My husband and I are fairly new to FMCA (just joined in early 2017) and I recently became a bit confused. We own a 2015 43' fifth wheel and when I entered all of our relevant information (not realizing this club was exclusive to motor coach owners, rather thinking it had more motor coach-centric content) our membership was accepted without any issues. I thought it would be a good membership to try out since our fifth-wheel is so long/large (with the back patio extended, it needs about 54') that we look for campgrounds that tend to support the larger motor coaches and information on routes, gatherings, etc. that are friendly for larger rigs seemed like something valuable for us to explore.
I am 40, my husband is 38 and I have to say that I have not seen a very welcoming community for anyone other than motor coach owners and the overwhelming tone seems to be that anyone who doesn't own a motor coach is beneath the members here and that allowing towables into the community will somehow "dirty" the ranks. I have seen some valid arguments that it will be "just like any other club" but there are many ways to differentiate yourselves without washing your hands of a huge RVing community who happen to have chosen a different type of RV. We currently belong to THREE clubs because each has it's own advantages. And the communities are all varying. Xscapers is great for us younger RVers who love traveling and RVing and who sometimes need to work from the road. Good Sam has lots of great discounts (especially at some of our favorite destinations) and we were excited in finding out what FMCA's members are all about and what great RVing information we might uncover. Despite having "only" a towable, we are thinking about the future and love looking at motor coaches when we visit the RV shows, to think about what our next RV may be and what is best for us and our RVing preferences. In fact, a local RV show is where I heard about FMCA.
I only recently realized with the forum talk lately (which I just discovered) and after receiving our FMCA magazine today and seeing the vote (which drove me to this thread because I realized what it meant), that apparently we aren't supposed to be allowed to have a membership. Yup, I probably didn't read all of the fine print when I signed up online. And I realize I'll probably get booted after posting this. But don't worry, I will honor what FMCA is, now that I know, and not submit a vote since we somehow slipped in and I now know it's a motor coach owners only club.
But I honestly don't think we would be renewing our membership after this year anyway because of what I'm seeing here in the forums and what it says about the community of FMCA. I just don't understand the disdain this club has for towables. Is it because they aren't all "nice" enough for you? Do you think that riff-raff own towables? Does having an RV with an engine mean someone is somehow more worthy of meeting? I have seen arguments about how people who have towables don't seem to know how to handle them and create risk at events. That isn't what I've experienced at any of the campgrounds we visit, not at all. And we go to some very nice campgrounds here in our home state of Florida. In fact, we favor those that tend to be more populated with motor coaches because we don't have children and we tend to like a quieter camping experience, when it can be had. And as noted above, we have a very large fifth wheel and while my husband tows around semi trailers all day for his job and has no issues maneuvering that beast in ANY campground, I like to look for the campgrounds with larger sites that can accommodate the larger motor coaches. (By the way, if you are looking for a recommendation of some great Florida campgrounds, Beverly Beach Camptown and Bluewater Key are two of our favorites, though I'm sure you all already know about both of these great locations).
Even if I belonged to a club that exclusively catered it's content, features, gatherings and deals for towable owners, I would be happy to see that community contain a great mix of RVers. We've made some truly lovely friends in our camping experiences with both motor coach owners, van owners, Super C owners, towable owners and yes, even the apparently dreaded tent campers (I am honestly not surprised someone hasn't referred to them as dirty hippies at this point)!
Anyway, I've just been very disappointed to read so many of the comments here. Not all were dismissive and condescending, of course. But there are enough that I would feel a bit ashamed of the community at large, at least the way it's being represented here. And I apologize for somehow slipping through the cracks and sullying the ranks with our fifth wheel. Moderators, please feel free to report me for having an apparently illicit membership. I do feel like we've found some great articles and seen some great features in the magazine and on the site, so I don't regret my membership fee, even if I don't get the full year out of it.
Good luck everyone. No matter which way the vote goes, I would recommend maybe not advertising the forum to new members. It definitely isn't the side of the FMCA that you want your new members to see.
