First day of the FMCA Sunsets and Saguaros, 104th International Convention and RV Expo

Wednesday was the official start of the FMCA Rally (convention) and our first day of no parking duties -- Hurrah!!

When we got back to Gracie on Tuesday afternoon, there was a note in the handle of the door indicating that Roadmaster had inspected our towbar (they are the manufacturers) and they thought it needed servicing. We felt it probably needed cleaning and lubrication, so decided that we should take it to their service area (they bring a semi trailer full of parts and workspace).

So, on Wednesday morning, we first went to the service center where a number of vendors were scheduling service appointments, and we got an appointment made to have our Oasis (hot water system) inspected. We have a slow leak and are losing the coolant that flows through the system somewhere, and we are hoping they can at least identify where the problem is, and maybe fix it.

Then we went back to the rig, removed the towbar, and put it in the back of the Jeep to take to the Roadmaster service area.

We got it checked in with them, and then headed onto the grounds to attend one of the first scheduled seminars...

"Class A RV Diesel Chassis Maintenance" - it was presented by "Big Mike" from Spartan Chassis. Gracie is built on a Freightliner Chassis, so we asked when we entered if the information would be of any use to us, and they said that much of it would be of use. The session made more sense to Carl than it did to me -- Carl seemed to think that he got some useful information.

We have maps that we were given in our package of information, but the maps provided at various locations around the grounds are helpful to get us oriented and on our way to the next place. We are parked in the lot labeled "A" up near the top of the map. The red area near the bottom is the "Welcome Area" where we worked with the parking team on Monday and Tuesday. Most of the other members of the parking team were in one of the lots spread around the fairgrounds, directing people into their parking spots. This sign was located where the star is on the inset map -- we were on the southwest of the main area where conference events are occurring.

During the next seminar session time, we joined the Coaches for Christ members as the FMCA Chaplain, Jim Hollis, provided a devotion for us to think upon.

We headed back to Gracie to have lunch, and then to two different sessions after lunch. Carl and I had agreed we'd meet up near the big red Cummins engine...

Carl got there first, so he took pictures. I was looking at the pictures when composing this blog entry and wondering if the engine was somehow hanging from the "ez-up" (the straps attached), but I think that instead, the engine is being used as a weight to keep the ez-up from blowing away!

Carl told the Cummins guy that he really liked the display engine and thought he would like to take it with him -- but the Cummins guy said that there actually are no working parts inside it, it is only a shell...

It sure looks nice and shiny though!

While Carl was in the session before we met at the red Cummins engine, he got a text from one of the vendors with whom we had requested a free inspection -- Henderson's LineUp. They indicated that they could come to the rig at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon, so Carl went back to Gracie to meet them (he needed to start up the rig and air it up so they could see it with the suspension engaged).

Brice (inspecting) and Rich (taking notes) from Henderson's

Making notes...

We have an appointment with Henderson's in Grants Pass, Oregon, for June, to have a Road Performance Assessment done on Gracie. We figured it may be useful to have an idea of the types of things that we may need to consider having done while we are there so they can make sure that they have the parts ordered. Dwayne and I had a Road Performance Assessment done on Miss Doozie back in 2017 and were so happy with the work that they do. Robert and Barbara Henderson and all of their staff are just great people.

While Brice was inspecting Gracie, he discovered a leak from one of our HWH hydraulic jacks, so after I finished the session I was attending while Carl was at the rig, we met at the Expo area and went to the HWH booth to get an appointment to have an HWH person come to inspect the jack and determine what is going on there. If it is the hydraulic line leading to the jack, he should be able to fix it here; if something more, we'll need to deal with that "down the road". We have been noticing that if we are in a spot for a few days, we eventually get a little less level than we were at the start - it could be that this jack is not holding well and that causes our lack of leveling.

We walked around some of the rest of the expo area -- it is huge, lots and lots of vendors. We want to go back and spend some more time, but we had understood that Roadmaster's maintenance on the towbar would be completed in the afternoon, so we went back to pick up the towbar. They had not finished it -- we didn't realize that they would call when they were finished -- it should be finished on Thursday.

When we got back to the rig, we sat outside for a little while, getting to chat with other folks coming back to their rigs. One of the fellows parked just down from us is also a Ham radio enthusiast, and when he noticed our license plates (Carl's call sign), he came back to chat. It turns out that we met him last summer in Antigo, Wisconsin where he came over to visit because he also noticed our plates then! We said that one or the other of us must be following the other!

We finished the evening by going over to the official "Welcome" by the FMCA President followed by a concert by the Southwest Surfers (Beach Boys music). While we were waiting for it to start, we were blessed by the beautiful colors of the sunset!

A busy day, but not as exhausting as the days that have preceded it!