Early in January we attended the FMCA Western Region rally in Indio, me for the 12th consecutive year.
On Monday AM our group drove from a closed Sams Club parking lot in nearby La Quinta CA to the Date Festival (county fairgrounds). Here we are lined up to go in as a group to park together. Our motor home is the second in the line.
Once the rally begins, trams provide transportation to carry attendees around the large fairgrounds.
This and the next few shots were taken on the first official day of the rally from the tram as it traveled its route. Motor homes (about 1200 in attendance) are parked in every conceivable spot. Temporary electrical wiring circuits are supplied so we can enjoy electrical hookups.
There was a little snow on the nearby mountains.
Here are two of the fancier motor homes.
This is one of the buildings in which seminars on many subjects important to motor home owners are held during 3 1/2 days.
In this Fullenwider Auditorium events are held ranging from coffee and doughnuts in the mornings, Chapter Fairs and seminars during the day, to evening entertainment for the 2000 plus people in attendance. One of our members suggested that the auditorium got its name from the folks eating lots of doughnuts in the AM, making them “full and wider”.
One of the benefits of a chapter parking together is that it is given space for chapter socializing. Ours had two evening meals here, the chapter annual meeting, happy hours and just visiting. Above, left to right, are Barbara Westerfield, our newsletter editor, husband Tom Westerfield, the outgoing President, and Jim and Betty Steindorf, who put on a Golden Spike rally in Montana last summer.
Below is the living room of our home as it was decorated for Christmas 2012.