South Florida Winnie-Gators
December 2004 Outing Report
By Lee Macdonald

Our December Christmas campout was held at Moore Haven Marina RV Resort located at the southwest corner of Lake Okeechobee by the locks that join the lake with the Caloosahatchee River .  Twenty five rigs attended including guests Burton and Sally Lee , friends of Marlene & Joe Sholtes and Skip and Phyllis Steckley and Bill & Judy Bell , friends of Lee & Sylvia .  Rigs sported bright holiday decorations and created a wonderland along both sides of the main road through the park.  Traditionally our club has a contest for best decorations judged by impartial RV park residents and personnel.  This year’s  first place award went to Bill and Marlene English for their display of moving reindeer and musical cadenced lighting.  Second place went to Lee Macdonald & Sylvia Smith for their red and white lighted collage of poinsettias. Third spot was taken by Ed & Jan Miles for their clever display with Santa in control at the wheel. Needless to say the Judges had a hard time deciding.

Friday morning members boarded the Sugarland Express Tour bus which took us to Roland & Mary Ann Martin ’s Marina in Clewiston.  We boarded the Coconut Woman, an open sided and roofed catamaran which was very comfortable. We proceeded through the locks for a great cruise on Lake Okeechobee .  The lake level was high and many of the grassy flats were covered with enough water to permit meandering out of the Rim Canal Channel. The weather was perfect, sunny with a light breeze. Our tour took us along the rim canal where we saw osprey, anhingas, cormorants and pelicans perched in the trees and egrets, herons, ibis and limpkins in the rushes along the shoreline. The captain and mate provided ongoing narration explaining aspects of this unique environment.  Luncheon of catfish and chicken was enjoyed by all after the cruise at Roland & Mary Ann Martin ’s Tiki Patio. The City of Clewiston runs this tour as well as the one touring the sugar refinery and citrus processing plant which we took last year. Contact their website for information.

Friday evening we enjoyed a supper of heavy hors d’oeuvres and then played Card Bingo led by Charlie & Damaris Travers and Gail Wood . 

Saturday morning the club treated all the members to the all-you-can-eat breakfast put on by the campground who do a great job. The place was also very busy with camouflaged diners who were taking a break from hunting.  The lake marshes are very popular with duck hunters who head out in quest of prey in their airboats at dawn.  Season usually opens the Saturday of our December campout.  Strangely, we didn’t see any ducks on the boat trip the day before. Do you suppose they were already in hiding?

We held our meeting at noon and all welcomed in new members Joan Krajack and son Jury Krajack, Lee Macdonald ’s sister and nephew visiting from Colorado and Peter and Virgin Vandervlugt, residents of Miami (who saved the Christmas party by bringing up the bar from Miami for our bartender Del Butcher who could not attend because of serious family illness).

Our annual Egg Nog and Cookie Party took place mid afternoon.  The room sported holiday decorations and gifts for the raffle and the gift exchange were brought in.  Our dinner followed.  We gave thanks for our bounty and wished well to those members who were not able to attend. We enjoyed baked spiral ham and scalloped potatoes prepared by Marlene English and Jan Miles and all the sides fixed by the members.  Everyone brought their favorite dessert and we each probably ate more than we should have.   The highlight of the evening was our holiday raffle.  The table was loaded with wonderful gifts including basket of cheer, $50 money hat, microwave oven, grills, and many more much of which were made possible by the generous donation from our sponsor Palm RV, in Ft. Lauderdale for our Christmas party.  Thank you Richard .  Santa sent his special Raffle Babes to sell tickets and we had our best night ever.  Del Butcher ’s 3 replacements, Joe Sholtes , Ken Perry and George Morgan did a great job at the bar.  Lucky guests Judy & Bill Bell had their pick as first ticket winner and the Shaughnessy mother & daughter team  claimed quite a share of the loot.

The gift exchange followed and everyone came out with a nice gift.  After the party we all strolled back to our rigs and enjoyed the decorations and lights.

Sunday morning we sadly took down our decorations and readied our coaches for the journey home.  We said our goodbyes until most of us meet again January in Kissimmee.