Good day SSMC Riders,

Only one more day before my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. This Bob will once again enjoy this special day with family and friends.

Lots going on with SSMC across the country. I read about all of your rides on our facebook page and look at envy at you riders in the southern part of the country who can ride most of the year. The sun and warm weather came out for us CASCADE members at the Auburn WA Veterans’ Day parade on the 5th. We have a couple more events then most of us will hook up the battery tender, put a cover over our bikes, and store it for the winter. It was in the 20s and low 30s this morning and our sky areas opened this past weekend.

CASCADE Chapter is having our first Christmas party Dec 10th. If any of you are in the area, we would love to see you.

New look, clean graphics with a submarine service look.

New tab on the front page giving you information on the 2012 USSVI and SSMC Conventions in Norfolk VA. This will be a work in progress as we will soon show you both the Southern and Northern routes we will take. There will be two routes across the US to Norfolk and you can join one as we get closer to your State.

The OLD DOMINION Chapter will also give us the rides they have planned for us during the convention.

For all of you who are planning on going to the USSVI / SSMC Convention. I would suggest you book your rooms ASAP. You can do this by going to the SSMC web site and clicking on the convention link. It's on the front page you then can log on to the convention hotel and book your rooms. If you call, remember to ask for your USSVI special rate. When I checked with the convention hotel I was told that 35% OF THE ROOMS WERE ALREADY BOOKED SO book ASAP GUYS.

Check out the New Photo Link on the New SSMC website: This is the link where we can all post our club rides. Send your photos and a brief write-up on the what, when and where on the photos and share it with all members. Our new webmasters address is located on the page. Just send the story and photos to Pecos and let everyone see what’s going on in your area.

Boat patches are available from SSMC: many of you newer members are not aware that we can make a patch showing the boats you served on. This is a great addition to the back of your vest and it can be ordered at only $14.00 per boat name. Send us the names of your boats and I will have our patch gal custom design a patch for you.

State Chapter up-date: All you Chapter officers, pleases check out your listing on the web to make sure everything is current. If you have a Chapter web, please send the info to our webmaster “Pecos” and he will post the link under your Chapter name. Also let’s make it easy for any new members to reach you. If you do not have a webpage and want to designate one of your officers as the contact person, let Pecos know and he will post that person’s email contact to his name.

We have several States who are close to having the required membership to start a Chapter: Hawaii, Ohio, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Tennessee are all close. Missouri is over the number and we can get you going as soon as you select an officer group and come up with a Chapter name. One of the fun things Chapters offer are club rides, what a kick when our CASCADE club has 15 plus riders show up at a ride.

The year is almost gone; I will give you all an update on the membership next month - WE ARE GROWING FAST. And the five of us who started this club two and a half years ago sit back in amazement at the growth that’s taken place. We have done it by word of mouth and with little or no advertising. We are looking forward to the first SSMC Convention next September in Norfolk VA. Would it not be a kick in the pants to go on a ride with the Old DOMINION SSMC Chapter with 200 plus SSMC riders?

2012 DUES : There was a little confusion on the dues in my Oct up-date so let me again explain the procedure:

USSVI DUES: All qualified subvets will belong to USSVI. Most of you belong to your local base and we encourage you to become active with other vets in your area. The USSVI National dues are $20 per year with life time membership available. We do have a few members who have elected to join our USSVI Bubblehead Bikers web base. If you choose our Bubblehead Bikers USSVI base, you will need to send your $20 to SSMC National office before the end of the year.

We will ask that all members belong to USSVI in 2012. This year we have a few of you who have not joined so please make a choice to join a local base or our Bubblehead Bikers base.

SSMC CHAPTER DUES: All of you who belong to a local SSMC State chapter will pay your membership dues direct to your chapter. The Chapters will send $5.00 per member to National.

MEMBERS AT LARGE, “MAL” All members riding in a State without a Chapter will be subject to a two tier dues system. For the new members during the first year, the dues are $20.00. For all renewal MAL members the dues are $10.00 per year.

I hope the above clears up the dues question. Again…Have a great Turkey day!

Green Board,