volume 27 issue 3 western area fmca sandy king - editor...

Volume 27 Issue 3 Western Area FMCA Sandy King - Editor Summer 2013

Those of you who were fortunate enough to travel to Gillette, WY for the FMCA 50 year anniversary celebra-tion experienced a re-sounding success. Final attendance fig-ures were 2281 family coaches with an over-all coach count of 2631. Both the indoor and outdoor vendors enjoyed brisk sales and seemed to be pleased. Occasional wind and hard rain

didn't dampen members spirits, although the weather did cause cancellation of the outside chapter parade. The Cali-fornia Chapter, not to be denied, paraded in and around the indoor venders in costume. Displays in the Nostalgia Room were fantastic. Much work was spent on the displays from areas/chapters. Most of our WMHA officers attended and our representation at the Governing Board was 72%. I was very pleased to see many WMHA members volunteering as well as just attending. The Governing Board lasted all day with approval of the budget as presented (balanced), election of National Offic-ers, some minor tweaking of Policies & Procedures (as there always is), a couple of insignificant Bylaws changes for clarification, and approval of the 2014 Summer Conven-tion location in Redmond, OR. All of us from WMHA should support this convention. The Bend/Redmond area is very nice. FMCA's financial position has improved due to the deletion of stipends at Indianapolis last year and using all volunteers at Conventions like Area Rallies, reduction of personnel at Cincinnati, as well as other cost cutting measures. The re-serve funds have not been touched in the last two years. Newly and reelected National Officers are: President, Char-lie Adcock; Senior Vice President, Jon Walker; Secretary, Vickie Ferrari; Treasurer, Percy Bell; South Central

AVP,James McCabe; Southeast AVP,Jim Duncan; Midest AVP, Robert Nebel; Rocky Mountain AVP, Harry Montgom-ery. Decisions to hold the 2015 Winter Convention at Pomona, CA, the 2015 Summer Convention at Madison, WI, and the Summer Convention at Indianapolis, IN were postponed. If during your travels you see a location that could possibly host a Convention, please bring it to my attention. Many members have signed-up to be on the GROW Team (Go Recruiting On Wheels). FMCA goal is to have at least one GROW team member in each chapter because the most serious problem FMCA has is declining membership. Alt-hough we gain many new members each year, we lose more than we gain. FMCA needs you all recruiting. The coupons we receive for recruiting new FMCA members are no longer limited to only use two at a time, any/all you have may be used for area rally and convention registration, and for membership clothing. Planning is well underway for WMHA annual Indio Rally. The Dog Patch USA theme will cause some thought for a parade entry. However, I'm aware of at least two chapters hard at work on theirs. Remember, the parade is one of the high-lights of the rally. The chapter fair may help to gain chapter members, but so will the parade. We hope to see many of you in Albany, OR at the Northwest Area rally, 8-12 August. Andy and his crew put on a very nice rally Safe and sane travels on where ever you might go.

Robert “Rick” Ricordati, WMHA President

President’s Message

At our Western Area Officers meet-ing in Hanford last month we were able to establish a balanced budget to present to the Governing Board in Sept. for 2013-2014 year. The dates for the Hanford meeting, are to come in on Monday Sept. 30th, meeting on the 1st, & leave on the 2nd. A sched-

ule will be sent out prior to the meeting.

This is a very important meeting that should be attended by all Chapter Presidents, & National Directors (or Alt. National Directors). In the afternoon we will have a planning meeting with all Indio Captains. Any Captain that is not able to attend should send their list of needs and any suggestion for im-provements needed for the Indio Rally to the Area VP in

charge. (please check the new Captains list for changes)

In May Charlotte & I attended the 20th Anniversary of the Apollo Amigos at Flicker Hollow with Bruce & Jan Watson as our hosts. Bobby Donald & I presented Paulett Boyd & Jan Watson with an FMCA 20 year Certificate, & congratu-lated them & the Amigos.

We also attended FMCA’s 88th Family Reunion & Motorhome

Showcase in Gillette, WY where the Governing board elect-

ed our National Officers for the next two years. Elected

were Charlie Adcock - President, Jon Walker – Sr. VP, Percy

Bell - Treasurer, & Vicky Ferrari – Secretary.

Dick Gibbs WMHA SENIOR VP

PAGE 2 WESTERN BYWAYS VOLUME 27 ISSUE 3

WMHA Senior Vice President's Views

Summer is here. I hope everyone is coping well with the current heat wave gripping the west. The WMHA Executive Board met in Hanford where we were treated to balmy 106 degree days. As mentioned elsewhere, we have put togeth-er a balanced budget for 2014, something I wish our coun-try’s elected leaders could accomplish.

Debbie and I traveled to Pahrump, NV., to attend a couple of rallies at the Lakeside RV Resort. For those of you who have been there recently you may have noticed the park in decline as the owners were going bankrupt. I am happy to report that the new owners are bringing the park back to its former condition. Lawns are being watered again and new

sod is being planted in areas that had died. Also, the tacky, plastic horses are gone (never did understand why they were there in an otherwise beautiful park). Our own Golden State Trackers were having their May rally there but also, one of our newer chapters, the Wandering Artesians were there as well. I had coordinated with their president to at-tend their business meeting to get acquainted. They did one better and invited the Golden State Trackers to come to their Thursday Happy Hour as their guests. The Artesians really put on an impressive spread of food and goodies. While new friends were being made, myself and Vicky, the Wandering Artesians president stepped outside to do an

(Continued on page 3)

Central Area Vice President

Northern Area Vice President

First, let me take this opportunity to say our sincere appre-ciation to all who sent cards, letters and emails for Margie’s speedy recovery. Thank you all. Our trip started nice and easy until we got to Gillette. We were surprised with a hailstorm that lasted for a couple of hours. Everybody got busy including the towing companies. I would say they are very thankful for us and the weather. Despite this, everybody had a really good time. The weather did not dampen our spirits, specially the members of the California chapters who did their own parade indoors. The event was well-planned with all the activities and tours ca-tering to a lot of different interest. Although, according to Margie and some of the women members, it seemed that the women vendors were fewer compared to the previous rallies. Something to think about for future events. One of the highlight of the celebration was the election of the new officers. Congratulations to all our newly-elected officials: President, Charlie Adcock; Senior VP, John Walk-er; Secretary, Vicki Ferrari; Treasurer, Percy Bell; South Central AVP, James McCabe; Southeast AVP, Jim Duncan; Mideast AVP, Robert Nebel; and Rocky Mountain AVP, Har-ry Montgomery.

Included in the agenda during our meeting was getting new members. I would like to encourage everyone to go out and recruit members to join not just FMCA but also to become a part of our chapters. This will give each new member a voice in all matters concerning our association. Last, let me also congratulate everyone for a very success-

ful 50th anniversary celebration. The rally at Gillette, WY

last June 19-22 was well attended by both members and the

Governing Board. The planning for the Indio Rally is under-

way and I would like to remind everyone to send me, in writ-

ing, ideas/suggestions so I can bring them up in the next

Executive Meeting. Let us make this a rally that everyone

would like to attend. Looking forward to seeing everyone in

January for the Indio Rally.

Lee Clemons, Regional Vice President

Northern Area, WMHA

VOLUME 27 ISSUE 3 WESTERN BYWAYS PAGE 3

Greetings to all…

This part of summer is about patriotism and I hope that eve-ryone had a safe and sane fourth. It's also the time that new budgets go into effect across the nation. And as goes the nation so does WMHA. Your WMHA Executive Board has worked intently at putting together a balanced budget for 2014. The proposed budget will next be presented to the Governing Board in September for their review and ac-ceptance. The proposed budget and a letter inviting Chap-ter Presidents, National Directors, as well as Indio Captains will be in the mail shortly inviting you to attend this im-portant meeting at Hanford.

In the afternoon, following the Governing Board meeting will be the Indio Rally planning meeting. As you know the Indio rally is continually being worked on throughout the year...with contract reviews, event planning, and what changes we need to accomplish to keep this rally fresh. We look forward to hearing from the Captains as to your "needs and wants" and to make sure you have everything you need to make your job successful.

Please Note that we are still looking for several volunteers to take over the duties of Jean Taylor the Seminars & Crafts Captain, and Sharon Garst the Registration/Liaison National Captain. These are two very important positions to our Ral-ly and we truly need for someone to please step up and vol-

unteer...thank you.

Don't forget about the parade. This year’s theme, Dog Patch USA, is going to be a real challenge and will be very interesting to see what the chapters dream up for their en-tries?

Earlier this summer Christine and I attended the Convention in Gillette, WY. While there we ran into so many chapter members of the Western Area. We also enjoyed meeting everyone at the Western Area Caucus and the Western Ar-ea Gathering. Please read Rick's report for a fine descrip-tion of this very fun rally. And yes it did rain, and the wind blew, and some coach's needed to get towed out of the mud...but in spite of all this it was still great fun...part of the adventure!

Please remember, if there is anything that I can assist you with please contact me. Hope to see all for you at the Indio Rally!!

Happy Traveling,

Lon Cross Southern Area VP [email protected] Cell: 661-886-5077

Southern Area Vice President

interview with the local TV station. The reporter asked questions about the RV life style, FMCA, chapters and their rally/get-togethers. Following the happy hour, Debbie & I remained to attend the Artesians business meeting where I answered questions about WMHA, Indio, FMCA and the fu-ture. The Wandering Artesians are a very nice group of people and while there they signed up their 20th member so they now qualify for full chapter status. Congratulations! Not to be outdone, the following evening the Golden State Trackers invited the Wandering Artesions to their Happy Hour and appetizers. I think it is great to see chapters meeting with other chapters and making many new friends. Isn’t this what FMCA is all about?

Now on to a more serious subject. While at Lakeside RV one of our Golden State Tracker members had a medical emergency. He was transported to the hospital in Pahrump (a very nice new facility by the way). I bring this up as it illustrated something we have probably thought about but have not acted on as of yet. While in the hospital emergen-cy he was asked if he had a copy of his Medical Directive and a list of all his medications. “At home” was his reply. They were also preparing to air lift him to Las Vegas (a $30,000 helicopter ride). As you can imagine his wife was

not having a good time during all of this. Besides worrying about her husband and getting him proper care there was the matter of how to get their motorhome back home. This is where a medical program such as FMCAssist can help. He had talked about it for some time but procrastinated about it like a lot of us. So please, have copies of any perti-nent medical information with you when you travel and con-sider a medical assist program. As it turned out, he was stabilized and did not need to be airlifted after all. He was able to rejoin the group at the end of the week and his wife was able to take him home after a couple of days. They had good friends at home who drove out to drive their coach home for them. It is one thing to read about situations like this and quite another to see if unfold personally. Some-thing to think about.

Enjoy summer and we will see many of you in September

up at Hanford for presentation of the budget and the Indio

planning session. Safe travels to you all.

WMHA Central Area Vice President

(Continued from page 2)

mailto:[email protected]

Since the last issue of the Byways the FMCA Family Reunion and Motor Home Showcase was held in Gillette, WY (I’m sure there will be reports on this from other WMHA officers else-where in this newsletter). The one thing that was done different at this rally than previous National rallies was after they had the “First Timers” seminar they had tables set up around the outside of the room with representatives from each area there to talk to people about chapters in their area. Lon Cross and myself (also the Regional V.P.s) had contact-ed our WMHA chapters to give them the chance to put information on the table about their chapters.

We did not get a lot of response from the chapters but we did have the in-formation sheet that is provided by the National Office for each area’s chapter information. We had a num-ber of people stop by and ask ques-tions about our Western Area. Hope-fully your chapter may get a request for information on your chapter.

We also had several non chapter members attend the Western Area gathering on Friday afternoon and they were given some information on chapters in their areas.

I hope that your Chapter President (or Vice President) and your National Director (or Alternate National Direc-tor) are planning on attending the WMHA Governing Board (and Indio planning) meeting in September. This is where the budget and other important matters relating to WMHA are taken care of. I will be there to talk to the chapters about member-ship.

It’s not too early to began planning for your chapter to have a table at out Chapter Fair in Indio in January.

Please keep me informed on the person that is your contact person for membership, one of the reasons being that when I receive requests from the National Office from pro-spective chapter members the quick-

er we get a response to the person the more apt they are to join a chap-ter. A big thank you to all of you who do the membership position in your chapter.

If you would like to contact me about Chapter Fair and/or member-ship here is my contact information: e-mail: [email protected] Home phone: 530-934-7346

Cell phone: 530-519-7346 and snail mail: P.O. Box 704 Willows, CA 95988

Remember I and also the Western Area Executive Board are here to help your chapter if you need us.

Hope to see someone from your chapter at the Governing Board / In-dio planning meeting in Hanford in September.

Alice Bernard, Membership & Chapter Fair Chair-person.

MEMBERSHIP




Page


Need a Western Area Badge? Anyone who is interested in Western Motor Home

Association badge it can be ordered by contacting Alice Bernard phone 530-934-7346

cell - 530-519-7346 e-mail [email protected]

The badge has your name and F number on it (cost is $10.00 each). If you want to have a hanger with your

city or something else, each hanger is $2.50.

Northwest Area Rally

August 8 to 11, 2013

Albany, Oregon

South Central Area Rally

Sept. 11 to 15, 2013

Missouri State Fairgrounds

Sedalia, Missouri

Great Lakes Area Rally

Sept. 18 to 22, 2013

Elkhart County 4 H Fairgrounds

Goshen, Indiana

California Chapter’s Oktoberfest

Oct. 3 to 6, 2013

Golden Village Palms

Hemet, California

Eastern Area Rally

Oct. 9 to 13, 2013

York Expo Center

York, Pennsylvania

Western Area Rally

Jan. 8 to 12, 2014

Indio, Calif.

FMCA’s 89th Family Reunion and

Motorhome Showcase

March 17 to 20, 2014

Georgia National Fairgrounds and

Agricenter

Perry, Georgia

FMCA's 90th Family Reunion and

Motorhome Showcase

Aug. 13 to 16, 2014

Deschutes County Fair

& Expo Center Redmond, Oregon

Dates to Remember!!! Convention and Rally Schedule

Calling all volunteers!!

Indio volunteers needed. As of now we need the following, but I am sure there will be other positions become open between now & the ral-ly: 1. Local Coordinator, responsibility is to ar-range to purchase or rent all the items that we need during the rally (i.e. refrigerators, vans for the Greeters & going after donuts, Ice & water, office supplies. 2. Seminar asst. to help Jean Taylor this year & become the Seminar Captain in 2015. 3. Safety Officer asst. This person needs a background in law enforcement or fire safety & be able to properly write a comprehensive re-port on all accidents. This person reports di-rectly to the WMHA President. 4. Registration (National) asst. to help Sharon Garst this year & become Captain in 2015. This job requires a computer to print name tags & work with the National Office. Volunteer names will be submitted to Rick Ri-cordati, Dick Gibbs, & Lon Cross. One of them will then call & talk to the person to make sure they understand what the job is & that we would like them to commit for several years before offering the job.

WANTED

WMHA has immediate openings for volun-teers interested in being Captain of Seminars

and Crafts at the annual Indio Rally.

The positions will assist current Seminar Captain in 2014 with the transition to

Captain in 2015.

Interested person contact Jean Taylor at cell phone 928-671-1994 and/or

[email protected]


Western Motor Home Association, Inc.

Executive Board 2012-2013 President

Rick Ricordati F173709 Tel. 909-862-1237

Cell 909-496-9010 e-mail: [email protected]

Senior V P

Dick Gibbs F278983 Tel. 661 203-9180

Cell 805 934-7105 e-mail: [email protected]

V P Northern Area

Lee Clemons F106997 Tel. 209 992-6097


V P Central Area

Robert Golk F316752 Tel. 661 822-0920


V P Southern Area

Lon Cross F233066 Tel. 661 886-5077


Secretary

Debbie Golk F316752 Tel. 661 822-0920

Cell 661 599-0865 e-mail: [email protected] Treasurer

Judy Jackson F201821 Tel. 209 785-9702


Immediate Past President

Bobby Donald F107800 Cell 805-479-4483 e-mail: [email protected]

APPOINTED OFFICES 2012

Membership

Alice Bernard F79098 Tel. 530-934-7346

Cell 530-519-7346 e-mail:[email protected]

Bylaws Chairman

Phil Griffin F128165 Tel. 818-346-9869


Western Byways Editor

Sandy King F182280 Tel. 619-468-3765


Webmaster John King F182280 Tel. 619-468-3765


Western Motor Home Association Website

www.wafmca.com

Deadline for next Byway’s October14, 2013

Western Motor

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