News: Ontario

Ontario Trillium Travelers
Local Chapter
By Cathy Massey

May: May 27 was the first OTT weekend in 2011. Those who recently returned from the warm south have spent their time back questioning their sanity and those of us that stayed here know why they should! It was great to see old friends again and to meet some new ones. Our wagonmaster had his work cut out finding safe places for us to park on the soggy ground. We were sure glad he has a Jeep and a sturdy tow rope. Our resident computer guru gave lessons on how to use the Kindle as well as providing us with software, ebooks, and even an internet connection. The class was free but I expect the ongoing help and advice now that we are "hooked" will cost more. The brave sat around the fire in the rain to "swap lies" and have a general good time.

The afternoon class was how to restring blinds with the added benefit of finding the secret to preventing future failures. We are sure that Winnebago will not be hiring them anytime soon, as it took three strong men the better part of an hour to do one blind. Their excuse was that there were too many watchers giving advice! Several experts were aligning a satellite dish and blamed the trees for having leaves for their lack of success, perhaps the satellite fell out of orbit! Friends were all willing to help, even loaning sewer hose for those unable to back up close enough to the sewer due to the soft ground. Those needing showers were glad and we were all grateful for the elimination of stinky people.

Dinner was excellent, again served by one of our beautiful hosts; there was some concern when she donned surgeon's gloves, however! We then sat around the fire. Some interesting discussions regarding proper driver license requirements and we understand some changes may be coming for coach drivers. It was suggested that perhaps our next premier would be kinder and "grandfather" us. Sunday was bittersweet, we were sad to leave our friends but glad it was warm. Our wagonmaster was standing by with his tow rope but it seemed we made it out. We were pleased to see our new members fit right in and they seemed to have a great time as well.

June: Our next adventure together was our BUDDY RALLY in Blyth on June 13. Arrival day is exciting to see old and new faces. We had four buddies at the outing. Time to catch up on all the news. We had campfires each night with lots of laughs and stories, played guitar, and sang with Brian and Shirley. We thank the hosts of Group Three for their great job on the meals. Dorothy and Clayt made it out for two day trips with her famous butter tarts in tow.

Tuesday was game day at the June outing. We were divided into two teams, the Winnebagos and the Itascas. The Itascas won the overall team score with a total of 551 points. The Winnebago team totaled 540 points. The winners received the coveted box of chocolates which was shared among the winners. Since there were a few left over, good sportsmanship prevailed and they were passed out among the ladies of the second place team.

Five games were played. The high scorers are as follows; Winn Harper; beanbag throw, Brian Morrison and Clayton Ruppel, washer toss; Marion Morrison, hillybilly golf; Barrie Harper, bocci ball; and Bev Bessette's eagle eye (in more than 1 game) allowed her to score a 27 in the alley oops. The high score for all five games was 59, by Lyle Gander, who with his wife, Tony, obtained the high couples score of 100 points.

Wednesday the two teams were again rivals in a very competitive beanbag baseball game. The Winnebago's most experienced player, Clayt, led off with a single and continued throughout the game in his game-winning form, never missing a shot. Winn Harper had the same performance, constantly hitting the second and third base holes. It is surmised that this consistent base hits by the team led them to win over the Itascas with a 24/20 score. Home runs were tossed by the Itascas, Lyle G (2) and Bev D. and Ivan S. each had 1; Dave W of the Winnebagos had 1 as well.

A good time was had by all and many kudos to Group Three Game "Wardens" for organizing and keeping us fair.

Winnebago-Itasca Travelers