June 2014

GLAMARAMA14 / FMA Rally

We were barely home three weeks before we were headed back to the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana.  This time it was for the 2nd FMCA Great Lakes Area rally known as GLAMARAMA14.  We attended the 1st GLAMARAMA last year and Bruce did a major story on the event that ran as a cover story in Bus Conversion Magazine.  (See our BCM page for more details.)  GLAMARAMA14 was combined with a major Fleetwood Motorhome Association rally after the FMA lost the use of a rally site in Illinois.  The combined rallies made for a great turnout and a chance to hear Gary Bunzer speak several times as Fleetwood had arranged for him to speak to the FMA rally.

We were parked with our Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter in an area just behind the vendor buildings and reasonably convenient to the seminar buildings.  We had 13 coaches in that area and several more GLCC members parked in other places because of their special duties.  Our volunteer duties at GLAMARAMA14 were the same as last year; driving the transportation golf carts.  This was not a major time commitment and left plenty of time for us to just be attendees.

For more details see the relevant blog entries from mid-June.

St. Louis, Missouri

We were barely home two weeks before we had to leave for a car trip to St. Louis, Missouri.  Linda’s sister, Sister Marilyn, was installed as a part of the new leadership team, and as the executive director, of the St. Louis Province of the Congregation of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ).  Linda’s brother, Ron, and his wife, Mary, drove in from Pennsylvania for the event and we all stayed at Marilyn and Linda H’s house for a few nights.  Linda’s nephew, Mike, and his significant other, Clayton, were also there as was Linda’s cousin, Judy, and her daughter, Mary.  We had a chance to visit with Bruce’s sister, Patty, and her daughter, Amanda, and her daughter, Lillian (Lilly).  We also managed to work in a long meeting with our Financial Advisor, John, at Stifel-Nicholas and finally got to have lunch his assistant, Maggie.  It was a lot for such a short trip, and we would like to stay longer, but we had a major landscaping project getting underway at the house and needed to get back.  For more details see the relevant blog entries from the end of June.