MARCH REUNION and RALLY REPORT by Albert Nichols The H. P. R. O. A. Houston Area Reunion was held on Saturday, March 19, 2005 at the Havens Landing RV Resort ballroom. The theme this year was "Welcome Spring." As usual, my wife Mary and long time friend Barbara Cotten did a great job. The table decorations were lilac table covers, "silk" spring bouquets, pastel votive candles, green Easter grass and jelly beans. Mary, thank you for not letting Barbara glue the jelly beans to the tablecloths just so she could watch us try to pick them up. One hundred seventy-three retirees and guests enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken fried chicken breast, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, field peas, rolls and iced tea. The meal was catered by Kuntry Katfish of Conroe, Texas. This was the fourth year that we have had the same meal. Every time we start talking about changing the menu, we get a resounding "NO." I guess "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The lemon squares for dessert were a nice surprise; we usually have cake, but we didn't hear any complaints about that change in the menu. A few days before the reunion, we hosted a rally for our campers at Haven's Landing. We had 22 rigs join us for the rally. We held a St. Patrick's Day Party on Thursday night. Each couple brought their favorite party food, snacks or dessert. We played a memory/trivia game that Barbara Cotten brought to jog our brains. Mary Osborn won a Football Grill with the highest score. We then we held our 42 and Chicken Foot tournaments. R.C. and Betty Rich won the 42 tournament, defeating last year’s champs, Steve Felchak and Ike Eichenhorst. Sue Turbeville won the Chicken Foot tournament with a very low score of 36, taking the trophy plaque from last year's winner, Barbara Cotten. The next day we held the washer and horseshoe tournaments. Steve Felchak and I won the washer tournament, barely edging out last years champions, Ken Smith and Willie Osborn. Don Weaver and I won the horseshoe tournament, soundly whooping those East Texas chunkers, Chuck Smith and R.C. Rich, last years champs. Friday night we had our potluck supper and played the white elephant game. Each couple brought a "Dollar Store" type gift and a nice camper type gift. James Walston got most of the good gifts; unfortunately he didn't get to keep any of them. Myrna Miller got the coveted ceramic "Poncho Villa." We have a feeling we'll see him again at the next white elephant game. The most unique gifts were the Professional RV Navigator's Daytime and Nighttime Directional Indicators. These were made-up by some ladies having way too much fun with those large foam "We're #1" hands. On Saturday we all attended the reunion in the ballroom and on Sunday we had a hot dog lunch. Sunday evening Victor and Margaret Landa prepared a wonderful fajita dinner for those still present. Don and Barbara Cotten co-hosted for the fourth year. We couldn't do it without them. Well, really we could, but it would take us at least twice as long, be twice as much work and wouldn't be nearly as much fun. A special thank you to our good friends for all the hard work. Everyone seemed to enjoy the fellowship and catching up with folks they had not seen in a long time. If you haven't attended any of the reunions, you really don't know what you are missing. You do not have to be a camper to come to the reunion. You do not have to be a member of the H. P. R. O. A. to attend the reunions. All H. P. D. retirees are always welcome. Please mark your calendar. The Crockett Reunion is coming up on Saturday, June 4, 2005 at the Crockett Civic Center, Crockett, TX. The Hill Country Reunion will be held on Saturday, October 8, 2005 at Lady Bird Johnson Park Pavilion, Fredericksburg, TX. The date for the next Houston Area Reunion is Saturday, March 25, 2006, at Haven's Landing, Montgomery, TX. CLICK TO VIEW IMAGE GALLERY