Robbinsville, North Carolina, is situated in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains. The Cherokee Nation is just a scant 35 miles to the north and Andrew is a scant 40 or so miles to the south. Robbinsville can boast of one restaurant, two red lights, one motel, a drug store and an Ingles Food store. The main drag, which is highway 129, is about a mile long and then 129 disappears into the Great Smokey Mountain. I also believe there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 700-800 hearty souls. Two of which are Jim Hamilton and his wife, Ruth. They may be from Small Town, USA, but they put on one hell of a Big Town Chapter Meeting.

As is our custom, we descended upon the unsuspecting town on Friday afternoon (10 September). Everyone wondered if we would have problems finding the motel. Jim, our host, assured us that there would be no problem finding the motel. All we had to do was find a building over two stories and that would be the motel. Sure enough, coming into town from the east on 129, there was this four-storied building staring you in the face. The Robbinsville Microtel had 50 rooms and our chapter took 25 of them. I think the other 25 went to the Harley-Davison Bikers Association.

The ladies had filled the tables with food and the bar was well stocked. Everyone settled into the R&R mode as Bob Hines brought in six more cases of beer. This would insure that we had sufficient Bavarian Tea available for the weekend.

The day wore into night and the conversations were loud and lively. Some folks ventured out to the only restaurant in town for a mountain dinner. I think they enjoyed the dinner but Robbinsville is a dry town, in fact I think all of North Carolina is dry, and there was nary a taste of the hard stuff to be found. They did manage to stagger back to the Chapter Hospitality Room for a few quick night caps. I, myself, could see no reason to leave the pleasant surroundings of our Hospitality Room. There was liquid refreshments, dips and chips, ham and cheese rolls and an assortment of cakes and cookies. What more could a well-trained Special Forces Trooper want?

Eventually everyone wandered up to their rooms. Bobby finally found where he was supposed to sleep and Judy and Bob retired to their suite and a nice long dip in their private whirlpool spa. I don't know if they opened the front door and fell in the spa or what, but they said they spent a few hours languishing in the warm, swirling waters. What a way to party...

Saturday started out well and progressed even better. The ladies found out there was an Antique Mall somewhere nearby and they decided to invade it. Some of the men settled into a long duel of cards while the rest of us continued to nibble on the left- overs from the night before and partake of a little of the tail of the dog that bit you. By noon we were well on the road to recovery and by 1400 hours we were well enough to have our Chapter Meeting. I mean this is the main reason we head out on these jaunts...for the meeting.

The ritual was on. The motions were made, the seconds were made and in a few moment (probably about forty) the motion to end the meeting was made. This was seconded and approved overwhelmingly and the troops retired to the refreshment stand for some more of that Bavarian Tea.

The Chapter Dinner was catered and Jim and family are to be commended for such an outstanding job of setting up the catering service. There was a salad, vegetables, two meats, biscuits, gravy and three types of deserts. Of course, Bobby had to try the buffet two or three times just to make sure it was fit for human consumption.

The auction started immediately after dinner and lasted well into the night. When all the smoke cleared and the monies counted, the Chapter made almost $720.00 for the Scholarship Fund. Maybe I should start thinking of going back to school. This night cost me a fortune. Not only did I have to pay for the Hospitality Room and dinner but I blew $2 on a little pocket knife. The Hospitality Room and the dinner I didn't mind, but the $2...

Sunday morning came too fast. The weekend was over. The good-byes said and the breakfast (at the only restaurant in town) eaten. We paid our bills and loaded our vehicles for the various drives back home. In January, 2005, we will meet in Knoxville, Tennessee and in March, 2005, we'll meet just north of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. More information will be forthcoming on these two meetings. This is just an early warning alert to get you prepared for the next year.

And, I've changed the routine of this missal this time. You'll notice there are no thumbprint photos to be had. I've included the links to the photo pages and I've put all the photos I took on these pages. There are no comments, no jokes, no nothing. Hope you enjoy them.

The Gathering - Friday
The Gathering - Saturday
The Dinner/Auction - Saturday