isaaac1

I think the fact that the age for the "youth group" being set at under 60 just illustrates the issue that the organization is facing. Sure it may reach out to people in my age (late 40's) range, sure I enjoy museums, farmers markets, good food, my wife even dragged me to a cirque du soleil event last year and I sort of enjoyed it. However it leaves out those 30 somethings (+/- 10 years) that tend to enjoy higher levels of activity, things like horse back riding, rafting, off roading, hiking, etc. Heck, my wife and I even still enjoy some of the low impact varieties of the above, last summer we took a half day guided float trip down a river in Wyoming, and the year before we did a tour through an underground water filled cavern in the Yucatan. As to younger people not doing their own maintenance work, there is a big do it yourself movement going on in the country, much of it is fueled by the internet, with step by step how to videos available on almost any topic on youtube. Perhaps they have less interest in changing oil or engine maintenance, but may have more interest in installing new window blinds, or refinishing the cabinet work in their 15 year old motorhome so it does not look so "dated". I myself have don't 90% of the maintenance on my 15 year old motorhome since buying it last November, including installing new shock absorbers, LED headlights, .....

fagnaml, I agree with much of what you said (tailgatting is very popular here in Louisiana), sounds good other than the fact that I am just under 50 and have no interest in football. I think such venues could benefit from an FMCA recruiting effort, if only there were benefits to attract younger people. As to the local / regional / national event issue, this is part of the problem, younger people simply do not have the free time to travel to an event that is a thousand miles away from home. I feel I am on the cusp of seeing both sides of the issue, I am just under 50, semi-retired for the last 2 years, have a son about to graduate college, my wife still works full time.

Thanks for letting me know, my DW has some mobility issues that come and go so if she is having issues when it is time for the rally (and assuming she makes the trip, its too early to tell what her work related obligations will be) I may bring the electric golf cart that is on the family farm.

Thanks, On a side point are personal electric golf carts allowed, and do they require special licensing, proof of insurance, etc?

I joined the FMCA a few months ago after buying my first class A motorhome, and thanks to another message on the forum I just became aware of the six state south central area rally occurring about 200 miles away in Texarkana in October. I see in the registration page that golf carts are available to rent, and I was wondering if it is spread over a large enough area where these are necessary / desirable for reasonably able bodied individuals? thanks Ike

Manholt, where can I find more information about this rally in Texarkana? This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about in my message about needing a better events calendar feature, perhaps one with geographic boundaries so people can spot nearby events and not have to dig through dozens of minor events that are over a thousand miles away from home. p.s. my son is in college his mid 20's and should be graduating this fall or next spring, as to living at home......

Just to re state what I said in the lost thread, I have nothing against towable owners, however I am against opening FMCA to them, at least I am against offering them full membership, I have read industry statistics that say motorhomes account for only about 20% of the total RV market, I would assume the vast majority of the rest of RV's fall into the towable camp, and a few percent may be truck campers. If that is the case, and if the FMCA were to offer any features that would appeal to towable owners, they could quickly become the majority of the membership and then vote away the benefits and advocacy they deem to costly that only benefit minority who are motorhome owners.

As I mentioned in the above linked "where did the discussion go" thread, I am recent, "younger" member having yet to reach the age of 50 (by several months still), which I feel makes me old enough to see the benefits in some of the things the FMCA offers or tries to offer, yet young enough to see why many of these things don't appeal to the younger generation. The more I think about it, the big things the FMCA lacks as it is currently is timely information flow, and accessibility. This is not just limited to things like advice columns in magazines in the era of step by step youtube videos, but also the lack of the way other important information is conveyed, for example the times and locations for upcoming rallies and events. As I mentioned in my previous post I read through the magazine with an eye towards what appeals to the younger generation, and perhaps the thing that may have been glossed over is the underlying fact that the younger generations don't read special interest magazines, just look at any newstand (if you can find one), and you will see the only magazines on the shelves are the mass media drivel, and the few special interest magazines that are still around are a withered ghost of what they once were 20-30 years ago. Younger people, particularly those with school aged kids, have many demands on their time, they can't take off for a week or more to attend some national RV convention hundreds or thousands of miles away from home, particularly if it falls during the school year and is located no where near other popular tourist destinations. These youngsters, both the parents and the kids seem to have activities planned for every hour of every day, months and years ahead of time, as such to get event participation from them it is very important that events be announced as far ahead of time as possible, and that these events be more accessible and in locations where activities can be combined with things that are fun for kids, not just a list of places that sound like they are the destination for a school field trip.

What's wrong with 13, we drove it last summer, but not in an RV, seemed like a decent highway except for a couple of construction zones

If it is like mine it is a DC hour meter, so just match up the + and - wires for the right polarity they have simple push on spade connectors. I changed mine from a mechanical hour meter to an LCD meter because the tick tick tick was bothering me.

I joined mid December and mine came in end of last week.

Speaking of the eggs, mine came in a couple of days ago and I was disappointed to see that they are now flat printed instead of cast like the old eggs I have seen.