Member Spotlight

Clara and Albert Foster
Marietta, Okla.

FMCA membership number:  F113266. We joined FMCA in 1989.

FMCA chapter memberships:
Southwinders, Happy (OK) Wanderers, Elk International, Bits & Bytes, Freightliner Chassis Owners Club (FCOC)

Our current motorhome: a 2001 36-foot Winnebago Journey DL

Other motorhomes we have owned:
A 1984 36-foot Fleetwood Southwind
A 1984 36-foot gas-powered Fleetwood Southwind
A 1990 gas-powered 36-foot Fleetwood Southwind
A 1996 diesel-powered Fleetwood Southwind

We decided to buy a motorhome because:
We were having trouble navigating the steps of our fifth-wheel trailer at night when nature called. Also, because of frequent needed stops during day.

Current or former occupation:
Albert's career was with the Air Force postal service. I, Clara, was a homemaker, a civil service secretary, and then a contract specialist to the chief of Policies and Procedures at Morgantown AES.

Family:
Children: Michael, Thomas, Matthew, Jody and Sandra. Grandchildren: Michael's son, David (22). Thomas' sons, Eric (21) and Carl (19). Jody's son, Tobin. Daughters-in-law: Amy (Thomas), Zina (Matthew). Our oldest son, Michael, is widowed; our oldest daughter, Jody, is also widowed.

The best thing about motorhoming is:
The travel, recreation and social activities, and visiting friends and relatives. All of this also means that you know who or what slept in the bed last night.

We travel in the motorhome approximately:
Three to six months per year. When we’re not motorhoming, we’re at home gardening and "raising cows."

Our all-time favorite motorhome trip was:
Actually, there were several. I think, though, that we consider nearly all of our trips marvelous.

The first trip we took after we both retired was in our then-new 1990 Southwind. We traveled from our home in West Virginia all over the country, first spending time in Kentucky at the Camping World there. Then we headed for Oklahoma, where we were planning to build our retirement home and had to arrange for the start of it.

From Oklahoma we continued to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California (stopping at Coast to Coast Resorts and commercial parks — if we liked the place especially, we would spend a week or two), Oregon, Washington, and back through the northern states to West Virginia. After spending a few days at home getting up-to-date on mail, etc., we went back to Oklahoma and house building, living in the RV from July to February until we moved into the new home.

A trip to the FMCA convention in Maine in August 2000 could fall in the category of best and worst at the same time. We could not get there early, so we stayed in the area after the convention. We saw so many beautiful places in the east, ate lobster until we more than had our fill, and visited the no-tax outlet mall in New Hampshire, where I did a lot of our Christmas shopping.

While eating dinner on the night of the Christmas shopping trip, I seemed to have trouble chewing. And I remembered being tired the day before. We went back to our campground near Portland. The next morning, we said goodbye to the camp owner/host and I asked him how he was. He said, "Much better than yesterday." He said he had a cold. I had been using his computer and I decided then that I had caught his cold. But, as we were driving down the highway toward Connecticut, I noticed that my lip was pulled way down on the left side.

We drove on to a friend's house near Hartford (nurse in the family). On their advice we went to St. Francis hospital. I spent five days there. That's the first I knew that a stroke can take place over several days. Thankfully, it was a minor stroke and I don't believe I have any permanent damage. At home, I had several weeks of home-based therapy.

Our other favorite motorhoming destinations include:
Because of the chapters we belong to, we like campgrounds in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Louisiana. We enjoy attending the FMCA conventions. Branson, Mo., is a favorite chapter destination. Colorado and northern New Mexico are marvelous in the summertime. And the West Coast from San Diego to Washington is terrific. In the east we like going to Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. We haven't spent much time in Florida but hope to make it one of our future destinations.

One of our fondest motorhoming memories is:
In 2001 we joined a caravan with the Freightliner Custom Chassis chapter and spent 45 days in western Canada. It was a great trip with great folks. I believe we made lifelong friends on this trip and it is so great to see them at the various rallies across the country. Some have visited us here in Oklahoma and we have visited them in their areas.

We attended the Calgary Stampede, something I have wanted to do ever since I first heard of it. That trip ended a few days before the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center. We were in an RV repair facility when we heard about it. There was no television there, so we were unable to see any of the film from the horror until that evening.

Our “dream” motorhome trip would be:
We would like to tour the Copper Canyon in Mexico, either with friends or on a guided tour.

Our worst motorhoming experience was:
It happed while traveling from West Virginia to Washington, D.C., to visit our daughter and grandson. We had engine trouble on Interstate 81 while heading from the Freightliner facility in Gaffney, S.C., where we had warranty work done to our motorhome. Finally, after several phone calls, we pulled into a Freightliner facility in Roanoke, Va. The technicians could not find out what was wrong. It being a holiday — Good Friday — didn't help much. Freightliner allowed us to leave our motorhome there until we returned from our visit in Washington.

We drove our towed car, a trusty Ford Escort, in to Bethesda, spent a very nice holiday with our daughter, grandson and some of her friends. We stayed a few extra days enjoying the area and then went back to Roanoke.

In diagnosing the problem, I believe Freightliner did a lot of test-driving in our motor coach. They changed a fuel filter, among other things. Although that didn't seem to help the problem then, we finally left with that being the best that could be done at that time. I guess it did the trick. The problem seemed to disappear when we got out of the hills. But before that, we hit an "alligator" (a piece of torn-up tire) that knocked out a lot of the back of the motorhome and damaged our towed car.

Another time, and in another motorhome, we blew out two tires at rush hour while heading east out of Indianapolis. But that's a whole 'nother story.

The best thing about our motorhome is:
The slideout and all the options we ordered.

The best addition we’ve made to our motorhome is:
We haven't done much other than adding a shower curtain in the glass wall shower to keep it clean and to give better privacy. Seventy-year old bodies don't need to be on display.

If we could change one thing about our motorhome, it would be:
To have a side entrance, a driver-side door, a Cummins diesel engine, and a newer coach.

Something about motorhoming that we know now but didn’t know when we started is:
It costs a lot and is an expensive hobby.

When driving the motorhome, the most important thing to remember is:
Keep safety in mind. Try to anticipate what other drivers are going to do. Be aware of what you could do if the RV gives trouble.

Our favorite thing about FMCA is:
It's a great social organization. It provides helpful motorhoming information at seminars. It offers plenty of assistance to chapters. It has assistance programs such as MEDEX PLUS, which helps members to manage out-of-area medical and travel emergencies.

If we could appear as a contestant on ANY TV game show, we'd choose:
Clara: "Wheel of Fortune" because I love words and their structure. Albert: "Family Feud" because he says he couldn't answer the big questions on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

"Fantasy" dinner guests we'd most like to invite to dinner in our motorhome:
Our deceased parents. Other than that, the RV is not a place I would choose to have formal dinner guests. Cooking is not my forte and the space for it in a motorhome turns off any aptitude I might have. I don't even like potluck dinners.

A motorhoming tip we’d like to share with other motorhomers is:
How to install a shower curtain rod.

Our hobbies include:
Albert: the motorhome, gardening and cows. Clara: reading, crosswords, sewing/quilting, computer.

Our favorite way to exercise is:
Albert: no formal exercise program, just the walking involved in caring for our farm. Clara: I wish I were to be better at practicing it: weights, stretches, stationary bike, and treadmill. Walking is nice, but I do most of mine shopping in the malls — all over the country.

Favorite movie:
Albert: Lonesome Dove. Clara: I can't think of the names of the older movies and don't watch very many on TV. I'm a victim of the attention span deficiency that comes from watching short shows with commercial breaks.

Favorite book:
Albert: Any instructional manual that tells me what I want to know. Clara: I think it's probably whatever book I am reading at the time. I don't think I have ever read a book twice. There have been some books that I wasn't ready for the story to end.

Favorite song:
Any songs pleasant to the ear. But, no rap, no hard rock, and no nasty lyrics.

Favorite restaurant:
Smokehouse in Lindsey, Texas (barbecue); Luigi's (Italian) in Gainesville, Texas; and Polo's (Mexican), in Ardmore, Okla.

Favorite stores:
Wal-Mart, local hardware stores for hard-to-find items, Hobby-Lobby and other fabric stores. And of course, grocery stores.

Favorite campgrounds:
Probably the place we enjoy the most is the San Onofre State Campground in San Diego on the Marine Corps. base there. The campground is just south of San Clemente. The Vandenberg AFB Campground on the central coast of California is great, too, and we like the area there along the coast.

When motorhomers visit our state or hometown, they should be sure to see:
The memorial from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. The Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Preserve and the area surrounding it, including Medicine Park, which was a very popular "springs" resort early in the 20th century. Also, the area around Jet, Okla., where you can dig down about 6 or 8 inches and gather crystals.

Items that are always in our motorhome refrigerator while traveling:
Albert: a fresh can of coffee. Clara: ice cream.

Our advice to new motorhomers is:
Join an FMCA chapter, local or international or both. We assume you've already picked out the motorhome of your dreams (or as close to it as you can afford). Watch for leaks; they're easily to overlook.

Behind our motorhome, we tow:
A 1993 Ford Escort four-door. We use a Blue Ox tow bar and a Remco lube pump. However, we have purchased a newer Blue Ox tow bar that stays mounted on the RV. We plan to convert to pulling a 2000 Chevy Malibu four-door model.

Our favorite activity to do inside the motorhome is:
Relaxing, reading, watching television and playing cards or dominoes.