Chivo's sixth all hands reunion was a huge success!
Despite flooding along the Mississippi,
116 hearty souls sailed into Branson
to keep the Chivo Spirit alive.

Here's the optional shows and tours we enjoyed in Branson:

• 29 cowboys and cowgirls followed their "Happy Trails" to the Roy Rogers, Jr. Show on Wednesday morning.
• 71 sailors and wives toured the Veterans Museum and Stone Hill Winery on Wednesday afternoon.
• 65 crew members rocked with the 50's, 60's and 70's music of the Rankin Bros. on Wednesday evening.
• 44 people were amazed musicality and vocal abilities of SIX, The Show on Thursday afternoon.
• 36 ladies got aquainted and enjoyed a special luncheon on Friday.
• 50 people attended the Hughes Bros. family show on Friday afternoon and were pleasantly surprised when the show included a special patriotic section with music and pictures of Chivo's crew through the years.
• And 106 of the Chivo crew closed out our reunion with a fabulous banquet and dance Friday night.

The crew at Chivo's reunion included three World War II veterans
who made submarine war patrols on other boats:

• RM2(SS) H. Vann Atkinson "Plankowner" 44-45.
• QM1(SS) William E. Dixon 46-47.
• EM2(SS) Charles R. Hicklin "Plankowner" 45.

Results of our business meeting:

On Thursday morning, May 12th, the entire Chivo crew convened in the hospitality suite to decide several issues including our next reunion's location and date.   The crew voted to return to fall reunions, so we will plan our next reunion for the fall of 2013.   Seven possible locations were nominated and priority votes were taken.   Here are the selections in order of voting preference:

1. Washington, DC area.
2. Myrtle Beach, SC.
3. Nashville, TN.
4. Chicago area.
5. Kings Bay, GA.
6. Branson, MO.
7. Key West, FL.

I will be researching the Washington, DC area in the near future to see if we can locate reasonably priced accomodations and tours for a reunion in the fall of 2013.   If for some reason DC is not possible, then we will fall back to our number two choice, Myrtle Beach.   However, I feel confident with this much lead time, we should be able to arrange a great reunion in DC.

Prior to our reunion, another diesel boat approached me with the possibility of combining their future reunions with ours.   We discussed this idea at our business meeting.   Some crew members expressed the sentiment, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"   Others felt that Chivo had a very close group, and they were not ready to open it to outsiders.   In the end, the vote was almost unaminous to keep future reunions just for Chivo and not combine with other boats.   I will inform the other boat, that for the time being, we are not interested in combining reunions.

In the near future, I will add more post-reunion information including the script from our Branson Memorial Service.   I will also be posting reunion pictures on our reunion pictures page, so if you have some pictures, e-mail them to me.   Please include names and comments with the pictures.   Thanks.