On The Road 1

Presidents Corner— March 2018

Greetings,

Sue and I returned home on Sunday from our week in Geor-gia where we enjoyed time with RV friends at the High Falls Georgia State Park and then the Good Sams of Georgia Spring Rally in Perry, GA.

The week started for Sue and me as we traveled north and stopped for the night near Cordele, GA at the Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park. When we arrived we attempted to set up for the night and right off discovered that our largest slide failed to fully extend. We worked for several minutes to get it either fully out or back in and nothing worked. So because we knew we would need to call for service in the morning and at the same time were scheduled to catch up with Chuck and JoAnn and several others the next day about 100 miles further north Sue sent a message to JoAnn letting her know we had problems and were unsure what tomorrow would bring. Well, first thing in the morning, Chuck and JoAnn showed up at our campsite having driven 40 miles from Perry, GA to help us out. Chuck and I worked several hours trying to fix the problem without success so we manually pushed the huge slide in and found some lumber at a construction site in the park and used the parks saw to cut the wood to size and used it to hold the slide in place so we could safely travel to the next stop and were able to enjoy the rest of the week in Georgia. We are thankful for all of the many friends we have in our RV group and especially for friends like Chuck Mentzel and JoAnn Miner who we know would never leave us stranded. Thank you just doesn’t seem to say enough. The Good Sam Pledge in the very first line says “I pledge to give aid to others in need,” sometimes I think we might say the words but wonder if when the time comes will we actually live them, the answer is YES, at least it was for Chuck and JoAnn and I hope that it would be for me as well if the time comes where I am needed. Blessings to you all, Rick Neblock

In this issue: • Message from the President

• Mar. Georgia State Rally Highlights

• Rally Schedule

•Charity Committee Report

On the Road Special Edition

Georgia State Rally

The Ocala Sams March outing started out with twelve members of the Ocala Cen-tral Sams club and three guests camping out at the High Falls State

Park in Geor-gia, which is north of Macon. The group en-joyed three days together, Monday through Wednesday, be-fore the Georgia State Rally. Members included Dave & Linda

Drenning, Chuck Mentzel and JoAnn Miner, Rick and Sue Neblock, Tom Robbins and Linda Olenych and Alan and Sandy Ritcey. Three guests joined us there as well, who were Dan and Lynn Hice and Fran Han-rahan.

While at High Falls State Park, the group en-joyed several outings coordi-nated by our wagon master, Chuck Mentzel. On Monday, the group visited Warner Robbins Air Force Base Mu-seum, which took us through history from the

Georgia State Rally—Perry, Georgia

Editor: Linda Drenning

See Rally pg. 2

March 2018

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early days of avi-ation through current. On display were planes from WWI through the Vietnam era including a restoration of a B-52 Bomber.

On Tuesday, the group traveled to visit the

Little White House. The Little White House was “the personal retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States”, which was “located in the His-toric District of Warm

Springs, Georgia. He first came to Warm Springs in 1924 for polio treatment, and liked the area so much that, as Governor of New York, he had a home built on near-by Pine Mountain. The house was finished in 1932. Roosevelt kept the house after he became President, using it as a presidential retreat.”

On Wednesday it was on to an animal sanctuary, where we saw an array of animals including snakes, birds of prey, otters, foxes, wolves, deer, bison and farm animals. In the barnyard, we found three little piglets who were very curious to see us, that is until Rick mentioned he had a ‘smoker’, at which time they all turned tails and scampered away.

We also visited the town of Juliet, Georgia, famous from the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes”. All of our gang ate lunch at the Whistle Stop Café, where the fare was good old

fashioned food includ-ing, you guessed it, fried green tomatoes. Afterwards many visit-ed the local tourist shops in town, then it was back to the

campground for happy hour. On Thursday, we all caravanned to the Geor-

gia Good Sams Rally Perry, Georgia, where we were joined by five other members of the Ocala Central Sams, Ted and Jody Dietz, Wayne Sayer, Dennis and

Coleen Fowler. Upon arrival to the rally, members signed up to participate in the games including Wash-er Toss, Bean Bag Baseball and Bago. There was also a array of vendors, and a Chinese Auction set up with many items to bid on.

The Washer Toss Tournament was held on Thursday afternoon. Participating in this event were

Chuck and JoAnn, Rick and Sue, Linda Olenych and guest Fran Hanrahan and Alan and Sandy. All but Rick and Sue lost in the first round, and they lost in round two. In the evening was the opening ceremony and chapters participat-ed in a pa-

rade of presenting their flags, followed by the pledge of alle-

giance. The theme of the Rally was ‘Around the world’ and chapters decorated their tables with themes from various countries. After the ceremonies, they had the 50/50 drawing, and

each night after that. Unfortunately, none of our group won these drawings.

That evening we were entertained by Kempt-er’s, which is a gospel group in-cluding a father and his five chil-dren. The children were all home schooled and they have been play-ing and touring with their father since 2008. This was a very talent-ed group who played the fiddle, keyboards, drums, guitar and bass.

On Friday morning we were served coffee and donuts. Six

teams partici-pated in the Bago Tourna-ment, including Rick and Sue, Chuck and Jo-Ann, Dave and Linda, Linda O and Fran Han-

rahan (guest), Alan and Sandy and Dan and Lynn Hice (guests).

Two teams were eliminated in the first round, three teams were eliminated in the 2nd round and the team of Chuck and Jo-Ann made it to the finals. In the end, they finished second

Rally pg. 2

See Rally pg. 3

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out of 30 plus teams. In the afternoon there were various seminars to attend and an Ice Cream social, where we were served pints of Blue Bell ice cream.

Friday evenings entertainment was by Kenny Evans, who has been in the business over 18 years, once opening for the likes of Kenny Chesney, Charlie Daniels and Lone Star. He now

resides in Pigeon Forge Tennessee and entertains at Country To-night Theater, singing ‘Golden Oldies’. His songs were old time ballads including tunes from Roy Orbison, Frankie Valli, Elvis, a du-et by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson (both parts by Kenny) which was hilarious. Someone even made a request for him to sing a Dolly Parton song, which he obliged, and he did kind of sound like her!! On Saturday after breakfast of a Biscuit/Sausage, members partici-pated in the highly anticipated Bean Bag Baseball tournaments, where we had two

teams of eight. First team was Chuck and JoAnn, Rick and Sue, Tom and Linda O, and Dave and Linda D. Second team was Alan and Sandy, Ted and Jody, Lynn and Dan (guests) and Wayne. Although Team 2 played very well and advanced a few rounds, they finally lost. Team one, played four rounds to advance to the finals, where they were finally defeated and placed second overall of over 30 teams. Saturday evening there was a catered dinner by Yoder’s, which some members attended. After the dinner the group gathered for closing ceremonies and a special recognition of veterans. There was a representative from the VA, who accepted a donation from the gathering of $1000. The evening entertainment was by the Ivy Brothers Band. Their specialty were songs from the 70’s and 80’s. After the entertainment, drawings were done for the remaining door prizes and the Chinese Auction. This event was enjoyed very much by all who attended including sev-eral Florida Clubs, and was an opportunity to experience an out of state rally. The Georgia staff were very friendly and we want to

thank them for their hospitality in accommodating us. There are several Good Sam’s Rally’s out there, if you want to experience an out of state rally, you can get the information on the Good Sam’s site.

Rally pg. 3

Birthdays Tom Robbins Mar 10

Bert Chynoweth Mar 16

Susi Vroman Mar 21

Michael Empey Mar 21

Frank DeSanto Mar 21

John Whitney Mar 26

Sherry Chynoweth Mar 30

Frank Hagen Mar 31

Richard Erett Apr 11

Gary Shartzer Apr 19

Anniversaries

Richard & Karen Erett April 10

Frank & Donna Hagen March 14

Dave & Linda Drenning April 19

Chapter Officers

President Rick Neblock 815-543-4831 Vice President Chuck Vroman 352-445-8481 Treasurer Debbie Cerretto 813-789-9527 Secretary Linda Drenning 352-398-6074 Secretary Linda Olenych 727-365-6593 Wagon master Chuck Mentzel 352-497-1497 Chaplain Dick Errett 352-465-1793 Sunshine Rep Jody Dietz 352-237-2062 Historian Jody Dietz 352-237-2062 Newsletter Editor Linda Drenning 352-398-6074

Email: ocalacentralsams@yahoo.com Facebook: Ocala Central Sams

Left to right: Secretary Linda Drenning, Secretary Linda Olenych, Vice President Chuck Vroman, Treasurer Debbie Cerretto, President Rick Neblock, Wagon Master Chuck Mentzel

On The Road 4

2018 Camping Schedule Wagon Master Chuck Mentzel 352-497-1497

April 9-12, 2018-Elite Resorts Clermont, FL ,352-432-5934 $35/night—Hosts: Mentzel/Miner & Neblock’s

April Spring State Rally—KOA Okeechobee.

May 14-17-Ceday Key RV, Cedar Key, FL 352-543-5097. Hosts: Robbins/Olenych & Drenning’s.

2018/2019 Camping Schedule

Sept. 10-13 Dunedin Carefree RV, Dunedin, FL, 727-784-3719. Rate: ? Hosts needed

Oct. 8-11 Seasons in the Sun, Mims, FL 321-384-0440, Rate: $29.70/night Hosts needed

Nov. 14-18 Southern Palms Resorts, Eustis, FL Fall Samboree. No Hosts needed Rally rate: Approx. $160 (inc. early check-in)

Dec. 10-13 Sun & Fun, Sarasota, FL Christmas Rally and gift exchange Rate: $$ Hosts needed

Jan. 14-17 Rate$ No host needed

Feb. 11-14 Paradise Oaks, Bushnell, FL 352-793-1823. Rate: $$, Hosts needed

Mar. 11-14 Southern Palms, Eustis, FL 352-357-8882. Rate:$ Hosts needed

April. 6-11 Sherwood Forest, Kissimmee, FL 407-396-7431 Rate:$ Hosts needed

May 13-16 Fisherman’s Cove, Tavares, FL 352-343-1233 Rate:

Raffle Committee Updates By: JoAnn Miner

Just a reminder, we are still col-lecting items for our baskets for the Fall Eustis Rally. To date we have not received any new items for our baskets from members. We are talk-ing gift certificates, gift cards, gifts, etc. Please bring anything that you have gotten to the rally in Clermont. Debbie previously sent a copy of the non-profit document letter and the presidents letter to be given to the merchants for their receipt of gifts and you should have the email from her. In addition we are collecting items to be sold at the flea market at the Okeechobee Rally in April. We will have a table top with items for sale, and these proceeds will also go to-ward our baskets for the Eustis Ral-ly. If you are not attending the Okee-chobee Rally, but are attending the rally in Clermont, you can bring your items to the rally and we will make sure it gets to Okeechobee.

Thank you for any help you can give towards this project.

Guests:Fran Hanra-

han, Dan & Lynn Hice.

Pools at

Warm

Springs

used by

FDR