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The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
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Eric Dolson, Publisher

Motor coach drivers explore Sisters
By Jim Cornelius

Some mighty fancy rigs are passing through...

They came rolling in to Central Oregon from all around the Pacific Northwest, headed toward Redmond for a giant RV-ers' rendezvous.

A few of the visitors to the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) convention came out to explore Sisters.

John Bishop of Butte, Montana, held down a bench outside the Stitchin' Post while his wife, Suki, shopped. With him were a couple other RV-ers, Robert Smith of Sequim, Washington and Jim Goedde of Seattle.

Smith was looking forward to the seminars at the convention. The presentations cover such practical matters as safe driving; braking with a vehicle in tow and the pros and cons of diesel motor homes.

None of the three men are members of that elite fraternity of coachmen who hit the road permanently.

"Most of (my trips) are a week-or-two trip," Smith said. He enjoys traveling the West Coast and catching baseball's spring training games in Arizona.

Bishop spends about seven months a year on the road, traveling to Florida, Minnesota, California and anywhere else his fancy takes him.

He tries to leave Butte after New Year's.

"It's harsh there in winter," he said.

Goedde is a member of the Puget Sounders chapter of FMCA, which organizes short getaways of three or four days.

All three men enjoy their time on the road and they say handling their big rigs is no problem.

"It's a lot easier to drive than most people think," Bishop said.

The FMCA will be encamped at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds through the weekend.

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