MO: Ozark Winnies

The Ozark Winnies June meeting was held at the Arrowhead Point RV Park in Oscela, MO. The actual location of the campground is about halfway between Collins and El Dorado Springs on Highway 54. The official date of the meeting was June 3-5. We had eight units in attendance; Eaheart, Huff, Johnson, Ludwig, Mastis, Mulvihill, Parsons, and a guest. The Murphy’s have decided to abandon their Winnebago family and spend the summer in Custer State Park in South Dakota. Maybe that is a little severe, but David is fulfilling a lifelong dream, so who can fault him for that? Fuel prices and other reasons are also keeping people from traveling this summer. However, the members that did manage to make the trek to south-central Missouri were not disappointed.

Mastis arrived on Tuesday and Huff on Wednesday. They had pretty well scouted out the area by the time most of the rest of us arrived on Thursday. The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent visiting in the clubhouse. The hosts, Parsons and Mulvihill, had planned a schedule that included spending Friday in El Dorado Springs and Saturday in Lowry City visiting with honorary members Don and Connie Smith at their store, The Vault. Those plans changed as Don is battling pneumonia and as of Wednesday was hospitalized. Our prayers are with Don and Connie.

On Friday everyone was on their own. Most of the group visited El Dorado Springs to peruse several flea markets in the area and the discount grocery. Edwin, Rocky and several of the women were in their element. There is nothing like a flea market to make the spirits soar. Some found a good flea market and some went to a not so good one. The group ate at Pappy’s for lunch. The food was good but some had a long wait for their food because of a new waitress that was not experienced with handling a group of customers at one time.

On Friday evening we had our world famous potluck dinner. This dinner like the hundreds preceding it did not disappoint. Even though our numbers were small, we could still have fed the army we often associate our pot-luck feedings. After dinner we held our business meeting. Most of the items on the agenda were informational, but we did approve a $100 donation for state rally door prizes. We also discussed the 2023 schedule and what to do, given high fuel prices, campgrounds being very difficult to work with and declining participation. The fund raiser hat that Marva Van Meter has designed and created for many, many years was brought up. The decision was made to offer the hat creation to Marva again this year. And she accepted the offer. A big, big, thank you to Marva for continuing to serve in this capacity. After the meeting some of the women talked about playing Kings in the Corner, but it didn’t happen.

On Saturday morning the hosts provided a continental breakfast of pastries, fruit and orange juice for fourteen early birds. Well, for everyone except for Ruth Leeper, it wasn’t that early; 8:30 AM. It’s not nice to pick on someone when they aren’t there is it? Or even when they are. Sorry Ruth. It was then off to El Dorado Spring, where the Van Meters joined us, to participate in their apparently annual, Historical Hysteria. What luck, with our change of plans that this was happening when it did. There were demonstrations of old-time spinning wheel with fleece and wool, woodcarving, weaving, crocheting and hand made soapsto name just a few of the displays that were available. There were also antique tractors, live music and vendors of all kinds

The Ozark Winnies put on their own little show with Sondra, Linda, Susanne dancing in the street while Terry sang….talk about fun. Several decided to partake of the El Dorado Springs water that has been a must have for centuries. Rocky brought home a gallon jug. Some of those who had never sampled the iron laden water coming out of the springs in the park, after sampling said water, said it wasn’t too bad and others joined those who had previously sampled the water and said ‘Yuuuukkkkk. Never again.’ We returned to the campground for a lunch of potluck leftovers. After lunch we had a much needed dessert of cake and ice cream. The cake was provided by the Eaheart’s and the ice cream by the Parsons’. The occasion for this event was the June, 60th wedding anniversaries for the Eaheart’s and Parsons’. While it is just a tidbit early, we must also recognize the July anniversary of the 62nd for the Van Meter’s. Happy Anniversary all. Sondra and Susanne went way above the call of duty to ensure the celebration was a memorable one. Thanks to everyone for the gift and cards. On Saturday evening fifteen made the trip to Smith’s Restaurant in Collins for dinner. We then all waddled home. Upon returning to the campground several met in the clubhouse to play Kings in the Corner. The game quickly evolved to playing Texas Hold-Em with toilet paper money. Are we a creative bunch or what?

Since we had the continental breakfast on Saturday, everyone was on their own for Sunday morning. Some got an early start for home or their next destination. Others took their time and left in a leisurely fashion. Thank you to the hosts, Sondra Mulvihill and the Parsons’ for a fun filled weekend. And even though it was a major violation of the chapter rules, Sondra provided tableware for all the meals. She felt we needed not just a weekend of camping, but a weekend of glampling. Thank you, Sondra. Susanne also joined in the glampling movement by adding a very festive decorating touch to the tables. A big Thank You to everyone for pitching in to help clean and sweep the building, take out the trash, wash dishes, etc. You all made the host’s job easy.