The group gathers for a photo before the shrimp boil begins.

The group enjoys a Low Country style Shrimp Boil for dinner Saturday night.

DOGWOOD'S NEWS MISSIVE
R&D Family Campground
March 14-16, 2008

It was a delightful weekend for the kickoff of camping season. Seven coaches arrived on Friday and began socializing upon arrival. The campground owners had set up a great big tent for us to use, and put us all together to camp. The Nicollelas prepared a delicious chili dinner with corn muffins and cookies for dessert. After dinner, everyone relaxed and caught up on what everyone had been up to. It was a bit windy and chilly, but wasn't bad for March. One of our members had some problems with broken water filters which flooded when hooked up to water. The R&D campground owners were very gracious this weekend and jumped right in to help out. Ron quickly found the source of the problems and offered to fix the problem on Saturday. He happened to have a filter that would fit, and was able to temporarily solve the problem so our member could have water. What a great help that was! He also pitched in and helped buff off some scratches that a member had encountered when hitting something of unknown origin.

Saturday morning, the hosts served breakfast burritos, fruit, grits, muffins, Danish and coffee. No one went hungry for breakfast! The business meeting followed breakfast. It was a windy day, so after the meeting, the campground owners brought the sides to the tent and set about putting it together so we could have a shelter from the wind. It was a great hangout. Everyone did their own thing for the day and just enjoyed the nice weather and took some hikes around the campground.

The R&D campground owners set up a tent for us to gather and watch movies.

Social hour began around 4 and everyone enjoyed drinks and Sue's Swedish meatballs and other snacks. Mike and Leigh Anne began preparing all of the food for the evenings “Low Country Shrimp Boil.” The pot contained seasonings, potatoes, corn, onions, carrots, kielbasa and lots of shrimp. After the food was cooked, it was dumped out of the table for everyone to dig in. And everyone dug in and enjoyed the dinner while watching the movie “The Abyss”, in our nice shelter. After dinner, when it got dark, everyone enjoyed popcorn and the movie “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” It was a good fun movie for the gang.

Sunday morning everyone dried out after the evening rain storm and once again enjoyed breakfast burritos and fruit. The R&D campground owners came around and pumped everyone out so we would not have to wait in line to leave at the dump station. They were very helpful and most gracious to our members. We will let the State members know about this nice little family campground that's north of Kings Dominion, near Bowling Green, VA. We will look forward to returning here again. It was very pleasant.

The next campout will be held at the North Carolina rally in Cape Hatteras, April 26-28.

President, Mike Schuler
(804) 739-1198
www.dogwoodwinnies.org