I was so lucky to get invited by Mrs. Susie Smith (Finalist, SURVIVOR GABON)to her charitable event in Iowa. She gathered about 15 of us to help her raise funds for her son's High School, Charles City High School. This was one of the nicest "Survivor Charity" gatherings I've been to because, being a smaller group, we were really able to bond, NICELY...the way we might have done on our respective "Survivors" if we had had the kind of food, hydration and events we had on this visit...and, oh yeah, if we hadn't been going after a million dollars! LOL. I take my hat off to Susie for how PERFECTLY organized our schedules were. We were booked, back to back, happily visiting ALL the sponsors w/o whom our being there wouldn't have been possible. Here are some images from that visit last July..days before my bday! While in Charles City, we stayed at the Red Cedar lodge, in, well, Red Cedar cabins that were so cozy and comfy! We celebrated my bday the night we arrived with a LIVE Lobster dinner that Bob Crowley (winner, Survivor Gabon) brought. It was DELICIOUS!
Bright and early the next morning we set off on our "Bus"
to the Charles City Chamber of Commerce: the caricature you see is "Charlie" ...think of him as a sort of Charles City Mascot:) 2nd photo below left..
Second stop..KCHA Radio Station to invite everyone to promote the main event at the Auditorium where fans were coming and greet us:) Here we are at the station...since I was off "Tv Hosting" duty..lol, I decided to let someone else have the mike so here's Eric taking a callers question!
Below..here we are at Larry Pump's Accounting firm...where Kathy Sleckman (Fans vs. Favorites) had us laughing way too hard with so many jokes...or were they just Kathy's questions about the bicycle race across Iowa, Ragbrai? We did get to admire his beautiful cuckoo clock!
Our last stop of the day was at the town fair were we ate some delicious food provided by Hy-Vee markets. I saw a stage and a microphone so it was only a matter of minutes before I grabbed the microphone..LOL. Here I am making an announcement about the main event taking place the following night. we made it to the main event where we were greeted by a salon FULL of fans. I have to say we were ALL very impressed with the LARGE turnout. It was so nice to see the support that people in a small town give each other, especially great to see how LOVED our very own Susie is..not surprising!
Here we are during a "Question & Answer" session...we really good the 3rd degree from fans re/our experience on SURVIVOR. We were asked, for example, "was there somethig that happened to you while on SURVIVOR that got edited out that you wish had gotten show?" Where do I begin!! One thing, unfortunately, I'll have to take to the grave, but it cost me a opportunity at a upcoming "Survivor All-Stars." I LOVE Yau-Man for his answer :"I got to cuddle w/Rita! but they never showed it:(" I payed Yau to say that...LOL We ALL had such a BLAST on this trip.
I got JF Drake Middle School Principal Debra Beebe(finalist, SURVIVOR TOCANTINS) and the HILARIOUS KB Sleckman ( SURVIVOR FANS VS. FAVORITES)as my log cabin roomies We would laugh the night away in our bunk beds..listening to how in love Debra is & remembering the image of Yau-the Situation-Man:)in his wife beaters.
After a tiring, but very fulfilling couple of days, we ended our trip with a wonderful bonfire at Cedar Lodge where we enjoyed listeing to Susie's handsome son, Trent, and his friend play the guitar & drums...just like on MTV's "Unplugged." Here I am relaxing with "my girl" Peggy Crowley, Bob Crowley's beautiful wife:)
Our signature pose as we have one last look at the beautiful Red Cedar Lodge grounds...an UNFORGETTABLE weekend...& I left out the BEST part..Bob scaring us to DEATH one night he snuck up on us as we were gathered in the kitchen. Next thing we know we see a shadow coming up from behind the door to the kitchen...you had to be there!(I don't remember the last time I screamed so loud)Watch out for those grandfatherly types...ha, ha!
Bright and early the next morning we set off on our "Bus"
to the Charles City Chamber of Commerce: the caricature you see is "Charlie" ...think of him as a sort of Charles City Mascot:) 2nd photo below left..
Second stop..KCHA Radio Station to invite everyone to promote the main event at the Auditorium where fans were coming and greet us:) Here we are at the station...since I was off "Tv Hosting" duty..lol, I decided to let someone else have the mike so here's Eric taking a callers question! 
Below..here we are at Larry Pump's Accounting firm...where Kathy Sleckman (Fans vs. Favorites) had us laughing way too hard with so many jokes...or were they just Kathy's questions about the bicycle race across Iowa, Ragbrai? We did get to admire his beautiful cuckoo clock! 
Our last stop of the day was at the town fair were we ate some delicious food provided by Hy-Vee markets. I saw a stage and a microphone so it was only a matter of minutes before I grabbed the microphone..LOL. Here I am making an announcement about the main event taking place the following night. we made it to the main event where we were greeted by a salon FULL of fans. I have to say we were ALL very impressed with the LARGE turnout. It was so nice to see the support that people in a small town give each other, especially great to see how LOVED our very own Susie is..not surprising!
Here we are during a "Question & Answer" session...we really good the 3rd degree from fans re/our experience on SURVIVOR. We were asked, for example, "was there somethig that happened to you while on SURVIVOR that got edited out that you wish had gotten show?" Where do I begin!! One thing, unfortunately, I'll have to take to the grave, but it cost me a opportunity at a upcoming "Survivor All-Stars." I LOVE Yau-Man for his answer :"I got to cuddle w/Rita! but they never showed it:(" I payed Yau to say that...LOL We ALL had such a BLAST on this trip. 
I got JF Drake Middle School Principal Debra Beebe(finalist, SURVIVOR TOCANTINS) and the HILARIOUS KB Sleckman ( SURVIVOR FANS VS. FAVORITES)as my log cabin roomies We would laugh the night away in our bunk beds..listening to how in love Debra is & remembering the image of Yau-the Situation-Man:)in his wife beaters.
After a tiring, but very fulfilling couple of days, we ended our trip with a wonderful bonfire at Cedar Lodge where we enjoyed listeing to Susie's handsome son, Trent, and his friend play the guitar & drums...just like on MTV's "Unplugged." Here I am relaxing with "my girl" Peggy Crowley, Bob Crowley's beautiful wife:)
Our signature pose as we have one last look at the beautiful Red Cedar Lodge grounds...an UNFORGETTABLE weekend...& I left out the BEST part..Bob scaring us to DEATH one night he snuck up on us as we were gathered in the kitchen. Next thing we know we see a shadow coming up from behind the door to the kitchen...you had to be there!(I don't remember the last time I screamed so loud)Watch out for those grandfatherly types...ha, ha!
2 comments:
I have to agree with Rita -the time in Iowa was a wonderful bonding time for all of us. Nice recap of a very special time- Love the pictures!
Peggy Crowley
I had a blast too. Bob laughed so hard I thought he was going to have a grabber. It was great for me to get to know Yau-Man better. I have never heard him be so talkative before at any of the other events. Thankfully he pulled me out of the radio station before the FCC was notified. Nice post Rita!!
(p.s. Bob and Susie were on Gabon, not Toncacins)
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