2012 REUNION

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The eighth reunion of the Flying Circus was held in September at Hill City, South Dakota. After selling the group on setting up camp in Hill City, Terry Racine set to work on getting a great deal with a local motel, both on rooms and the Saturday evening function. Terry, with the help of Keith Zuhlke and Tom Kuypers, put together a list of things to see and do in the area to keep people busy during the day. Frank Vanatta became the center of communications, gathering names and dates and keeping people informed on progress both through emails and the web site. When it came close to the date of the reunion, Tom became the "welcome wagon" and confirmed that the plans were still in place for the event.

The weather cooperated magnificently, and people took full advantage of that to roam around the country side taking in all the grandeur of that part of the country. The warm weather delayed the annual migration of the 1,500 Bison to lower levels in Custer Park, so people had to search a bit harder to find smaller groups. Still, herds of 40 or more could be found if people were lucky. Besides the roads through beautiful valleys in the area, the chance to see landmarks like Devils Tower and Mount Rushmore kept people busy during the day.

The motel opened up one of their suites where people could gather for informal chat sessions during the week. They also provided a nice outdoor area on Saturday where the group could gather for drinks and socialising before going in to the dinning room for a lovely buffet dinner.

Keith, with the help of his wife Deb and the elders of the local Indian tribe, came up with prizes for those who had come the farthest to attend the reunion. Frank and Janice easily took first prize, having again come all the way from Australia. Without going into any detail, Frank and Janice had to decline the prize because they knew that it would not be allowed into Australia because of the strict laws there. The replacement prize was cleared by Customs, and both of them were glad that they did not have to explain the original prize to the woman at Customs. Cleveland Grant won second prize, and he was seen using it in several places -- terrorizing the locals, so to speak. One would have to ask any of those who were at the reunion to explain these things.

Keith also organised a supply of caps with 1st Cav and such on them that people wore to many places around the "Hills". People definitely knew we were in the area. You can see the caps in some of the photos below. We extend a big thank you to Keith for those.

I am sure everyone who attended the reunion enjoyed catching up with old friends, and all took away fond memories of the beautiful scenery in South Dakota.

by Frank Vanatta

The following members attended the reunion :

The following relatives of members attended the reunion :

All photos are by Scott Zoller unless otherwise noted.

For anyone wishing to see the full set of photos that Scott Zoller took, please go to the following site. Photos may be purchased from Scott by anyone wishing to have one for their personal files. We thank Scott for his work on these photos.

http://www.zollercreativeimages.com/Groups/Flying-Circus-2012/25370299_sSwWrW