In yesterday’s blog, when I talked about RV fire extinguishers I recommend my friend Mac McCoy, the world’s acknowledged RV fire safety expert, and included a link to his website. As it turns out, I goofed.
When Mac and I talked a few weeks ago, he told me that he was planning to pull the plug on his business and his RV travels soon. And last month, 20 years after he started with his first seminars at the RVing Women rally in 1997, he did his last rally and last seminar, again at RVing Women. I called Mac yesterday and he told me that he and his wife Annie are planning to spend most of their time at their home in Oregon, with occasional trips down to Yuma, Arizona in the wintertime. But like us and so many of the old time instructors and vendors we know, he has hung up the keys. Mac told me he still has a few fire extinguishers left, but once they are gone, he won’t be getting any more in.
Mac was one of the first people we met as fulltime RVers and we had some wonderful times over the years. And a misadventure or two along the way, just for laughs. Mac’s sense of humor is just as sick and twisted as mine, and anytime we were together without adult supervision, trouble was sure to follow.
You’re leaving behind a hell of a legacy Mac, and I know some lives and some RVs were saved because of you. We actually had not one, but two RV fires, and both times they were extinguished quickly because of the lessons we learned in Mac’s seminars. If there’s anything that Terry and I miss about our life on the road, it is having the opportunity to cross paths with Mac and all of the other friends we made out there.
Speaking of our friends, here is a link to a very nice Kirkus review my good friend Billy Kring just received for Hunter’s Moon, the fifth book in his excellent mystery series featuring Border Patrol Agent Hunter Kincaid. Billy had a long career in the Border Patrol himself, and when he writes it’s just like you are out there in West Texas riding along with his characters. If you haven’t read any of Billy’s books yet, you really need to. They are great, and I never miss getting a new one as soon as it becomes available.
As for what’s going on around here, yesterday was another writing day for me, and I cranked out another 4,500 words in my next Big Lake book. Meanwhile, Miss Terry has been busy figuring out the refunds for unfulfilled subscriptions from the Gypsy Journal. But that didn’t stop her from making a delicious cheesecake the other day, and an outstanding dinner to go along with it. I hope to get another 4,000 to 5,000 words in today, because we are going to be busy with some other things Wednesday and Thursday and I probably won’t get much done then.
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Thought For The Day – The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets. – Will Rogers
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Wow, just read your blog & the news is sad but not a surprise. Mac & I also became friends & like you, meeting at RV rallies, we were also vendors. He recommended an item I sold & I told people if they didn’t attend his seminar their experience was not complete. As we anxiously make the next step in or lives we have a smile on our faces but a tear in our eye.On the good side you & Miss Terry& Jean & I will share many more good times together.
Agree that Mac and his friendship will be missed and rallies will be incomplete without his programs. didn’t hurt that he enjoyed Chinese buffets also
Attended your Gypsy Journal Rally in Casa Grande, AZ a few years ago and brought in 1 of our RV fire extinguishers to Mac. [Yep, it felt full…but it had solidified. Ooops]
Bought replacements and needed them for a fire between the hot tail pipe and older plywood basement storage near Oro Grande, NM. Whew…..saved the Lazy Daze rv…but none of the contents in that storage bin.
“Nope”, people say, “Can’t happen”; ………until I/we show them pictures.
Thanks Mac & you and the Missus enjoy life to the fullest. cc
Wishing all the best to Mac and his wife as they retire.
I hope there will be someone qualified who can teach the classes and carry the products that Mac did. While, no one can fill his shoes, tomorrow’s RVers should be able to have access to the same safety resources (both educationally and physical product-wise) as those of us for the last two decades. We all know the RV manufacturers are not going to start improving the quality of the safety products they provide, or start providing the number of fire extinguishers that should really be on hand for optimum safety.
My husband will be surprised at this news; Mac’s was the only class he made sure to go to every year at Escapade and had probably gone about 10 times.
Mac will be sorely missed on the rally circuit. Fire! I loved his excellent seminars and his passion for teaching.
We always promoted his seminars over our own because they were so critically important.
We have attended Mac’s fire safety seminars so many times that I was proud that I was able to put into practice what I had learned when we smelled smoke while parked at the Indio Elks. I grabbed two of our FOAM extinguishers and after to get the couple away from their classic coach while others shut down their propane and moved their car I turned the extinguishers upside down and shot the foam upwards above the engine to where the flames had climbed up inside the rear cap. BTW the ildet powder based extinguishers were useless. Thanks Mac for proving that training, the foam extinguishers, and the confidence to act quickly. Thanks also for demonstrating how to escape a burning RV. You will be missed on the rally circuit like Nick and Terry are already missed.