large RV facility. The lodge itself is very nice and has a fun bar with very friendly people. Dinner was provided in the Lodge each night of the rally and on Wednesday night they had a singer entertain after dinner. On Thursday a number of the rally attendees went on a "field trip" to the Rexhall motorhome plant which is located in Lancaster. It was a very interesting trip. They are a small company, only producing a few coaches per week. They have a number of coaches which have full-length wall slides on both sides of the coach. The slides are very unique and really open up the inside of the coach. At the current time they are only producing smaller coaches, in the 34 to 37 foot range.Thursday night was fish and chips night and the Lodge was absolutely packed. It seems that everyone in Lancaster comes to the Elks on Thursday night for the fish and chips. It was quite good. On Saturday night I volunteered to set up the karaoke equipment and we had a really good time. There were about five people who chose to sing and most were pretty good. The Lodge's bar manager, Bobby came in and sang a couple songs, including one very risque version of "My Way", which he sang to Jay Blumenthal, one of the area Vice-Presidents for FMCA. Bobby was an entertainer in Vegas many years ago and has a great voice and stage presence.
We didn't do a lot during the day while in Lancaster. Jackie played cards a couple of the days and
the rest was pretty much rest and relaxation except for the trip to the motorhome factory. We did go out to eat lunch a couple of times and found an excellent little Mexican restaurant in downtown Lancaster.On Sunday we undertook the grueling five mile drive from the Elks Lodge to the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds where the Monaco International Chapter rally was being held. We got settled in quite quickly as the Monaco Chapter volunteers in charge of parking really had their act together. There was nothing much going on at the rally on Sunday or Monday so we were able to relax a little bit. The rally started on Tuesday and since we had volunteered to be mentors we had to start at 8:00 a.m.! The mentor program pairs up volunteers with first time attendees at Monaco International rallies so that they feel welcomed. The mentors also let them know about the activities and services that are available at the rallies. We had some very nice mentors at our first Monaco rally in Greensboro, NC, and we wanted to give back to the program.
Our first timers were a fairly young couple from Southern California who were attending with the wife's parents and some other friends. They were nice folks, but they were having a real tough time with major problems on their new Camelot coach. They were so bitter over the problems they were having with Monaco that they were having a little trouble enjoying the rally.
As with all Monaco International rallies, the three nights of the actual rally featured an open bar, catered dinners and great entertainment. Tuesday night's entertainers were the Marlins, a 50's-60's group that was terrific. The audience was dancing in the aisles most of the evening. The second night's entertainment was a comic who was pretty good. The third night was a country group and we left early because they were only so-so.
Unfortunately, the weather for most of the Monaco rally was terrible. It rained the first couple days, and for the rest of the rally it was cold and very windy. With daytime temps in the low 50's and 25 mph winds, it was very uncomfortable to be out. After we toured the couple of dozen new Monaco coaches they had on display, we pretty much stayed in the coach during the day and only ventured out for the happy hour/dinner/entertainment in the evenings.
On Saturday, February 23rd it was time to head to the LA County Fairplex in Pomona for the FMCA convention. We decided to caravan with the Monaco group from Lancaster to Pomona
because of the distance and the confusing directions for getting into the Fairplex. It is in the middle of town and I was not familiar with the streets and didn't want to end up wandering all over on city streets looking for the right way into the fairgrounds. We had to start forming up for the caravan at 7:00 a.m., so neither of us looked our best, but we managed to get buttoned up and into line. We were coach number 35 of 115 coaches! It made a very impressive line of motorhomes. We were on freeway for most of the 100 miles and the CB chatter from the truckers about all the coaches was fun to listen to.Once we got into the fairgrounds it took a while to get parked because there was some confusion about where the attendees who wanted electric service (like us) were supposed to go. The caravan took us to the parking area for those who just wanted to dry camp. We finally got parked and set up - it was nice to be on asphalt for a change. Most of our previous FMCA conventions have had us parked on grass/dirt and it invariably rained and turned the area into a muddy mess. We had a little rain on Saturday and Sunday morning, but for the rest of the rally it was very sunny and warm. After the cold weather in Lancaster we were very happy to be warm again!
Since this was our fourth FMCA convention since starting our full-timing life, we had been to most of the training and education seminars that were of interest to us. So this rally we decided to volunteer and help out some of the various chapters to which we belong. On Sunday night FMCA put on a very nice volunteer appreciation dinner for all the hundreds of volunteers who help put on the rally. Just about everything going on, from parking to security to most of the
entertainment and seminar presentations are done by volunteers. On Monday morning we were representatives of our 100%ers Chapter at the Chapter Fair. The fair allows any chapter of FMCA to set up an information booth so that convention attendees can learn about the various chapter activities. There are over 500 chapters in FMCA, but only about 50 or so set up booths at the fair. The 100%ers, of which I am the current vice president, is a chapter for folks who live in their motorhomes 100% of the time. We set up a nice booth and hopefully recruited a few new members for the chapter.Tuesday we had several meetings of some of our other chapters during the day. The entertainment for the evening was pair of tribute bands, one a tribute to ABBA, the other to the Bee Gees. The Bee Gees group was very good, the ABBA one not so much. A lot of the folks walked out on the ABBA group, which thankfully performed second. Had they been up first the folks leaving would have missed a pretty entertaining performance by the Bee Gee group.
On Wednesday we had some time to check out the several hundred vendors who set up shop to sell stuff. We didn't buy much - we don't need much for the coach anymore. At noon we went to work as servers at the ice cream social. Normally, the servers just hand out ice cream bars or ice cream sandwiches to the crowd and it goes pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, the caterer screwed up and delivered the stuff too early and it all melted! An emergency call to the Sheraton Hotel on the fairgrounds produced a whole bunch of cartons of ice cream and bowls and we ended up having to scoop ice cream for several thousand attendees. It was actually a lot of fun talking to the folks as they came though the line and we enjoyed the experience. We have already committed to being the co-chairs of the ice cream social at the FMCA convention in St. Paul, MN this summer. Oh joy! I hope this one goes smoother!
Later on in the afternoon I chaired the business meeting of our 100%ers chapter. Our chapter is so small now that we only had six coaches represented and that was enough for a quorum. It looks like I will be nominated as president of the chapter for election in July at St. Paul. I hope we can build the membership of the chapter back up to what we have been told it was a few years ago. The entertainment on Wednesday night was Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits, the group from the 60's. When we went we didn't expect much, figured they would play some of their pop hits and that would be it. Turned out to be a great show! They did play some of the Hermit's hits, but they also covered a lot of other 50's and 60's stuff and Noone did a lot of interaction with audience. We really enjoyed the show and it seemed that most of the other attendees did as well.
On Thursday we spent the morning going through some of the new coaches in the display area. They had a couple hundred coaches there, so we only saw a fraction of them. We were really impressed with the new American brand coaches. They had some very nice floor plans - they may be on the short list in a few years if we decide to upgrade to a newer, larger coach. Later in the day I was a panelist at a seminar for full-timers, or those thinking about full-timing. My portion of the panel dealt with communications, phones, mail, computers, etc. We had a pretty good turnout and I enjoyed the experience. Later that evening we helped host the Elks International Chapter's social hour. Jackie bar tended. I was supposed to be there to help, but I was late getting to the event because we had to get a leaky tire fixed and the service truck was late getting to the coach.
After being on the run for most of the week, we decided to skip the entertainment on Thursday night. It was a country group, the Bellamy Brothers. Probably a good thing because the next day we heard nothing but bad things about the show. The sound was bad, the singing was bad and a large part of the crowd walked out early.
Friday morning we buttoned up the coach and got ready for the grueling three mile drive from the fairgrounds to the RV park in San Dimas where the 3Ts Chapter rally was being held. This chapter always has a two day "rest and relaxation" rally right after the big FMCA conventions. Before we left the fairgrounds we went over and had the coach weighed again. The last time we were weighed was a year ago in North Carolina. It is important to know what the weight of the coach is at each wheel position so you can set the tire pressure correctly. As in North Carolina, we found we were about a thousand pounds under the maximum rated weight for the coach and pretty well balanced, so I was happy with the results.
We are now resting at the 3Ts rally. We had a pot luck last night and we are going out to a restaurant as a group tonight. When we leave here on Sunday, we will be going to Yucaipa for the 100%ers rally. That is all the report for now.
Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down!
