Monaco's in Motion for the RV Life Style

Monacos in Motion is an international chapter of the Family Motor Coach Association. Although they are not regionally focused, they have members from all over the United States and Canada. FMCA membership and ownership of Monaco motorized brand models manufactured by Monaco Coach Corporation, Royale Coach, coaches manufactured by Executive Industries and all Monaco coaches manufactured prior to 1992 can be members. Annual dues are $15.00 and there is a one-time initiation fee of $25.00.

Ok, so what does belonging to Monaco’s in Motion actually mean? What do they do? Their members design and lead caravans for other members to explore various parts of North America. A caravan will generally consist of fifteen coaches and lasts two to four weeks with approximately four to eight planned stops. Past caravans have included stopping at Christmas light displays in Tennessee, The Natchez Trace and a Whole Lot More, Glaciers to Geysers, California Dreaming, and many more that you can see on their website under the "past caravans" tab.

The next caravan they have planned is to Chicago, and is appropriately titled "The Wonderful World of Navistar – Plus!" If you are interested in joining up with them, there is a link to fill out an application and email for more information. Sounds like this one is going to be pretty fun!
 
On the Monacos in Motion website they have a Wall of Honor tab, and we thought this was a lot of fun! It showcases everyone in the club who has led or co-led a caravan. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see your name on the Wall of Honor!
If you are already a part of this fun club or if you choose to join, be sure to post some pictures of your caravan adventures to our RV Country Facebook wall! You know how we love seeing all the amazing places you travel!

Thomas & Deborah - From Pizza Pies to Butterflies!

Thursday August  11

Rain, rain, rain since we last wrote. Sunday we left our hotel in Kalamazoo, MI, under cloudy skies, and before we got out of town had to park under a drive-up teller and don our rain gear. Driving was tolerable until it began to pour so much we couldn’t see, couldn’t stop, or navigate. We left US 131 to take refuge in the small Michigan town of Three Rivers.  A kind patron of the pizza parlor pulled up the weather on her iPhone and after lunch the rain had abated enough for us to continue to Chicago. Shortly after we pulled up to our hotel in Chicago the sky opened up again. We didn’t let it stop us from going up to the observation deck at the top of the John Hancock building. The best part of the day, however, was dinner at the Oven Grinder. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall across the street from where the St. Valentines Day Massacre took place. It was recommended to us by some fellow motorcyclists from Chicago. Their pizza is more like a pot pie and everything was delicious and expertly prepared. Another biker eating there with his family insisted we sample his pre-meal flatbread. A GREAT dining experience, and again, it began to pour just as we arrived.

The following day, after a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry at the former Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893 we set out for Milwaukee, Wisconsin… in the rain. We stayed just outside at a La Quinta Inn for a frugal $61 for the night. We were more than ready to call it a day.

Tuesday, however, the weather was glorious, and before leaving for Madison, we visited the Miller Brewery and Milwaukee County Zoo where a butterfly exhibit was held. We went into a small aviary, careful not to step on anything, and cavorted with some 500 butterflies. You actually have to be inspected before leaving to check for any hitchhikers.


Wednesday, we loaded the bike into the trailer and drove to Elkhart, Indiana, where we dropped off a 2011 Monaco Knight to have the refrigerator exchanged at the request of its new owner. What a nice place! Very friendly people along a beautiful riverfront setting.

A must-see is the Ruthmere house built in 1910 and exquisitely restored/preserved. We also made the short trip to Middlebury and Goshen. In Middlebury we toured the Jayco RV factory. Forty-five percent of the workers are Amish, and they take great pride in their workmanship. (Yes, Indiana, along with Pennsylvania, has a large Amish community; the stores even have hitching posts!) It’s the largest family-owned RV assembly plant in the U.S. and was founded by Lloyd J. Bontrager on his family farm in 1968. They now employ 1200 very dedicated individuals. 

Jayco RVs are available at Paul Evert’s RV Country, of course!

Sneak peek: 2012 Monaco RV models!

We're really enjoying our time in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Yesterday was the official opening of the display and Monaco unveiled several 2012 models with exciting changes!

Here are a few pictures of the new full body paint designs and re-designed front and end caps: The new 2012 Dynasty makes its debut with a new floorplan - This quad slide 45' diesel is called "The Palace" and we know why - it is definitely luxury fit for a king!

New flush windows similar to the modern styling of the Vesta

 The 2012 Diplomat and Knight have new front and rear caps - WOW!

We'll try to share more when we can!

Thomas & Deborah - Luxury RV Features & Monaco International RV Club fun!

Monday August 1

After a comfortable and safe drive, we pulled in to the Monaco Pre-rally Sunday evening. Two items to note regarding the home we’ve enjoyed for five nights: the Aladdin system that I mentioned earlier, in addition to all the cool information it brings you, also accesses any cameras the coach is equipped with. “Ok,” you say, “that’s cool.” But wait, there’s more! Typically, a small LCD screen is also mounted near the bed with an Aladdin controller. This means, that while lying in bed, one can navigate through all the cameras, checking the back and each side like a built in security system! And finally, typically the driver’s seat is a big fluffy recliner that can be swiveled to become part of the livingroom furniture. Nice, but such seats do not necessarily make for the best driving position. Of the many Monacos I’ve driven, the driver’s seat in this one is by far the best. It’s the Hi-Tech Kustom Fit, and it adjusts every way possible, including lumbar, and the lower seating cushion actually retracts to morph from a fluffy piece of furniture into a more typical vehicle seat. Very cool.

After doing some final shopping Sunday (always fun to pull a 44' Executive and trailer into a parking lot), we were ready for the Customer Appreciation Banquet held Monday evening. The place mats were pages of the U.S. Road Atlas, and the center pieces were all-American as was the dinner. Deborah checked everyone in, about 85 people, and Thomas served the tri-tip expertly prepared by Jorge, one of the sales staff. We LOVED the Monaco crowd; what a neat bunch of people.

A constant stream of coaches continued to arrive, and soon the Expo center was transfomed from a fairgrounds into a little city of motorhomes. The organizers expected nearly 200 Monacos. Electrical is run for plug-ins, entertainment planned, and lots of socializing. It's really something to see.

Off on the bike Tuesday morning with a fond farewell to the Monaco Owners and our good friends at Paul Evert's RV Country.

Monaco RV Pre-Rally dinner in Manitowoc Wisconsin A BLAST!

August 1, 2011

Tomorrow (2 pm) is opening day for the Monaco Pre-Rally in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and things are off to a great start.

A few of us even found some time to do some sightseeing at Lambeau Field!

Green Bay, Wisconsin is mere 35 miles from Manitowoc and offers one heck of a stadium tour!

You may be following our Guest Bloggers Thomas & Deborah as they prepped, packed, and journeyed towards Wisconsin... Well, we had a little prepping and packing to do ourselves!

Over the years we have hosted many pre-rally dinners for our loyal Monaco customers friends. From luau's in Lancaster to Georgia peaches, we've had lots of fun with you all! Usually, we have a little help in the catering department, but this year we decided to do the cooking ourselves! Our tie dye loving crew is no stranger to the BBQ, so we packed up our grills, tongs, and aprons and headed the 1,100 miles to Wisconsin.

On the menu was something us Californians are pretty proud of - Tri Tip! The popular beef cut originated on the Central Coast of California in the 1950's, and has since become a national envy and an undeniable California tradition. Of course, we also had rolls, salad, beans, and barbequed chicken.

Did we mention we did all the food preparations IN A MOTORHOME kitchen!?

Over 100 people ate, drank, and won prizes! It was perfect and we wouldn't change a thing - well, except that we're sad it's over! We hope to see you around in the Monaco display and look forward to meeting up with even more of you at the FMCA rally in Madison, Wisconsin next week!

 

Thomas & Deborah - On the Road!

Thursday July 28

Hi again. We're Thomas and Deborah and we're on our way to Manitowoc, Wisconsin in a 2006 Monaco Executive. Please see our first blog for an introduction. More about us later, but we've completed our first full day on the road. The 550 miles today added to the 240 we covered Wednesday evening puts us in Green River, Utah. It's been a leisurely pace. Beautiful scenery, beautiful drive.

We've delivered coaches about 10 times for Curt and Paul Evert's RV Country and part of the fun is learning each coach and its accouterments. I've grown to appreciate many, like the interactive cruise control, or Smartcruise. It matches the speed of the vehicle in front of you. I wouldn't leave it on all the time because it can get confused, but on a two-lane road, when we couldn't pass for many miles, it perfectly matched the pace of the truck in front of us and I sat back and enjoyed the ride. It would be awesome if you were traveling with someone; you wouldn't have to keep adjusting your cruise to match theirs.

Another of my favorites is the HWH Computerized Leveling system. Press a button and the air suspension does the rest in seconds--flawlessly.

But my all time, can't-live-without option is the Aladdin. It's just what a former truck driver techno-geek loves. This system gathers information from everywhere and delivers it to the video screen by the steering wheel: temperatures, transmission performance, power output, cruise control set points, speed, tank levels, even compass heading. It has answers to a thousand questions.

Regardless of what we're driving, however, a road trip is a wondrous way to suspend time. We've been gone a little over 24 hours and already feel we've been on vacation for weeks. Travel; it makes life last longer, in a good way.