Funtime Travelers

By
Ted Meekma

Well, the Florida Winnie-Gators March, 2007 Rally is over, and with it, the reign of Bud & Paula Geng as their President. I’m sure they’re both exuding huge sighs of relief! That was a big responsibility that they handled very well! Great job Bud & Paula!!

Evie & I want to thank all of you for your diligent and hard work you put forth as “Greeters” for the rally. Sure, there were a few little clinkers here and there, but overall, I think it went very smoothly. With this year “under our belt,” next year will be a “piece a cake!”

For those of you who didn’t attend, we had nine coaches at the rally. Seven of us, Phyllis, Evans’, Gilmore’s, Halstead’s, Headley’s, McLaughlin’s and Meekma’s caravanned up together on Monday. We were very pleasantly surprised to see Paul & Claire Madsen at the wayside, just to visit for a few minutes before we left for Orlando. Sure was nice to see them again, even if only for a short time! Stoddard’s joined us on Tuesday, and Bud and Paula were already there on Sunday. We also had a new couple that parked with us, Tim Burch and Char, his lady friend, from Port Charlotte, and they may be prospective members. We’re hoping they will decide to join us.

After getting settled in, Monday afternoon was spent getting prepared for the onslaught of what turned out to be 323 motor homes descending on us, starting at 1:00 PM Tuesday. We also had a meeting Monday afternoon for orientation purposes for our “Greeter” duties, and kinda combined that with our “Happy Hour.”

Tuesday night, nineteen of us went to the Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. Mary Stoddard’s brother, from Greece, was with us for a couple days, and it was a pleasure to have him join us!

Wednesday was a really busy day, with 195 coaches coming in, in a period of about 6½ hours! Unfortunately, many of them did not have their “ducks in order,” requiring the same old things to be said to them over and over and over again! It would be so nice if they would just read…..and follow the information so clearly printed out for them in the material they received for the rally. Sure would make our job easier!! But I guess that’s wishful thinking! It won’t happen next year either!!

Wednesday evening we were invited to join the Suncoast Chapter for a pizza party, which we had in the Social Hall at the gate. We appreciated the invitation, and it was something just a bit different for a change!

On Thursday, the gate was closed from 10:30 to 1:00 PM for the opening ceremony and lunch. Thursday night’s dinner was catered, and we were supposed to have entertainment, however, the entertainer failed to show! So much for that!

Friday and Saturday we had both catered breakfasts and dinners, with entertainment both nights. Also, following the dinner Saturday night, the new officers were installed. Linda Tuzzollo, from the Suncoast Winnies, was installed as our new president for next year.

Saturday afternoon we had our chapter meeting. Barbara Schmittzeh, Winnie-gator treasurer, stopped in to thank us for the good job we did as “Greeters” for the rally. We also installed Jim Stoddard as our new vice-president, with Phil Halstead doing the installation.

A lot of time was spent throughout the week in Vendor Hall and looking at the new motor homes on display. We also had our wine & cheese party and the ice cream social. Remember when our chapter served the ice cream social and we hand dipped all the ice cream and provided chocolate topping? Well, they took the easy way out this year, serving chocolate and vanilla Dixie Cups!!

The weather was perfect all through the rally, and we were so thankful for that! Rain can really mess things up, and that didn’t happen!

Sunday morning a continental breakfast was served, followed by the Chapter Presidents meeting and the Winnie-gators Board of Directors meeting. And then we were on our way back home. It was a busy week, but a fun one, once again!

Our next meeting will be down in Port Charlotte at Harbor Lakes Encore Super Park April 20, 21 & 22. Hope to see all of you there!