Allowing Towables Vote At Indianapolis In July

[rmatteucci]

I have just got done spending the better part of two hours reading the last two weeks of post on this thread.  I have to admit in a previous post I supported adding the towables in the FMCA but after reading the well thought out comments in which the writers passion about the FMCA was clear as well as their clear support for it being a motor home only organization was evident.   I got thinking back to when I joined the FMCA which is only about six years ago. A friend of mine told me about the FMCA and joining the FMCA was the first thing I did after I made my motorhome purchase and it was because it was for motor homes and it had a nice magazine.  I wasn't sure about the other benefits but I justified the joining as somewhat a magazine subscription. Regarding towables I have to admit my opinion was swayed by a conversation with Charlie but now I see my error and will be supporting that the FMCA stays motor home only.

I am happy that I am a member and don't plan on going anywhere soon.   I've been to one regional rally when I first joined and it wasn't what I expected and will say it wasn't bad but wasn't something I needed to do again soon.    I don't understand the importance of Rallies and what is so special with them.    Maybe it is just me I can't justify spending the time and money to travel a long distance to attend a meeting of members to just socialize.. I am still enjoying the "see America tour" and perhaps when that is done I will feel differently. I belong to one chapter (Amateur Radio) as I put an HF rig in my dingy.  So far I have been unsuccessful in checking into the FMCARC net.  For me the emphasis on rallies as a  priority of the organization is like holding on to the past.

With that said It is clear from the posts there are many issues facing the FMCA that need to be addressed and don't know if putting them in a list will do anything as quite frankly some are just opinions and some are perhaps not across the board issues.  However If I were classify them they all fall into the management  and recruitment categories.  The organization has to look at the business plan that it operates under and see if it's serving the organization as it should be.

[jleamont]

rlbarkleyii, I agree with you! Not only are we located within two local chapters, I contacted both several times and I NEVER got a single response, even after calling FMCA and posting it on the forums. I reached out to a chapter that almost touches our area but it happens to be in the area we frequently travel to and they responded. I was loosing hope up until that time. 

[wildebill308]

rmatteucci, jleamont,  I am extending official invitations to you to join the Red River Rovers. http://www.redriverrovers.com/

Bill

[manholt]

That's nice.  Unfortunately, they both live on the North East Coast and Joe only has weekends!  Triple R is primarily Texas, OK and AK.   You missed Barkley's point...Joe has reached across and had a great weekend with Keon and his family...that's what we need to do more off in our respective areas. 

[rmatteucci]

11 hours ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

rmatteucci, jleamont,  I am extending official invitations to you to join the Red River Rovers. http://www.redriverrovers.com/

Bill

Bill,

Thanks for the invite - a bit far to travel for now but in a year or two when the wife retires and we have more flexibility it will be something to consider.

Bob

[wildebill308]

4 hours ago, manholt said:

That's nice.  Unfortunately, they both live on the North East Coast and Joe only has weekends!  Triple R is primarily Texas, OK and AK.   You missed Barkley's point...Joe has reached across and had a great weekend with Keon and his family...that's what we need to do more off in our respective areas. 

No that is exactly my point. The local clubs and chapters ar not doing a good job of selling FMCA.

I don't know what happened to my post as I had rlbarkley name in there to. Pesky ruskies are hacking my post again. 

Joe and Keon are doing it right. All big things start with the first step.

Bob, Keep an eye on the website and if there is a rally and you are in the area you are welcome to attend if just to visit.

Bill

[manholt]

Bill, when it comes right down to it...do you see any Latinos, Orientals or Blacks on the FMCA EB or Committees?  How about your Chapter? South Central Area?  That's where the crux of the problem is!

As Barkley said, "a touchy subject"!

[jimnorm]

I am more and more firmly against Towables being included as FMCA will definitely no longer be what it is and may well cease to be. What would set us apart? As for Rallys, I do see, especially now that I have attended a couple, a need and a value. The Seminars and the direct connection to manufacturers of both coaches and accessories is priceless. Yes I can go to Hershey and see a lot, but that is a zoo, most are there to spend a day. They are neither owners nor likely owners. At a Rally such as FMCA holds I can get direct input about MY coach from the supplier, they likely have staff on hand to handle some issues and often can install new product while you are there. Dilute this with 50% towables and Coaches will lose out. How, there simply will not be enough space for the additional non MH related vendors.

 

[hayesfamily]

I miss talking to you rlbarkleyii ... I promise to call you later this week when I get to Delaware and we will catch up. Got some exciting stuff to tell you. 

More on that touchy subject, my friend Jim belongs to the Capital Area chapter or whatever the chapter is between Baltimore and DC and I reached out to them. I've heard nothing from them. I've sent several emails and I've got nothing.

Now, I looked at the website and I looked at the demographic and I'm going to be very honest with you, I got three strikes against me going and it's not necessarily A Prejudice issue, but let's face it it's going to be a little tough to relate.

When you look at the demographics of that club the three strikes I have against me

1. I am a black guy  

2. I am a young black guy with locs down his shoulders and I'm under 60

3. My coach is a late 90s, gas guzzling, home away from home

I'm not exactly sure how they would perceive a 38 year old black guy (actually I'm biracial but you'll never find that out until you get to know me) hip hop listening to, dreadlock, cowboy boot wearing, country boy with a 1999 gas Bounder ... it's so not there demographic but does that mean you never return my email? Absolutely not and even if they were accepting the fact that they never responded leaves me to assume things that may or may not be true. 

The only thing I can assume based on their actions and behavior is that their Club caters to somebody 75 years old with a diesel pusher that's relatively new built in the last ten to fifteen years period if you have a gas they might let you hang out with them but the conversation is going to be about how gas motorhomes take forever to go up a hill and how they got rid of their gas because they got tired of being passed by empty tractor trailers. I wish I were making this conversation up but this is exactly the conversation I witnessed from some FMCA members that belongs to this particular chapter. The only thing I had in common with these Rascals is that I prefer to Tow 4 down instead of a dolly ... but even that conversation was short-lived because they had a Blue Ox tow bar and I was subpar because I have a Demco. 

When I was in my early 20s I met a lady 15 years my senior and if she didn't teach me anything she taught me this one thing that I will never forget, it's never what you say or what you do but it is the appearance that makes the difference of whether or not you're guilty or whether you're not when it comes to the eyes of public opinion. 

Unfortunately when it comes to those subjects and those things that are outside of the box of stereotypical motorhome America ( old, white, grandma and grandpa, with two dogs that travel with them and they're huge Diesel Pusher 3 months out of the year) the local chapters unless they are specialty groups do not accommodate or make folks feel welcome. Towables or no towables FMCA has to correct that or they will lose a tremendous demographic that quite frankly is untouched. 

 

[jleamont]

Keon, I went through the same with the local chapters up here. I wasn't sure if the contact information was outdated or they just don't know how to use technology. I've camped with you and your family, I can say they are missing out! First State Travelers was the only one with open arms (not in my area but we love lower slower Delaware and Maryland). And the chapter president has a gas C. 

[rsbilledwards]

I will say this Very interesting...We live in Colorado and have heard nothing from our local chapter in the 7 years we have been in FMCA! We belong to Safari International and have been to two of their rallies, very good, tons of laughter. We have been to two FMCA rallies. The tech sessions informative and the vendors good. Do we make an annual trek to these events, no. I agree with Kenon, Joe, Barkley, the minority demographic is missing, much is missing. All you have to do is look to see what is missing. The general population is not out going unless they know the group. I am a joiner and meet people easily. I too am not in favor of the towable inclusion. It will not be good for the long haul.

Here is my take on the minority thing. We had an African American fellow move into the neighborhood 2 years ago. I was the first guy to introduce myself to him and invite him to join the homeowners association. He is retired a professional, attorney I believe.He has not come to any of the picnics or Christmas dinners, He has not embraced the neighborhood. Point I am trying to make is that it is a two way street, problems on both sides for what ever the reasons. For what it is worth I am Caucasian and my wife 1/2 Chinese, I get it.  

 

[isaaac1]

Same here, after joining FMCA last year, I attempted to contact a couple of the nearby groups via email, and also received no response.  Personally I suspect it is much more about out dated contact information,  people not checking emails, or having emails blocked by spam filters than it is about age, race, or fuel source.  Which is not to say those three things don't cause problem, just that they may not be the issue at hand.

[wayne77590]

Keon,

Come on down and break bread with us. Door is always open when we are in town. If I had a place here at the homestead to park you would be welcome to that also.  Many campgrounds in the area and some tourist attractions.  Come On Down!

[Tomas24]

We were pretty lucky I guess. Our chapter Penn Coachmen FMCA reached out to us right away. We got a phone call to see if we got all of the FMCA materials, if we had any questions, and if we would be attending the Centre Hall Grange Rally ( which we did attend and had a great time).  I thought all FMCA chapters did this sort of outreach. I'm sorry to read they do not.

The phone call really meant a lot to us.

 

[jleamont]

Tomas24, Penn is one of them that is local to me. Curious...what age bracket are you in?

[aztec7fan]

I drive an old 1989 southwind gas coach with peeling and faded graphics on the outside.  I plan on going to the Rocky Mountain Chapter rally in August up at Central city, CO.  I have a 16 year old son, and I'm only 51.  I'm curious to see what activities they will have and how I will be treated.

RSBILLEDWARDS, feel free to stop by as well.  It should be interesting.

I'm going because it's their 50th anniversary, and my dad was president of the chapter in '72 & '73.

Chris G.

F3508s

[desertdeals69]

On 6/18/2017 at 10:21 AM, manholt said:

Bill, when it comes right down to it...do you see any Latinos, Orientals or Blacks on the FMCA EB or Committees?  How about your Chapter? South Central Area?  That's where the crux of the problem is!

As Barkley said, "a touchy subject"!

I'm Chinese and I'm on the technical advisory committee.  I was one of the founders of the Colorado River Ramblers in 1981.

[manholt]

DD.  Glad to hear it.  Most I have met or seen have been WASP !  Keon is right, we all have a pre conceived notion about folks, especially these days.  Maybe I had blinders on, but I never had a racial issue in the 70's and 80's in FMCA or GS.  

[hayesfamily]

On 6/19/2017 at 11:25 AM, wayne77590 said:

Keon,

Come on down and break bread with us. Door is always open when we are in town. If I had a place here at the homestead to park you would be welcome to that also.  Many campgrounds in the area and some tourist attractions.  Come On Down!

Be careful what you ask for because we like to eat! LOL. 

[hermanmullins]

Keon,

How old are your kids? Have feed three boys through their teens.

When we finally got them out and on their own, we could then afford a motor home. 😁

Herman 

[manholt]

Keon.  Heard you make some really good fried fish!  Me too.  Linda and I, will run out of Fuel, before we run out of food.

[Tomas24]

On 19/6/2017 at 1:34 PM, jleamont said:

Tomas24, Penn is one of them that is local to me. Curious...what age bracket are you in?

I'm 60. Not retired yet but hopefully in two more years {fingers crossed}. 

[fagnaml]

In reply to Tomas24's comment about Chapters reaching out to new members, I have not been contacted by any Chapter since joining FMCA 20 months ago.  Herman and Carl were gracious to contact me by personal message to welcome me and give a quick info to the Lone Star Chapter and a Diesel club.  I reached out to the FMCA Energized group thinking their might be some interaction but even that group for us younger motorhome owners has offered very little communication.

The forum conversations have been fantastic and greatly appreciated!

 

[fagnaml]

Two weeks ago I joined the iRV2 forum just to see what an "all inclusive" RV forum looks like.  While forum functionality is not a good as FMCA's, the iRV2 structure is quite good as it groups discussions about motorhomes with a subset of manufactures (e.g. a Damon owner's group), travel trailers, fifth wheels, and other topics similar to FMCA.  The motorhome section of iRV2 has good advice from several forum members.  I looked at the travel trailer forum and joined some conversations given my experiences from my travel trailer ownership days (which many of us have "been there done that").  I didn't look at the fifth wheel section simply because I don't have experience with those RVs.

Having looked at iRV2 I now think an expanded FMCA including towables would not the demise of what FMCA currently offers.  If FMCA morphs into an iRV2 look alike, FMCA will have to justify FMCA  membership fees by clearly communicating how those fees result in cost savings or other benefits an iRV2 member can not achieve.

[desertdeals69]

I don't know what the big deal is about letting trailers in.  At Perry 2011 I was crew leader for family electric and I also parked a group of trailers.  There have been trailers since then.