Member Spotlight

Danny and Alice Mumy
Westerville, Ohio

FMCA membership number:   F87793. We joined FMCA in 1987.

FMCA chapter memberships:
Full Timers, Ohio Nomads. Former members of 100%ers and Coast to Coasters.

Our current motorhome is:  a 1988 Trans Van

Other motorhomes that we have owned:
Four: a 1949 Chevy homemade model, a 1978 Trans Van, a 1981 Pace Arrow and a 1985 Vogue II.

We decided to buy a motorhome because:
We have traveled as long as we have been married (1953). We liked the fact that everything was together as opposed to a trailer and tow vehicle. With the motorhome, we could tow a small auto for touring the areas where we stayed.

Current or former occupation:
I (Danny) was supervisor at Kodak Technical Services. Alice was an assistant personnel director.

Children, grandchildren:
We have two daughters, ages 47 and 46, and four grandchildren.

The best thing about motorhoming is:
Being able to spend time in an area to really investigate sights of interest. Also, a motorhome is superior to a trailer (in my opinion) because it is warm or cool when you park and it is not necessary to "set up."

When we're not motorhoming, we're:
We traveled for 12 years full-time (1989 to 2001) and are just getting settled in a house and getting to know the community. Now we travel in our motorhome approximately seven weeks per year.

Our all-time favorite motorhome trip was:
Going from Canada and the West Coast to the mid-Atlantic states to Nova Scotia to all states for 12 years. Nova Scotia is beautiful. The Canadian Rockies of British Columbia are awesome.

Our other favorite motorhoming destinations are:
Many times we went to Niagara Falls and the New England states.

One of our fondest motorhoming memories is:
Meeting hundreds of wonderful people all across the United States and Canada . RV people take time to be friendly, as opposed to living in a house or town where everyone is busy and does not take time to enjoy their neighbors.

Our “dream” motorhome trip would be:
We did it!

Our worst motorhoming experience was:
The hailstorm in Minot , N.D., at the FMCA convention in June 1990. Our friend's generator was not running well and since it was very hot, he left on Thursday to go to Minnesota , where we were going to attend a Coast to Coasters rally. He missed the storm and we got "hammered" by it.

The best thing about our Trans Van motorhome is:
The size. Since we no longer travel full-time, we no longer need the 37-foot Vogue. With the Trans Van it's easier to travel on smaller roads. It's old, small, cheap and in great shape. I added a small generator to make it even more self-contained.

Something about motorhoming that we know now but didn’t know when we started is:
That the people who travel change as the years go by. In 1989 most of the motorhomes were gas powered, not really large, and the price was reasonable. Today many, many coaches are huge and expensive. People today seem to stay inside more, whereas we enjoyed getting outside and meeting people.

If we could change one thing about our motorhome, it would be:
To install fuel injection. Carburetors are okay, but fuel injection is trouble free from the standpoint of elevation and especially "vapor locking."

The best alteration or addition that we’ve made to one of our motorhomes is:
In the Vogue it was changing the propane-powered generator to a diesel-powered unit. In our little Trans Van, the addition of a small gasoline-powered generator makes it very useable.

Our favorite thing(s) about FMCA is:
The many benefits, the conventions and rallies, but especially the people. Our 100%ers chapter at one time had FMCA's national vice president, national secretary, and International Area vice president as members in one year.

If we could appear as contestants on any TV game show, we would choose:
"Wheel of Fortune" because it is a fun show where it is possible to win as opposed to "Jeopardy," where the contestants are very intelligent. I (Danny) was on "The Price is Right" in 1989, when we were full-timing. I won a snowmobile.

The feature of our motorhome that we could not do without is:
Our Trans Van is so basic that we need everything. Most important at our age of 69 is the toilet.

A motorhoming tip that we’d like to share with other motorhomers is:
Be sure to rent or borrow a motorhome before buying one. Most important is to buy a motorhome that is within your realm of expertise. Motorhomes run from basic to premium with features that require study and knowledge to understand and care for the coach.

Our hobbies are:
I do electronic building, woodworking, carving, all the motorhome maintenance. Alice likes to read and cook. We both enjoy traveling to new places.

Our favorite way to exercise is:
Walking. It is not as boring as most exercise machines.

Favorite movie:  Rainman

Favorite book:  Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Favorite song and singer:  "This Land is Your Land" by Pete Seeger

Favorite restaurant:  Fazoli's

Favorite store:  Wal-Mart, AutoZone and Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse

Favorite campground:  Verde Valley Thousand Trails in Cottonwood, Ariz. Palm Springs Thousand Trails in Indio, Calif.

When motorhomers visit our state or hometown, they should be sure to see:
Lake Erie at the west end. A visit to South Bass Island with its Put-in-Bay . Also, Kelly's Island with the huge glacial grooves.

Favorite items that we always keep in our motorhome refrigerator while traveling:
Milk, Diet Pepsi, peanut butter, apples, and orange juice

Our advice to new motorhomers is:
To travel slowly. We usually only went 250 to 350 miles per day and stayed in an area long enough to enjoy it. Very important is to know your motorhome completely to avoid costly and time-consuming repairs. In 12 years, the only breakdown we had was one tire blowout.

Behind our motorhome we tow:
We towed a 1986 Renault Encore behind our Pace Arrow and our Vogue. Next we pulled a 1997 Saturn and finally a 2001 PT Cruiser behind the Vogue. We used a tow bar for all of our towing. With dollies, you have the problem of having to store them in a campground and the trouble of hooking them up.

Thee people from history whom we would most like to invite for dinner are:
Mark Twain for his insight into slavery. Thomas Jefferson for his intellect concerning the building of our Federal government. Thomas Edison for his wit and ability to discover new devices.

Our favorite activity to do inside the motorhome is: read

Other comments:
Troubleshooting is my passion. When we traveled full-time there was usually someone waiting for me at a rally or convention with a motorhome-related question, a problem or just waiting for any plain help that I could give.

Other FMCA members may contact us via e-mail at: dhmumy@earthlink.net