BillAdams

I tried. I could not find anything like you describe. Please post a link.

The problem is that "we" haven't done anything. Doing anything is not our job. The problem is that the folks who own this business have not done anything and now, as the funds are drying up, these business owners are looking to find a way to keep a dying business alive. The business is failing because the business owners have failed to keep up with the times and they now don't see any other path to profitability other than whoring themselves out to every RV owner completely wiping out the original intent of this business. Yes, Herman, I am still on topic. I really don't need any additional chastising from you.

The problem is that FMCA has lost 250,000 members (I'm guessing) in the same time frame. There was a time where some manufacturers were giving out free memberships and there were some reduced price offers, multi-year offers and life memberships offers (really needed to raise some cash) but nothing seems to being done to encourage younger members. There ARE young motorhome owners out there which would help drop the average age below 71. There is always a long list of members who made their final trip in each magazine and there are many who just don't see any value in the club any longer. Certainly if you have been to the Perry, GA rally once you are not really going to have any great desire to go again. However, year after year after year we have a rally in Perry in the Spring in the rain!

Welcome back! Glad to hear you are ready to get back in the saddle again. There are so many choices out there they no one can really narrow it down to a short list. Enjoy the hunt and if you find something that meets your needs, go for it! Are you looking for new or used?

They really are one in the same. What business would FMC have if not for FMCA? No matter. As I said above, this is not just a matter of allowing towable to join but a complete change to the FMCA organization. This would be a change from an organization for the sharing of information for and about motorized RV owners to just another group that will be homogenized to RV's of all types. This leaves me reading about popups and travel trailers just the same as the other organizations already do. The rallies would just be Good Sam rallies using a different moniker and I think that's just sad.

I wish we were out West as we would have a better chance of catching a glimpse of the upcoming event. We are in FL and waiting until the last minute in hopes the weather forecast improves. It there is even a 50/50 chance of clear weather then we will head N. to the Santee, SC area and overnight in a truck stop nearby. We have to be back in Boynton Beach, FL by the 23rd so we will head S. again the same afternoon.

I only point is that someone is getting paid to keep this business in business. I don't object to the fact that businessmen and women are getting paid to run the business. My objection is that those running this business have failed to keep this business profitable so they are now going to evolve the business into a completely different business unlike anything that FMCA has been dedicated to for the last 54 year. Therein lies the heading of this topic. Should FMCA allow.......It's not just allow, it's a complete overhaul of the business and business plan.

I really am not being argumentative. I was asking for clarification from the person who said this was not a for profit business but FMC is so I could better understand how this business operates. I don't plan to read the Constitution, Charter or by-laws but I am pretty sure someone got paid to write all of those documents. Why is discussing having paid people working on the behalf of FMCA taboo?

So, if we shut down FMC and get rid of all the paid employees, would FMCA continue to exist?

That's not what he told me last year when he did my carpets but we did not discuss either of those options.

Ernie does engineered hardwood and carpet only.

If you have never done so you are going to want to stop in Kearney, NE and visit The Great Platte River Road Archway http://archway.org/ as well as the Golden Spike Tower in N. Platte http://goldenspiketower.com to view the worlds largest rail yard. Yes, even Janet enjoyed the stop. Since you only have 3 weeks and it's going to take 7-10 days for the round trip you are going to want to get into Utah without too many other stops as there is lots to see and do. Obviously Arches and Canyonland in Moab are the top 2 and there is camping in the parks and in campgrounds all around the area. Depending upon how far you plan to go there is also Zion and Bryce Canyon as well as Hovenweep. So much to see and do. Do you have a must see on your list or known destination? Someone might be able to come up with specific camping recommendations.

I'm sorry but FMCA is just a business. If the folks running the business are not doing the job then you fire them and hire people who can do the job. It's not the job of the folks who represent the business for free as they travel around the Country to run the business. Someone up there is getting paid to run the business. It sounds like they are failing to keep up with the needs of the consumer. As with an business, it either needs to fix the problem or go away. I am sure the owners of this business have decided it's best to switch than fight (evolve) and will end up as just another humongous RV group like Good Sam or Escapee. This might be a good business move as they will have access to the 80% of RV owners that do not own a motorhome. The new business will no longer carry Family in the name and it won't say Motor Coach so FMCA will mean nothing more than FMCA. This is not our club as many have repeated again and again. It's a business and someone needs to start running it like one.

Isn't that an interesting statement. Can someone tell us what the average age of the Governing Board is?

That's what I did. I had Remco ship me a whole new driveshaft. The first was the wrong one but they shipped the right one. When I sold the van I sold it with the original driveshaft so the owner could either maintain the Remco option or remove it an re-install the original driveshaft.

If you did not have that problem with the factory driveshaft you should not be having that problem with a Remco Driveshaft either. Ever since Remco sold their business to Super Flo things have gone downhill. I think it took 2 tries to get the right driveshaft and then it took 3 installers (we were moving) to get the right disconnect and have it installed properly. It was very frustrating as we had to disconnect the driveshaft every time we moved and reconnect at each new destination. I must say I got pretty good at it but it was months before we had a working system.

Some of FMCA's issues with B's C's and Super C's is that there are enough Class A elitist that RV parks around the Country are becoming Class A ONLY or devote sections of the park to Class A rigs only. While this "should not be" a deterent to B's and C's it's pretty easy to make the leap as a Class B or C owner that FMCA is not for them either. It should not be that way but I you review the FMCA magazine I think you will like a lot more information pertaining to Class A coaches than you will on B's and C's. I guess the average 71 year old FMCA member tends to be driving a Class A.

Keep in mind that a document that is scanned and e-mailed is exactly the same as a faxed document. Many folks already carry a printer/scanner in their coach. I am lucky that I don't need to see a doctor so hopefully by the time I get old enough to need regular medical follow-up the doctors will be up-to-date enough to take my scanned e-mail. My current employer required everything be faxed from the office. I just refused and kept scanning and sending e-mails as this not only got the same result but I had a record of what was sent, when and to whom. They now have dropped all fax requirements and do everything via e-mail. The fax machine just spits out spam every now and then.

I can count on one hand how many faxes I have send and received in the last 12 month and I would have fingers left over. I use e-fax to receive faxes at no charge for up to 20 faxes per month and I let everyone I know that I can't send them a fax. Surprise, they all have e-mail access! Let's say they don't, however. This has not happened to me in the last 5 years, but let's still say they don't. It costs about $2 to have a fax sent from one of the many local options available. As an aside, your unlimited Verizon data plan is not unlimited "high speed". It's 22GB of 4G and then it's unlimited data at whatever speed Verizon deems to be available. I am glad that you found a solution that works for you but if I read this correctly, you paid $50 for hardware and another $25 for an adapter and then you still need a scanner to make it all work. I guess we live very different lives as I have been working and living in my RV for over 17 years and a fax machine is required pretty much never. If you do want the option to receive faxes then e-fax is a great option but I still get fax spam and that counts against my monthly limit as well. Strangely enough, I haven't exceeded 20 faxes/month in.....maybe ever!?

I took a polygraph test years ago and it showed that what I was saying was true. My employer did not care and fired me anyway. Imagine the reverse. You did nothing wrong but a polygraph examiner says you are lying. I learned my lesson early on and I am never going to put myself in a position where I have depend upon an machine and a "trained" operator to determine my fate.

Most important difference is that you can back up when towing a boat but you CANNOT backup when using a tow dolly. The rest is pretty much the same but each setup will be slightly different. Just make a couple of turns around an empty parking lot to get a feel for it.

Where did you get the 6163 number? Even if that's accurate, that means of the 40,000 RV 33,837 were NOT eligible to join FMCA. FMCA is just chasing the money.

I installed black out honeycomb cordless shades from Home Depot. Cut to what ever length you need and they push up and out of the way when not used and help block the heat during the day and totally block the light at night. I also keep sunshades on my windshield when parked for privacy and to reduce the heat coming in.

But he is not talking about towing a 25' box trailer or towing a smart car. He was just asking about towing a car on a dolly. Knowing the RV type is good but likely not necessary to answer the question. It's a pretty vague question so some additional details about what he would like to know would be helpful.

Swing wide when turning right......Just a bit though as it's not really difficult at all. Left turns should be no issues. You cannot back up!