A week away; a visit with a Classmate

We just spent a week away from Evansville. A trip to Destin with Minnie (Winnebago, that is), Missy the little black dog (Who had been under the weather and needed some one on one TLC) and Linda, who needed to decompress from her continuing mission to get so much fund raising done before the 45 that reservations will be free! Seriously, it was good to get away, and now was a good time to do it because Nancy Layson Burke and her family were going to be down there at the same time.

Additionally, we made arrangements on the way back to Evansville, to see Gary Malin who drove up from Orange Beach to Pensacola where we shared one of those great Cracker Barrel breakfasts. We told him about the current state of the condo drawing fundraiser and raised his eyebrows at the same time. We were double the level that he thought was achievable. The Reitz classmates have certainly stepped up realizing that this was as much a fundraiser as it was the possibility of getting a free stay in an awesome condo on the beach in Orange Beach, AL, a far less populated vacation getaway area than Destin, which is now wall to wall condos and beach umbrellas. Seeing sand is surprisingly difficult if you don't reside in a condo. In fact, the only pristine (or anything remotely like my childhood memories of the gulf coast, of which I have many) was Henderson Beach State Park, where they are doing the best they can to preserve a little piece of natural beach and a modest but nice RV campground with electric and water hook ups. We also had a great visit, Linda and Gary covering all the topics that old friends cover anytime they can get together; who's doing what and what's going on in Evansville, and how and when we are going to do the drawing, and what if the person that wins the draw doesn't intend to go, and on and on and on.

The bottom line is this: We have raised enough money to more than cover the cost of renting Echo Valley for the Reunion. Once again, we will try to keep the cost of reservation as low as possible. It'll be a little more than the 44; just the nature of the food provided by Echo Valley, but it's the principle. The lower the ticket, the higher the attendance. My own class seems to be going the other way, less attendance, higher reservation costs. I guess when only one person attends, that poor soul will have to pay for the whole thing.

So what about the drawing? Here's what has been decided:  Sunday, August 7, Parkway Pizza, 4PM. Parkway was one of the local businesses that contributed to our 44 and they are Westside through and through. They have great thin crust pizza, and hot ham and cheese and stromboli sandwiches to die for. We won't even talk about their 2 buck ice cream sundaes. It's walls are also festooned with school memorabilia and photos from all the Westside schools.  We had been thinking about Aztar, but I didn't feature getting the bum's rush from the Hoosier lounge meeting area by Aztar security for holding a condo drawing for a non Aztar sponsored event. At Parkway, we can stay for pizza and other food if you want. It's up to you. Should be fun anyway.

Now don't you think that just because this event will be over in August, that we don't have other things in the great Reunion Committee Collective Brain. We're still plotting the Cruise to Somewhere, destination unknown as of now, and there are other things in store before the 45 next September. Idle hands, you know. Still a few weeks to get your condo drawing ticket! Get in touch with Linda, Nancy, Patty, Tom or Bob.