Michigan Good Sam - Chapter 52 - Campout 2012
Updated: 08/20/12
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Campout stats: There were 28 units in camp. Our campout was attended by 52 members, four adult guests, one adult overnight guest, five grandchildren overnighters and, four adult and two grandchildren day visitors. On Friday, we had a total of 61 people at our potluck.
Alice Springs RV Park is near Ionia, MI.
It is a reasonably new campground. The small trees scattered around the grounds provided very little shade. The landscaping at the entrance was attractive.
A pond with a sign posted on the shore says
"No Swimming"
appeared to be ok for fishing.
They have a swimming pool located near the
office that drew a lot of
people trying to stay cool.
To our right was a hill that Mary Lou and I had said earlier
would be a good camping spot.
It was occupied during the weekend.
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
WEDNESDAY EVENING . . .
Looking across the circle, we could see that the campout had 'unofficially' begun - at least the eating part. The eating part always begins early. When we left our fifth wheel, we could see people eating under the cover.
Ann and Lucy were putting on a spaghetti dinner for everyone
in camp Wednesday evening.
Of course, Ed and Cliff helped a little.
It was like eating in an Italian restaurant - salad, bread and spaghetti with
sauce.
Cliff had brought a 20' x 20' tarp to stretch over a frame he made to provide some shade.
This was our first
use of the his artificial shade.
Alice Springs
small trees provided shade for one or two people.
Larry looked up long enough for a
serious pose.
We
would never say that Cliff is a neat-nick
... but ...
washing the grass is a little extreme.
Our evening entertainment was a Jam Session put on by the members
and guests who
brought their musical instruments.
Due to the heat, they did not perform every evening.
Al, Ralph, Terry, Ed and Pat
Shirley and Ralph
Vicki and Ed
Terry in the back.
Bob played his harmonicas from the audience for a while. Later, he hobbled
to the front to join Al in a duet, (Bob had knee surgery the week before our
campout.)
Fred
is
never in photographs because he is always behind the camera. Don came over and
expressed interest in Fred's camera. While holding it, he took Fred's photograph -
sneaky.
This one shot may be what broke his camera.
The rising moon indicated the end of the day.
THURSDAY MORNING . . .
Joan is calling out "come and get 'um" - pancakes that is.
Breakfast
was prepared by Joan, Bonnie, Kathy and Judy. Of course, they were assisted by
Gerry, Bud, Paul and Chuck.
A delicious way to start your day.
Goodie Bags . . .
Shirley suggested that we (the women) could make a couple crafts to put in the Samboree Goodie Bags. They had a lot of fun and enjoyed the fellowship.
The men offered all kinds of support.
THURSDAY AFTERNOON . . .
For those who like to play the games but not attend all week, our campout 'officially' begins at 1:00PM Thursday.
Euchre was the first 'official' activity of our campout. We played Euchre last year by popular request. This year, we put it on the schedule.
THURSDAY EVENING . . .
Hot Dog Dinner . . . in the 'rain'. Yep, the weather forecast said rain during the time of our hot dog/dish-to-share dinner.
So,
we moved the hot dog/dish-to-share dinner into the air conditioned meeting room.
Oops, the rain never arrived. Unfortunately, the air conditioner could not keep up with a
room full of people.
Because the meeting room would not accommodate all of us, some members used the various tables in the grill area and the lobby. It was cooler there also - lucky them.
Wow, grandma, hot dogs.
FRIDAY MORNING . . .
Beanbag baseball is a game that is popular with a lot of our members. It is a very competitive game. Many of our members are beanbag baseball athletics - they 'bag' triples and just look at their throwing form.
The
dugout was under the tarp for some shade.
A few hearty members sat in the sun.
Most of us asked . . . Why?
More displays of throwing form!
Bonnie
looks relaxed at second base
while Jan waits
for the next 'batter'.
Kathy
got excited with each 'batter'.
And, the bases are loaded.
The winners are . . . The Wild Ones
It was TOO hot to play three games ... so ... it was declared that The Wild Ones were the overall winners. The next game was a 'just for fun' game - the girls against the boys.
Now, that is great throwing form.
Terry
was so excited to get a homerun, he skipped around the bases.
And, the winners are . . . The Girls
FRIDAY AFTERNOON . . .
We
played White Elephant Bingo where we exchanged our 'unwanted junk' for someone
else's "unwanted junk". The prize for the cover-all was a 'throw' that Lucy
made.
Fred was busy being the Bingo caller and did not make a photograph of the players.
This being Fred's first time calling Bingo, it was fortunate that some 'frequent Bingo players' were close by to help him pick the game patterns.
We had a good turnout resulting in a lot of 'unwanted junk' to exchange. By not clearing the cards after each game, we speeded up the process.
FRIDAY EVENING . . .
We decided to hold our potluck outside. With a slight breeze, it was cooler outside than in the campground's 'air conditioned' meeting room. There were 61 people attending the potluck and food for 161 people.
We interrupted the musicians for a short time while everyone posed for our group photograph. Then, back to the evening's entertainment.
Fred displayed this photograph on Friday to get people to think 'cool'.
It
was 'HOT' the entire week.
SATURDAY MORNING . . .
The
circle area we were camped around made a nice location for the croquet games.
Kathy had enough people interest in playing croquet, she could set up three games and a
play-off. She really wanted to play a game of croquet, but it was not to be this
year.
Next year, she will have to reserve a spot for herself - grab a mallet and put her name on it and not let go.
Lucy
rested in the sun so she had enough strength to play in the next croquet game.
Jan and Terri played on. Bobby watched from the shade.
Myron
and Sherry seemed to be having a great time. They enjoyed watching the others
play behind them.
Bill thinks it is a baseball game.
All
of a sudden it appears that Terry was lost. But, he had a lot of help from
fellow player pointing in the direction he was supposed to play.
Chuck and Judy were playing close together.
At some point three players were
battling for the same wicket.
The
proud winners of each of the three games then faced each other in the play-off
game.
Don was victorious.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON . . .
A new game this year, Tractor Rodeo, was playing with a model John Deere. There is no question that a child would have been a lot more efficient than some of us 'seniors'. It was more difficult that it looked - creating a lot of laughter.
Don explained that you had five minutes to complete the figure "8" course. If
you crossed the out of bounds string
or hit a pylon (water bottle), you lost 30
seconds of your time.
This photograph should have been made after the audience grew
because more people drifted in during the game.
Don gave a brief explanation of how to operate the two control levers. There was some discussion that his instructions were intentionally misleading brief.
It was not that difficult getting wrapped around a pylon/water
bottle.
The difficult part was trying to reverse how you got in that position
without moving or knocking the pylon/water bottle over.
We
did learn that it takes three adults to change the battery in the model John
Deere .
Do you want to guess who won the women's division . . .
.
. . Mary Lou.
. . . ZERO deductions.
Paul
Mary Lou
The winners each received a shelf toy version
of the remote control John
Deere they drove.
Then, the schedule called for table games or anything else you wanted to do.
The campground had a musical group provide a program in the
pavilion.
A couple of our members joined in the entertainment.
SATURDAY EVENING . . .
By Saturday evening, the heat had gotten to everyone. The scheduled gathering for dinner together or another potluck turned into everyone on their own for dinner.
We gathered briefly for presenting the prizes for beanbag baseball and a few 'thank you' announcements. Afterward, we clustered in groups of various sizes to chat.
Not too much later the rains came. It rained hard chasing people into their RVs.
You know but others viewing this page on our Web site will not know what our 'homes' away from 'home' look like. Here is a tour of our camp and a look at or RVs.
Many of our RVs surrounded the circle green area.
Our
artificial shade . . .
This is our place. We get to specifically identify ours because this is our Web site.
Sunday morning was a time for good-byes after a great campout. We wished each other safe travels and headed home.
We will see each other again at the Fall Samboree in Otisville where we will be HOST CHAPTER.
A huge
to all who assisted in any way to make the 2012 Campout a success - provided or
assisted with meals, brought food to the potlucks, lead any of our games,
entertained us playing your musical instruments, erected the tarp/frame for
shade, provided snacks and helped in many other ways.
Our 2013 Campout will be at Camp Cadillac.
........................................................................................................................................................................................
It wasn't over for some of us. A few were staying over Sunday night and traveling on Monday.
After
the hot week we had, it was difficult to imagine that Sunday night sitting
around a campfire, we needed jackets. The cold front had arrived and we
appreciated it.
