RV Fun Trips --- On the Road --- FMCA Oct 2002

Yet Another FMCA Motorhome Convention
Motor Home on the Range
October 2002
Page 1

Getting There

Our caravan, of three motorhomes, departed from Wichita early in the morning. The destination was the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas. The fairgrounds would be the location for another Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) convention with yet another clever name. This convention was called Motor Home on the Range. This is a take-off on the name of the song Home on the Range, which happens to be the State Song of Kansas.

All the rigs in our group were scheduled to go into the FMCA convention during the first morning entry. This meant between 8:30 and 12 noon. The trip to Hutchinson would be relatively short, as it is only a little over 50 miles from where we were staying in Wichita.

Most of the trip was via state highway K-96, a straight route traveling northwest for most of the way between Wichita and Hutchinson. For those who have been in Kansas, it is known that the roadway system usually is on a north/south and east/west grid. A highway that departs from the grid system is a bit unusual. In some areas, a roadway that is laid out in a diagonal direction is so unusual that it is know simply as The diagonal.

Making the turn at Yoder, Kansas — Photo by Nora

While traveling on K-96, the route took us through typical Kansas, flat farmland. We found our way to the Yoder turn-off and drove through the town of Yoder, Kansas. This small village is a focal point for the local Amish community. Among the automobiles and trucks, a common sight is that of horse drawn buggies. As our small caravan left Yoder behind, we proceeded a short distance to the FMCA holding area. This is where those towing cars would disconnect towed vehicles.

The entry into the Kansas State Fairground for the FMCA motorhome convention was fairly easy. Being among the first to enter, we drove onto the grounds to our "campsite" for the week. Our camping area is in an open field covered with grass. The place looks as if it normally is a grassy picnic area next to a small park. This is the fifth FMCA convention for Kay and me, so we settled in quickly to the routine of FMCA convention camp life. For a while I just watched as the motorhomes behind us were directed into their campsites. One of the first priorities for several rigs was to get a satellite antenna set up.

We all get to know our new neighbors

Then we all introduced ourselves to our new neighbors. One of our neighbors had a very interesting motorhome. We all took a tour around the outside of the RV as well as going inside. The unusual motorhome was made from a city bus. The conversion was beautiful. As it turns out, the man who owns the motorhome had made a career of building custom street rods. So when he retired, he put his skills to work on the bus conversion.

On the rear of the motorhome was a small bump-out structure. We were told that the original engine configuration was transverse across the back of the bus. To improve performance, the engine was changed to an inline setup. This made the engine extend beyond the back of the bus. So, a new sheet-metal structure was made to cover the engine giving the motorhome the look of having a bustle. It looked as if it worked well and it looked nice too.

A very nice bus conversion motorhome — Photo by Nora

Inside the custom motorhome we saw fine woodwork in the form of beautiful cabinetry. The leather upholstery was reminiscent of the tucked and rolled upholstery in a street rod. The workmanship inside and out is top quality.

Shortly after arriving in our campsite, a Welcome Wagon golf cart came by our motorhomes with volunteers dropping off our convention packets. This consists of a plastic bag that contains two copies of the program and seminar schedules. This gave us something to do for a while. We would go through the seminar schedules and highlight all the classes we wanted to attend. Then tough decisions had to be made when more than one seminar was being held at the same time.

It didn't take long for the Satellite dishes to go up

I had to wait until late afternoon before I could drive out of the camping area. There had been a steady flow of motorhomes into the camping area all day. This made it close to impossible to drive out into town.

In camp, we set up tables and chairs in an impromptu patio area between motorhomes. This gave us an opportunity to talk about the events of the day.

We were camped on a nice grassy field

The weather all the way from California had been hot and there was no change when we arrived at Hutchinson. One of the reasons to have the summer convention in Kansas in October was to take advantage of the normally cool, autumn weather. So much for a good idea, it was hot and humid. This made it difficult to sleep at night.

The campsites have no hookups and there is a quiet time after 11PM. That meant that we could not run our generators, which is necessary to run our air conditioners during the night. On the plus side, generators could be run during the day to provide power for our air conditioners when temperatures were hottest.