Here we are, on the road: FMCA Rally in Indio

Sunday, January 10, 2010 Lorraine’s report

Phew, another busy week. We are still here in Palm Springs, CA at Thousand Trails RV Park.

Last Sunday, Susy, Mark, & Kaitlyn were with us over night. They left Sunday evening, after a busy afternoon on their way to Disneyland. They had a fun time with us and a fun time in Disneyland.

Some of you may remember that we belong to the Family Motor Coach Association Frustrated Maestros. This week starting Thursday the FMCA was having their annual rally here in Indio, CA. We have gone to this rally the past two years; last year was my first year singing with the Maestros. This past week and starting on January 2, the Maestros met and practiced twice a day until the rally started. This year we did not go to the pre-rally, choosing instead to stay here with full hook ups, and not dry camping with only 30 amp for the week, at an extra cost. So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Chuck drove me over to the Fair Grounds for practice and sometimes happy hour with the group.

Thursday the rally started and the group had to be ready for the tram ride over to the stage area by 6:15 am. Now as most of our family and friends know, I am not an early riser. But, I have to tell you, I was up by 4:45 am and we were at the pick up area by 6:10 every morning.

The Frustrated Maestros sang every morning from 7 am to 9 am; there aren’t many people up to see us sing at 7 am, but each morning by 8:15 to 8:30 there were a lot of people watching us perform. For the closing the Maestros salute the armed forces, with a tribute to America, and the audience is encouraged to participate; it is really a very moving experience for all.

Saturday, our friends, Joe and Alice came over to the rally after the show, and we walked around the fair grounds with them. We went to the ice cream social and then headed out to Augustine Casino for the lunch buffet. It was fun to see them again, since we may not see them until later this year back home.

And I have to thank Tom and Dorothy, our friends who went to Alaska last summer with us, for letting us use your coach as a home base, and letting us bring Misty dog over to your coach during the day. We really appreciated your kindnesses. Thank you!

So that was our week. Until next time…Lorraine

1/1010 Chuck’s report

This was a week filled with some long, fun days. The Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Rally was held nearby in Indio. Lorraine and I joined this organization our first year on the road and we have been to Rallies in four different states. Lorraine joined one of their Chapters called The Frustrated Maestros at our first Rally. The Maestros get together at these rallies to play music and sing for the crowd. They also have practice at least once a day, sometimes twice, before the rally starts. We have made lots of friends in the past and always look forward to seeing them again.

When we stay at the rally, we only have limited electrical power, no water or sewer hookups. This year we decided to keep our rig at 1000 Trails and just drive over to the Rally each day, about 8 miles away. That isn’t too bad for a practice or happy hour but they start singing each morning at 7:00. That meant we had to get up by 4:30 to get ready, drive over, have a donut and coffee and get set up by 6:45. They entertain for two hours each morning while everyone else comes in for donuts and coffee. I don’t sing, I’m more there for moral support and try to help when I can.

The Maestros sang each morning from Thursday thru Sunday. People come and go throughout the session, some sit and listen for awhile, others just get their coffee and donut and leave. We didn’t go over there this morning, stayed home and slept in.

The rally also has lots of venders trying to sell stuff you just can’t live without, seminars about RVing and displays of new/used coaches and entertainment each night. After they were done singing, we usually went to a seminar or two or back to Tom/Dorothy’s coach to visit. They were nice enough to allow us to let our dog stay in their coach while we were there, kept us from having to return to our coach to walk her every few hours.

Our friends Joe/Alice are staying in Hemet, about an hour away from here. They came over on Saturday to see us and go to the rally. We left the rally sometime after noon and picked some lemons and grapefruit from some trees where they had parked. Later we went with them to a lunch buffet at a local casino. We always have a fun time with these good friends and are sad when they leave.

So even though we were tired from the early morning starts, we both agreed we enjoyed the rally and the friends visited with. Of course, I did manage to buy a couple of items I just couldn’t live without and got some information I can put to good use.

The weather has sure been nice here, in the mid 70s during the day, mid 40s at night with low humidity. We were able to watch Alabama beat Texas in the College Football Championship game the other night, too bad Texas lost their starting quarterback early in the game. Texas still managed to make a good comeback. Although it was a good game, it may have been a better game if their normal quarterback played the whole game. The place kicker for Alabama is the grandson of Bob Tiffin who owns Tiffin Motorhomes, the builder of our coach. I’m sure he has a job when his football career is over.

A couple of weeks ago I said we had finally made up our minds and we going back to Alabama for repairs. Well of course, once again we make plans and God laughs. I was contacted by a friend I used to work with and they asked if I would be willing to work a few weeks this spring to help them out during a busy time. I accepted and now we are just waiting to find out if they can get the official permission for me to go back to work. They actually have to ask headquarters in London before they can make the official offer.

The time they need me conflicts with our schedule for heading back East. So in the meantime, we now have two schedules, one if we go back to Washington and one if we head East. I’m hoping we get this worked out early this week so we can finalize our schedule one way or the other. We will get our coach repairs done either in Chino, California or in Red Bay, Alabama, depending on this decision and need to let the repair shops know as soon as possible too.

But for now, our short term schedule isn’t any different from last week. We leave here Wednesday, head to Ehrenberg, AZ until we go to Quartzsite next Saturday. We plan on heading to Yuma on the 21st and will be there for 10 days or so. Its after Yuma that our itinerary will change if we go back to Washington this spring.

And now for some pictures of the week.

Sunset at the Rally on Monday night.