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Florida
Suncoast Winnie-Gators March
2006 Outing Our
Chapter meeting (State Rally) was held March 16 –19th, 2006 at Orlando
Fairgrounds in Orlando, Florida Tuesday
late afternoon about 11 coaches arrived at the Wal-Mart on Hwy 50 to get
an early start to the weeks events. We
gathered that evening for a potluck dinner and good conversation. The
weather was just right and the moon was full lighting the sky for the
evening gathering. Many of the women went into Wal-Mart and spent their
camping fees for the night. Wednesday
at 9:30 am, on a beautiful sun filled Florida day, 28 member coaches of
the Suncoast Winnie-Gators met to enter the Orlando Fairgrounds for the
Florida Sate Rally, which theme this year was
“The Wildlife of Florida”. Our
responsibilities this year was to run Wednesday night Bingo and the
Friendship walk on Thursday. We were all caught up in the excitement and
promise of all the events planned. There
is going to be seminars, games, vendors to visit and nightly entertainment
not to mention the food. After we were parked we went to the main rally
hall to register and receive our goody bags, which were filled with free
samples, information material, a rally pin, a rally gift and a Florida
Winnie-Gators member roster. Later
that afternoon we all gathered in an area by our coaches for hamburgers,
hot dogs & salads provided by our chapter.
After the cookout some of our members went to the main hall for
Cash Bingo while others just sat around visited with each other. On
Thursday several more of our chapter member coaches arrived to the rally
bringing the total of 34 coaches representing our chapter.
Saturday’s festivities started at 11:00 am with The Wildlife of
Florida opening ceremonies. Immediately following the ceremony a luncheon was served
sponsored by Suncoast RV and then vendor hall opened for us to go into and
check out the more then 40 vendors. Jeannie
Beckner donated a handmade quilt she made for the American Breast
Cancer Foundation the charity that our state will make donations to this
year. It was hung in the
vendor hall and members of our chapter took turns selling tickets on a
chance to win it. In the
afternoon at 2 PM our chapter hosted the Friendship walk and where a
couple of our members won a gift basket or cake.
Then that evening we enjoyed a dinner sponsored by Al’s Motor
Homes & Trailer Sales. Hotdogs,
Brats, Baked Beans, Cole Slaw and Cobblers were served and after dinner
Bill Castner entertained us with music from the 50’s.
Many of us danced and partied the night away to the great music. Friday
was another day packed full with events, seminars and activities. A
continental breakfast was available to the main hall.
There was an Art & Crafts show in hall “B” and door prizes
given out at the Vendor Hall. We
visited the dealers who brought their new coaches here to temp us into
buying... Suncoast RV even served frozen concoctions to catch us off guard
to maybe weaken us into buying one. In
the afternoon there was an Ice Cream Social which many enjoyed.
Also there were more seminars to attend and later in the early
evening a catered dinner of corned beef and cabbage sponsored by Lazy
Days. After dinner we were
entertained by The Humble Farmer a humorist from Maine. Saturday
started with a catered breakfast of Scrambled eggs and Biscuits &
Gravy then another busy schedule for the day.
After breakfast the many went to play the games in the Craft hall
and there was a competition of chapters called the toilet bowl race where
our own Lynn & Jim Dollar
came in second place. A race
between 1st and 2nd place will be after dinner in
main hall. Later in the
afternoon some of us went to the wine & cheese party while some went
to see some of the animals on display. Later that evening, another
wonderful catered dinner sponsored by Harberson Swanston RV was served.
It was followed with roll call of States and the installation of
the 2006 Florida State Winnie-Gators Officers.
From our chapter the following were inducted into state offices, Dan & Linda Tuzzollo (1st Vice President, Marie
& Bill Franzen (Secretary), and
Barbara Schmittzeh (Treasurer). After
dinner the toilet bowl race was ran and it was a dead heat until South
Florida pulled ahead and won. Good
job though by Lynn & Jim maybe next year we can reclaim the victory.
Keep practicing… The
entertainment for the evening was Fred Moore who did a German history
lesson with song and stories. After
the entertainment there were drawings for door prizes, the hat Lady, the
Breast Cancer Quilt and the wagon of cheer.
Sunday
after the continental breakfast, there was a general meeting for all to
attend. Soon after we started
gathering our belongings and packing up to leave a weekend that was packed
with good food, fantastic entertainment, fun and seeing all of our friends
(old & new). After saying
our goodbyes, we pulled out looking forward to our next RVin’ adventure
and next years Florida State Rally. Submitted
by: Contact:
President – Terry Busch
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