Florida Corvette Club Inc. - The Most Active Club In Florida

Mystery Trip 8
October 18, 2008

October 18, 2008: Florida Corvette Club Mystery Trip:
We met at Mid Evil times in Kissimmee. Goodie bags were handed out to all registered cars. After a brief meeting and instructions from Jim Bott, Laura and Allen Theobald, we pulled out and headed South toward Dundee down Pleasant Hill Rd. Our first restroom break was only about 15 minutes into the trip, but everyone was awake at this point and ready to go, cards for the best poker hand were distributed and then we took to the road once again.

We made our way through North Scenic Highway 17 to the South Scenic Highway 17of course, no mystery trip would not be complete without some wrong turns, or missed turns so when we told you to turn right, we meant your other right!!!!! And we made sure Jim got his fair share of grief for the wrong turns or missed turns on Patrick’s behalf! We cut across the state eastward through very winding and country roads.

Of course, our next stop was the famous Bowling Green Florida for a Photo Op of the FCC group. We regrouped and headed on, since we were running ahead of schedule our original planned fast food lunch which we were to have eaten in the town of Wauchula Florida did not happen, so we made a few phone calls and made arrangements with Slim’s Bar-B-Q Grill in Arcadia Florida, they did not open until 11:00 on Saturday, and it was about 10:45 a.m., however they opened early for us, and accommodated our large group. The service was stellar and the food was excellent, we could not have stumbled upon a better place. Getting ready to pull out after lunch, and head on up the road, we encountered one minor mechanical mishap to Dick and Linda Nitz’s car, it simply would not start, after several attempts to jump start it, with no luck, Patrick walked over to Advanced Auto Parts and brought back a jumper box, several of the club’s mechanics were hard at work under the hood doing their best, however even the jumper box would not work, finally…..after much deliberation, a new battery was purchased and much to our surprise this did the trick and we were off.

We arrived in Ft. Myers around 2:30 p.m. and checked into our hotel, the Marriott Courtyard. However the final destination of the mystery trip is still to come. We gathered at the pool around 3:30 p.m. for a welcome cocktail party, and hor dour vors , some brave souls actually went swimming.

We regrouped in the hotel’s lobby at 5:30 where we announced the winners of the: Pick the Destination: Closest Mileage and Best Poker Hand. We had two couples guess Ft. Myers, Carl and Sally Smith and Dick and Linda Nitz. Closest mileage went to Ray and Juanita Basica. Kevin and Cindy Burch got the Best Poker hand and they also received a gift for the worst/or most creative guess on destination. Congratulations to all!

Then we were off to our final destination, The Seminole Gulf Railway Dinner Train Theater. We boarded the train and were served a dinner consisting of cheese and cracker platter appetizer, soup de jour, salad, and choice of entrée selection, chicken a la apricot, poached salmon, roast prime rib of beef and then dessert.

As the train departed the station, we were witness to a murder mystery “A Hard Day’s Death”. The Bottles, a british pop music sensation whose latest hit has been at No 1 for 10 weeks, but where are the Bottles? The “Fad Four” disappeared from their London flat three days ago and have not been seen since. A highly reliable music industry source, know only to the Post, has stated that the band and their manager have snuck into the country through Miami and may be traveling by train to New York! And this is the train we were on! All the sudden “Dingo” was dead!!!

Who do it??? Could it have been other band members with a lot the lost with him wanting to leave the band, the money hungry promoter what would profit from his death, the physic band manager that always felt evil, or the crazed fan that did not want the band to break up???? Only we to find out is to go on the train or ask people that attend the mystery trip.

We hope that everyone who joined us for the FCC mystery trip, enjoyed themselves and had a blast on this trip, it was so much fun to plan, so thanks to you who made it out, Wil and Charli Souza, Kevin and Carol Hoolihan, Kevin and Cindy Burch, Patrick Sidorchuk, Karen Blihar, Larry and Cindy Shepherd, Dave and Judy Putz, Ron and Jill Saltsman,

Dick and Linda Nitz, Dave and Elaine Stanley, Bill and Sheri Mustian, Ray and Juanita Basica and our planners Jim Bott and Kelly Shaffer, Allen and Laura Theobald