Member Spotlight

Luther and Carolyn Buford
Kansas City, Mo.

FMCA membership number:
F355324 (we joined FMCA in 2004)

Our current motorhome: a 2005 Newmar Mountain Aire

Other motorhomes we have owned: a 1984 Winnebago Elandan

Three words that best describe our current motorhome:
Roomy, comfortable and functional

The best thing about our motorhome:
It has all of the comforts of home and the ability to take us almost anywhere we want to be.

We decided to buy a motorhome because:
We bought this motorhome after many years of owning various towable RVs because of the convenience of traveling in a motorhome.

Our former occupations:
I (Carolyn) retired from AT&T after 33 years as an Information Technology manager. Luther retired after 26 years as a police detective on the Kansas City Police Department and worked for the U.S. Marshals for several years after retirement.

The best thing about motorhoming:
First it would be the ability to travel the country with all of the comforts of home at your leisure. Second, being able to arrive at a campground and have the inside temperature of your RV at a comfortable level. This has been a feature of a motorhome we have enjoyed immensely when the weather is either very cold or very hot.

We travel in the motorhome approximately:
Nine months per year. When we’re not motorhoming we are usually at home preparing for our next motorhoming trip.

Our all-time favorite motorhome trip was:
Our next trip, but we will always have fond memories of our trip out West this year. We were able to tour the area at our leisure and take in the many sights and attractions that this area of the country has to offer.

Our fondest motorhoming memories:
There are so many, but I guess the ones that stand out in our minds the most are the rallies we attend where we are able to meet so many wonderful people. These rallies have enabled us to establish ongoing relationships with so many people from across the country.

Other favorite motorhoming destinations:
We like so many destinations in this wonderful country of ours. However, if we had to prioritize our destinations, we think it would first be Minnesota to experience the excellent fishing and then travel on to the East Coast. We travel to both of these destinations during the fall season to enjoy the fall foliage.

Our “dream” motorhome trip:
We have never traveled to the Northwest and would love to do that, and then travel to Alaska. To make this more of a “dream” trip, we would love to have some of our friends join us.

Our perfect day of motorhome travel:
Mine would be to travel the back roads and stop whenever something of interest catches my eye. Luther’s preference would be to leave later in the day and travel to a planned destination and then go sightseeing.

Our worst motorhoming experience:
We missed a turn in Kentucky, which put us on a less traveled route. Then we found ourselves traversing a bridge with oncoming traffic that was labeled as being a two-lane bridge. We quickly discovered that it should have been labeled as being two lanes for two compact cars.

Our motorhoming pet peeve:
We are always appalled when we see people dumping their holding tanks and trash in other-than-designated areas. Then there are times when we want to stop at an attraction or restaurant advertised as “RV friendly,” only to find out that we could not safely enter, exit or park our rig.

Something motorhoming has taught us about life:
Be patient and never judge the person camped next to you, because they might become your “new best friends.”

The best alteration or addition we’ve made to our motorhome:
Adding a slideout tray to one of our storage compartments. This has really made it easier to access items in the storage bays when the slides are out.

A favorite feature of our motorhome:
We are really glad we ordered a Hydro-Hot Hydronic Heating system. We like the instant hot water and how evenly the heat is distributed.

If we could change one thing about our motorhome:
Both of us feel that if it were possible we would add two recliners to replace one of our sofas. That would really make our motorhome travels and television viewing more enjoyable.

Something about motorhoming that we know now but didn’t know when we started:
Where do we begin! Since we hadn’t owned a motorhome in almost 20 years, we found there are some subtle differences between owning a towable RV and a motorhome. Our biggest learning opportunity was how to level the motorhome and then where and how to park it to ensure that we got good satellite television reception. With most of our towables we had a portable satellite dish, which, of course, we could move to find the right satellite.

When driving the motorhome the most important thing to remember is:
We believe you should maintain a safe driving speed and that doesn’t always mean driving the posted speed limit. Secondly, given the increased stopping distance of motorhomes or RVs in general, it is important to also maintain a safe distance between yourself and vehicle in front of you.

Our favorite thing about FMCA:
Even though we are fairly new members, we have had some wonderful experiences at the FMCA rallies we have attended. We also enjoy reading FMC magazine, which always seems to contain a lot of pertinent information.

Our advice for other motorhome owners:
Don’t let your motorhome sit. These rigs are built to be on the road.

Our hobbies:
We both enjoy working with stained glass. We learned this skill while wintering in Arizona and continue to do various stained-glass projects while we are at home. Another interest that we both share is fishing. I, Carolyn, am also interested in computers and digital photography.

Our favorite way to exercise:
Since Luther’s knee surgery we have tried to walk more frequently. That has been made easier since our dog loves to walk. We are learning to play golf in order to get more exercise. Which means we probably shouldn’t rent a golf cart while golfing!

Favorite movie:
We both love all of the Steven Seagal movies.

Favorite books:
Luther is very fond of reading history books about Native Americans. I like to read fictional books and books about the areas where we might be traveling. We both enjoyed reading books by John Grisham.

Favorite music:
I am a real softy for a good first tenor and also truly love all of Smokey Robinson’s songs. Luther is more of a jazz buff and tends to like the sounds of Boney James.

Favorite restaurant:
Being long-time residents of Kansas City, we love the barbecue served at Gates, which is a local restaurant. On the road, we tend to hunt for good authentic Mexican restaurants. Failing to find one, we would go to the nearest Applebee’s or Ruby Tuesday restaurant.

If we were awarded a free shopping spree at the store of our choice, we’d choose:
Luther will run to the closest Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops, where he would spend endless hours trying to decide what new fishing gear he “needs” to buy. You would find Carolyn going to the closet department store(s) to purchase comfortable walking shoes and checking out the clothes that are currently in fashion.

Favorite campground:
We have so many favorite campgrounds, but one of our most recent finds is the Rafter J Bar Ranch camping resort in Hill City, S.D. This campground is very motorhome friendly and it is also close to most of the attractions in the Black Hills area. In addition, we like the Melvern Lake/Outlet (COE) campground park in Melvern, Kan. The sites at this Corps of Engineers campground are excellent and there is fishing within walking distance.

When motorhomers visit our state or hometown, they should be sure to see: Branson without a doubt would be our first choice. Not only would you find an assortment of entertainment options, but good campgrounds and various indoor and outdoors activities.

We also would recommend that people spend some time visiting both the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas. Both cities have campgrounds that allow you to be fairly close to the many attractions these cities have to offer.

Items always in our motorhome refrigerator:
Gates Barbecue sauce. We are not able to find their barbecue sauce outside of the state of Missouri, so we tend to travel with at least a half a case when we are traveling a length of time. This sauce doesn’t last long when new and old friends discover we have enough sauce to share with them.

We also would have some steaks in our refrigerator, because we enjoy the taste of steaks cooked on a charcoal grill at our campsite.

Our advice to new motorhomers:
Don’t let that motorhome sit in your driveway, storage, etc. There is so much to see and do in our country and your motorhome is an excellent way to sample what is out there.

Behind our motorhome, we tow:
A 2005 Honda Pilot with Blue Ox towing equipment.

Our favorite activity to do inside the motorhome:
Read books and literature about our next destination and, secondly, try to watch any professional football game that is on television. After that, it would be to surf the Internet and to read e-mails from our family and friends. Needless to say, we really like campgrounds that offer wireless Internet access.

Our pet that travels with us in our motorhome:
She is a black miniature schnauzer named Abby, but we aren’t sure if she really travels with us or vice versa. She is a great traveler and loves RVing.

A technical tip we’d like to share with other motorhome owners:
Check the fluids in your motorhome and check the tire pressure on a regular basis. We are always amazed that many people wait until they have a problem to perform what should be a routine check.

Other FMCA members may contact us via e-mail:
lgbuford@sbcglobal.net, cjbuford@sbcglobal.net

Other comments:
Since we have most recently owned towable RVs, we have found that our membership in FMCA has been a great help to us with our motorhome. We look forward to attending more FMCA rallies, where we know that we will have more learning opportunities and, of course, an opportunity to buy new and/or better gadgets for our motorhome. Even though we have been RVing since 1969, we still believe we can learn more about this lifestyle.

We are also members of two local camping clubs. When we are in town we try to attend their monthly campouts. One of the clubs also has an affiliation with a national club, the National African American RVer’s Association (NAARVA). It holds an annual rally, which we have attended for the last nine years. Our involvement with these local clubs and our attendance at the NAARVA rallies has enabled us to meet some wonderful people.