Chapter Officers and 2015 Fall Rally continued

Chapter Elected Officers and other positions

At the Rally Bruce and Yvonne Horton agreed to continue in office and Gene Jensen and David Horton became newly elected officers.   Cora Boyett will continue as Historian and Ray and Stephanie Borgman will continue as Wagonmasters.   Bruce,  Yvonne,  Cora, Ray, and Stephanie have all done a great job and I appreciate that they will be continuing in their positions.  A special thanks to Bob Olsen who served as the Chapter president this past year. 

• President - Gene Jensen
• Vice President - David Horton
• Secretary - Yvonne Horton 
• Treasurer - Bruce Horton 
• Wagonmasters - Ray and Stephanie Borgman 
• Historian - Cora Boyett

Next Chapter lunch

There will not be a Chapter lunch in November.  Traditionally we do not have a Chapter lunch in the month when we have a Rally.  We will have a Chapter 10 lunch in December on Friday, December 11th.  We tentatively will have the lunch at 'My Place' at their new location.

     Chapter 10 lunch
     December 11, 2015 - 1 pm
     My Place
     (former location of Texas Pepper
     near Catfish King)
     930 U.S. 59 Loop N
     Livingston, Texas 77351

We decided that our annual hot dog feed and Auction will likely be in February this coming year.  I will update as the plans solidify.

Saturday Afternoon and Evening

Saturday afternoon we enjoyed visiting on the rockers and chairs on the porch outside the rally room.  The weather on the porch was very pleasant.   Some worked on a group puzzle, watched some college football, or visited in the Rally rooms while we waited for the BBQ.

The park provided a large trailer mounted smoker/grill fired with charcoal and pecan wood.   As scheduled the coals were ready at 5 pm.  Cooking the meat was fairly slow,  being smoked more than grilled.   Eventually Ray adjusted the draft on the smoker to increase the air flow which resulted in a hotter grill to finish the cooking. Many choose to eat some of the other parts of the meal while waiting for the meat to finish cooking.  Half of the people wore Halloween costumes.   Cora took pictures for our memory book of the costumes.    At the end of dinner we decided the dates for the next Rally.  Loretta and Nina shared that they took a self guided tour of Columbus following a printed card.  It included going past some beautiful houses. 

Spring 2016 Rally

We decided on the dates for the Spring Rally at the Rusk KOA in Rusk,  TX.  The Spring 2016 Rally like the Fall 2015 Rally will run from Thursday through Monday.  For the Spring Rally the days will be Mar 31,2016 (Thursday) until April 4, 2016 (Monday) We plan to include a ride on the Texas State Railroad on the steam locomotive powered train that runs 25 miles between Rusk and Palestine.   The dogwoods should be at our near their peak during the Rally.   We will likely take part either as a group or as individuals in the dogwood festival activities. Our agenda and the logistics are still being worked on by our Wagonmasters.  

Sunday morning church

Some of those at the Rally as a group attended the Columbus First Baptist Church service at 11 am.  Everyone was on time adjusting correctly for coming off of Day Light Saving Time by turning their clicks back an hour.   We were treated to an excellent musical performance by MLB stars Tim Flannery and his Uncle Hal Smith (Pirates and Cardinals).  Both are retired from Major League Baseball.   Tim is the Co-founder with his wife of the Love Harder Project. 

The Love Harder Project uses music to raise money and awareness to assist victims of violence.   http://www.loveharderproject.org/

Sunday Lunch/Dinner

Following church and during dinner some finished the jigsaw puzzle.  We ate chicken from the local Church's franchise.   Phyllis showed videos of her dogs Rain and Rumor in nose work trials (competition).  Gene Jensen, our new Chapter president gave a short acceptance speech expressing his plans to work for the good of the Chapter and his desire to hear suggestions on how to make the Chapter better.

Some gathered in the Rally room to play Mexican train and for dinner we ate leftovers.

Tomorrow morning we will have a hitch up breakfast of pastries, juice and coffee and the Rally will be complete.  Thanks again to Ray and Stephanie Borgman for being Wagonmasters and for everyone else that pitched in to make this a successful and fun Rally.