November 1 – 4, 2012 was the kickoff camping weekend for the Caloosa Winnies at Riverside RV park in Arcadia, FL. Thanksgiving Celebration was the theme and the rec hall was decorated to welcome all our members back from summer travels. Co-Hosts for the event were Walter & Belinda Feldgoise, Gene & Lois Hogan, Bud & Sue Swift, Charlie & Ellen Zucker. We had beautiful fall Florida weather after a temperature cool off and it was nice to be outside and greet everyone again! Happy Hour began at 4:00pm at the rec hall, followed by dinner of Souper Meatballs prepared by the hosts. All the members brought dishes of GREAT food to share and an Ice Cream Social was held for dessert! President Corinne Wightman welcomed everyone back as we began our evening activity – a Pumpkin Carving contest! Teams were formed and got into action and after about 25 minutes had carved the most incredible creations! There was no way to judge this creativity so we declared all the teams winners!! The rest of the evening games and cards were on tap in the rec hall.

Friday morning our cooks were ready making pancakes and cooking sausage and everyone was served in record time! THANKS to you all who cooked and cleaned up! After lunch our annual Beanbag Baseball tournament was held in the pavilion! 4 teams were formed, the first round was played and the winners of each game played a second playoff we called our “World Series”. The winning team was headed by Captain Bud Swift, and members Ellen Zucker, Nick Sanborn, Diane Cipolla, Carol Mazuk, Jim Brand, Sally Rayburn, Ed Young and Carol Mastro.

Happy Hour was held at 4:00pm, and a caravan was formed to head out to Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill for dinner.  Back at the Rec Hall it was time for the evening game! Teams were formed and we began the “Pin The Waddle On The Turkey”.  Similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey – this game cause more laughter and extreme competition! The winning team included members Corinne Wightman, Bob Ross, Marlene Young, Belinda Feldgoise and Bob Hotovy.  A good time was had by all – and some members played cards and games in the rec hall for the rest of the evening.

Saturday morning our Potluck Breakfast began at 8:30am with more delicious dishes prepared by the members! At 10:00am the Business Meeting began with Presidents Pete & Corinne Wightman presiding. After the meeting, several members have new coaches and invited everyone to have a tour which many took advantage of.  At 1:30pm a garage sale/swap was held in the pavilion and many items were sold or exchanged!

4:00pm brought everyone together for Happy Hour in the rec hall and the aroma of the turkeys cooking gave everyone a clue what was on the menu for dinner! THANKS to Bud Geng, Charlie Zucker, and Bud Swift for carving the turkeys and the other hosts for getting the tables ready for the GREAT potluck dishes created by the members! THANKS to the hosts for serving and cleaning up to get ready for our evening activity!

“Date Night Movie Night” – our evening entertainment was “The Long, Long Trailer” starring Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz – originally made in the 1950’s! Members brought in their comfy chairs and settled in the 90 minutes of laughter! Now that’s when great movies were made! Some members stayed around to play games and were still playing at 10:00pm!

Sunday morning was our continental breakfast, donuts, bagels, fruit, juice and coffee. Soon it was time to say goodbye with anticipation of our December meeting coming up soon!

THANKS to all the hosts for working together as a GREAT team and proving once again we can WORK and have FUN at the same time!!

We invite anyone with a Winnebago product to join us at any meeting! Our schedule is published on on Who’s Inviting Travelers at www.winnebagoind.com . We love visitors so come and join in the fun! We promise you will be welcome!