Last Week 2011 - Georgia - FMCA Convention

We had a great time this past winter in Fort Myers. The weather was great and we really enjoyed being around many of our friends from Des Moines. While our winter adventure was fun, it is great to be getting back to Des Moines to see our grandkids, the kids, and all of our other friends.

We ended up spending the night in Hannibal, Missouri. As we all know, Mark Twain lived here and most of his stories were centered around the Mississippi River. It is a quaint small town and I would imagine that during the summer months it would be quite active with tourists visiting the historic sites and the many stores.

Today is Friday and we made it through St. Louis prior to rush hour traffic. We keep saying we want to stop here sometime to visit the arch, but we are anxious to get home and see the grandkids.

On our last day, we headed over to the exhibitors who were selling after market products. We picked up a number of items that we were wanting to buy to update our RV. A visit to a show like this wouldn't be complete without doing a little dreaming. So we stopped by the Prevost exhibit and toured the $2 million motor coaches such as the one above. Later on that afternoon, we decided to get a head start on our travel back to Des Moines. So we skipped the final evening's entertainment, a comedian. We spent the evening in Dalton, Georgia. (And no we didn't go carpet shopping.)

After a full day of seminars and touring the various motorhomes, we attended the evening's free entertainment in the Exhibition Hall. The theme for the first night was love songs from the 70's which included the Carpenters, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, and of course, Barry Manilow. The music was great and the singers were exceptional. For the next two days we attended seminars and toured more of the RV's. On Wednesday evening, the entertainment was Lorrie Morgan, country music entertainer of the year from the 80's.

Over the course of the next 3 days there were 60 seminars per day. Topics included RV battery systems, engine maintenance, microwave cooking, remodeling, insurance, Google Earth, and various destinations, such as Alaska, Europe, New Zealand, etc.

Monday night was the grand opening of the show capped off by a fireworks display over the pond that was circled by the displays.

There are also various other types of equipment on display. I am not sure what you call this, but I thought is was pretty interesting.

The grounds at the Georgia State Fairgrounds are enormous. This show has had as many as 6,000 motor homes during better financial times. The estimate for this year is 3,000. There are numerous RV displays representing just about all the manufacturers. I estimate there may be 200 units on display. Iowa was well represented by Winnebago, shown in the background of this photo.

Well we are getting ready to head out to Perry. We have 75 Monaco RV's that will be caravaning together for the 150 miles trip. They have staged us according to type of facilities we will be using (dry camping, electric, all utilities).

Georgia 2011 - Sixth Week - Monaco Convention

All organizations have to have their meetings and Monaco International was no exception. This year elections seem to bring up several areas of controversy. As you may be aware, many people live full time in their motorhomes. So there was concern as to what region does a full time traveling member represent. We stayed out of discussion because we have learned that participation often results in too much involvement. Tomorrow we head for Perry, Georgia and FMCA convention.

Besides music and dancing, one of the evenings was a real treat with the "Cajun Comedian" from New Orleans. He told the story of his life and kept the audience belly laughing all evening.

Kathy's favorite was always the dessert.

Food was served in abundance buffet style and included chicken, fish, prime rib and all the fixings. If anyone went away hungry it was there own fault.

Following our dinner each evening there was a variety of entertainment. Big Mike played a wide variety of Rock and Roll, Blues and Country. His powerful voice was as good as any I have heard.

Meals were always an important function for all attendees. Both breakfast and dinner proceeded with a one hour cocktail hour was included each day.

The rally was held at the Moultrie Exposition Park. It is quite a site to see over 200 motorhomes in one area.

The RV industry is beginning to rebound. This year Monaco brought 15 new coaches for display at the rally. The rally had over 200 coach attendees from all across the US and Canada. The photo above was taken in a RV that had our favorite layout.

This year's theme was Mardi Gras in Moutrie and a parade opened up the ceremonies. Here is a beautiful Model T that one of the members entered in the parade.

The first year we retired, we attended the Monaco Motorcoach Ralley that was held in Lancaster, California. Monaco, the manufacturer of our motorhome has at least one of these rallies each year in which they invite all Monaco owners to attend. This rally is typically held one week prior to the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) convention. The dates and location change each year. This year, both rallies coincided with our return to Iowa. We arrived in Moultrie, Georgia late Sunday afternoon to attend this year's rally.

Fort Myers Beach 2011 - Fifth Week - Deb Arrives

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Tampa, Florida, to visit Mike and Kitty Temming (old friends and a member of our wedding party). Mike and Kitty spend the winter months at their beautiful home in Tampa and the summers at their lake home near Indianapolis, enjoying their grandkids.

We did convince Rhonda to be a part of the group "Gary and the Deaf Tones" along with both the Kathys in their rendition of Wholly Bully.

For the evening, we headed to Bonita Bill's Karaoke night to wow the crowds with our singing. We couldn't convince Terry and Rhonda to do the Sonny and Cher favorite "I Got You Babe."

On our return trip, we couldn't help but stop by the local ice cream parlor to sample one of their sumptuous flavors. Doesn't Randy look like a native Floridian!

On Deb's last full day, we headed to Lover's Key to soak up the sun and bike the preserve's nature trails.

Following our dinner, Jim took us to the Lani Kai's Texas Holdem evening tournament. Jim had won it several times in the past and received monetary coupons good for anything at the Lani Kai. I think he is getting a reputation as a ringer. He sure knows how to play those cards.

I am not sure is Deb wanted to play with the lobster or eat it!

We had heard that the Lani Kai had a lobster special so several of us decided to try it and we weren't disappointed. Joining us for the evening was Kathy Spyksma's sister Rhonda and her husband Terry who were in town for the week.

We headed to the roof top of the Lani Kai to view the sunset on Wednesday.

Kathy, Deb and Jim tried a large rum punch at Flippers after a hard day of fishing.

The hot spot for fishing is right out of Jim's place on the dock.

Deb wanted to try her hand at fishing with Jim as her instructor. She didn't catch enough for supper, but she added to our supplies for a future fish fry.

One of our favorite dinner places is Nervous Nellie's.

Monday we picked up tickets to see the Red Sox play the Twins at the City of Palms Stadium in downtown Ft. Myers. In front of the stadium stands a statue of Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters of all times.

We are always looking to introduce newbees to Cincinnati Chili. We convinced Jim and Shirley to join us for our weekly visit to Skyline Chili.

We were joined by our good friend and neighbor Mary Ann Wesley for her maiden voyage.

On Sunday we set sail for a fun day in the sun on Keith and Betty's sailboat.

The first night of our return the group stopped over at our RV to welcome Deb and share a meal of salmon, mussels and Jim's special recipe battered fish.

Following our return to Ft. Myers Beach from Yellowstone we were joined by Deb Cattoor. Deb has been recuperating from a foot operation.