August Samline Director’s Comments

A little time has gone by and we are having a few moments to consider the results of the 2011 Samboree in Butte. Having been the first one for us to have much responsibility for the planning we were nervous about how it was going to work. We did find though that Montana Good Sam people are willing to take on last minute changes and make things work. We have a lot of people to thank and are trying to recognize everyone. That is a problem though when you discover that almost everyone who was there found ways to help the cause. That just illustrates the fact that it takes a lot of volunteers to make an event like the Samboree a success. Everyone working together.

We certainly did appreciate the exuberance of the many who expressed their delight with the way things went and know that staff members also appreciate being told that they did a good job. But we as insiders also know some of the weak areas and will try to improve next year. We also know that there have been some very good Samborees in the past and appreciate the ground work done by past Directors and their staffs. We hope we learned from them.

A decision was made this year in consulting with the Arena management and our own staff to have our 2012 Samboree the next week after the 4^th of July. That will put the early bird day on Wed. July 11 and the Samboree days July 12-15. We won’t be competing with the family days on the 4^th. We had a good time with several Canadian visitors this year and it looks like again next year, We have already received a request for information from a wagonmaster planning a caravan to our Samboree. You will be hearing more about next year’s plans as we plan for another good year.

Following our Samboree some of us made a fast trip to Redmond, OR for the National Rally. Montana was very well represented by a cooking crew (Phyllis Mantz, Bob & Kay Chick and Tim & Vickie Drown) who competed in the Let’s Eat contest. They worked very hard and came away with third place in the National Cook Off. It was a thrill to carry the Montana Flag on the evening that they recognized all the states that attended the Rally. It was also good to have a table where people could come and ask about what we are doing in Montana. We found several who are from Montana but have never been involved in a local chapter. We will be asking the chapter presidents to help us follow up on these contacts.

At the time we are writing this we are traveling to some of the Montana Chapter events and camp-outs. We will be trying to visit many of your activities this summer. Most of the time we will let you know we are coming but it is possible we might surprise you. We hope that is alright.

Otherwise we are looking forward to seeing a lot of you in Billings September 15-18. Tom and his Yellowstone chapter are planning a great time..

We are looking forward to an invitation from your chapter to host the 2012 Spring meeting. Please get that in to us soon so we can make the announcement at the Fall meeting in Billings.