South Florida Winnie-Gators

DECEMBER 2007  OUTING REPORT

By Marlene Sholtes

Our December outing was held at Upriver RV Resort in North Fort Myers, which is a beautiful campground with great amentities.  20 coaches and one guest coach were in attendance.  As the members arrived, they began decorating their coaches for the upcoming Christmas holiday.  The weather was in the 80’s and it was hard to get into the Christmas spirit, but by the time everyone completed the task, it really did look fantastic!  The campground was so impressed they said they were going to put pictures of our decorated rigs on their web page!  The campground judges chose the following winners:  Bill & Marlene English, 1^st; John & Marijo Bierie, 2^nd; and Lee Macdonald & Sylvia Smith, 3^rd.  It was really tough to pick the winners because so many were beautiful, especially at night.  It was a Christmas Wonderland!  We were visited by our second-time guests, Ginny O’Halpin & Richard Schmaeling, who were voted in as new members this month.  Also visiting were Del & Joy Butcher’s daughter and her family, as well as Richard & Ginny’s guests, Frank & Terry Bowman.

Our Happy Hour 50/50 Raffle Babes-in-Training, Rose Weisman & Virgin Vandervlugt; did a fine job of selling those tickets.  The winners were:  Marlene English, 1^st; Barbara Drapeau, 2^nd; and Harvey Peacock, 3^rd.  Dinner for Friday evening was a Tour of Italy, consisting of members who made their favorite Italian dishes.  Sono Bono, deliciouso!  Later on most members took part in Chase the Ace.  It is always good for a spirited night of fun!  The winners were Bill English & Edna Heins, who finally took the crown away from Chuck Seager, who has won every time he has played!

Saturday morning breakfast of French Toast & Sausage was carefully prepared by Rick Bunn, Bob Gill & W.C. Herndon.  After breakfast, members took advantage of this time to deliver Christmas cards to everyone’s rig.  This was followed by our monthly Board of Directors and Membership Meetings in which we elected Officers and Board Members for 2008 to be sworn in at the January meeting.  In the afternoon, we had our annual Egg Nog, Cookie and Gift Exchange Party.  We were visited by Santa Claus and his cute little helper elf (John & Marijo Bierie).  Everyone had to sit on Santa’s knee and tell him what one thing they did GOOD this year, and then they could go pick out their present.  For dinner Rick & Becky Bunn and Bob & Joan Gill prepared ham and scalloped potatoes, and the members brought yummy side dishes.  We then had our Christmas Party with the Raffle Babes, Becky & Damaris, appropriately attired in their Santa Helper outfits. Many prizes were won by the lucky ticket holders.  The dessert table was loaded with many cakes, cookies, pies, etc., supplied by the members.  Music and dancing continued until there was no one left!  Sunday morning we gathered outside with our coffee and muffins and bid a fond adieu until next year (or next month).

Santa (John Bierie) and Cute Elf (Marijo Bierie)