Florida Fun In The Sun Was A Success!!!

[RickLSmith53]

Just back from our 1st Florida rally done by locals. According to the 84 people that attended, everyone had a great time! We enjoyed three catered meals together, had a lot of fellowship, new friends were made, and we are already talking about our next rally. At the moment, Sun & Fun Resort in Sarasota is high on the list. I want to officially thank Fred & Dee Kermode for being our assistant rally hosts. We could not have done this without them! Next I want to thank Bob Byrne for all his help and support throughout the organizational process. And finally my wife Debbie for all her help. Stay tuned, there will be more fun to come...

Link to pics:
Florida Fun In The Sun Rally - My Photo Gallery

[F.R.O.G.]

Rick, it sounds and, based on your photos, looks as if most of us missed out on a great time at Tropical Palms. Thanks very much to you and Deb for your work and dedication to making this event such a success, and to Fred and Dee for helping you in the process. We'd love to hear a few more details.

84 members is an amazing turnout, and it sounds as if you've planted the seeds for many more activities to come out of Florida and the surrounding states. We'll be anxious to see more and more folks step up to build on the momentum, and will be happy to do what we can to help!

[clancythecamper]

We were only there for a few hours but enjoyed ourselves very much; wish we'd have had the ability to participate the whole weekend. Lots of great folks! Our hosts did a great job!

[Teddee]

Fred/Ted and I just returned to Palmetto as we stayed an extra day. Thanks to Rick for raising his hand at the Tampa dinner and volunteered to host the 1st Florida FROG rally! Also to Deb for backing him and doing what needed to be done.

Bob Byrne, I understand that our number of 84 participants was more than one held in SC!!!???? We will make it our goal to keep that up!

Everyone...send your ideas to Rick as he would like to know what you want at the next one, wherever that may be.

Perhaps, we can grow this rally so that we have several Florida Chapters through the state and can visit each others' rallies>

Take care and see you soon!
Dee Kermode

Kermodes aboard a 2670BHS 2012
2012 - 57 days camping
2013 - 19 days camping...so far!

[debsmith]

Ideas have already started to come in! Lazy Days campground was suggested as well as having potluck dinners, planned meet-n-greet's, a BYOB (Bring Your Own Beverage) happy hour prior to the dinner meal, and if possible - a master list of who is at the rally and assigned to what site. All very good ideas (thank you Pam D.).

I must admit when Rick volunteered "us" to head the rally I wasn't real happy with him. We have never, ever attended a rally in our life - yet here we are hosting one! Talk about baptism by fire!! I dreaded the weekend but came out of it riding on a high!! I so enjoyed meeting everyone!

Everyone looked beyond our "gaffs" and gave us great feed back on what might work "next time". The fact that a "next time" is being bantered gives me hope for the future!! Now that we have the first rally under our belts my mind is spinning about what to plan for that "next time"!!

Ted & Dee Kermode were invaluable to us. They have much experience with boating rallies (if that's what they are called) and were most generous in sharing their experiences. A large part of what happened did so because of the Kermode's!

All in all, I thank my DH for making me jump in and do this. Gotta love that man of mine!

[F.R.O.G.]

Originally Posted by Teddee

Fred/Ted and I just returned to Palmetto as we stayed an extra day. Thanks to Rick for raising his hand at the Tampa dinner and volunteered to host the 1st Florida FROG rally! Also to Deb for backing him and doing what needed to be done.

Bob Byrne, I understand that our number of 84 participants was more than one held in SC!!!???? We will make it our goal to keep that up!

Everyone...send your ideas to Rick as he would like to know what you want at the next one, wherever that may be.

Perhaps, we can grow this rally so that we have several Florida Chapters through the state and can visit each others' rallies>

Take care and see you soon!
Dee Kermode

Kermodes aboard a 2670BHS 2012
2012 - 57 days camping
2013 - 19 days camping...so far!

Dee, there were, indeed, more folks at Kissimmee than in Charleston. (In fairness, between only being able to get 25 sites in Charleston, and only having space for 50 on the buses for tours, we had to stick with a limit. We had a dozen units on a standby list).

That said, we were delighted with Florida turnout, and understand that you and Ted were a terrific help to Rick and Deb in leading the event. Thank you for that!

We were really pleased when Rick stepped forward at the dinner, and then came by the Tampa RV Show a day or two later to talk about plans. Just yesterday we had someone volunteer to host a Texas event in October. I hope that we'll have more folks take the plunge.

[malewis49]

Patty and I had a great time at dinner Saturday night ,meet all new FROG's and can't wait for the National Rally in Goshen see you there.