Dave Shank & Lynn Barley (24088)
Fulltimers Chapter – President
Life is short, Break the Rules. Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret ANYTHING That makes you smile.” – Mark Twain
With the beginning of another year, we celebrate many NEW aspects to our lives. As new officers of the Fulltimers Chapter, along with Victor & Pam Lorentz, our new Vice Presidents, we are learning of the many aspects of planning events for our members enjoyment.
We closed out 2022 with our Holly Jolly Rally in Punta Gorda, Florida at the Creekside RV Resort from December 4th-8th. Our past presidents, Tom & Roni Lehmkuhl, served as hosts for a very successful rally. Fifty-five members enjoyed a welcome cookout dinner of burgers and hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, chips, and desserts. The evening was capped off with a Fulltimers “Who Do You Know” Bingo.
Monday morning’s coffee and donuts were provided by Creekside RV Resort followed by a visit to the Edison-Ford Estates in Fort Myers and a delicious lunch at Pinchers Seafood. That evening there was a pizza and salad party with dinner music and Christmas Carols provided by Daniel Canida, returning to entertain us again this year. 
Tuesday’s breakfast was catered by Bob Evans. After breakfast, we held a drawing benefitting the Charlotte County Shop-With-A-Cop Program, our humanitarian cause for the rally. We held a lively Fulltimers Roundtable where our attendees, all experts in all things RV, shared information. A Poker Walk proved to be fun and raised a few more dollars for the cause. We also set sail at 5:00 for a sunset cruise on a Kingfisher Fleet boat out of Fishermen’s Village and enjoyed a leisurely cruise through the canals of Punta Gorda looking at the holiday light displays.
Wednesday was mostly a free day with a continental breakfast provided by Taylor Palosco, a SkyMed representative, in the morning. Some attendees participated in the Chapter 26 Olympics involving five different events. Tom Lehmkuhl won Bronze, Bob Kayden won Silver and Pam Lorentz received the Gold Medal. That evening we gathered for dessert and the check presentation to a very grateful Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department represented by Chris Hall for their Shop-With-A-Cop Program. Our generous and caring group raised $2,000 to benefit needy children in the area.
Special thanks go to North Trail RV and Creekside RV Resort. And of course, to the tireless volunteers without whom the rally couldn’t be held.
We have had the pleasure of meeting many of you at the Tampa SuperShow January 17th-22nd and enjoyed our social on Friday the 21st with snacks and ”Fun and Friendship” as well as learning about our coaches and members travel experiences during a round table before breaking into smaller groups to continue to meet and greet new and returning members.
Looking forward, our Desert Bloom Rally in Casa Grande, Arizona, is set with arrival on Tuesday, April 18th and departure on Saturday, April 22nd. Registration opened December 20th and is currently nearing completion. The deadline to register is February 15th in order to hold a site. There will be meals and group outings. All the details about this rally were in the Winter edition of our Travelling Times newsletter. Hosts are Terry & Terri Roberts and Barbara Nuehring.
We hope one of our members may want to organize another 2023 summer rally, perhaps in the northwest or northeast part of the country. Any suggestions will be happily accepted.
2023 FULLTIMERS RALLY AND ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING – We will be meeting at the Mark Twain Cave Campground in Hannibal, Missouri starting Sunday, September 24th to Friday, September 29th. As usual, it is the week before our NKK International Rally in Sedalia, Missouri. We have reserved 60 sites and registration will tentatively start through the NKK website in late March 2023. So, mark your calendar and watch for more information in the Spring edition of the Traveling Times.
Tentative plans are for four breakfasts and a catered BBQ welcome dinner Sunday evening, a catered dinner on Tuesday and a farewell riverboat sunset dinner cruise on Thursday. Many of you may know the deep history in this area centered around Samuel Clements and his “Mark Twain” characters. From the campground you can explore the Mark Twain Cave and experience the real-life atmosphere that Samuel Clements wrote about in his books. You will also be treated to a guided Hannibal History Tour of the town.
You will then be able to visit multiple historic venues for exploration at your own pace, including the Mark Twain Museum Gallery, Tom Sawyer Home and museum, Becky Thatcher Home, Grants Drugstore, and the Huck Finn Home.
In addition, we have arranged for timed, guided tours of the Molly Brown birthplace and home museum with a very gifted interpreter, who has a wealth of knowledge about the “unsinkable Molly Brown”.
Following our business meeting on Monday morning at 10:00 we will have an overview of the area history presentation and after dinner Tuesday evening we will have a “Mark Twain Live” experience.
We will have opportunities to support our humanitarian cause including a split-the pot, a bucket raffle and poker walk. And, of course, we will have evening fire pit circles to gather around and socialize.
The NKK International Rally will be held the following week in Sedalia, Missouri. We always have a good turnout of chapter members at the International and we will once again be offering lemonade and popcorn to attendees and hope to present seminars. A social will take place for current, former, and future Fulltimers Chapter members.
December 10th-14th we have plans to hold the third annual Holly Jolly Rally in St. Augustine, Florida at St. Augustine RV Resort. More details will follow in upcoming issues and in the Fulltimers Traveling Times newsletter.
As you can see, we have a busy year ahead of us so keep checking back on the NKK Calendar of Events and try to join us in the fun.
We wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day.
Join the Fulltimers Chapter by accessing the application form from the Fulltimers web page or contact Tom & Barbara Palmer at secretary.nkkfulltimers@gmail.com
