South Florida Winnie-Gators

 OCTOBER 2007  OUTING REPORT

By Marlene Sholtes

 Our October meeting was held at Upriver RV Resort in North Fort Myers.  It was our first visit to this beautiful campground, and we plan to return here again in the near future.  24 member coaches and two guest coaches attended.  Those in attendance were:  Allen, Bibisi, Bierie, Bunn, Butcher, Cheatum, Drapeau, English, Gill, Herndon, Macdonald/Smith, Miles, Peacock, Perry, Riley, Rowe, Schoening, Seager, Shaughnessy, Sholtes, Travers, Tuzzolo, Williamson, and Wilson.  The two guest coaches were O’Halpin/Schmaeling and Fantelli.  It was the second meeting that Jack and Joan Fantelli attended so they were voted in this month. 

Joe & Marlene Sholtes hosted a champagne toast for their new 2007 36-foot Journey.  This is their seventh Winnebago, four of which were purchased from Harberson RV in Holiday.  For dinner Damaris Travers and Barbara Drapeau prepared Hobo Soup.  We then played one of our favorite games, LCR.  The winners were Florence Allen, Barbara Drapeau, Joan Gill, Sandy Riley, Al Rowe, and Joan & Chuck Seager.

Friday many members ventured over to the local Elks Club for lunch since we have quite a few members who are Elks.  Many splashed around in the beautiful large pool at the campground, floating on their noodles.  Our Happy Hour 50/50 Raffle profited the club $175, and the winners were Sylvia Smith, Becky Bunn and Damaris Travers.  A good job of selling the tickets was done by the Junior Raffle Babes Marijo Bierie and Maureen Shaughnessy.  Our dinner this evening was gourmet hot dogs, with chili or sauerkraut.  Dick & Sandie Williamson treated us with their 40^th
Wedding Anniversary cake.  We had the following visitors at the campout:  Del & Joy Butcher’s daughter and her family; George & Marge Shaughnessy’s grandson and his girlfriend; and Ray & Joan Bibisi’s friends, Wesley & Carol Phelps.

After dinner, the local residents invited us for a ghoulish walk through their Haunted Forest.  It was so “oooooh” scary.  We then returned to the hall for a game of Chase the Ace.  The winners were Marlene English and (guess who) Chuck Seager.  Chuck has won this game every time he has played

Saturday morning we awoke to a grand breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits deliciously prepared by Bob Gill and George Shaughnessy, along with Helen Herndon’s famous and yummy cheese grits.  We then participated in making craft items to be put into the State Rally goody bags.  It was so nice to see almost everyone working on them, even the men!  Lee Macdonald did an excellent job of preparing kits so everyone would have the parts and information to work with.  She maintained a firm hand as a few of them became rowdy!

Our Happy Hour Raffle Fuzzy Felines entertained us, along with the refreshment dispensers, Joe Sholtes and Chuck Seager, who changed masks regularly.  Many of us wore some form of costume and had a fun time!  The hall was huge and the kitchen was well equipped to handle the food that Bob & Joan Gill and George & Marge Shaughnessy prepared for our evening meal.  The chicken marsala and noodles were awesome, as were the salads, vegetables, and desserts supplied by the members.

We then began our game of Yankee Trader.  As usual, there were some prizes more coveted than others, which caused a number of noisy exchanges, moans and laughs.

Sunday morning breakfast was grits, biscuits and toast.  We then had our Board Meeting and Membership Meeting.  We parted ways until our next campout at Paradise Island in Ft. Lauderdale.  Some of us continued on to Franklin Locks to await the State Meeting in Sarasota.

Our hard-working chefs, George Shaughnessy & Bob Gill.