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Meeting Number 18 The Search for Tony's New Joe Room Meeting #18 took place at the home of member Tony Carducci in Colona, Illinois. The following members were fortunate enough to attend: Mark Otnes, Robert Mitchell, Mike Hamilton, May and Jamie Jennings, Paul and Laura Jenkins, and of course our host Tony Carducci and wife Charity and daughter Arwen (what a little firecracker!). Here's how it all went down... THE TRIP The weather was cool and clear and traveling to Colona from Champaign-Urbana is about a 3-hour trip. Unfortunately, members Robert Findlay and David and Geoffrey Thompson had to cancel at the last moment, so our I-74 westbound carpool suddenly dwindled from 4 to 1. Undaunted, I left C-U alone in a thick fog, but once I'd gotten a few miles west, the sun broke through and the road was stretched out straight and smooth ahead of me. The trip was largely uneventful, but as I neared Peoria, I crossed over a long, impressive bridge (see video clip HERE). And then later, I was stuck behind, of all things, a semi "Turkey Truck." The truck was interesting as big, white feathers were continually flying out of its cages like snowflakes. I took a short film clip, but it's kinda hard to see the feathers (see video clip HERE). THE ARRIVAL As members drove up, Tony was waiting outside and greeted us all with his friend Mike Hamilton and R2-D2 (see photo below). Tony's new home is very roomy and comfortable, and we were shown downstairs where the meeting would take place. We were thrilled that new members Jamie and May Jennings were able to attend. What a great couple. And they're serving our country in the U.S. Army too. You guys are our heroes!
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Tony's new Joe room dwarfs his old one (which was just a storage area off his garage). Now, he's taken an entire section of his basement, painted it in bright colors and LOADED it up with his giant collection of 1:6 action figures, vehicles and accessories. Here's just some of what we found:
SHOW-N-TELL This month's meeting had a HUGE show-n-tell segment. It seemed to go on forever as each member continued to produce one cool item after another. Paul and Laura brought bags full of new gear and some figures from their store. Mike displayed his new, hand-crafted picnic table. Mark brought items from the national GIjOE Convention. Robert set up the amazing scratch-built German High-Command conference table and chairs built by fellow member Rob Menagh. What a show! We have a LOT of creative and talented members in this club. Here's some photos:
We wound up this month's meeting with pizza generously provided by our wonderful hosts, the Carducci's. The entertainment came in the form of 2 new GIjOE DVDs picked up by Mark at the national convention in August. Trade-a-palooza was a blast as always, with many nice items up for grabs. Food, friends, GIjOEs, what more do you need? We had a blast! A great big thank you to Tony and Charity and everyone who made it to this meeting. See you next time. Go JOE!
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