2023 FMCA Perry GA - Summary

 Fun times at Perry GA  (FMCA Convention 2023)

We left on Saturday, March 11^th 

Chapter Fair at Perry

and headed south. I-95 to I-85 to Charlotte, NC was a nice easy trip with little or no travel issues. That night, we stayed at the Cracker Barrel in Concord, NC and woke up Sunday to a very gloomy day. Infact, it poured rain all the way from Charlotte to Macon and Jean and I discovered several leaks in the rig as we ploughed along. I had water dripping down the side window, and Jean had water dribbling in around the porthole at her feet (Tiffin folks will know about the porthole). But the sun was shining when we pulled into Perry on Monday AM and got parked, along with 1970 other rigs. I thought that was a lot, only to find out later that in the late 90’s, one rally brought in over 6000 rigs! I had never been here; and am still impressed with this fairground – it is huge and FMCA has done a really good job of managing the place and events. On Monday evening I picked up the $75 for the block party and confirmed our reservation for the Block Party and Chapter Fair.

On Tuesday evening, we had the Chapter Fair; no awards this time, but we gave out over 100 Dogwood Flyers and had one couple join us on the spot. There are some pictures; Wayne Dancause and Lynn Nelson helped set up/man the table with Jean and I – it was a lot of fun and the crowd was bigger than I expected – 600+ first timers roaming about, many looking for a chapter to join. I shook a lot of hands that night. Then the four of us joined the Gourmands for dinner at the local steak restaurant.

 

Lynn and Jean

Wednesday, we slept in. That was wonderful! (Sorry Rhett – I missed your speech.) I later met up with Dennis Ducharme and we set about interviewing vendors for GEAR. Dennis is our Senior VP, supporting our Eastern Area Vice President, Phyllis Britz. Anyway, Dennis and I are the Vendor Selection Committee for GEAR, so we went about talking with the Perry Vendors, handing out application forms and soliciting responses. That day, we got through 46 of them – about half; I shook a lot of hands. Jean got the fresh water tank refilled for $25, and Jean and Lynn made it to the Ladies Luncheon. Phyllis Britz held an Eastern Area Meeting and introduced all her staff (Andy Deal, Dennis Ducharme, Sue Cipa, etc.) and all of us Chapter Presidents – I was shaking hands and handing out Dogwood Flyers again.

 

Wednesday evening was the Opening Night – big doings with introductions to all our FMCA Leaders, their spouses, and greetings from the Perry Mayor and City Executive, followed by music from the Andrew Brothers – a “dueling Piano” band.

 

Thursday, Wilt Greenwood, Jim Griffin, and I conducted a financial audit on the Eastern Area Books, as maintained by our own Berkley Alexander; the books are good. We got the black/grey water tanks pumped out – that was $25. That evening we had our Dogwood Block Party on the water next to the Greenwood’s rig; in attendance were Jim & Bonnie Spain, Wilt & Barbara Greenwood, Lynn Nelson & Wayne Dancause, Pat & Lucas Bragg, Dennis Ducharme, Phyllis & Eric Britz, and several other folks from the Maryland Friendly Travelers Chapter who dropped by to enjoy pizza, chips, salsa, and drinks. We also had visitors from Tennessee and Florida. Sorry, I didn’t get their names, but Dogwood knows how to throw a good party! We blew out the $75 FMCA provided, but the party was worth it. Late that evening, I lit a good cigar, poured a tall glass of wine, and joined the folks parked behind us, from South Africa! You meet the neatest folks at these events!

 

On Friday, our refrigerator died, BUT $200 (including the $40 Thermocoupler) later, we were back to chilling out. This is the second time for the thermocoupler; I’m going to buy several and keep them on hand. On the business side, I worked (monitored) three seminars – Cummins Engines, Fantasy Travel Tours, and RV Insurance. Cummins was my favorite, and I would have loved to have heard the whole thing, but I was busy checking folks in and out, picking up evaluation sheets, and counting heads. Lynn entered the Crazy Hat Contest and won the Gaudiest Category – yes, it was very gaudy and we were quite proud of her.....

 

On Saturday, Dennis and I finished talking to all the Vendors and handing out vendor applications for GEAR; I counted about 68 total and a whole lot more hand shaking! That night was the big end-of-party show, but the Monsoon hit at about 6:15 and we decided to stay in and watch TV. I closed the coach windows while Jean stepped out to unlatch and close the door – talk about a wet hen being mad.....(“Why didn’t YOU CLOSE the !@##$% Door???) Okay, Okay, I’m sorry......

 

Sunday was the departure day, and I am happy to report that nobody was stuck in the mud, and from my view, all went very well. We were on the road out of Perry by 10:30, heading north back to Fredericksburg. So, call me crazy, but I really enjoyed the Rally. It was a lot of work for us, but the grounds were great, the seminars (that I could tell) were excellent, and the only bad issue we encountered was I-95 through South and North Carolina coming home. I-95 in South Carolina is horrible – torn up and full of lumps and bumps. The first 80 miles of northbound I-95 in North Carolina were under construction – lots of jersey walls, lane switches, speed reductions and caution zones – no fun at all!

 

We are glad to be home. Safe travels to all.

 

Ed