Panhandle  Winnies                           September 2002 Outing                                          By Jan Eichorst The Panhandle Winnies gathered at the Luxury RV Resort in the heart of Gulf Shores, Alabama for their September campout with 18 member units and two guests attending all or part of the weekend activities.  One guest couple attending our campout and decided to join our ranks.  We welcome Bob and Rae Snyder to our chapter.  This was the chapter's first get together since our May campout.  Our chapter takes the months of June, July and August off from formal campouts because of all the member's summer travels.  Luxury RV personnel had set aside spaces for our group to be close together and provided a cozy conveniently located clubhouse for our gathering.  Luxury RV has a walking path and bike trail that winds through out the campground and connects to the local main street leading to the near-by beautiful sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico.  The convenience of the campground is outstanding in that it is just a couple of blocks north of the Alabama Gulf Coast beaches, with numerous golf courses an easy drive away, excellent restaurants to meet everyone's taste, and the Riviera Factory Stores Shopping Center for those so inclined to spread their hard earned money around the local economy.  For this campout, our weekend wagon masters, Howard and Barbara Partrick along with Bud and Della Straker, arrived early along with several other member units to begin the events and welcome the rest of the member and guest coaches arriving on Thursday and Friday. The wagon masters set up a day of golf for those who arrived early enough to make tee time on Friday.  A group of hardy players spent Friday morning on the local Gulf State Park golf course dodging rain showers, bucking the wind, and trying to stay out of the woods.  Our chapter sponsor, Carpenter's Campers of Pensacola, FL, provided a $20.00 gift certificate to the Rick Patterson who had the closest ball to number three hole from the number three drive and a Winnebago golf shirt won by "Hook" Henderson with the winning low score.  Talk around the course is that you can understand how he got his knick name from watching him play. Although we experienced and uninvited guest, Tropical Storm Hanna with all her wind and rain that started Friday afternoon and continued through Saturday morning, our long awaited friendly gathering with discussions of summer travel and family activities generated its own sunshine.  We spent Friday afternoon catching up on the events in our lives that had passed since our last meeting and getting acquainted with our invited guests, Bob and Rae Snyder of Crestview, FL. That evening, we met at the clubhouse to enjoy a potluck meal with the wagon masters providing two hams as the main course and everyone else chipping in to fill out the menu.  Everyone was pleased in the final result.  After our meal, we had three tables of card games keeping the players active in conversation and good-hearted story telling. Early Saturday morning we were greeted with the full strength of Tropical Storm Hanna that buffeted our coaches with 30-40 mph winds and blasting us with driving rain that seemed be coming down almost horizontal.  Our wagon masters got up early to prepare a treat for our group providing us with stacks of delicious pancakes accompanied by a mound of sausage and ham, along with cold orange juice, and piping hot coffee.  With Hanna rattling the doors and windows, the wagon masters were wondering how many of our members would attend the breakfast. They were pleased to see that all but a couple of members waded through the puddles, wind, and rain to take advantage of their morning labor. We dried out during breakfast and held our monthly meeting following breakfast cleanup.  We discussed the member's summer travels, families, medical issues, and our GNR experiences.  Rick Patterson and Earle Hedenberg are successful battling cancers that were diagnosed during the summer months.  Rick and Earle as well as their families are in our thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time.  There were two other members that went through other surgeries and are in full recovery.  We had six member coaches that took part of GNR this past July.  Everyone seemed to get to and from the GNR is good shape with the exception of a couple of coaches that needed some TLC along the way. Saturday evening we were treated to a wonderful variety of delicious food at DeSoto's Seafood restaurant just a couple of minutes from the campground. We were pleased to have three additional member couples and another invited guest couple, Mike and Terry Thompson, join us for dinner.  The restaurant provided a section that was set apart for our group that allowed us to socialize without disrupting the other patrons.  DeSoto's provided excellent service for our group throughout the dinnertime.  There were plenty of choices of delicious dishes on the menu that was heavily influenced by the local seafood.  Following our meal, we gathered back at the clubhouse for another evening of conversation and card playing.  We were pleased to have the Thompson's join us to get acquainted with our group. Our Sunday breakfast consisted of a delicious potluck that included, as always, an outstanding variety of dishes to tease everyone's taste buds. Our breakfast was followed by cheerful good-bys and good wishes until we meet for the next month's campout.  In October our chapter is planning to attend the Louisiana State Rally in Rayne, LA on 18-20th.  Our campout after the Louisiana State Rally will be at Lake Kristina outside of Milton, FL on November 15-17.