The TCC Texas/Oklahoma Chapter held our first meeting of the year at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum in Houston. The 33 members/guests journeyed from the metros of Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Montgomery, Austin and even Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sylvia Russell arranged for us to have our meeting at the museum, and some of the museum artifacts were donated by her! We were also fortunate that the Chairman of the Board of the museum shared some history and current plans with the group. To be sure, although many had traveled to Antarctica, few have taken the journey that our featured speaker took last year, since Paul Clites went by air and by land.
Following are some highlights from the meeting, with more photos below:
- Mr. Paul Clites shared his journey to the South Pole, which allowed him to get not only seven TCC countries, but it was also his seventh and final continent to visit. We learned about the Union Glacier camp of tents, 24 hours of sunlight, and how “environmentally friendly” they were during entire excursion. He had a safe trip but not all, including Henry Worsley, are so lucky. Nonetheless, hearing about 1000 shades of white, blue, and grey and the chance to have two New Year’s Eve celebrations back to back made all of us want to either visit Antarctica or return very soon!
- We celebrated three members hitting Silver status of 150 countries: Bill Hintze, along with David and Ronnett Mitchell. It was a special honor to congratulate Jeff Scherbarth who has hit the Platinum status of 250 countries. Congrats to each of you.
- We welcomed four new members: Harry Balser and Mary Yeo of Fort Worth, Andrew Stevens of Houston, and Eric Brown of Austin. We also welcomed two new provisional members: Suzanne Hixson and Steve Smith of Montgomery.
- Our around-the-room photo sharing transported us around the world to Bermuda, Patagonia, the Northwest Passage, Vietnam, Malaysia, Iceland, Transnistria, Cuba, New Zealand, the Galapagos, Zimbabwe, Tajikistan, the Philippines, Morocco, Kosovo, New Caledonia, Germany, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, and Rwanda. Thanks to everyone for participating!
The next meeting will be held in Dallas on Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Featured speaker Mark Ramsey will discuss the search for artifacts in the 1937 disappearance of Amelia Earhart. I’ll send out logistics and rsvp requests one month in advance of the meeting. Safe travels.
Regards,
—Kim-Kay Randt, Texas/Oklahoma Area Coordinator
