[GRS-AZ]

My wife rejoined FMCA so that she could attend their two-day RV driving school. A good idea to be sure, though she does have thousands of miles under her belt driving our old 40' Country Coach. Back in the early '80s she drove an 18-wheeler in a truck rodeo!

The last organized RV event we attended was Gaylord Maxwell's "Life on Wheels" in Lexington, Kentucky in 2008.

We have no idea what to expect at FMCA.

WIll any Newell Gurus be there?
Do the Newells park together? How does that work?
Should we get electricity or should we dry camp. (We have zero experience dry camping in an all-electric coach.)

Any advice is appreciated!

Glenn (and Jill)

[Land Yacht]

You should consider the No Rally Rally in Alabama early May, great time to meet fellow Newell owners and learn a lot about your coach. Check out the thread here.
http://newellgurus.com/showthread.php?ti...ally+rally

[Ernie]

I attended an FMCA rally in Madison, Wi. One thing I do know: They jam you in like sardines

[Georgeb]

If you have not requested an electric site I doubt there will be any available 
Make sure your black tank is empty and you are full of fresh water. You park

[encantotom]

i dont think many of the gurus go to the fmca rallys. i never hear them talk about it. most try to go to our own get togethers since it is more intimate and applicable.

tom

[DK on the road]

I will not be attending FMCA this year, but after attending Escapee's event last year in Tuscon, I found it to be very informative and will repeat, at some time. I do look forward to attending FMCA at some time in the future for more education, and I'm a type A extrovert. I like talking with people with like interest.

If there is a site left at the No Rally Rally, mentioned above, I highly recommend it. "Friends helping friends" was the banner posted proudly at last year in Foley AL No Rally Rally. I am really regretting not being able to attend this year. Great group of folks !

I will be at the No Rally Rally next year ( I say now)

BTW, congratulations on the new to you Newell

[GRS-AZ]

There was a site available at the No Rally Rally and we will be there in #63!

This is crazy! Two weeks ago we didn't own a Newell.

Last night I never thought my wife would consider driving to Alabama on the spur of the moment.

Now we are planning to drive 1,600 miles cross-country to meet up with people we don't yet know, all because we all own these peculiar vehicles.

We did something like this once before because of The Newells. In fall 2007 we were driving (in a car) from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida back to Atlanta. We had visited my mother around her birthday and Thanksgiving. Turnpike and I-75 traffic was horrendous and we ended up stopping in Gainsville for the night. I turned on my computer to check on several eBay auctions for motorcoaches I was following. I noted the reappearance of a Newell that had been listed previously, Only now it was listed for $100 k, no reserve. Clearly the previous deal had fallen through and the owner was keen to get rid of it. I think it was a mid '90s coach and at that opening price, I knew somebody was going to get a good deal.

I showed the listing to my wife. She asked where was the coach. Tucson, Arizona. "Why don't we go see it", she asked. Now here is where I should have said "because we are in Florida and we have no warm clothes and we shouldn't drive to Arizona without them."

We did look at the coach. I think it was the first Newell that we went inside. We didn't bid, as we needed to sell our business and our condo first, but it did germinate the seed that led to our recent purchase of 637.

It snowed on I-10 and I-20 when we drove home. We got snowed in for two night in Demming, New Mexico and a night in Colorado City, Texas.

We do not anticipate snow en route to the rally.