FMCA Ralley June 2005

This month we made a trip up the coast with two destinations; our first Family Motorcoach Association (FMCA) rally and the World Sport Kite Championships.

FMCA Rally

FMCA is a large national organization of motorhome owners. They have rallies several times a year that attract members from all over the country for several days of exhibits, educational seminars and entertainment. This one was in Albany Oregon, which is on Interstate 5 about in the middle of the state. About 630 motorhomes showed up at the location on the fairgrounds. That makes it a relatively small rally - some bring in several thousand. We were parked on a large grass field with lots of "togetherness".



We felt a bit like second-class citizens in this crowd because 90% of the motorhomes were larger diesel-powered rigs. Everyone was nice though and we had a good time. We learned a lot from the seminars and took advantage of some good vendor prices by adding a portable satellite Internet system. It is a tripod-mounted dish that sits on the ground. It is not as fast as the cable system we have at home but it is great to have access from anywhere because we depend on the Internet to keep in contact with our friends and to do our banking and bill-paying when on the road.



Note: The dish is not set up per FCC regulations for this photo. The bottom of the dish is supposed to be 5 1/2 feet off the ground for radiation safety because it transmits to the satellite.

We had a few days of slack time between the rally and the kite event so decided to visit a couple of Willamette Valley state parks that we had not seen. The first was Silver Falls, about 50 miles east of Salem. It is in a beautiful temperate rain forest with numerous waterfalls.



The second was Detroit Lake, a bit further east. This is a very large man-made lake with lots of recreational areas. The campground was beautiful and we were able to get a nice lakeside site in spite of having no reservation. You can’t see us in the photo because are hidden in the trees.



We had some nice weather there but also some rainy and chilly days that made bundling up by the campfire feel good.



World Sport Kite Championship Meet

Each year the best sport kite teams from all over the world meet to compete for the title of World Champions. The event has been held in France until this year when it came to the US in Lincoln City Oregon.

Most kite competitions are held on the beach but this one was on a grass field about 100 feet above the sand on the grounds of the Chinook Winds gaming casino. There area was a bit small but adequate, and being on grass was nice.

There were 15 teams from seven countries, each team consisting of from three to six flyers. They compete in two types of events; Precision, which is the flying of prescribed compulsory figures, and Ballet, which is the flying of routines choreographed to music. We saw some terrific flying but there is no way to show that in still photos.

The kites were all two-line stunt kites like the ones shown here.



Each flyer had at least three kites to match different wind conditions. They needed them all at Lincoln City because the wind varied from barely a whisper to nearly 20 miles per hour.

A bonus at this meet was the display of a “serial banner” by Kurt Lisk. Kurt is a professional graphics artist and banner maker from Florida. He brought two of his creations to Lincoln City, both part of an unfinished four-part set called Elements, with each part being made up of 30 15-foot banners. The one shown below is Aire. Joani got a great photo of it with the wind just right and no people. The large fish hovering above it is a kite being flown from the beach down below.



The next day he assembled a second set called Fire for its first public display. Unfortunately the wind was blowing so hard that day the banners were almost flattened and the graphic pattern was not discernable.

The meet ended with a US team called 6th Sense taking first place followed by Tame Bird from France and Watnu from Germany.

After the competition we were treated to mass ascensions by combined national teams and by all of the flyers using a certain popular kite called Fury, by Carl Robertshaw of England. The photo below is of the Furys.



On the weekend following the competition the Lincoln City Summer Kite Festival was held on the beach. The weather on Saturday was perfect in spite of rain threats. We set up camp and stayed all day, flying our kites and having a really good time. Our little red wagon and banners are in the lower left.



From Lincoln City we headed south toward home but decided we didn't want to be on the road over the July 4 weekend, mostly because we had no reservations for places to stay. We found refuge at Cape Blanco, an Oregon state park about 20 miles north of Gold Beach in Oregon. It is one of the few state parks that are not on a reservation system, which made it possible for us to come in on Thursday and get a good site.

Cape Blanco is a beautiful place. The campground is on a bluff high above the beach with lots of trees and has water and electric hookups. There is a well-preserved lighthouse open to the public and also a restored Victorian home built in 1898 by a family that operated a large dairy farm here.

The place also has a wonderful beach accessible by single-lane road going down from the campground. It is wide and flat - perfect for kites - with hardly anyone on it. The wind yesterday was a brisk 20 mph.

As you can see from the photo Joani has mastered the Rod Milburn style of flying.



We will hang out here through the 4th and then head for home.