Nov. 21 - 23, 2008

By Ted Meekma

Eleven coaches checked in at Little Willie’s at Arcadia on Friday, looking forward to a fun-filled weekend together. Other than just a touch on the cool side, the weather was sunny and beautiful. Those attending for the weekend were: *Ambrose, Clinton, Evans, Geng, *Gies,*Ireland, *Lanham, McLauchlin, Meekma, *Nobert/Cummings and *Wright. How wonderful it was to see that of the eleven coaches attending, six (*) are new members of our chapter in just the last year! We few “Oldtime Funtimers” that are left are sure happy to have you with us!

We started out after lunch, at Harlan and Barb’s coach, in a big circle, enjoying good conversation, and getting caught up on where we’ve been over the summer months.

At 3:00 PM we moved inside for Happy Hour and snacks and more good conversation.

At 5:30 we had a most delicious potluck dinner, with ham and desserts provided by our hosts. Following dinner, some of our members joined the park residents playing bingo, while others visited or turned in for the night.

Bright and early Saturday morning (7:30!!!!!!) a pancake and sausage breakfast was served by our hosts. Another delicious meal!

At 10:00 AM, 16 of us carpooled over to Solomon’s Castle at Ona, Florida, for an 11:00 AM tour. Larry, our tour guide, entertained us with his humor, cleverly interspersed at appropriate times, during his explanation of Mr. Solomon’s unbelievable, never ending creations. Well, perhaps I should qualify that statement just a tad; there were a few times when the word “appropriate” might have been stretching the truth just a little!! At any rate, it was a very interesting tour, followed by lunch in the dinning room of the “Boat On The Moat.”

Our Chapter meeting convened in the Clubhouse at 3:30 PM. Because of the late hour, we incorporated our Happy Hour in with the meeting. We were pleasantly surprised to have Phil & Shirley Halstead and Cliff & Brigette Gilmore drive in to join us for our meeting.

Guess what?? 5:30 PM, and we were eating…..again!! Ham sandwiches and a most delicious soup, provided by our hosts, made for a great meal, topped off with cake, chocolate brownies and ice cream. After dinner we just sat around and talked until it was time to call it a day, and a very good one it was!

Sunday morning brought us back to the Clubhouse for our usual Continental Breakfast, followed by goodbye hugs until our next meeting, in just two weeks! We will be having our joint “Christmas Celebration” with the Caloosa’s at Oak Haven RV Park, Arcadia, FL, December 4-7, 2008. If you recall, we also did this last year, and had a wonderful time together. Hope to see all of you there.

Many thanks to our hosts, Betty & Dave McLaughlin and Sue & Lloyd Wright for a most enjoyable and fun weekend.

Stay well, and have a “Happy Thanksgiving!”