News: Florida

Caloosa Winnies
Local Chapter

A Christmas celebration welcomed the Caloosa Winnies Dec. 1-4, 2011 at Oak Have RV Park near Arcadia, FL. The recreation hall was decorated in red and green and 26 coach families attended! We had guests, Ben and Yvonne Hart, from River City Winnies in OH. We also welcomed Phil and Pat Hardy who visited with us from the Ft. Myers area. Cohosts for the weekend were Jack and Lorene McGregor, John and Ella Thurston, and Ron and Betty Kunze. Thursday's happy hour was celebrated at the rec hall followed by dinner and an ice cream social. Bingo games began with the residents of the park also joining us.

Friday our cooks were at work and after breakfast was cleared, the ladies got together to work on costumes for the March rally. We have a great pinning and sewing team! We got the body armor vests completed along with some great conversation! Our honorary member, Kathryn Griffin, joined us and brought a craft project for the ladies to make. It was so great to see Kathyrn and she always has something fun to make! After happy hour we caravanned to Alli-Gators restaurant for dinner out! The food and service was great and we had a great time! Back at the rec hall many people played games!

Saturday our potluck breakfast was amazing with so many different dishes prepared by the members! The business meeting was called to order by President Charlie Zucker. As usual, it was a lively meeting with the business getting done along with laughs and fun included! Butch and Becky Moore, our WIT Eastern Area Reps, joined us at the meeting and for the remainder of the day. Our guests, Phil and Pat Hardy, were introduced as new members as they joined our chapter! At the end of the meeting, our installation of officers for 2012 took place. Butch did the honors installing: Pete and Corinne Wightman, President; Ed and Pat Tyndall, First Vice President; Bud and Sue Swift, Second Vice President; Jim and Sally Rayburn, Secretary; and Jim and Jane O'Neill, Treasurer. The afternoon was free time and members spent the time visiting and shopping. A dinner was served with the members bringing wonderful side dishes!

That evening it was time for our "pass the buck" auction. Charlie Zucker and Bud Swift were the elves taking bids on the wonderful packages! It was a loud and fun event with members "buying" various items and Bill Fuss got his annual package of bathroom tissue! We ALWAYS get you, Bill! We raised over $1,000 to be contributed to our charity, Joshua House.

Sunday our traditional breakfast was served. With everyone in the Christmas mood, it was time to pack up and look forward to our next meeting in January. Some of the members weren't going home just yet—we traveled to a local Camping World! They hosted a two-day event for our group, plus members from some other FL chapters joined in the fun!

Sunday at Camping World was spent relaxing and enjoying the nice weather and friends! Monday we played bingo in the afternoon until everyone gathered in a tent on the lot for happy hour. Wine, beer, soft drinks, and snacks kept everyone busy and tickets were sold for a money raffle. A catered dinner was served in the showroom. Appreciation goes to Ryan Hollan, General Manager, we had a great dinner.

Tuesday a continental breakfast was served in the showroom. There was a scavenger hunt with clues taking the group through the Winnebago RVs on the lot! After the hunt, it was happy hour time and dinner served in the showroom followed. The evening entertainment was provided by "LeDeux," a local couple. They played music for listening and dancing. Ryan and his staff gave us an enjoyable outing!

Seaside Winnies
Local Chapter
By Joan Senus

We were all in the holiday mood as we hitched up the reindeer to our (Winnebago) sleighs and headed off to the Great Outdoor RV Resort in Titusville, FL. Counting one guest we had ten sleighs in attendance. Askews and Senus hosted the rally.

Appropriate to the season, we were just a few miles down the road from the town of Christmas. Since Christmas was having their annual "Cracker Christmas" pioneer demonstrations and craft show the weekend before our rally, most of us arrived on the previous Friday and Saturday to enjoy that event. One of the booths was the local post office and several of our group got their Christmas cards postmarked "Christmas." The whole weekend was fun and we all found some wonderful, handmade treasures.

That fun weekend was just a preliminary to the rest of a festive rally. On Monday some of the guys played golf which was organized by Chuck. Fran had compiled a list of thrift shops and antique stores so we ladies had a pleasant morning shopping accompanied by the nongolfing guys. After meeting at Village Inn for lunch, we spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Tuesday we left early for Cocoa Village. The historical area was all decked out for the holidays and the shops had plenty of novel goodies for sale. Lunch at Murdock's was perfect. After our usual AA, we enjoyed a soup and sandwich supper in the tent. When we were done with our meal, we had a Christmas Yankee Trade gift exchange. The criteria for gifts this year was something you received as a gift and do not want, cannot use, or just plain hate! Or pick up something tacky at a thrift shop. The trading was lively and we all had fun while we enjoyed the hot cider and hot chocolate that the hosts served and the cookies that everyone else brought.

Wednesday morning Bob, George, and Joan cooked a hearty breakfast. We had our meeting right after breakfast and then spent the rest of the morning with a garage sale of all our RV items that we no longer need or use. There were some pretty good bargains. A late lunch at Village Inn was followed by time on our own.

Thursday we wished each other a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and off we went, looking forward to our January rally.

Winnebago-Itasca Travelers