hit the road to Indiana.  The ride was uneventful.  Along the way we had a group of motorcycles with strange license plates pass us.  It wasn’t until the last cycle passed that we finally identified where they were from.  New Zealand!  All we can figure is they shipped their bikes over here or bought them here.

Since we were driving right by the ShowHauler factory, we pulled in and paid them a visit. We walked out with a manual for our water pump and new cabinet latches for the doors that won’t stay shut when rattling and rolling down the highway.

Finally, it was time to arrive at the RV Rally.  We saw a number of coaches with the FMCA medallions on the back (ours is still in the shipping envelope).  It’s the black oval near the top of the ladder.

Follow that coach!

Arriving at the Elkhart 4H Fairgrouds, we were treated to a display of what a bunch of volunteers can do.  Imagine trying to park 545 RVs in a couple of days and maintain some semlance of order.  These people do it!  We had to follow a golf cart to get to our camping location.

We are in the “infield”, which means the grassy area inside the horse track.  Yes, there are horses going around the track at times.  But we got our camp set up.  Just us and hundreds of our new BFF’s.

Can you spot “Blue” in the crowd? It’s there.

We had one hiccup when getting set up.  The sites we are on are 30 amp electric but our RV is set up for 50 amps.  While I was standing in line to get our rally information, Jim called me from Blue to say we didn’t have a 50 to 30 convertor (also called a dog bone…see the picture below).  I threw myself on the mercy of the people behind the registration table and explained our problem.  A woman immediately picked up her phone, called her husband, and within 15 minutes Ross shows up in his golf cart with a selection of dog bones.  He drove me back to the site, figured out what we needed, lent us his extra, and we were in business.  Thanks Ross and Melanie!  When the vendors are here on Thursday, we’ll buy one of our own and return theirs.

This is a dog bone! If we want air conditioning without running the generator, this is a MUST HAVE.

We wandered around the fairground last night and was amazed how quiet it was.  Sorry Mom, but it reminded me of Green Valley, Arizona, where they “roll up the sidewalks” at 6:00 every night.  The place was dead.  But then we happened upon these people, the Wynns from Gone with the Wynns…

the Wynns were easy to spot because of the custom graphics on their coach.

and their camping buddies, the Techomadia’s in their custom bus.

Check out that converted bus.

These pictures are ones I scraped off their websites.  We’ve been following the Wynns via their blogs and videos, so I recognized their coach right off.  I didn’t want to be a groupie, but we introduced ourselves to them and the Technomadia’s and had a very geeky 15 minute conversation about Internet on the road, WiFi boosters, cell phone boosters, best TV antennas, etc.  We left only because we didn’t want to monopolize their evening!

Also while wandering around, Jim found 2 people that have the braking system he’s looking for to put in our Jeep for when we tow it.  Bingo!  The whole goal for the rally was accomplished before the rally even started.

So now it’s Wednesday morning.  More coaches are arriving…Jim’s been outside twice to check out the action.  Here’s the view from the dinette.

Rain rain, go away.

The rain is abating.  It’s time to go out, scope out the seminars (and craft classes!) and see what is what.  More to come from Goshen!