On April 13, 22 members and prospective members of the Texas & Oklahoma TCC Chapter enjoyed a luncheon meeting in the club room at Classic Wine Club in Fort Worth, where chapter member Harry Balser is a club member.
Harry further enhanced the meeting by arranging for his Maine-dwelling brother-in-law Bill Yeo to present his story and video of “Bikepacking the Himalayas.” Bill and his brother Mike rode wide-tire mountain bikes, cresting passes as high as 17,000 feet. And they did this while riding singletrack on dangerously precipitous cliffside trails, and negotiating transactions such as meals and home-stays without speaking the local languages of the remote and beautiful Markha Valley. All attendees were in awe of their accomplishments.
A new chapter member, Gina Morello, attended and was recognized for joining TCC as a Gold Member.
As per chapter tradition, we also held a two-minutes-per-person around-the-room story-tell, of whatever travel-related nature each person wished. These included a recent trip to Yemen/Socotra (yes, it is possible!), two Vietnam brothers who are tour guides today but fought on opposite sides of the Vietnam war, diving in Jellyfish Lake in Palau, being face-to-face with a hippo that invaded an occupied tent, a partying on-duty Air China flight crew, and several more stories.
The next quarterly meeting of the Texas & Oklahoma Chapter will be held July 13 in Houston. The venue and details will be announced in due course.
—Paul Clites, Texas/Oklahoma Area Coordinator
