TIDBITS FROM PENNY - Penn Coachmen

1 2017 Rallies: 4/21-4/23 Pine Grove, PA 5/26-5/29 Centre Hall, PA 6/16-6/18 Gilbert, PA 7/14-7/16 Lebanon, PA 8/18-8/20 Bloomsburg, PA Rolling rally to GEAR 9/24-10-4 Orrstown, PA 10/4-10/8 GEAR Lewisburg, WV 11/3-11/5 Bethel, PA Executive Board: Phyllis Britz, President Sue Cipa, Exec. VP Wayne Dilliplaine, Treasurer Barbara Arcati, Secretary Bob Birett, Area VP Linda Deardorff, Area VP Jim Lexa, Area VP Larry Troutman, Area VP TIDBITS FROM PENNY April 2017 Volume 8, No. 1 Edited by Louise Birett GREETINGS FROM OUR PRESIDENT Hello Penn Coachmen and Welcome back! Even before Twin Grove, several Penn Coachmen started the rally season by traveling to Chandler, AZ to participate in FMCA s 95th International Con-vention in March. We were well represented. Eric & I saw the Molinskys, Newtons, Webers, Pranges, and the Costons at the rally . Thanks to Lori and John Prange for making the Penn Coachmen entry for the Rodeo and John Weber for bei ng the spinner and winning the race for another chapter!

2 All seemed to have had a great time. For those of you who missed this fun packed weekend at Twin Grove, I d like to share the following items: I was pleased and excited to have 4 new Penn Coachmen members and several guests come to Twin Grove: First Timers and new Penn Coachmen members who attended included:: Brian & Kim VanBuskirk of Kutztown, PA Friends of John and Lori Prange. Leroy & Christine Ditzler of Stevens, PA Friends of Brian and Kim Van Buskirk. John & Judith Cox of Jamison, PA Found Penn Coachmen on FMCA website. Kirk & Gina Bellis of Kunkletown, PA Folks the Klines met at FROG rally . Guests included: Kathy Sellers Guest of Jack & Caroline Vliet. Dan & Sharon Smith Guests. Sister and brother-in-law of Terri Stoltz. Rev. William and Cheryl Long Guests of Klines. Conducted Sunday church ser-vice. Kathy Follett Guest of Klines. Organist for Sunday church service. Geoff & Carol McCall Friends of Bruce and Carolyn Rhoads. Prospective new members.

3 Cheryl-Daughter of Betty & Bob Fritzinger. Bill & Karen Keiper Guests of Ed & Karen Killian. Darrel and Barbara Beers came for the day on Friday. It was good to see Barbara getting around again after the long recovery from her accident last summer at Springfield, MA. 2 Those in attendance voted to explore options for a new April rally site for next year. Stay tuned. Members were/are encouraged to suggest new venues for Penn Coachmen Rallies. Please let Sue Cipa know of possible campgrounds/fairgrounds that you think would be worth checking out. Penn Coachmen will be having its 50th Anniversary in 2019. We will need to start planning for this mile-stone and would like to have folks willing to serve on the planning committee. Please consider being part of this event! The Executive Board met the day before the rally . Time was spent on revising the rally Master Guide-lines and our Standing Rules. Proposed changes to FMCA, priorities for Penn Coachmen , and a treasur-er s summary were discussed.

4 The Grange Fairgrounds, Centre Hall rally has a great schedule lined up with games, food, entertainment and an auction. We will also hold our semi-annual meeting 5/26/17. FMCA's 96th International Convention is scheduled for July 12-15, 2017 Indiana State Fairgrounds Indianapolis, IN. Greater Eastern Area rally (will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary)- is scheduled for October 4-8, 2017 State Fairgrounds of Virginia, Lewisburg, WV (Penn Coachmen will have a rolling rally to GEAR.) Hope to see you all at Centre Hall May26 th and bring a friend. Phyllis Britz RECAP OF APRIL 2017 rally AT TWIN PINES CAMPGROUND ** The winter is over. The first rally for 2017 is in the books. For some of us, we just got our coaches out for the first time in 2017. For others, they are returning from a place with warmer weather. The weekend was a challenge for the hosts because we found out on Tuesday before the rally that the campground had made a mistake and rented the lodge for Saturday.

5 They agreed to let us use the lodge for our activities on Friday and Sunday. We were lucky to have a local church rent us their social hall. It goes to show how important it is for rally Masters to have a great group of hosts to help. They set up, take down, and clean every day. Nell and I want to thank everyone who helped. We could not have done it without a great group of hosts. Enough of that! The weekend was a little wet, but a good time was had by all. A lot of friends were reunited af-ter a long winter. The food was plentiful and delicious. Friday evening there were 20 crock pots filled with soup. No one had an excuse to go away hungry. We ended the evening with bingo. Some people won a lot, some of us not at all. Saturday s breakfast was held in the ice cream shop. We had our normal light Sunday menu on Saturday morn-ing, and had the pancakes and sausages on Sunday morning because of the mix-up with the lodge. Saturday evening dinner and entertainment was held nearby.

6 As usual Buddy s Log Cabin prepared ham, turkey, and all the trimmings. Great food! Fitzpatrick supplied the entertainment. His Elvis songs, and songs from other artists, were enjoyed by all. 3 Games on Saturday included a mini golf tournament. It was a lot of fun, but forgive me because I forgot to write down who won. After lunch, we had a scavenger hunt. The rain kept the number of participants down to about 7 people on each team. The men decided to take on the ladies. The ladies got everything on the list, and defeated the men badly. After that, Sue Cipa organized a few games with jelly beans, which, because of the rain, was held in the ice cream shop. It is amazing how much fun you can have with jelly beans, plus you can A good time was had thanks to a great group of hosts. If you have not signed up to help at a rally , please do. You will be surprised at how much fun it can be. Hope to see you all at a rally soon. TRAVEL SAFE Glenn and Nell Kline ** ADVENTURES OF JIM STRUNK AND MARTHA LLOYD GOING SOUTH FOR THE WINTER In December 2016, we left home to go south for the winter.

7 We use Highway 81-5. We got to the Maryland state line and were talking about what we forgot when I yelled out oh my God. 4 .We were 100 miles from home. We had to go back. I forgot my checkbook and cash. They were on the desk! We found a Cracker Barrel where we parked the RV. When we went to use the tow car, the battery was down low in charge. Thankfully, I had the proper equipment to overcome that situation. A day later, we were on the road again! Stopped for gas. Then I couldn't get back into the RV because the door latch was broken! Luckily, Martha was inside. She unlocked a window and two guys put me through it. However, I twisted my back going through! The two guys led us to a campground where a tech stayed. He came through the window and drilled out the latch. Then we had to find a latch! Two days later, and we were on the road again. Finally, we got to our destination the Youth Camp RV Park. Martha was not feeling well.

8 Took her to the emergency room. She was having a stroke, so a hospital stay and therapy was necessary. All is better now! Arrived home in April 2017. THANK THE LORD FOR LITTLE THINGS! ** A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR. The foregoing article is what I am looking for to spice up the Newslet-ter. Although I am so very sorry about Jim and Martha s trials and tribulations, the article was enjoyable and brought a smile to my face because it wasn t us their problems were happening to. Please follow Jim s lead, and submit any tid bits you might have to share with the membership. Thank you Jim! While I am at it, I want to personally thank all of you who have been kind enough to write up articles about the various rallies. It s a difficult job, but you all have done it so well. Thank you all volunteers! ** For those of you planning to attend the rally at Centre Hall on Memorial Day Weekend, don t forget to bring inexpensive gifts for playing Crazy Bingo. Also, please consider bringing any items that you are willing to have auctioned off.

9 Proceeds will benefit the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration of Penn Coachmen . For anyone who donates an item that sells for $30 or more, said donor will have the option of receiving 30% of that sale. Don t forget to bring a potluck dish to the brunch on Saturday morning at 10:00 REMINDER ABOUT MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND rally 5 Hobbies or craft how-tos Poems, stories, vignettes New camping gear/equipment you have learned about and where to purchase them Special camping experiences Funny pet stories Funny grandchildren stories or sayings Life on the road Interesting people you have met along the way Nature encounters Photos taken at rallies **Bill Rollins - Chronic back pain. Betty Moyer - Chronic neck pain. Bob Moyer - Recovering from multiple stents in heart. Bill Freed - Cancer treatments. Bill Pascoe - Cancer treatments. Stan Seyfried - Cancer treatments. Roz Newman - Cancer treatments. Barbara Beers - Multiple leg and foot breaks due to fall in Springfield, MA.

10 Faye Anderson - Broken hip due to fall at GEAR. Sally Thomas - Cancer treatments. Jim Lexa - Inoperable hip pain. Dick Strain - Passed away. Larry Troutman - Congestive Heart Failure. Former President Bill Katz - Cancer treatments. THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS REQUEST FROM THE EDITOR: In order to make forthcoming newsletters interesting, I would like to request your help by sending me any of the following throughout the year at Vacation TIDBITS or advice Seeking items to purchase or items for sale Family news such as births, deaths, illnesses, prayer concerns, accomplishments, etc. Favorite recipes Motor home repair/upkeep advice Interesting stories or vignettes Out of the way places you have found to be of interest ** 6 June 4 Priscilla Swetland June 5 Bernie Gilbert June 12 Shirley Lothert June 13 Nancy Breisch May 4 Larry Troutman May 7 Terri Stolt May 8 Bob Birett May 9 Carol Becker May 9 Carol Kendour May 11 Clark Van Buskirk May 13 Maryanna Hall May 16 Jim Strunk May 17 Carol Seyfried May 21 Stan Seyfried May 22 Ron Lee May 26 Jim Lexa May 28 Linda Deardorff NOTE TO OUR NEW MEMBERS: Please provide the editor with your birthday(s) - Thank you.