Friday, March 18, 2011

FIRST FMCA CONVENTION


Hello Readers,
It has been a long winter, and Sandra and I are excited about our first trip. We have chosen to go to the FMCA Convention in Perry Ga. Before we get started on the trip, the inspection of the coach and of course, wash and wax time. How does this coach get so dirty while never moving? It must be a dust and dirt collector. Well I have got the cleaning down to a science. I call it the "David's 5 in one cleaning system. Day 1 wash, Day 2 rest (legs sore/ ladder), Day 2 Wax on/Wax off, Day 3 rest (sore arms,back,legs), Day 4 Wheels/Tires, Day 5 rest (sore arms, back, legs, head). That is a total of 1248 sq. ft. of cleaning. At the convention they charge $300.00. Trust me it is worth it.The wash and wax that I do is just as good, but it takes 2 guys 2 hours. I found out how they do it so fast, they are on production and they are 30 years younger.
Well, the day has come for us to go. Everything is packed by Sandra, and we are on our way. The first 3 days will be at Carolina Landing, followed by the dreaded trip around Atlanta,Ga. Help! Well our first day at CL is great. We set up and try our new Nu Wave cooker. We had chicken and veggies. All cooked in about 30 min. In the same cooker and the chicken was topped with the best mustard sauce (we make it). We also had a no cheese pizza. It was soooo good. If you don't have a Nu Wave get one!!!!
Well we get up on the day that is dreaded for weeks (Atlanta). Well my sister was right, go between 9 am. and 2 pm. We hit Atlanta at 10 am. and the lanes get wider and wider. The lanes are so wide that I could turn the 40 ft. coach around on the same side of traffic (I didn't). I think there was 6 lanes on each side. The trip around Atlanta was not as bad as we expected. I think that everyone was scared to hit that big coach (repair cost). So everyone gave me at least 1 lane on each side. I think they were more scared of the driver in that big brown thing, than I was scared of those speed demons. One thought to the highway guys, don't put the name of a road you are looking for on the far left side of the road. We forced our way, all the way over (left), and because of the height of the coach, we could see the road we needed to exit on, all the way over from where we started. Here we go again, all the way over to the right. I looked back and all of the traffic seemed to come to a very slow pace,(about 200 ft. behind me). I know that all the drivers behind me stated, "Look out here goes that #*&*^ driver again!!" Well we made it past the Atlanta zone, and the rest of the way was great.
The Perry Ag. Complex is huge! When we entered and was pointed to the right area for our coach, there it was a field that had 2500 coaches lined up in a row. Each section had 50 coaches wide by 10 rows deep. There was every make, model, and year. There was a golf cart for every coach except ours.(we don't own one) It seemed to be a mile to the large clock tower in the center of the Ag. Complex. ( one way!) Boy did we walk, and walk and walk. When we got to the tower in the center of the complex, there was every make, model of new 2011 coaches. I am in heaven. There was a class for every thing that deals with the RV industry. Did I mention all of the new 2011 coaches!! Even with that they had several $ 2,000,000.00 dollar coaches. We had to take our shoes off to go inside. Your wildest dreams aren't close what is in these baby's!!!!
There were vendors for everything, flag-poles to dips for chips.(awesome) There was a complete Camping World Store. WOW . We had a great time and look forward to going back next year.
We are back at Carolina Landing and resting from all of that walking. It is time for dinner, grilled chicken (NuWave) salad. Sandra likes the way I cook. I think she likes the way I cook now. Hope to write the other details of this trip in another blog.

Keep the Campfires Going

David & Sandra