Georgia State Association of Family Campers & RVers The Friendliest People in the World January February March 2011 Congratulations to the Peach Rollers for being chosen the Chapter of the Year with a Certificate presented by Ed Lawrance, State Director at our Fall Campout in Waco ******************************************************************************** Official News of the Georgia State Association of FCRV ERS A Non-Profit, Volunteer, Education, Family and Hiking Organization Published Quarterly for GSA Members
GEORGIA FCRV DIRECTORY PRESIDENT SCHOLARSHIP CHAIRMAN CRACKER BARREL EDITOR Ronald & Reba Ray Larry & Helen Weems Paul & Joyce Trew P O Box 3472 6553 Cook Rd 3871 Purdy Dr LaGrange, GA 30241 Lithia Springs, GA 30122 Ljthia Springs, GA 30122 706-675-0440 770-948-6790 770-944-2093 706-302-6740 crackerbarrel57@comcast.net reba256@yahooc.om ZONE FIELD DIRECTORS Ronald & Reba Ray YOUTH DIRECTOR VICE PRESIDENT P O Box 3472 Ed & Kathy Kennedy Leon & Margo Bricker LaGrange, GA 30241 3350 Wegelia Dr 218 Holly Creek Way 706-675-0440 Austell, GA 30135 Woodstock, GA 30188 770-693-2778 Freddy & Linda Smith 404-310-2668 TREASURER 7303 Club Crest Dr Richard & Janice Howell Flowery Branch, GA 30542 NATIONAL PRESIDENT 5135 Gray Rd 770-967-6880 of FCRV Douglasville, GA 30135 404-213-8928 Jack Smye 770-489-7887 slsmye@sympatico.ca Dot Majors SECRETARY 2205 Lady Marion Lane NATIONAL DIRECTOR Clemit & Rheba Doris Williams Albany, GA 31707 of FCRV 7315 Lee Rd 229-432-5671 Shari Weber Lithia Springs, GA 30122 fcrvnd@yahoo.com clemandrd@bellsouth.net Clemit & Rheba Doris 404-232-5282 Williams SOUTHEAST DIRECTOR 7315 Lee Rd Don MacKenzie STATE DIRECTOR Lithia Springs, GA 30122 cedarjunction@cvalink.com Ed & Nina Lawrance 770-948-2542 2475 Youngs Mill Rd clemandrd@bellsouth.net FCRV WEBSITE LaGrange, GA 30241 www.fcrv.org 706-882-8360 LEGISLATIVE DIRECTORS edlawrance@mindspring.com Paul & Chris Vickery CHAPTERS OF GSA 1158 Ruckersville Rd CHAPLIN Elberton, GA 30635 Jolly Rockers, Jonesboro Randy Willis 826 Southland Forest Way MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORS Spring Lizards, Lithia Springs Stone Mountain, GA 30087 Don Beer & Rosie Chapman 770-413-6618 2544 Barrow Rd Troup Travelers, LaGrange Douglasville, GA 30134 RETIREE DIRECTOR 770-942-8819 Peach Rollers, Flowery Branch James & Wilma Upchurch 27 Mimosa Circle GSA WEBSITE Cruise-Aiders, McDonough Carrollton, GA 30116 www.gsafcrv.org 770-832-3879 Larry Black, webmaster The Cracker Barrel is available on: GSA Website: www.gsafcrv.org or National Website: www.fcrv.org under Newsletters, then click on G for Georgia FCRV is now on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/familycampersrvers Page2
PRESIDENT S CORNER By Ronald & Reba Ray Hello Camping Friends, Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and looking forward to a good Christmas. New Years is just around the corner. This year has really gone by fast, but we have had some great camping together. We are looking forward to the year of 2011, for another good year of camping and being with friends. The New Years Campout will be coming up, December 30 th January 2 nd. Ron and I will be in charge of cooking for this event. We are looking forward to being there and having fun for the weekend. On Thursday night, we will have a supper of hot dogs and trimmings. On Friday we will have Barbeque and Brunswick stew. On Saturday we will have lunch of traditional New Years meal consisting of Collards and Turnip Greens. On Saturday evening we will have leftovers from lunch. All you have to bring is your $20 per person for the weekend, a covered dish for the New Years Meal to go along with collards and black-eye peas, and your left over goodies from Christmas to put out while we play games or just milling around socializing. We look forward to seeing everyone there. Some of you may remember Virginia Maxwell, her husband was Ralph Maxwell. Virginia passed away recently. She and Ralph were avid members of the Troop Travelers and went to many of the National, Retiree rally and State Campouts. Our hearts go out to Mark, Mike, Pam and the rest of their family. Remember the upcoming event coming up next year. In March, the National Retiree Rally in Canton, TX, the President Workshop at High Falls, the National at Ladson, SC, the Spring GSA Campout in Pine Mountain. The dates will probably be posted somewhere in the Cracker Barrel. New Officers are to be installed at the upcoming Spring Campout. Please make sure to fill out your ballot and send them back in at the allotted time. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Ron & Reba Ray GSA President Running for President of GSA Ronald & Reba Ray We have been members of FCRV, GSA, and Troup Travelers since 1992. We have held offices as Secretary, Vice President and President of Troup Travelers. We also held the GSA Secretary office for 6 years. And Have been President of GSA for 2 years. We have attended some of the National Campventions, Retiree Rallys, and GSA Campouts. We enjoy being around our camping family and making new friends at each and every event that we travel to. We enjoy getting involved and helping in any area that we are needed. We would appreciate your vote, for next 2 years as President of GSA. Thank You Ron & Reba Ray Page 3
STATE DIRECTOR By Ed & Nina Lawrance Hello Camping Friends, We are proud to announce a new Chapter in the McDonough area. The new Chapter is called The Cruise-Aiders. This Chapter has been made possible through the efforts of John & Beverly Howard. They signed up 6 new Cadet Members who helped form the Chapter. We must all work to make the new Chapter and their members welcome. Georgia now has 15 Cadet Members and we are proud of every one of them and those who signed them up. The ones who have signed up new members are, John & Beverly Howard with 6, Freddy & Linda Smith with 2 and John & Charlotte Brisendine, Don Beer & Rosie Chapman, Charlotte Howerton, Bill & Dena Whatley and Paul & Christine Vickery with 1 each. Someone in South Carolina signed up the other 2. There are about 250 Cadet Members nationally so Georgia is a leader in this program. Please do not send in copies of the Cadet Membership form. Once you have mentored one, and the office has received it, the mentoring member will receive another Cadet membership to be given away. If you need a form and cannot wait or have lost yours, please contact the office directly to work with Sue. We would like to remind you of the Field Directors New Years Campout that will be held at the Spring Villa Campground located at 1474 Lee Co Road 148, Opelika, AL on December 30 to January 2. As of now, we have 23 families who have said they are coming. There is still space for you. All have full hook ups with 50 amp service for $15.00 per night. The Winter Board Meeting will be held in Dallas, TX on March 16-20, 2011. This will be followed by the National Retiree Rally in Canton, TX on March 22 27. If you or your spouse have ever been retired (or if you wish you were) you are eligible to attend. It is open to all, but there will be no programs for children. The 2011 National Campvention is being hosted by the Southeast Region (our Region). It will be held at the Exchange Park Fairground in Ladson, SC. This is the closest Campvention to Georgia in the last 13 years so if you have never been to a National, here is your chance. We of course need volunteers, so please let us know if you can help. Georgia s main job will be parking and grounds, so let us know if you can help with it. Please make plans to attend the Georgia State Spring Campout at the Pine Mountain Campground, It will be held April 15 17, 2011. This is an earlier date then normal due to the Retiree Rally. FCRV has a new Face-Book page. Please add them as a friend or at least visit the site. There is a lot of information there and 197 have said they like it. The National Membership is 5282 and the Georgia membership is 100. Keep on Camping, Ed & Nina Lawrance edlawrance@mindspring.com Page 4
Troup Travelers By Reba Ray The Troup Travelers has had a busy fall. In October we had 7 families to attend the GSA Fall Campout in Waco, GA. We hosted the Hospitality with soup and salads and had a great turn out and good participation in this. Also, in October Ron and Reba Ray and Louise Clinkscales were the wagon masters for our October campout. We had a pancake breakfast and then a crock pot potluck luncheon later in the afternoon. Never seen so many crock pots show up with a variety of food in them. But all were good. Then later in the afternoon, another group from Alabama had a small carnival set up and invited everyone to bring their children over and let them join them. Not sure who they were, but they did a good job in letting our children have a good time. Then around 6 pm the Troup Travelers gathered around again for trick or treating the kids and then everyone hopped on a trailer for a hay ride. Thanks to Ron Ray for fixing up his truck and trailer for this. It was a long day for everyone, but the weather was great and everyone had a good time. We were at Whitetail Ridge Campground in LaGrange. In November, the Troup Travelers went to Spring Villa Campground in Opelika, AL. The officers of the Troup Travelers, Mike and Roxie Veal, Harold and Pat Hudson, Barry and Wanda Williams and Pee Wee and Alice Garners, were wagon masters for this campout. It was cold, but with the building and fire going it was a good campout. They furnished everyone with a good Thanksgiving dinner of smoked Boston butt, chicken, dressing, gravy and everyone else brought in side dishes to go with it. We also had breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning. We did a good job of eating that weekend. The food was great. We also did a couple of hillbilly golf and dart throwing. Barry and Wanda Williams did some art work for prizes. It was too cold to stay outside to do much of any games. In December we had our traditional Christmas dinner at Hog Heaven. The food was good and then we had a game of Dirty Santa. Everyone also brought can goods to be donated to a food pantry, which, this year was donated to Trinity on the Hill Methodist Church. They are always furnishing food to the elderly and needy families. We had approximately 140 cans of food donated for this. We also exchanged Christmas cards at this event and received our 2011 calendars, thanks to John Brisendine for his hard work on this. The Troup Travelers will be having an eating meeting at Fried Green Tomatoes in LaGrange on January 24, 2011. Then February 28, 2011 we will be having a eating meeting at the Trinity on the Hill Methodist Church with all the retired couples furnishing us with vegetable soup and letting everyone else bring desserts. March 11-13 we will be at R Shaefer Heard Campground for our first campout of the season. We will be on sites 85 106. Then some of us will be traveling to Canton, Texas for the Retiree rally. The Troup Travelers will be hosting the GSA Spring Campout, so make your plans on being there, you won t want to miss this one. The Troup Travelers wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing everyone in 2011. ===================================================================== SCHEDULE OF EVENTS December 30, 2010, 2010-January 2, 2011: Georgia Field Director s New Years Campout at Spring Villa Campground, Opelika, AL March 22-27, 2011: 40 th National Retiree Rally at Canton, TX April 2, 2011: Spring President s Workshop, High Falls State Park April 15-17, 2011: GSA Spring Campout, Pine Mountain RV Resort, Pine Mountain, GA July 8-15, 2011: National Campvention, Exchange Park Campground, Ladson, SC Page 5
Tis the Season!! Spring Lizards By Edna Jordan As this issue of the Cracker Barrel is published, we are all in the midst of one of the busiest, most wonderful, and, for some, most melancholy of all the events of a calendar year. When Fall begins, everything falls downhill with increasing momentum October found our club very busy with the hosting of the Fall campout at Waco. Even though we were all tired, we felt a sense of accomplishment and thankfulness for the fellowship..rolling on toward Thanksgiving found all of us at the home of Bob and Edna Jordan for a soup, chili, and hot dog supper. The 28 assembled had plenty of food, fun, fellowship, and facts. We played Mexican Train (of course), and some did sing-along in the other room! The business meeting followed; then, the food.tumbling into December was the highlight of the year. At the home of Clemit and Rheba Doris Williams, 21 of us feasted sumptuously, swapped and bickered about our white elephant gifts, sang Christmas music with Edna and her autoharp, and welcomed 2 new members (James and Brenda Westbrook; and Richard and Debbie Bailey) into our club it s almost New Year s Eve when several of us will be in Opelika for the campout. Maybe we can get the brakes on enough to coast into 2011!! We pause, idle our lives, and reflect on the Reason for the Season. We do sing JOY to the World. We Deck the Halls. We Ring the Bells as we celebrate Jesus birthday. We are thankful for our camping fellowship. We not only have RVing in common; but, there is also a common thread of spiritual fellowship that we share. We remember those whose holidays are marked with illnesses, loss of friends, and troubled times. Let us all shake our neighbors hands, love our spouses, hug our children, be faithful to our God, and remember to say, I love you. The world needs closeness bounded by LOVE. Exchanging White Elephant Gifts Page 6 Mexican Train of Course
Peach Rollers By Linda Smith Peach Rollers would like to welcome our new Cadet Members, Glenda & Tommy Vandegriek, Janice & Ken Riordon, and Gayle & Benny Leach. The Peach Rollers would like to thank everyone for a good Fall Campout at Jelly Stone Park. We hope you all enjoyed the breakfast. Looking forward to the Spring Campout in Pine Mountain and to hosting the 2011 Fall Campout, details to be announced at a later date. November 11-14 we camped at Vogel State Park in Blairsville with Dena & Bill Whatley as wagon masters. We visited several beautiful waterfalls in the area and a visit to Helen. We had great weather for the campout, including bear alerts & warnings. Thanks for a great time Bill & Dena! December 11 we had our annual Christmas Dinner/Party hosted by Linda and Freddy Smith. We had lots of food, fun, & fellowship. At the party we collected toys for the Children s Health Care of Atlanta, ages two to six, to be donated with a bright new red wagon donated by the Peach Rollers Camping Club. The donated items were delivered to the hospital on December 20 with a few Peach Rollers members attending the presentation to the staff at CHOA. Hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas season. See everyone next year. Linda & Freddy Smith Page 7
Road Runners By Janice Howell The Road Runners enjoyed our annual Christmas Party with some special guests. The Spring Lizards along with two of Kathy and Ed s grandchildren were there to help us enjoy the Christmas cheer. There was lots of food and wonderful deserts enjoyed by all! A special thanks to Don and Rosie for hosting our party this year. This year we did a little different type of gift exchange and hopefully everyone enjoyed it. Everyone brought a gift and passed the gift right or left when the words were mentioned in a story that Judy Cole read. The story and passing the gifts caused a lot of laughter. It was fun and everyone received a gift. We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of the Road Runners! Page 8
Board Meeting at Jellystone Park Registration at Jellystone Park Playing Mexican Train Cake Walk Food and Fellowship Playing Mexican Train Page 9
Harold & Shirley Smith receive Certificate For 35 years membership by Ed Lawrance Bob & Lois Machen receive Certificate for 20 years membership by Ed Lawrance Leon & Margo Bricker receive Certificate for 30 years membership by Ed Lawrance Games of Bean Bag Baseball Unidentified Person from Canada Sunday Morning Church Service Page 10
A BIG THANK YOU for our Special Entertainer on Saturday Evening and Sunday morning by FRANK BASANET from Douglasville, Georgia for many of our old favorite Country and Gospel Songs Thanks to Everyone who Donated to the Great Silent Auction Verna Basanet was our biggest Winner with the Most Bought! Page 11
If you would like to see some more THEN and NOW, then send them to me!!! crackerbarrel57@comcast.net or paultrew@comcast.net or mail them to me at 3871 Purdy Dr, Lithia Springs, GA 30122 If emailed attach them to your email and I can return any pictures mailed. Page 12
2010 NEW YEARS CAMPOUT DECEMBER 30 JANUARY 2 SPRING VILLA CAMPGROUND, OPELIKA, AL The Georgia Field Directors will be holding the New Years Campout at the Spring Villa Campground, Spring Villa RD. (Co RD 148) Opelika, AL. It is less than 30 miles from the Alabama State line. Everyone is invited, bring your friends; they don t have to be members. No meetings just eating, fellowship and games. You will not need a reservation with the campground as we reserved the whole park. They have 30 sites and we can double up if needed. We have cooks this year as Ron & Reba Ray have volunteered to do the cooking. The Field Directors and anyone else who wants to can help. On Thursday night we will have hotdogs, etc. On Friday morning we will serve a breakfast and a meal Friday evening. Saturday we will have the traditional New Years dinner at noon and we will have the leftovers that night. Sunday morning we will also serve a continental breakfast. We will stay up Saturday night to bring the New Year in, so bring your leftover Christmas goodies to munch on while we wait for the New Year. The cost for the meals, the paper products and the drinks (soda, tea, coffee, etc.) is $20.00 per person. The Camping Fee will be $15.00 per night for full hook ups with 50 amps service, payable to the campground by cash or check only (no credit cards). Please pre-register if you are coming so we can better plan the meals. You can call, e-mail or send in the application below. If for some reason you cannot register come anyway, we will make room. NAME ADDRESS PHONE HOW MANY E-MAIL Please send to: Ed & Nina Lawrance 2475 Youngs Mill RD LaGrange, GA 30241 Or call: 706-882-8360 Or e-mail: edlawrance@mindspring.com (put new year as subject) Page 13
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REGISTRATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MARCH 9 TH, 2011 You will receive a letter of confirmation with directions Page 15
GSA Spring Campout 2011 April 15-17, 2011 Pine Mountain RV Resort Pine Mountain, GA Hosted by Troup Travelers Friday Night Hospitality by Peach Rollers Breakfast or Lunch by Road Runners and Jolly Rockers Games by Spring Lizards The Troup Travelers are looking forward to hosting the 2011 Spring Campout for GSA. We have a lot of great plans and hopefully you will all join in with us to have a great time. The theme is the 50 s, so get your poodle skirts out and let s dress up like we did in your younger days. I don t think you want to miss this campout, with all the fun we are planning. Make your own reservation for your campsites. The campsites are $33 per night. Tell them you are with GSA so they will put you near the building. We will need to know what each club is planning on doing in order for us to make our plans and to set up the programs. If you plan to attend please fill out the form below and let us know you will be there. Name Address Telephone Adult Children Please send this form to Harold & Pat Hudson or e-mail pandh20@ hotmail.com 5246 County Road 268 Five Points, Al 36855 The Red Hat Luncheon on Friday Anyone interesting in attending a Red Hat Luncheon with us, we need to know so we can make reservations at a restaurant. You do not have to be a member of a red hat club to attend. This is something we are going to try to see how much fun we can have without the men. Rheba Doris Williams and Reba Ray are going to be in charge of this luncheon. So let s may plans on being there. If you plan to attend this luncheon, please send an e-mail to: Reba Ray - reba256@yahoo.com Rheba Doris Williams - clemandrd@bellsouth.net Page 16
SCHOLARSHIP CHAIRMAN Congratulations to Kristen Lawrance and Cody Veal, recipients of the GSA-FCRV Edwards-Howerton Scholarship Fund for the year 2010-11. Kristen is attending the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia, and will receive $500.00, payable in increments of $250.00 per semester. This will be Kristen s second scholarship award from the Scholarship Fund. Cody will be attending Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville, Georgia, beginning in January 2011, and he also will receive $500.00, payable in increments of $250.00 per semester. We wish both of them much success in their future education. Kristen is the daughter of Randal and Dana Lawrance and granddaughter of Ed and Nina Lawrance of the Troup Travelers. Cody is the son of Mike and Roxie Veal of the Troup Travelers. Larry and Helen Weems If You Gotta Go, Start Early An old lady, quite delicate and elegant, especially in her speech, was planning several weeks vacation in Florida with her husband and wanted to make sure the campgrounds were fully equipped. She didn t know just how to ask the manager about the toilet facilities. She decided that she couldn t just use the word toilet in her letter to the manager. So after studying about it for some time, she thought the old fashioned tile bathroom commode sounded good. But, maybe he would think she was a bit forward, so she tore up the letter and started all over again. Referring to the toilet, in her final letter to the manager she asked if the campgrounds had a B.C. Well, the manager had no idea what she was talking about, so he showed the letter to several of his friends. They couldn t figure out what she meant either. Finally, they came to the conclusion that she must mean did the campgrounds have a Baptist Church. So, when he answered her letter he said, Dear Madame, I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I am pleased to tell you that we do have a B.C. It is located just one mile north of the camp. It will seat 250 people at one time. I admit that it is quite a distance away if you go regularly. You might be interested to know that there is a supper planned to make money to buy more seats. They will have them in the basement of the B.C. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago. It was so crowded that we had to stand up the whole time we were there. I would like to say that it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, especially in cold weather. Some people take their lunch and make a day of it. They arrive early and stay late. If you decide to come here, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go. I could sit beside you and introduce you to the others. Remember, this is a friendly community. Page 17