NEWS, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE APRIL 2012

      If you were not there you missed a great rally this month. I think that, even with the warmer winter weather, everyone was ready to a good rally. When the dust settled on Thursday afternoon we had 12 coaches parked in the Coachlight RV park. Ready to party were Jack and Dolores Mathes, John and Lucille Severe, Gary and Elaine Sidebottom, Wayne and Carol Cook, Jim and Martha McVay, Dan and Marilee Couch, Len and Carol Lynch, Ken and Ruth Ann Stremming, Dave and Sue Carey, Dick and Ann Marie Carlile and Chuck and Carol Genrich. Also joining us were prospective members Nick and Joann Backer from Nixa, MO. As was expected there were many conversations about everyone’s winter travels, projects and family doings.

      For the Thursday reception we had light(?) hors d’oeuvers courtesy of the Severes. Each coach provided an appetizer. The volume was sufficient to provide an evening meal for everyone. During the meal Lucille provided an RV-related questionnaire for the men with tools as the prizes. Everyone won a tool but Dick Carlile took first place with only one wrong answer. After that the evening was taken up with more conversations until everyone just ran out of steam. Strangely, no card game was started. Must have been a steam problem.

      

   During the night we had a typical Midwestern rain storm and we woke up to an overcast and much cooler day on Friday. We gave everyone the chance to sleep in and then went to the Sassy Spoon in Carthage for brunch arranged by the Stremmings. This is a great small restaurant on the square in Carthage that serves a variety of sandwiches, soup, salads desserts. Once again, anyone who went away hunger has only themselves to blame. This restaurant must be doing a good job in that it has been in business for almost four years in a tough economy. That afternoon there were several shopping runs made while the men solved the world’s problems. Also that afternoon, Tom and Jeanette Drennon joined us via auto putting our total to 24 members which is a healthy percentage of our chapter. That evening we journeyed to the Carthage Country Club for a buffet dinner scheduled by the Severes. And what a dinner it was. After stopping in the bar we went to the dining room for a meal of salad, chicken, pasta, green beans and dessert. All good food and well prepared by a great staff. After the meal quite a bit of time was spent in conversation.

      Saturday morning dawned bright and a bit cooler that we would have liked. However, that did not keep our members from attacking breakfast. Everyone got in line for hash browns, apple crisp, ham, OJ and coffee prepared by Sue Carey and Carol Genrich. After breakfast we had our business meeting which you can read about elsewhere. The rest of the day was spent in various ways depending on what anyone wanted to do. Several members headed for the Carthage square and the art festival at that location. Saturday dinner was a provided by Carol Genrich and Ann Marie Carlile. We were treated to smothered chicken breast mashed potatoes, fried apples, green salad, hot bread and key lime pie. That is correct, no one went away hungry. After the dinner cleanup, miraculously a card game started.

      After dinner it was announced that Nick and Joann Backer had decided to join our merry band. They are native Missourians who, in September, moved back here from Southern California where he was a Chrysler Corp. engineer. Welcome aboard!!

      Also, after dinner Carol Genrich presented each couple with a stuffed animal. Each couple was asked to carry the animals in their coaches until April 2013 and to take pictures of the animals at the many stops we all make during the year. The prize for the winning coach will be announced at a later date.

      Our Sunday get-away breakfast was coutesy of the Sidebottoms. The presented us with some ham, coffeecake, hash browns, OJ and coffee. Finally, thanks to Jack Mathes for making sure the coffee pot never went dry. After breakfast final goodbyes were said and everyone went about the process of loading up, hooking up and departing. And last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to the Severes for the the decorations and overall coordination of the rally.

      Update: After the rally I received word that Harold Welch has had several medical issues that have been mostly resolved and he is on the way back. They plan to be at one or more of our rallys this year.

      2011 Six State Rally: For the work the chapter did at the last rally we received a check for $139. Yes, I realize that is about $1 an hour.

      May rally. Our next rally is at the Cedar Oaks RV Park in Grove, OK, May 17 – 20. The relevant information is, as usual, in the rally flyer. Fill out the reservation form and send it to Carol Genrich by May 3. For this rally do not call the park for reservations, that has been taken care of.

      FMCA Family Reunion: The 2012 Family Reunion is Aug 27 – 30 in Indianapolis, IN. Get your registration in now. All of the electric slots have been taken but you still have that big lump called a generator. Why not use it.

      Six State Rally: This will be held in Shawnee, OK Sept. 26 – 30. Register early. Major construction is going on at the rally site, upgrading the RV parking to 350 sites with 50A and sewer. The remaining sites will have 30A hookups with water available in the area.

      Towable survey: During the winter the South Central Area Association took a survey of members opinion regarding towable RVs. The results were:

1.      Better than three quarters of the chapters were opposed to opening membership in FMCA to Towable RV families.

2.      Better than two thirds of the chapters were opposed to having Towable RV families attend FMCA events.

3.      The majority of FMCA members would remain active FMCA members should membership be open to Towable RV families.

And now a word from our Treasurer: After taking over as the newly installed treasurer of HOAC, I thought it might be good to share some suggestions to help keep our rally expenses to a minimum so that we don’t use up all of our funds. Since we have gone to the “all-host” format for most of our rallies, there are multiple people planning meals and purchasing food and other items. Some duplication is bound to occur, but if those who are planning and preparing the meals could confer with one another and combine uses for some of the common ingredients, such as milk, butter, salad dressings, etc., excess amounts of unused food purchased with club funds could be avoided. When all members are asked to furnish dishes for a pot-luck dinner or sharing of appetizers, the cost involved will not be reimbursed with club funds. For the host-prepared meals, if there are full unused items left over and are taken home, it would be appreciated if those items were subtracted from the bill by the person who purchased them. The April rally is usually our largest rally with the most money collected from rally fees, but our expenses still exceeded our income.

      FMCAssist. Finally, as a cost saving measure, there is a move afoot by the FMCA Executive board to eliminate the FMCAssist Emergency Medical Evacuation Program. This program, which comes with your FMCA membership, provides medical evacuation and vehicle return coverage while traveling in North America. Among other things you, your spouse and your coach will get home via this program if a member incurs an injury or sickness while on a trip more than 100 miles from home. You can read the full text of the benefit on the FMCA web site. If you have strong feelings either way contact our National Director, Dan Couch, and let him know how you feel. This will be voted on by the National Directors at Indy in August.
          Six State Rally Association: The association has just launched a new web site. If any of you have the old site location bookmarked you might want to change it. When you go to the old site you will be automatically redirected to the new site. You can also get to the new site through the link at the top left of this page.