Rallies

WELCOME to all the new members of our Discovery International Chapter; since we are all new members that includes a welcome to each and everyone.

Here is a quick update on what has been happening since our chapter formation meeting held at the Perry, a winter convention. At Perry, after our formation meeting, our officers submitted all the necessary paper work to receive our official charter, which was granted on March 22, 1999.

Soon after the Perry meeting your officers went to work to prepare a mailing to be sent by the National FMCA office to all listed FMCA Discovery owner members. This mailing was sent out on May 13 to 649 Discovery Owners informing them of the chapter formation and an invitation to join the chapter. On June 2 we passed the century membership mark. Many of you reading this newsletter were the very ones who received this mailing and responded that you wanted to become part of this organization. To each of you who have joined in the last 5 days I say "Thank You."

As many of you know we will be holding our first chapter rally in Middle Amana, IA (where is that?) starting on July 22 and caravanning as a group into Ames for the summer convention at 3 PM on Sunday, July 25. At the current time we have 27 registered for the rally and have some others who will be joining us for the caravan.

Not only is our chapter new but also most of the officers are new officers in a FMCA chapter, so each of us ask our patience and suggestions on how to make the chapter be of value to each member. Please feel free to give any officer your ideas of how you would like to contribute to our chapter.

To those who will be attending the Middle Amana pre-rally or the Ames convention, I look forward to meeting you personally and to the others I look forward to meeting you sometime later.

During the summer convention in Ames, IA the annual meeting of the chapter will he held Tuesday, July 27 at 5:30 PM in the Chapter's Meeting Area. Your nominating committee: Marilyn Souder, chairperson, Virginia Wampler and Willard Cazzell, was elected at the Perry formation meeting. They have been working hard at coming up with a full slate of officers to be elected at the annual meeting. If you are interested in serving as an officer please contact a committee member. Other business that is required to keep our chapter legal with FMCA will be conducted. Please come and attend this meeting and make your voice and vote heard.

The temporary officers elected at the GA formation meeting are: Jim Campbell, president; John Jailor, 1st V. president; Lois Campbell, secretary; Bill Scheerer, treasurer; Ron Hyslop, national director; and Marilyn Souder, alternate national director.

Since we are all new members of this recently formed chapter, the officers have decided to have our own chapter name badges. Bill Scheerer has been instrumental in designing the badge and securing a cooperative vendor. The cost of two badges per F number will be covered as part of the initiation fee. To avoid incurring the postage cost for mailing these badges we will be distributing them to those members attending the Middle Amana rally and the Ames convention.

If you are not attending and would like your name badge mailed to you please complete the form (found elsewhere in newsletter) and mail it to Bill Scheerer with payment of $1.00 per badge to cover mailing costs.

What does the FMCA directory list as your motor home - Discovery or Fleetwood coach?

In the January issue of Family Motor Coaching it shows a membership list of all current FMCA members. This listing shows what brand of motor home each member is currently driving as indicated in their database. Prior to May, 1997 FMCA did not carry Discovery as a make and they listed all of our coaches as Fleetwood. If your listing is shown as Fleetwood rather than Discovery and you would like it changed, please call FMCA at 1-800-543-3622.

On June 1, 1999, Fred and Clara White became the 100th member of Discovery International. Fred and his wife are retired and make their homes in Polk City, FL and Tiverton, RI. No stranger to motor homing, Fred is a Past President of Bounders of America, and was also a Northeast VP in the same organization. Prior to motor homing, Fred's other RV was a sailboat. His current hobbies include camping, woodworking and his computer.

Clara, when she is not trying to keep up with Fred, enjoys sewing and cooking. (Can't wait to sample some of your cooking at one of our rallies). The Whites enjoy RVing in a 1999 37V Discovery.

On behalf of all the officers and members of Discovery International, we say a big welcome to Fred and Clara White, #100.

Would like to see the plant where your Discovery was built? Fleetwood plant #44 is located on US 224 on the east edge of Decatur, IN and they welcome Discovery owners to visit on Monday through Friday at 2:30 PM. You will get a very nice tour and you will see the Discoverys in various stages of completion as they come down the production line. This "Discovery Plant" also produces the American Coach motor home. Their telephone number is 1-800-648-6582.

If you have a prearranged repair order with Fleetwood Parts and Service you can park in their parking lot which has some electric plugs, with a water and dump station. This repair facility is located on the south-west edge of Decatur. 1-800-322-8216.

Most of you would probably agree that you like receiving and reading a newsletter containing information about our motor homes and about our FMCA chapter. As you know this takes time and effort to assimilate by someone of our chapter. I would like to thank Ron Hyslop and Bill Scheerer for pitching in to help Lois and I to get this first issue off the ground. In the future I would like to see other volunteers step forward and take the leadership of this project. Prior experience is not a requirement, just a willingness to try. Computers and E-mail connections would greatly assist in this effort. To put your mind at ease the Campbells are still willing to publish and mail the newsletter if you are uncomfortable with this part of the task. We need help with the writing and editing. Please let any officer know of your willingness to help. Also all ideas for things you would like to see in a newsletter would be appreciated as well.

Did you know that Family Motor Coaching magazine allows each FMCA member to place one free ad per year? If you are not planning to use your ad, please consider letting our chapter use your ad space. Please let Bill & Nancy Scheerer, our membership secretaries know that you are willing to donate your space.

A) Air brake chassis manufactured after March 31, 1998 are mandated to be equipped with Anti-Lock Brakes. If your chassis was built prior to this date, it is not equipped with ABS.

Q) Can after-market filters (Fram, etc.) be used as replacements when servicing the engine and transmission?

A) The only manufacturer that specifically recommends against this is Allison Transmissions. Apparently they have seen failures in the field that were traced to faulty after-market filters.

Q) Can the transmission fluid level be read using the Allison touch pad shifter?

A) All freightliner chassis equipped with the 6 speed MD 3060 transmission is equipped with the oil level sensor in the transmission. To read the oil level, the transmission must be at full operating temperature, then follow these instruction:

A) The brakes are separated into primary and secondary systems. The primary system in the rear brake portion of the system and the secondary system operates the front brakes, the suspension system and the exhaust brake (if so equipped).

Q) Is there a connection in the air system that I an use to install an air hose for tire inflation?

A) Yes! All Freightliner chassis with air suspension and/or air brakes includes an auxiliary air manifold. The location of the manifold is on the front bulkhead under the hood. If your coach ha air horns, the manufacturer probably used this manifold as the supply. There are seven ports available for your use. This is the only place that is approved for an air supply source!!!

Bill & Nancy Scheerer--Bill is treasurer and he and Nancy are membership secretary. They are retired and living the good life in Sebring, FL. They have been Florida residents for about a year now. Originally from Indianapolis, they retired to Northern Indiana in 1992. Both have enjoyed the RV life for many years, and have been motor homing for about 10 years. While their children were growing up they were members of the old National Campers and Hikers Association. Bill & Nancy enjoy working with the church and Nancy loves sewing, quilting, and stained glasswork as well as the computer. Bill's hobbies include his computer and digital photography and of course the Discovery. They have two children, both now living in Florida. Bill and Nancy look forward to meeting the many Discovery International members in Iowa in July. Look for them in their 1998 Discovery, B & B 34 Q.

Ron & Sarah Hyslop--Ron is our National Director and represents our chapter on National FMCA matters. Ron retired at age 61 from a 44 year career in engineering and senior management in 1995. He also spent two years in Uncle Sam's Army, serving in Germany. Sarah, who he married in 1957, retired in 1980 as a registered nurse having served in hospitals and as a school nurse at a private boys school. They are the parents of two children and have two granddaughters. Other than a ten year stint in Texas and Oklahoma, they have spent their lives in New England, and on retirement relocated to Cape Code and built a new home. They still maintain a "Vacation" home in Vermont. They started camping in a tent and graduated to a pop-up trailer and then gave up camping for awhile. They purchased a Class C motor home in 1993 and then a diesel in 1994 before buying their first Discovery in 1996. They then upgraded to the 1998 Discovery B & B model 36T in July 1997, to gain the advantages of the slide out. They became involved with FMCA in Oklahoma. They were part of the initial group in forming the Discovery International Chapter. Currently they belong to other chapters as well - Capecodders, Constitution Cruisers and Freightliner Chassis Owners. They have attended four National Conventions and two Area Conventions.

Florida is the #1 state for Discovery International Members. Membership continues to grow with Ohio and Texas tied for the number 2 spot, with Michigan in #3. Then comes Louisiana in 4th, and Wisconsin and Indiana are tied for 5th place. The great state of Maryland comes in 6th. Several states have two members, and there are seveal with only one member.

We truly are an International organization as we have a family membership from Ontario, Canada. If you know of someone that owns a Discovery and is not a member of Discovery International, get them an application. To date we have 116 members.

As part of the By-Laws of Discovery International we can have Branch (Regional) chapters and are very interested in setting up several to allow for local rallies, etc. With the branch chapter set up, you do not need a full slate of officers and the overhead of a chapter, all that is needed is a VP of that branch who also serves as a VP to Discovery International and provides liaison to the branch. All the benefits of a chapter are enjoyed as part of DI, such as liability insurance coverage for rally organizers and the rally itself.

If you are interested in serving as the DI VP for your region, that would be great. All that is required is that you let us know of your interest and we wioll be sure your name is put in nomination at our upcoming chapter meeting at Ames. If elected (pretty sure bet) then you are off and running. We will be able to provide you our membership list and you can contact those individuals in your area. If you have any further questions, please come back at me.

You're asleep, but others worry that you're dead.	People call at 9 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
You can live without sex but not without glasses.	You have a dream about prunes.
Your back goes out more than you do.	You answer a question with, "because I said so!"
You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.	You send money to PBS.
You buy a compass for the dash of your car.	The end of your tie doesn't come anywhere near the top of your pants.
You are proud of your lawn mower.	You take a metal detector to the beach.
Your best friend is dating someone half their age... and isn't breaking the any laws.	You wear black socks with sandals.
You call Olan Mills before they call you.	You know what the word "equity" means.
Your arms are almost too short to read the newspaper.	You can't remember the last time you laid on the floor to watch television.
You sing along with the elevator music.	Your ears are hairier than your head.
You would rather go to work than stay home sick.	You talk about "good grass" and you're referring to someone's lawn.
You constantly talk about the price of gasoline.	You get into a heated argument about pension plans.
You enjoy hearing about other people's operations.	You got cable for the weather channel. ("Old Folks MTV.")
You consider coffee one of the most important things in life.	You can go bowling without drinking.
You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.	You have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it.
Neighbors borrow your tools.	People send you this list.