Welcome to Mostly Musing - My Travel Blog

This blog is about our travels to Baja California, Mexico in our Classic 1976 GMC Motorhome. We have traveled there since 2005. I hope any readers enjoy the blog and I appreciate any comments.

This years travels to Baja begin from our Victoria driveway the end of October 23rd, 2013.










Thursday, April 3, 2008

The Convention/Rally/Cult

We have been in Santa Rosa now for a week. It has been cold, compared to Mexico but not as cold as home is! We are in a gravel parking lot type of RV Park with almost 220 GMC motor homes of various floor plans at the Sonoma Fairgrounds. We love these conventions. Lorne likes them because he gets lots of technical information about maintaining the coach at all the workshops, meets specialists in the field to answer his questions, and there is a general sharing of technical information. I like them because there are so many interesting people to meet and some of them like to play games. We both like the two days of open houses where we can go around and look inside the coaches to see what people have done.

Believe me there are some interesting things and some fantastic things. One person is the original owner of a 1975 coach! It has the entire original interior. Another has renovated their coach with all new upholstery, carpet, window coverings etc. but with the same materials of the original design. Many have “Classic Vehicle” licence plates. There is the “Lone Star Coach” of a man from Texas – its painted like the Texas flag – inside are Texas colors – one blue chair, one red chair, and the table between is half red and half blue. One half of the interior in fact is red and the other is blue – including carpet, counter tops, cupboards….. and on open house day he was wearing…. Hold your breath – blue pants and…… a Texas flag shirt with the lone star over his chest and a cowboy hat!! I didn’t meet his wife…..

Not all these folks have a spouse. Or have brought their spouse with them. The camouflaged coach for example – his wife won’t go in his coach (she doesn’t like the camo look) so didn’t come to the rally – when I asked why he would paint his coach with colors not appealing to his wife I was told the paint job was the result of a bit of a party with his buddies involving a bit of alcohol. They did not a bad job considering……

Last night when a man appeared dressed in camouflaged shirt and pants I asked him if his outfit matched his coach (the camouflaged coach) – he was offended that I didn’t recognize him as the Lone Star guy.

Most coaches have renovated interiors or are in the process of being renovated – mosr by their owners, although some have taken theirs in to places that do renos for lots of money. The thinking is that most RVs do cost a few dollars, if one spends the money on completely renovating a GMC motor home, (which us fans believe is a very well designed coach) including the mechanics, one has a very nice new coach for less money than a new one. To keep them on the road one does have to be mechanical and be willing to spend money on maintenance. And I think one has to enjoy tinkering with them.

Most of the male owners were engineers, pilots, or skilled machinists in their working life. Some of these guys worked as engineers for General Motors. Many of them built boats or renovated boats, or had a boat, hence tinkered with boats, in their spare time while working. Many have had their GMCs for 15 – 20 years so have done a lot to their coaches over that time. Some bought their coaches with nothing inside – these coaches were also used as the Coca Cola sales vans, and as ambulances back in the 70’s so were never set up as a motor home. Some of the woodworking they have done is amazing – these engineers are fastidious carpenters. One coach we were in yesterday had a button to push which locked all the cabinet doors so that when driving nothing will fly open! He also had a button to push to raise or lower the day/night shades. His was a 23 foot, a shell when he bought it, had just a crate for the driver to sit on and no engine. He has worked on it for 2 years and even did the exterior paint job himself. He has a slide show of the process – what he started with and the finished product; absolutely beautiful. He renovated it for his son, having already renovated their own 26 foot. He is delivering this coach to his son after the rally and then will begin his next project – he just bought the hull of a sail boat – a bit of work to get that in the water – at the moment it is in his back yard - and he is very excited to begin!

There are a couple of coaches that have been “stretched” from 26 feet to 30 feet. They look like they actually came that way the work has been so well done.