The Great Prank!

RV sewage, camping supplies, towing capabilities, restaurants (good and bad), menopausal symptoms, prostate issues, sleeping and bowel habits -- all favorite conversation subjects among our friends and a good number of RV'ers we've met.  All these matters have been discussed, and, in fact, exhausted, around the campfires and the dinner tables.  We've covered it all. There are no more secrets among this group of Seminole Campground residents.  Boredom is about to set in.

Then, in the nick of time, our friends and neighbors, Mark and Janie decided to travel out of town for a few days to visit friends.  That action simply begged for a prank.  I must oblige and solicit accomplices!  Yes! Yes! It was a coup! We're going to put Janie and Mark's camper and all their campground belongings up for sale!  We'll have to have a plan.  This requires another group dinner -- we must feed the beast.  This calls for Pizza! We'll go to Bellacinno's!

Loading the wagons. 
Heavy duty trucks will be necessary to haul the heavy load of "bull" we're cooking up tonight.
That's Charlie behind the wheel, Louise and Mark talking to Charlie.
Cheryl and Ken are the on-lookers (with backs to the camera to conceal their identities).
Just a glimpse of Linda and Joyce in the background.

 

 

No, Nancy isn't drinking... just her usual big ole hearty laugh as we realize we're in a lovely rainbow of colored t-shirts tonight, making a vibrant color explosion inside Bellacinno's. Far left is Louise -- Cheryl and Russ on the right.
Ken follows Nancy.   Let's get the pizzas into the oven!

We'll need lots of elbow room now... and where to seat those Lefties.
Left to right around the table...Louise, the waiter, Ken, Russ, Cheryl and Joyce.

The prank beast must be fed.

That's a mighty big bite missing from that piece of pizza.

 Wayne's hand in this pizza photo.  Just couldn't wait!

Pizza at Bellacinno's was delicious as we scarffed it down along with grinders and some kind of doughy sweet donut pastry pizza thing that Dale ordered.  It was so good, in fact, that he ordered a second... it was consumed without delay.

Then back to the campground to unwind around the fire. Mixing laughter and pizza, is, after all, quite exhausting.  At the campfire, Wayne shared his  private stock of Trader Joe's shortbread cookies... but applies a strict limit of two per person. As is the custom here, Nancy made a pot of decaf.  We're such an exciting group.

The usual suspects are joined by Barbara (far left), Fran and Mary (far right).

The plan to pull our prank on Mark and Janie is hatched.  We'll wait until the morning before their scheduled return to the campground to begin the dirty deed. We'll proceed with a liquidation type garage sale of everything on their campsite. Dale found "Property Condemnation" signs. We have a roll of "Caution" tape to cordon off the area.  We're getting bold.  Just to be safe, Nancy checked with the campground office to be sure we didn't get ourselves into trouble.  We got the official okay. Now, off to bed for an early rise to pull the prank together.

It's about 8 a.m. here in front of Mark and Janie's Pinnacle fifth-wheel.
 Ken has the "caution" tape and is ready to let it roll!
That's Linda, Nancy and me with him as we're just getting started.

By now, we've decided to sell everything Mark and Janie have.
We also posted a code violation notice on the power cord to Mark's outdoor refrigerator which is also marked "sold".

Everything's gotta go! 
This place is a dump and we've got to get it cleaned out!

We had several people interested in Mark's golf cart even though we issued a disclaimer
that it is old, has bad tires and is only in "fair" condition. 

We marked both bicycles "sold" -- $2 each.
The fire wood is reportedly "infested" with termites.
It is noted that the fifth-wheel is in poor condition... inside and out and infested with palmetto bugs and ants.

We decided to steal Janie's plants...
There's a 10c price tag on the patio rug.
The patio furniture will be marked "free but damaged"
Even Mark's cigarette butts (and can) are for up for bid.

The whole place is condemned!



By now, Mark and Janie's campsite has become a toxic waste dump, liquidated, condemned property with an eviction notice.
Our prank had become pretty well known throughout the campground now as is quite a sight.



Mild mannered Charlie looks on in horror.
He knows this could be happening to him just as easily.

We managed to get Seminole Campground in on it.
This eviction notice is signed by the owner and the management team.
It was taped to Mark and Janie's front door along the condemnation signs.

It was mid-afternoon when Janie and Mark finally returned to the campground. 
We were ready for anything. They were not.

Janie was surprised and caught on real quick.
Mark was dumbstruck.  I feared he was going to be angry, but he wasn't.
He was speechless though.

We had even remembered to set up a "sales transaction" table for sales,
complete with a bowl of coins to prove we'd already made a sale or two. 

It takes a village to pull off a really good prank.
This is our village and our victims.
 

This is what Mark looks like with his mouth closed.
Take a good long look because this is an unfamiliar sight.

There are two morals to this story: 1. Never, never, never leave your campsite unattended with pranksters in the area.   2. Be careful picking your friends. 

And oh yeah, we did clean up the mess and return the stolen plants.