The Beautiful Florida Keys was the tropical setting for the last campout of the season for the south Florida Winnie Gators. Fifteen member rigs met at the Jolly Roger Travel Park at Mile Marker 59 for our June outing. Twelve motor homes arrived on Thursday to get an early start on the weekend with the remaining three joining the group on Friday. We invited Mel and Jo Ann Endres from Alexandria, Va. to join us for the weekend activities. They were vacationing in their Winnebago Chieftain and seemed to enjoy the company of the Rowdy Bunch. It was an awesome sight viewing all the Winnies docked along the seawall bordering the crystal clear waters of the Gulf! The weather for the entire weekend was pleasantly warm, breezy and bugless. (No swatters needed!)

The bay waters beckoned all the aquatic lovers to spend much of their time floating on their noodles, socializing and sipping cold beverages. Rick & Becky’s new floating cooler was quite popular all weekend. Sunsets were spectacular every evening, which hasn’t been the case the past few years.

Everyone was on their own for dinner Thursday evening with some members bringing out their grills while others checked out the local seafood restaurants. Out motto down here in the Keys has always been, “Keep it simple – Keys style” and just enjoy the sites of God’s creation!

Friday brought another beautiful lazy day except for one of our members, Peter Vandervlugt, and his traveling “awning repair shop” Thanks to Peter and the sewing machine he carries on board, John and Marijo Bierie no longer have a torn awning. We are very fortunate to have several members in our club who have the talent to make repairs and fix a variety of problems when they occur.

Happy hour was held in the Park Pavilion with our 50 – 50 Raffle. Lucky winners were Florence Allen, W.C. Herndon and Marge Shaughnessy. The surprise 4^th place was won by Jack Fantelli.

Bob Gill and George Shaughnessy prepared our evening meal of tasty grilled fish sandwiches accompanied by Marijo’s delicious Chinese cole slaw. Members contributed yummy deserts to top off the meal. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the warm ocean breezes in our lounge chairs along the seawall.

Saturday morning our famous chefs, George Shaughnessy, W.C. Herndon and Rick Bunn fried sausages and flipped pancakes for breakfast. Thanks to Sandy Riley who supplied blueberries for an added treat. After the meal everyone took advantage of the sunshine and headed back into the bay with flippers and noodles.

Happy hour commenced at 4 PM and featured the surprise appearance of our tropical “Hula” raffle babes, Ed-wina and Pete-rella! Oh, what talent we have in the Rowdy Bunch! They did a great job selling raffle tickets in the absence of Ms. Becky and Ms. Damaris.

George Shaughnessy, Bill DeSepio and John Bierie fired up their grills and prepared our “Cheeseburgers in Paradise” Marijo Bierie added the finishing touch with a crock pot of baked beans. A great meal was topped off with members supplying desserts and vanilla ice cream, compliments of the campground.

Sunday morning brought everyone together for toast and coffee followed by the Board of directors and General Membership Meetings. Safe travels and happy summer camping were extended to all until we meet again