CALOOSA WINNIES OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA The Roadrunner Express Volume 1 Issue 9 CHAPTER ESTABLISHED DECEMBER 5, 1970 January 2018 Life is meant for good friends, and great adventures! CALOOSA WINNIES DECEMBER 30, 2017 JANUARY 5, 2018 LAZY DAYS RV RESORT, SEFFNER, FLORIDA OFFICERS Presidents John & Jean Weicherding What a GREAT way to end one year and begin the next year! 16 couples from the Caloosas arrived on Saturday, December 30th at Lazy Days RV Resort in Seffner, FL to celebrate together! The Rally Center was decorated with multi colored table covers for the first event of the weekend Happy Hour and dinner beginning at 5:00pm. The room was filled with partygoers to enjoy the fun and friendships! Dinner was served by the caterer, the band for evening entertainment took over the room and was EXCELLENT! We all enjoyed the music and dancing! Many of the ladies and a few of the guys did some line dancing which is a favorite activity - & exercise for us! 1st Vice Presidents Rich & Sharon Beck 2nd Vice Presidents Charlie & Karen Autry Secretary David & Barbara Wilkie Sunday was spent relaxing until the Happy Hour began for the New Years Party! The decorations were out and it was very festive in the room. Prime Rib was served for dinner which was great food! Pictured below are some of our group enjoying the evening! Treasurer Carolyn Thomas Inside this issue: New Years Party 1-2 January Meeting 2-4 Schedule 5 Dues Reminder 5 Rally 2018 Info 6
The band for this evening was a local popular group that played all kinds of music from the 50 s, 60 s, and 70 s that was all very familiar to us! Many couples were found on the dance floor and even a few in the back of the room too shy to get up on the dance floor??? Jim & Marge Carney This was a GREAT party and enjoyed by all the Caloosas who attended!! Diane Cipolla had her dance partners in the back of the room!!! L to R: Frank Cipolla, Jorge Gil and Joe Bewes!! ********************************************************************************************************** And then HAPPENED!! Literally the warm Florida weather we were enjoying suddenly turned into COLD JANU- ARY!!! The Caloosa meeting began on January 2nd with more members arriving a total of 26 coaches for the meeting. Our theme was The 50 s and the room was decorated in pink & black with jukebox centerpieces. Because of the shift in the weather, we learned FAST about the furnaces and heaters in our coaches when the temperatures dipped into the 30 s!! However, we were warm and cozy in the Rally Center for Happy Hour. Our evening dinner was a pizza party, with salad and Ice Cream as usual. Yes even when it gets cold Ice Cream is always on the menu!! After dinner, Denise Joop was our leader to get refreshed on some line dances! In the picture below on the right you ll see we even got some of the guys out there dancing! It was fun and GREAT exercise as a benefit!! Denise Joop Rick & Natalie Amos are so much fun to watch! The dance floor was filled with Caloosas!
Saturday morning breakfast was at Front Porch Café and our business meeting began at 10:00am in the rally center. President John Weicherding opened the meeting with all officers present. Several topics were discussed and updates were given on the upcoming Florida Chapters Reunion Rally beginning February 26, 2018. The Scavenger Hunt that was on the agenda was scrapped due to the cold and windy weather! Some of the Nickels players found their way in to the room to exchange nickels with each other! See photo at the right! Happy Hour at 4:00pm found everyone back in the Rally Center, and carpools were formed to go to dinner at O Briens Irish Pub in Brandon. This was our 3rd time having dinner here and the food & service were both GREAT! Thursday morning breakfast was served at Front Porch Café. Carpools were formed to visit Ybor City nearby. Jean Weicherding set up a tour for the group to visit the Sheriffs Department Historical Museum. The guides who gave us the tour are retired officers and it was interesting to hear them talk about their careers. The picture on the right of Jerry Miller was taken to look like he was in Alcatraz as that was the jail! Some others also took their pictures but chose not to share them with this editor! After the tour some of us went to the famous Columbia Restaurant for lunch, and did some sightseeing! A combined Happy Hour and dinner of heavy hors d oeuvres began at 5pm in the Rally Center. As usual, the many dishes filled the tables and the food was delicious thanks to our wonderful cooks!! Our long time members Walter & Belinda Feldgoise are selling their coach and will be leaving our group after 10 years as members. After dinner Jerry Miller presented a slide show of over 100 pictures of them participating in so many of our campouts. Walter was a state club officer for many years in addition to his participation with the Caloosas. Nancy Miller narrated the pictures telling the stories about the adventures we enjoyed with Walter & Belinda. Of course the event called for a cake to celebrate and that was cut and enjoyed by everyone! We will miss Walter & Belinda but hope they will visit with us in the future! Since our theme was The 50 s some of the group dressed for the occasion! In the photo LtoR: Linda & Bruce Byerly, Nancy Miller, Alice Johnson and Fay Hubbard. How well we all remember the 50 s!! Next it was on to the 50 s Games and the challenges in store!
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!! 8 games were set up to test physical skills as well as brain power!! All games had a 50 s theme naturally and proved to be fun! The group was divided into teams of 2 people on a team, & designed to help each other with the challenges! See the action below!! Karen Autry playing record toss Chris Jussaume playing ice cream toss Sharon Beck & Charlie Autry doing trivia Orte Gil & Rich Beck stacking dice Chris and Corvette Race John Zink playing record toss Denise Joop & Bruce Kanoza playing the dice game LuAnn Zink & Jan Dippel playing games Rich Beck & Orte Gil were the winners! The individual winners were Rich Beck and Orte Gil who were presented with official 1950 s Duncan yoyos!! THANKS to all the Caloosas for participating and being good sports!! Thursday morning dawned - still under a cold spell but the donuts, bagels and coffee were ready at 8:30am. It was time to depart once again. MANY THANKS to Karen & Charlie for their help all during the week, and David & Sue Riling for cohosting. Our next event is February 26, March 1, 2018 the Caloosas are hosting a Reunion Rally and looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new friends! If you are still interested in attending the rally, act fast as spaces are almost sold out! We always invite Winnebago manufactured RV s to join us at any meeting. Check our website: www.caloosawinnies.org for our schedule, and also the WIT club website Who s Inviting Travelers lists our activities. We are looking forward to seeing you at the rally!
FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS 6 Linda Byerly 7 Sue Leto 7 Wes Sims 8 Peter Maceri 14 Allen VanPutten 19 Sally Rayburn 20 Richard Johnson 21 Robert Dalton 23 Robert Kucera 26 Roger Gardner 27 Mal Ford 27 Don Levine FEBRUARY ANNIVERSARIES 10 Jim & Sally Rayburn 13 Jim & Diana Post 14 Dave & Barbara Wilkie 15 Mike & Jan Dippel 18 Richard & Alice Johnson FUTURE MEETINGS 2018 Feb. 26 March 1 Florida Chapters Reunion Rally, Lazy Days Park sponsored by Caloosa Winnies March 11 18 Caloosa member cruise, Allure of the Seas, (contact us for info) April 12 15 Riverside RV Resort, Arcadia, FL May 3 6 Alligator Park, Punta Gorda FL No meetings in June October November 12-18 Jolly Roger RV Resort, Marathon, FL week long event December 6 9 Oak Haven RV Park, Arcadia, FL (Christmas Party & Charity Auction) 2019 January 7 10 February 18 22 March 11 14 April 22 May 5 Sarasota Fairgrounds, Sarasota, FL Reunion Rally at Lazy Days RV Resort, Seffner FL Lazy Days RV Resort, Seffner FL 3 City Caravan, details to be announced DUES ARE DUE!!!!!! All dues for 2018 must be paid by January 31st to keep your membership in good standing! Dues can be sent to Nancy Miller, 2134 Everest Pkwy. Cape Coral, FL 33904. You ll be glad you did! SICK BAY REPORT Joann Dalton is home recovering from surgery and is doing fine. Jerry Knopp is still in rehab recovering from an accident. Fay Hubbard had back surgery this week and will be in a rehab facility next week. We ll pass that info on when we have her location. Be sure you have your email set up with caloosawinnies@gmail.com in your contacts! We want to be sure you all receive our messages. If our email address is not set up in your contacts, our messages could be in your SPAM folder! Email is the easiest method for our communications and we don t want you to miss anything! THANKS for checking on this! SAVE THE DATES!!! February 26 to March 1, 2018 The Caloosa Winnies will sponsor an all Florida Chapters Rally at Lazy Days RV Park! The dates are set and all chapters will be invited to participate in the fun! Plans are in the works for entertainment, food, seminars, so all chapters and our friends from out of state will have a place to meet in place of the state sponsored event. Details will be forthcoming we know the Caloosas will be great hosts! Caloosas need to sign up! Sites are filling fast so get yourself on the list! There are LESS than 10 spaces left! See next page for reservation form!
SPONSORED BY CALOOSA WINNIES February 26 March 1, 2018 Lazy Days RV Resort Seffner, Florida RESERVATION FORM DO NOT CALL LAZY DAYS FOR RESERVATIONS Name Co-Pilot Address City State Zip Pilot Cell # Co-Pilot Cell# Pilot Email Co-Pilot Email Handicap Parking Needed Yes No WIT Number RV Length Chapter Affiliation (if any) ======================================================================= Rally fees include: 3 nights camping, concrete pad full hookup site, 30/50 amp, Lazy Days amenities, free lunch & breakfast coupons for Front Porch Café, one catered dinner, one catered breakfast, Row Party, potluck dinner, live entertainment, dancing, Ice Cream Social, seminars, games, dealer displays, optional tours to be announced. FEE: 1 coach, 2 people : $225.00 by February 5, 2018 AFTER FEBRUARY 5, 2018, FEE: $250.00 (Singles deduct $20.00) (Extra person age 6 & up: $20.00) EARLY ARRIVAL DAY: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 ADD $53.75 Reservations limited to the first 200 coaches. Reservations due by February 5, 2018. MAIL RESERVATION FORM AND CHECK MADE OUT TO CALOOSA WINNIES TO: Nancy Miller 2134 Everest Pkwy. Cape Coral, FL 33904 239-565-3115 Email: nmiller1213@gmail.com Cancellation policy: Requests for refunds must be submitted to Nancy Miller via phone or email by February 10, 2018. Fees will be refunded with the exception of $5.00 for administrative fee.