LA County Fairgrounds - FMCA Convention

After the drive west from Arizona, we spent one overnight in Indio near La Quinta, and three nights camped at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds - Fairplex - in Pomona, near La Verne and San Dimas. We were attending the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) convention. This gathering of members, vendors, other visitors, etc., is held twice a year. It changes locations but always has the same format. We have been to this in Perry, Georgia, Minot, North Dakota, Fairplex a previous year, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Gillette, Wyoming. Half of the fun is being in these different places to see the sights in the area, especially true of the other places. It will be held in Madison, Wisconsin this coming August.

This year there were about 950 coaches in attendance. This is a far cry from the almost 6000 at Fairplex in 2003, and 2000 to 5000 in the other locations. No explanation really. Gary thinks it could be that people just really don't like to drive to LA. Too much traffic. The motor home industry took a big hit in the 2008 economic downturn, and it is now just beginning to recover, so this could be part of it.

We attended several seminars on various topics - Gary attended a Cummins diesel engine seminar, and we both attended a seminar sponsored by Fantasy RV Travel about an excursion to Churchill, Manitoba, to see the polar bear migration. This has long been on our list. The RV portion (your own RV) takes you as far as Thompson. Then the rest is on a train (I think) or maybe a bus. We could do this trip on our own, but I think a tour would be way easier and we wouldn't miss anything "must do".

 I also attended a Fantasy seminar about RVing in New Zealand and Australia, and I REALLY want to do this one. It is very pricey, but would be a wonderful and memorable experience. Essentially they rent for you a 21 foot Class C motorhome which is small for the narrow roads you would be navigating. They start in Christ Church, NZ, tour the south island, and then ferry over to the north island. The experiences they provide sounds wonderful. Then you fly to Australia and rent another RV there, starting near the Great Barrier Reef and then finishing in Sydney. There is an Outback extension which is a must do. Sigh. So many things to do.......

We toured the many new motor homes that were brought in by the manufacturers and the dealers to show at the convention. Some very nice - we can't find one we like any better than ours. No, we are not going to buy a new motor home!

The other part of the convention is the vendor exhibits for after market products. This is always fun. We bought a new blind that attaches to our awning to drop down for more shade. We had a small one, but this new one gives better coverage.

Motor home parking lot at Fairplex

Visited the old trains museum on the Fairplex grounds. For the convention the local volunteers had fired up the diesel engine on a retired Union Pacific train engine. We were allowed to climb up to the cab. Very fun. I hadn't been in one with the engine running. You should hear the horn when standing below by the engine!!!

Other engines on exhibit

We went out to dinner three consecutive evenings to three separate tap rooms or brew pubs. One in La Verne, one in San Dimas, and one in Pomona. Getting to the dinner spot in Pomona, we passed right by the beautiful Pilgrim Congregational Church. It is about the same age as Plymouth Congregational in Minneapolis. Do any of my Plymouth Facebook friends know if this was Howard Conn's church when he was growing up, or was his church in Claremont? I think I used to know this but now don't remember.

We left LA on Sunday, spent an overnight at the beautiful RV park in Temecula at the Pechanga Resort Hotel and Casino, and now we are about 30 miles east of Temecula in an RV ownership park where we are renting a site for 4 nights. Beautiful and out where there aren't many people.

I snapped a photo of this beautiful live oak tree on the Pechanga grounds. It is an absolutely perfect shape. It is much larger than it appears in this photo.

Lovely days in Arizona

We have been in Mesa for not even quite a month. The days have flown by and we've had so many good times with many people. Sadly we are leaving tomorrow. 

As friend Cammy put it, many of our fun times were with people imported from Minnesota - the Iverson's, the Astin's, and then later the Hein's. With these good friends, we have had lovely walks, lunches, dinners, and fun ball games. I haven't really counted, but Gary and I have been to about 10 Spring Training games at HoHoKum, Salt River Fields, Maryvale, Cubs Park, and Surprise, several with these friends.

The guys

The girls

 We had a great dinner at Joe's Barbecue in Old Town Gilbert, another at Olive and Ivy in Scottsdale, and yet another at Cammy and Rich's condo. We lunched with another friend from Minnesota, Vicki, such a pleasant time. The lunch at Arcadia Farms Cafe in Old Scottsdale was a real highlight, to celebrate Cammy's birthday just a few days ago!! This is Cammy's photo that she posted on Facebook:

Then there were the fun times with the local relatives: Gary's sister Mary, husband John and son Kyle; Gary's brother Steve, wife Jan and son Mike, and two of Jan and Steve's friends. We saw a movie, had dinner, went to a ball game and had another dinner after the game. Also yet another dinner at a new restaurant in Scottsdale. Can you tell that we have eaten very well?  The only thing that has saved us is the running and walking which have been wonderful.

A final highlight to report was the visit with Gary, Steve and Mary's most senior cousin from Wisconsin, her daughter and three of her grand daughters. This was at Jan and Steve's home at Desert Mountain. Jan had prepared a lovely breakfast for all of us. A great time for all!

The cactus are finally starting to bloom, just as we are leaving.....

So now we are heading to Southern California for a little more fun before finally heading back east and north. Hope to be able to blog again soon. 

Arrival in AZ

As already noted on my Facebook page, we arrived safe and sound at Mesa Spirit RV Resort in Mesa, AZ, on Saturday, 2/28, about 1:00 pm.  It was a bit windy as we drove in but no other weather to speak of. We have a great site in the area of this park that we like, and we are all set.

The RV is still filthy but it is scheduled for a bath by a pressure wash guy on Wednesday.  Not a moment too soon! But we did already wash the car in Benson AZ.

We have already rendezvoused with ouir two couple friends from Minneapolis for dinner last night, and have some other fun stuff scheduled. We also hope to see Gary's brother and sister and their spouses when something can be arranged. So let the good times roll!

It is raining very hard here right now - Monday afternoon. This will probably last the rest of the afternoon. The weather over most of the US has been very dynamic and severe this late winter. But for here, we are expecting to see sunshine and warmer temps later this week. Hooray!