GA: Winnie Rebels

River Bend Campground

Hiawassee, GA

Nov 10 – 13, 2022

A big thank you to our November hosts: Jim & Barbara Bell and Bobby & Wanda Eubanks who arranged for us to camp and meet at the River Bend Campground in Hiawassee, GA and secured a meeting room with a kitchen for us to hang out in. Those of us who had never been camping here before were delighted to discover this beautiful campground next to the Hiawassee River. The sites were the largest we’ve experienced in a long time. Hurricane Nicole gave us a rainy start to our weekend, but it didn’t prevent us from getting together or cancelling any of our group plans at all. Check-in time was at 1:00 pm, but some of us arrived early trying to beat the storms and the campground was happy to let us in once our sites were available.
There were 6 GWR campers. Attendees were: Jim & Barbara Bell, Bobby & Wanda Eubanks, Dennis & Jean Harrison, Fred & Kathy Genrich, Roy & Sarah Sowers, and John & Leslie Keener.

Our time together started Thursday, Nov 10th, promptly at 5-ish in the campground’s meeting room with heavy appetizers on the menu and we all managed to bring a very nice and tasty variety. We got our protein, our vegetables, our fruits, starches, desserts and stories for the night. Even got a strange siting once the rain set in. None of us left hungry or without something to smile about.

As soon as Lynn arrived the stories started flying! She literally just walked in the door and started telling what she’d been through when this picture was taken. Those of us that were present got to hear some of her new spiel the rest of you won’t get to hear it until our state rally April 2023!

You’ll never guess who designed this tasty salmon dip that the Sowers brought!

After listening to several stories, the hosts started telling their own stories. Bobby tells stories with his hands and he happened to have a brownie bite in one of them and it was just a-waving around getting closer and closer to Barbara. All of a sudden, the brownie in his left hand got swiped so fast that he just shut his mouth up right then and there. He’ll tell you that there was just no more to say.

Friday gave us a dark and stormy day until about 4:30 pm. We all stayed in our campers. Some of us might’ve caught up on reading, sleeping or even cleaning our campers.

As soon as the rain stopped and 4:30 pm hit – we all jumped in our vehicles and headed to Brother’s Restaurant for dinner. We enjoyed a very nice dinner and excellent service there. After dinner we headed back to camp, walked our dogs and then met back up at the meeting room to play “Screw Your Neighbor” (alias Chase the Ace). It costs each player 4 quarters per round to play. Kathy Genrich won the first round and John Keener won the second round. Happy Campers they were!
Saturday morning, Wanda cooked a wonderful breakfast. We had a delicious breakfast casserole, grits biscuits & gravy, fruit & juice! It was excellent. We then held our first Club meeting since last March. I thought we had a fairly long meeting – we had so much to talk about, but it was only 18 minutes long. We all departed and did our own thing until it was time to meet up for dinner.

I don’t know what everyone else did, but the Keeners & Genrich’s took a drive down memory lane for Fred & Kathy where they once owned some property. We drove through Helen, thinking that no one would be traveling there due to the rain. We were wrong and we inched along. Then, once we cleared the town, we found ourselves driving by an old tourist attraction – the Stovall Mill Covered Bridge which was built in 1895 and was featured in Susan Hayworth’s movie, “I’d Climb the Highest Mountain.”

Saturday night we met back in the meeting room for dinner where a feast was prepared for us. Wanda baked a delicious chicken casserole and cranberry dressing, and the rest of us provided the sides and desserts. It was a delicious home cooked meal for a good-sized family of friends. After dinner, we played Five Crowns. We didn’t keep score during each of the rounds – so we all considered ourselves winners.

Sunday morning, the Bells & Eubanks heated up the breakfast leftovers for us and we had one more hearty breakfast together. Then we divvied up the leftovers from the weekend to help each of us not have to cook much once we got home. Jim was washing dishes for Barbara & Wanda and the rest of us shared our last pieces of information before we left. Sarah can’t believe what Kathy is telling her: “You’ll never believe where we found Roy hiding – under the bales of hay!” “He would never… he better not have!”

Those of you who made it to the outing at River Rocks Landing in Gadsden, Alabama got a jump on the Christmas Spirit grabbing a hold of you for the joy. Our next event will be a lunch February 11, 2023 at Hudson Hickory BBQ in Douglasville, GA at 11:30 am hosted by Lynn Brown.

Safe Travels Everyone & Hope to See you Soon!

Leslie - Secretary, Georgia Winnie Rebels

P.S. Don’t forget:
1) Register for our next outings
2) Sign up to host or instigate an outing in 2023 & let us know (we do have fun together)
3) Check our website from time to time: http://www.gawit.com/