2012 ABIF Caravan Group - Special Military Active Retired Travel Club

South Florida Gold Coasters October MusterAnother great muster was held in Port St Lucie, Florida where we visited the National UDT and Navy SEALmuseum http://www.navysealmuseum.com A very knowledgeable docent provided historical informationabout the early days of the SEALS during WW II and an overview of the exhibits. We then toured the museumand saw an amazing display of weapons, special SEAL equipment, and information on some of their“unclassified” operations. On display is the actual 10,000 pound, fiberglass lifeboat that was the epicenterof a hijacking by Somalian pirates on Easter Sunday April 2009. Three of the pirates held the Maersk Alabama’scaptain, Richard Phillips, hostage for four days on this lifeboat before U.S. Navy SEALs shot themdead, freeing the captain. We also took a narrated historical and ecological river cruise on the North Fork ofthe St. Lucie River http://www.stlucierivercruise.com Besides these activities, we still had time for the normalmuster fun things including bean bag baseball, cards, too much food, and the fun of seeing old friendsand making new ones! Check out our future musters and join us for a great time! John Steinbauer, PresidentTRI-STATE PANHANDLERSThe Tri-State Panhandler Joined with the White Sands Chapterfor a joint muster in October. Beautiful fall weather drew arecord turnout of 32 rigs to Anchors Away RV Park in Foley Alabama.Foley is a great destination with its proximity to theGulf, the abundance of outlet malls, RV dealers and a CampingWorld. The muster was hosted by Carmen & Elaine Ciardello,Bill & Linda Hayes, Jim & Gerry Pence, Les & Lee Harris and Ted Cunningham.The selection of meals included Spaghetti and Gumbo. The Italian influencewas provided by the culinary prowess of Carmen Ciardello. Tri-State celebratedtheir chapter’s 16 th anniversary with cake and ice cream. Carol Herrera,whose spouse was the chapter’s 1 st President,presided over the cutting of the cake. Aspecial guest at the mus-ter was SMART memberWarren Kelly with hissignature Danforth Anchorsecuring his motorhome in place and hisflag with a white star ona blue field flying high.Was it a rank flag or astate flag, you’ll have toask Warren to get the answer. The 50/50drawings were won bySandi Burns and WarrenKelly. A raucous auction raised money to fund the chapter’s New Year’s celebration.Auctioneers Richard Pendleton and Yuille Young provided a hilariousfun-filled evening. The chapter elected Dick Nallick as President, TomDillon as Vice-President, Carol Kuzma as Treasurer and Chuck Kuzma as Secretaryfor 2013. They will take office in January. Carol Kuzma reportingTo all Quilter'sHere are your instructions for the2013 Quilt. To be raffled at the 2013National. It is called "A DoubleSliced Layer Cake" You will need 810in squares in civil war fabric (ormuted colors) in red/white & blue, nobright colors. You will measure 31/2 in. on the 10 in. squares and cut,then cut in half, so you have 16 - 13/4 by 5 in squares. then with the leftover 8 6 1/2 in. pieces you will cutthem in half and have 16 3 1/4 by 5 inpieces. Then you will mix up thepieces and sew, one 1 3/4 to a 3 1/4in. piece, do that twice, then sew thetwo pieces together, so it makes a 91/2 square Make 8 of these, if wehave extras, we will be making laprobes out of the extras for the VA, Ifyou put the name in Google it willcome up with better instructions anda video to watch. Thanks, Pleasesend to me before April 1st, 2013Karen Dietrich 39625 Quartz DriveZephyrhills, FL 33540 847-507-0823