The first thing to know is that these people must be notified immediately when something happens. You would, of course, want to make sure people are taken care of but call the number on the insurance membership card right away (click on the link on the left and print the card out and carry it with your FMCA membership card).

They will pay for many things but some of the main ones are: Emergency Medical Evacuation, Return of Traveling Companion, and RV/Vehicle Return. We recently had an accident at a rally – it does not have to be at a rally – and the person was air-evacuated to a hospital about 70 miles away and, because they failed to call and notify them, the insurance company initially denied the claim. FMCA is working on this for us but it is a pretty clear requirement.

The last time this happened at a rally where I was present, the insurance company was notified when the member was already in the ambulance and on the way. This was fine with the insurer.

Just so you know.

Amado is a very small wide spot on the road between Tucson and Nogales, Mexico. It is about 40 miles south of Tucson and just north of historic Tubac Village – a very interesting artsy community – on Interstate Highway I-19.

DeAnza RV Resort has a large clubhouse with lots to do.  A heated salt water swimming pool, hot tub, shuffle board courts, darts, ping pong, bocce ball, horseshoes, billiards, exercise room and pickle ball and a nice community fire pit.

We did have some issues with the scales initially but with Manny Trovao’s help and (relatively) nearby shop we got them fixed and weighed 31 coaches over a two day period. Below are our results. Everything is pretty much self-explanatory except the “X-factor” which is my try at looking at the theory that a heavy side in the front might be caused by a torsion bar on one side being mis-adjusted and causing the rear suspension on the opposite side to make up for it. The number is derived by subtracting the total of a front and it’s opposite rear side total from the other front and it’s opposite rear side total. Comments are welcome.

Below is a list of the coaches in the order in which they were weighed – some people were suspicious that the scales were not correct and that their particular weights were incorrect. While this is possible, coaches that were weighed later were OK so take it for what you will. Here is a down-loadable version of the Excel spreadsheet so you can see the raw data if you want to.

The dinner this evening was a grilled salmon with lobster and shrimp sauce by Manny and family – I love salmon and have never had better anywhere. Dinner was followed by karaoke where we had quite a few participants and lots of fun.

Photos at the bottom

GMC BELTS WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN
by
Gene Fisher

Here are the slides(be patient – this is a large file):

Direct link:http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/data/5950/GMC_BELTS_WILL_NOT_LET_YOU_DOWN.pdf

Photos:

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Jim Bounds gave a great presentation this afternoon on fire suppression systems and talked about his and Chuck Botts’ experiments with hydrogen fuel cells for improving gas mileage.

Dinner tonight was Santa Cruz Style Prawns by Manny and family. You would not believe how good. The theme for the evening was “Cowboys and Cowgirls” and some great outfits were worn by many.

Everything you need to know about aligning your GMC to run straight and true 

Photos:

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Dinner tonight was Portugese-style New York Steak by Manny and his family. Tender and tasty – you should have been there. After dinner several groups met to discuss their favorite GMC topics like fuel injection, quad-bag suspensions, etc. Very informative and fun.

New Computing
by Gene Fisher

GMC on the Internet 

	Gregg Birch on his Grandfather, Alex Birch (the Birchhaven was named after him). Greg gave us a wonderful, warm history of the Birch family and how this family of “tinkerers” were entwined with GM and the GMC Motorhome. For the full story and lots of pictures, go to http://birchaven.wordpress.com/. Be sure and follow all the links for all the pictures Also, see the “GMC Heritage” site.
	Manny conducted a little wine tasting contest to see what people thought of a variety of wines from some “two-buck-chuck” to a home-made wine by a member.
	Each evening volunteers served dinner to “VIPs” – people who had contributed to the rally by conducting seminars or other significant contributions. Each evening the servers were dressed in ‘formal’ wear provided by Manny.

Photos:

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Dinner tonight was Gilroy Garlic Chicken by Manny and his family – again, I cannot say enough about the quality of the food – better than most restaurants. After dinner we had a fun session of “GMC Charades” composed and conducted by Dave deGraffenreid – fun as usual.

Prep It Right:  How to prepare yourself and your coach
for successful Long Distance Travel

Photos:

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Vendors: for a list, photos, and a movie of vendors at the rally check out Gene Fisher’s blog at http://gmc49ers.blogspot.com/2012/03/casa-vendors.html

	Jerry Work along with some help from volunteers checked ride heights at the check-in spot. They were only looking for low or high in front and rear. Jerry had a suspicion that most would be low and he was right.
	Got off to a good start, then stalled. The scales went home with Manny for a little re-work. We will try again later in the week.

Manny and his family demonstrated why they have the reputation of producing some very fine dining that is head and shoulders above any food you’d find at any rally. Better, actually, than food you’d find at most restaurants. Portugese pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables was something to write home about – in my haste to taste I forgot to take a photo but take my word for it.

After dinner we had a welcome meeting for first-timers – we had quite a few.

Here are photos by Rebecca Bovee and Armand:

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