Click to view this email in a browser Smoke Signal June 2018 Nomads Chapter of Special Military Active Recreational Travelers (S*M*A*R*T) President: Mike Schmitz Vice President: Paul Rider Secretary/ Treasurer: Melody Thomas thomas4smart@gmail.com Muster Master: Roy Allen Smoke Signal Editor: Doug Blaha amimjs@yahoo.com afchap@pjrider.com royallen805@outlook.com dlblaha@cox.net Vice President... Paul Rider Greetings NOMADS! Summer has come to East Texas... In fact, from the weather I am thinking we totally skipped June and went straight from May to July!! Of course, part of my problem could be that we spent Memorial Day in Albuquerque with nighttime times in the mid-50's and 5% humidity, and two days later we were back in East Texas with nights in the 70's and 54% humidity! Jean & plan to sit in East Texas and suffer through the summer heat this year. Other than a couple of short trips to outings with our local Winnebago group, we won't be traveling until National Muster time in September. That should give plenty of time for my service guys to resolve a couple of hydraulic oil leaks on the coach. If you have not sent in your registration for the National Muster in Mineola TX, there is still time. Remember our Pre-Muster activities at the National Muster site, and the Post-Muster at Bullard TX just South of Tyler. You can find details for both on our website at www.smartrving.net/nomad.
Shirley Newton needs to know if you plan to attend the Pre-Muster. I have 15 sites reserved for the Post Muster, and 6 sites currently spoken for. Let me know if you want your name on a site. If you want to enjoy some of this East Texas heat with us, give us a call and come on by! We have a couple of 50a hookups, a long water hose, and a long macerator hose! Some backing up required, but not much. Paul & Jean Rider Secretary/ Treasurer... Melody Thomas Secretary-Treasurer s Report for June 2018 Smoke Signal Treasurer s Report for the Period from 1 March to 31 May 2018: Checking: Beginning Balance: $319.27 Income: $15 (Dues) $0.04 (dividend) Ending Balance: $334.31 Savings: Beginning Balance: $76.76 Income: $0.06 (dividend) Ending Balance: $76.82 Certificate of Deposit: Beginning Balance: $1,008.97 Income: $5.69 (interest earned) Ending Balance: $1,014.66 Total Assets: $1,425.79 Greeting From SMART's 2019 National Muster Master The 2019 SMART National Muster will be held at Bethpage RV Resort and Campground, Urbanna VA., www.bethpagecamp.com, 804-758-4349, from 24-28 September, 2019. There are lots of things to see and do so I am hoping you will come camp with us. Busch Gardens Brewery has opened their doors to tours and the local racetrack should
be up and 'running' by then also. At this time, we have 6 local tours scheduled but I can lay some more on if the interest is there. I need to talk to the Nomads in Mineola, so maybe I can schedule a few minutes of your time to ask my questions. Gene E Bennett NERD From Your Editor Thank Ya'll for your inputs. I can easily input Word.doc and.jpg but can't input.pdfs. To include a pdf document I have to screen print it to an image and the quality is never as good. Your photos are always welcome as well as good cartoons. Next issue will be September 2018. Doug Please Welcome the Following New Members Bill& Carolyn Rosa 2018 National Muster Planning The 2018 National Muster has a Talent Show on Saturday. We are asking chapters and individuals to display their talents or provide skits for the entertainment of the muster participants. Any thoughts as to what we can do. I do have a skit "The top 10 indications you might be a SMART Longtimer" that was done 2 Rayne NMs ago. Any other ideas or talented volunteers? Craig Christen
2018 National Muster National Muster in Mineola, Texas If you haven't already submitted your application to attend the 35th annual National Muster in Mineola, Texas, please do so soon. This is one of SMART's highlites of the year. Lots of Food, Games, Seminars, Tours and lots of comradery. This is where you will meet lots of friends, old and new. Be sure and attend both Nomad pre and post Musters. They are what holds the Nomad's together. Mineola is almost in the center he country...equal distance for everyone. Sign UP Nomads 2018 National Muster information (GET YOUR REGISTRATION IN TODAY!!) Pre-Muster September 20-24, 2018 at the Mineola Civic Center and RV park. We have a room designated for the NOMADS pre-muster activities at the Mineola facility so we should not have the problems we had last year conflicting with BOD meeting times and seminars. That should help a great deal with our pre-muster. Shirley Newton is our host for the Pre-Muster. NOMADS POST MUSTER will be 1-4 October (depart on 5 th ) at Bushman's Camp, an upscale RV Park south of Tyler. Amenities include 97 RV sites, full hookups, a fishing lake, and a pool and hot tub. Bushman's Camp is located on U.S. 69 with KE Bushman's Event Center next door and the award-winning Kiepersol Winery, Distillery and Restaurant just 3 miles away. Also nearby is a good Mexican restaurant, Legends Burger Bar, Whataburger, an antique store, and a Brookshire's grocery store. And the newest mall in the Tyler area is just a few miles to the North. We look forward to sharing this little corner of East Texas
with you. Contact Paul Rider at afchap@gmail.com to reserve your site!! Last call for NOMAD Shirts As brought up by Chuck Tamborino and discussed at last years meetings, NOMADs are ready to order shirts with a NOMAD logo. The chosen color is dark Blue. The cost of digitizing was approved and has been completed. Shirley Newton has located a source and provides the following. Manufacturer s description. These polo shirts wick moisture, resist snags, has PoisiCharge-technology and holds color. It is 4oz double knit self-fabric. It is light weight and has moisture wicking. It feels better than cotton on your body. Prices L540 Ladies Polo neck, no buttons, with NOMADs Logo $22 K540 Mens Polo, no pocket with Nomads Logo $22 K540P Mens Polo same as K540 but with Left chest pocket and logo $25 For 2XL add $2, 3XL add $3 and 4XL add $4 Add 7% sales tax. Color will be Dark Blue. Prices are for delivery in Texas. If you want it mailed add $10 for priority Mailing. Example: One Ladies and one Men's (no pocket ) sizes S,M,L,XL) = $47.08 Total tax inc Members are encouraged to wear these shirts to show pride and Nomad solidarity at musters. Please select the quantity, sizes and types desired. Add 7% sales tax and send full payment to Mike Schmitz, 205 Hurt Drive, Pensacola, FL 32503.
Deadline for ordering is July 1st, 2018. Nomads 2018 Spring Travel Plans The purpose of this section is so we can connect more easily with one another when we are traveling. Have fun! Be Safe and have a mini-muster when you can! Mac & Renae Shea will be grounded in our daughter's pasture in Florida for the summer. Mac just had total knee replacement on May 31st & will have the other knee done in August. Watching our fellow RVers travels on FB & looking forward to getting back on the road, maybe in October. Safe travels everyone. Nan and Carl Hundley are making their way northward to Alaska. At present we are in Hazelton at the KSAN Campground. We are following the SMART route in reverse since we were in California visiting family. We will come back to the lower 48 through Medicine Hat and drop down to Why Not Minot so we can knock out North Dakota and catch two more Air Force FamCamps in our endeavor to complete the Frequent Camper booklet and fill in the last of the 60 campgrounds. We will continue to Minnesota and Wisconsin to visit more family and we will be back in Texas September 17th for the National and the NOMAD pre-muster.
Rick and Jana Nunemaker Hi folks, we are working in a camp ground south east of Portland, in Estacada for the summer. A beautiful area in the forest along the Clackamas River. If anyone is in the area, give a shout. Hope everyone is having a great summer and staying cool. Be safe and enjoy life. We've earned it. Steve and Diane Pena - After spending the Winter in AZ, we are currently in Fort Worth TX for our semi-annual stop. We will be leaving here in late June headed north with a stop in the Goshen, IN area for some work on the rig then head West to MN for the Northern Adventure Caravan. After that we will spend some time in MI then head south to meet up with friends in Nashville and tour Western TN and Mississippi. We plan a stop at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, New Orleans, then on to the National Muster in Mineola. Our travels then take us to the Balloon Fiesta Caravan. We will make a stop in Las Vegas to see Jimmy Buffett before returning to the Fort Worth area for our Fall stop. Pat and Sally Kavanaugh are currently at Cliffside RV Park in NAS Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor, WA. What a great RV Park! Beautiful views! Shortly, we will begin our trek eastward along I-80 to the Chicago area. Larry & Cynthia Sockwell. Hot LA weather, wish I was in cool Minnesota w/y'all! Not planning much travel till Sep when we depart for Mineola, Hope to see lots of you there, should be cooler by then. Jeff and Nancy Stephens We left Tampa on 17 May for the SE Region muster at Sorrento FL. A real nice time, although it rained every day and the retention pond overflowed and created a secondary pond on our roadway. After the muster, we went up I-75 to visit Nancy s family in Flint MI. We then went due East, visiting Niagara Falls and Hanscom AFB near Boston, then on to Maine to join the Canadian Maritime Provinces caravan. We plan on being there on Friday, 8 Jun for the start of the 2 1/2 month caravan. Really looking forward to the adventures that await. Will hopefully have lots of pictures about our trip. Cheers Diana and Chuck Tamborino We are on the road! Currently in SD, but heading slowly to central WA ( spoiling great grands) before on over to the coast. Then South toward the SF bay area. Hope to see Rick & Jana in OR, and Roy Allen in SoCal
before we head East again. Should be home around Labor Day. Joanne Harnit. Just returned from 2 weeks in ND for graduations, family and classmate visits. Had to pull off after saw 2nd rv trailer upside in ditch. Terrible winds!! Now in Cheyenne house but out in 4 days for week camping with local Good Sam chapter. Going to FMCA Convention in Gillette WY in July and then lead 8 rig caravan through ND and on to Amana Iowa for Midwest Area Rally and start home after 12 Aug. Summer will surely pass too fast!!!! Hope you all enjoy National Muster----I will have spent my gas allowance before then. Hugs Roy Allen Besides looking for more parking volunteers, (now have a dozen). My travel itinerary is kind of loose at the moment. Kind of expect to head east sometime after the 12th of July. Short stops in Barstow at the marine base. Then a couple of days in az to visit son. One or two nites in Flagstaff, then one or two weeks in Kirkland to spend a little time with a first cousin, then to Shawnee for a Safari rally, but 4 nites in Oklahoma city for a pre-rally with southern CA Safari group. Then down to Whitesboro, TX for two weeks before moving to the rally site on the 17th.. some of the dates are set others are depending on the beginning layovers...anyone whose travels are sort of similar can get in touch to see if our paths cross. later Richard and Kitty Moore We departed Florida early May enroute to Minnesota. We first stopped at the Marine Corp Logistics Base in Albany Georgia. Nice base, small Commissary and Exchange on site with a very comfortable RV Park. No problem getting in and unlimited stay allowed. We liked it. Next stop was the FAMCAMP at Arnold AFB in Tullahoma Tennessee. RV camp is on the shores of a beautiful lake. Interesting stop at historic site Jack Daniel s Distillery. This is a full service military base. Leaving Tullahoma, our next stop was Great Lakes Naval Station in the North Chicago area. Hadn t been in this area since Navy Boot Camp 1960 at Camp Porter. They have Boot Camp graduations on the field every Friday and would have liked to observe a boot camp graduation but alas, one cannot access that part of the base unless you have a family member graduating and you are on the list. The paperwork to attend a graduation has to be initiated by the boot weeks earlier and your name has to go through the security procedure. Oh well, a nice visit at the base and a beautiful view of Lake Michigan from the FAMCAMP. We next moved on to Manitowoc, Wisconsin where we were to meet other submarine shipmates for a reunion celebrating 75 years of the commissioning of the USS Rasher SS269 on June 8 1943. The Manitowoc Shipyard built 28 submarines for the U. S. Navy during WW II. The subs were launched sideways with a huge splash into the Manitowoc River because the river wasn t wide enough to launch them in the conventional way of sliding them stern first into the river. The boats were then barged down the Chicago and Mississippi
Rivers to New Orleans where they were sent off to the war in the Pacific. We enjoyed a great reunion with former shipmates and already looking forward to the next one. Arriving in Almond Wisconsin for a few days, we are enjoying time with Bill Aspinwall and Nancy Cormier. Our next stop will be in Waterville Minnesota at Sakata Lake State Park for a couple of weeks. Come on by and say Hello. Shirley Newton has closed on her house and is in the RV full time until name comes up in retirement facility outside Atlanta where daughter Laura lives and 4 hours away from both sons. All good. After a few "body fixes" I went to Savannah with Laura the highlight of which was a Ghost Tour from 9 to 12 PM. We toured inside Mercer House and the Green Meldrum house where Sherman was invited to stay in hopes he would not burn the city down, which he did not. Thank goodness. LOVE Savannah. Now in Hilton Head enjoying the week I won at FMCA rally in Perry. Luxurious place for sure. Not at all what I am accustomed to. Headed on north in South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee until time to head to Mineola. See you all there. Melody and Paul Thomas We left Nevada in February and traveled through several states (Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and California). We spent a couple of weeks in Utah, scouting out adventure opportunities for participants in next year s SMART Caravan Utah s Mighty 5. It promises to be a most exciting time. We are currently exploring the wonders of Wisconsin before moving on into Minnesota to join the SMART Caravan Northern Adventure. We have never been to Minnesota so we are excited for this new opportunity. If you have never taken a SMART caravan, try it.
Caravans Nomads Membership Application You can download the application form on the SMART website. Nomad Membership Application
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