Member Spotlight

Anita and Louis Higginbotham
Littleton, Colo.

FMCA membership number: F217015 (we joined in 1996)

An FMCA chapter we belong to:
Colorado Columbines. Lou is the vice president and I'm (Anita) am the national director.

Our current motorhome:
A 2003 36-foot Fleetwood Southwind

Other motorhomes we have owned:
A 1999 34-foot Southwind, a 1994 30-foot Southwind and a 1979 Dodge Lindy. We've gone from practicing in an old beat-up motorhome to living at least six months out of the year in our motorhome.

Two words that best describe our current motorhome:
Comfortable, adequate

The best thing about our motorhome:
It is easy to drive. It runs on propane.

We decided to buy a motorhome because:
We love traveling and camping but were getting too old for tenting. We’ve done that, been there. Once, we camped all through Europe for six weeks.

Current occupation:
Retired high school teachers. Louis taught Russian. Anita taught German.

The best thing about motorhoming:
Seeing new places, meeting new friends, just having fun and going wherever we want to go whenever we want to.

Our family:
We have five children and six grandchildren.

When we’re not motorhoming, we’re:
Doing volunteer work, teaching Sunday school, gardening, working at the Denver Rescue Mission and giving to Denver’s Hamburgers for the Homeless program.

Our favorite motorhoming destinations:
Yuma, Ariz., and Indio, Calif.

Our all-time favorite motorhome trip:
Across Canada and an Alaska tour with the S.O.I. Motorhome Club [a chapter of FMCA].

Our “dream” motorhome trip:
Another trip to Alaska — stay as long as we want to, maybe four months so Louis could pan for gold and metal-detect.

Our perfect day of motorhome travel:
Get up, eat, shop in Wal-Mart, drive 200 to 300 miles, camp in a beautiful campground or Flying J or Wal-Mart.

Our worst motorhoming experience:
Our first trip in our old motorhome, in the summer of 1990.(We weren't FMCA members at the time, because we were so busy with school, my [Anita's] German club, Lou's Russian club, and trips to Europe with students.) We went to South Carolina to work after Hurricane Hugo, and many things went wrong. We lost our radiator, got stuck and had to have it routed out. We also lost our swamp [evaporative] cooler. It blew off someplace after we had an air conditioner installed in Texas when our swamp cooler gave out. We had to stop every few miles and cool off the engine by pouring cold water on it. It was hot and humid, and there were lots of mosquitoes in McClellanville, S.C., where we were helping with rebuilding after the hurricane. It was not a pleasant trip. It's a wonder we didn't give up motorhoming altogether, but we didn't.

A unique feature of our motorhome:
The engine can run on gasoline or propane.

The best addition we’ve made to our motorhome:
We recently had a Safe-T-Plus hydraulic steering control device installed.

If we could change one thing about our motorhome, it would be:
Fix a few scratches.

Something about motorhoming that we know now but did not know when we started:
How much fun it is. How many nice people you meet everywhere. And, thanks to FMCA, how fun the conventions are, especially the Frustrated Maestros.

When driving the motorhome, the most important thing to remember is:
Remember how long you are, especially when towing a car. Don’t cut anyone off and don’t drive too close to the car in front of you. Take your time and enjoy the scenery.

Our favorite thing about FMCA:
Conventions, chapters, member benefits and the Frustrated Maestros!

Advice for other motorhomers:
Know your motorhome, inside and out. Ask questions. There is so much to learn and people are so ready to help you.

Our hobbies:
Lou: Gardening, music. Anita: hiking, swimming, photography, knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch embroidery.

Our favorite saying:
[In a motorhome] no matter where you are, you are always at home, and can sleep in your bed.

Our favorite holiday:
Christmas, because we get to see our family members, and eat lots of Swedish food!

The celebrity we admire most:
Lou: John Elway. He was from Denver. Anita: Scott Hamilton.

Favorite food/restaurants:
Mexican food, Italian food, Chinese food

If we were awarded a free shopping spree at any store:
Anita: I’d choose Coldwater Creek, for the nice clothing. Lou: Lowe’s.

Favorite campground:
Sun Vista RV Park, Yuma, Ariz.

When motorhomers visit our state or hometown, they should be sure to see:
Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak, Denver Museum of Natural History, Manitou Springs, Trail Ridge Road, Estes Park

Items that we always keep in our motorhome’s refrigerator while traveling:
Peanut butter, Swedish caviar, goat cheese, Swedish shrimp, cheese, nuts, eggs, butter, bread, lingonberries and jams

Advice for other motorhomers:
Read your owners manuals.

Behind our motorhome, we tow:
A 1992 Saturn SL2 using a tow bar

Pets who travel with us:
We used to travel with a cat, but he was killed by a coyote in 2004 at Lake Havasu, Ariz.

When we’re online, we’re checking out these Web sites:
CW2 KWGN-TV (http://cw2.trb.com/) for Denver news. Also, CNN.com and NBC.com.

A technical tip or RVing lifestyle tip we’d like to share:
Keep a calendar of where you spend each night and the activities you do each day. Sometimes it comes in handy.

Something others would be surprised to know about us:
That we are fluent in both Russian and German. Besides that, I (Anita) am Swedish, so I speak that, too.

Comment:
We belong to FMCA's Frustrated Maestros group and always dance the polkas and waltzes for them when they perform. Lou usually sings a couple of solos as well.

Other FMCA members may contact us via e-mail: iihiggies@earthlink.net or lrhbotham@gmail.com