Hello Fellow Gators!

Our Tiki Taxi Event on Thursday, October 22nd was a lot of fun. We enjoyed cruising the Intracoastal Waterway in a Tiki Boat complete with music and a bar. Thanks go to Lisa Smelcher for organizing and leading this event. Look for this to be a recurring event in the future.

We are returning to the Pinball Dudes on Saturday, November 7th, where we will have a fantastic time playing pinball on various machines for free. We will meet at 10:00 AM and have an optional lunch at Jumby Bay afterwards. Kudos to Ben Smith for organizing and leading this fun event!

We have a new and exciting event in February! The Biking and Camping Weekend at Lake Okeechobee will be moving to a new venue in Clewiston – the Roland Martin Marina & Resort! Ben Smith will be leading the bike ride on the Lake Okeechobee dike. It will start at the trail head at the marina on Saturday morning so there will be no need to drive your bikes to the trail. There is a nice tiki bar at the Marina with live music where we will gather on Saturday night. Please make your reservations early to be assured of getting a room.

We have an exciting major trip on our docket:

· Vietnam and Cambodia Bike and Barge on October 27-November 14, 2027 (space available)

We have a new leisure bike ride event at Riverbend Park on Thursday, January 7th led by Tim Kuhn. We will meet at Riverbend Park, 9060 West Indiantown Road. Riverbend is west of I-95 and the Turnpike on Indiantown Rd. Meet at 10 AM in the first parking lot when you enter by the office and bathrooms. We will ride out of the park to ride the old route towards Indiantown. The path is dirt and packed shell rock, so regular bike tires should be okay, but racing tires could be a problem. You may wish to bring an optional picnic lunch to leave in your car and eat afterwards in Riverbend Park. Thank you, Tim!

We are considering a trip to Niagara Falls for 2027 and are trying to gage member support for it. Please let me know if you would be interested.

Please join us at our happy hours. You can meet other members and make new friends or reconnect with old ones! I would like to thank Letti Falko, Lorain Lyon, Marcie Cole and Ben Smith for their ongoing help as Gator Happy Hour Ambassadors.

I will continue to plan our weekly Friday night happy hours. Our VP of Socials, Lisa Smelcher, will be organizing some occasional weekend happy hours.

I am looking forward to seeing you at some of our events and meeting our new members.

Thank you,

Sharon Long

VP of Special Activities

Mobile: (561) 768-6365

wmarussich@comcast.net