president s Letter CALENDAR March 2014 March 29th-30th

Transcription

1 president s Letter March 2014 CALENDAR March 29th-30th Central Oregon Snowbusters Ride -Thousand Springs CANCELLED April 1st General Club Meeting & Dinner, 6pm -D&S Harley April 12th-13th Last Hurrah Campout -Thousand Springs April 15th Board Meeting 6pm -Peterson Machinery May 17-18th Spring Work Party -Thousand Springs August 8th-10th Summer Camp Trip -Howard Prarie - Willow Point Greetings Rogue Snowmobilers! I hope this season has been a good and safe season for all of you. I didn t say great season because with the snow mother nature has given us this year that would be tough. There has not been a lot of stuff going on in the club this last month due to low snow but people have been riding out of Three Lakes and I have heard they are still having a good time. If you haven t heard we had to cancel the Candelighters ride because there was not enough snow at Thousand Springs and moving it to Three Lakes would be logistically impossible as it is too small of a snow park. At this point we have many different ideas to do something for the Candelighters and their families. I feel the best idea I have heard will be to take them all to Lost Creek Lake and take them boating, skiing and tubing for a day in the sun. I would like to thank the Broadwater s for donating some boats and their time to pull this off. The way this club can step up and pull of any project and or function is amazing and I would like to thank everybody for being so flexible. We still have two more rides on the schedule for this season. The Rogue/Snowbusters ride scheduled for the last weekend of March and the last hurrah in April. At this point I do not want cancel these rides because we may get more snow but that is just my wishful thinking. Check your and our Facebook page and also the web site for updates and cancellation notices. (Editor s Note: Snowbusters Ride has been cancelled) April 1st will be our last general meeting of the season and we will be serving dinner at this meeting so it will begin at 6 at D and S Harley. I urge everybody to try and attend this meeting for some great food great company and information on the clubs doings. At this meeting there will also be a few special awards given out by the board to some members of the club. As the summer months approach it gets me thinking ahead to what work we need to do to be ready for the next season things such as cutting fire wood and trail maintenance. We have a few other projects in the cat shed this summer as well. So please check the schedule as the year progresses and come help out when your schedule allows it. The summer campout trip is still ahead of us and the board is finalizing the date and as soon as we get it we will put it out to everybody. Reservations at Willow Point at Howard Prairie Lake can be done online thru Jackson County parks so make your reservations ASAP and come up for a great week of camping, fishing, boating and great fun for the whole family. This has been a slow pretty uneventful winter for all but with the great membership of this club it has still been a fun season. I would like thank each member of this club for their hours of volunteering the donations they have made to Candelighters and Access. Everybody please pat yourselves on your backs and let s keep striving to make snowmobiling and snowmobilers a great part of our community. ~ Dave Jordan

2 Groomer s Corner I wish I had big news about upcoming events and grooming, but I don t. Our cat is parked until it snows at least six inches at the shelter. The cat makes a real mess out of the soft gravel roads trying to get up to the snow. So it is just best that we leave it in the shed. We will be starting small work parties with managing firewood, trail work and some work around the shelter and cat shed. One project that I am working on is the hub meter for tracking mileage. I have adapted one of the grease caps with a meter and I am waiting to try it out. We are still waiting on our tool box from Highway Products. We picked up a 12,000 lb. winch and currently building a receiver hitch mount so we can use it at either the front or the back of the machine. We have had the cat out only once since the Mt. Baily $3000 so we haven t done any more training. As a matter of fact, I was going up to work on the machine and actually found some snow at the parking lot. I figured I would jump in it and knock down the drifts and push the trees out of the trail from the high winds and ended up grooming the whole mountain. Then I worked on the cat. As for the numbers, we are at 307 miles with 91 hours on the meter. A normal year is around 1500 miles and around 400 to 500 hours. I m still doing snow dances with a glimmer of hope that this horrible, nasty, sunny weather will go away and start snowing again. Until then, I ll just work around the shed and fiddle with the cat. Pray for snow! ~Jim Gulrich FOR SALE: 02 Arctic Cat Pantera Up sled $1,950 OBO Contact David at PG 2

3 Mercy Flights Thank You to all who have joined Mercy Flights. You are among the elite who have an exceptional emergency coverage. Unfortunately that elite status may not last. Why? If our total membership for this year is not 50 or higher our rates will go up even higher than expected. We currently have 48 members. If our membership stays below 50 for this year the rate next year will be $ If we are at 50 or more members for this year the rate will be $ The rate for membership without an organizational affiliation is going to be $80.00 next year. It is not too late to join for this year; the membership cost will be prorated for the amount of time left for this covered year. If you join in March the prorated fee will be $37.50 for the balance of the year. Joining in April will cost you $34.00, etc. Please reconsider joining Mercy Flights not only to help out the rest of the club members but to support an awesome organization and to provide coverage for you and your family in case of an emergency. By becoming part of that elite group you are covered 24/7 no matter where you are or what you are doing. If you have any questions about mercy flights or to enroll Call: or; ~ Sherry Allen SUPER SELECTION! SUPER AWESOME SUPER PRICES! EXPERIENCE! Shop:LITHIASUPERSTORE.COM FOR A SUPER SALES & SERVICE EXPERIENCE Contact Trevis Burns! (541) Grumman Drive HWY 62 N of Costco PG 3

4 APRIL 1ST: 6:00 P.M. D & S HARLEY Our last General Meeting for this snow year will be on April 1st at 6:00 p.m. at D & S Harley. If you have never made a meeting before, you should make this one! First we will have a great BBQ (chicken and tri-tip) dinner at 6:00 prepared by the club. All we ask of you is to bring at least one canned food item per person that we will donate to Access Food Bank. Better yet, since you spent very little on gas and oil this season, bring more than one can if you can afford it. Bring a case! Protein rich foods are the best. We will also have samples from Master Stitch of t-shirts, sweat shirts, hats and beanies to look at and you can order yours. Our meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and this will be a fun one. We will discuss our events for April and through the summer. We will present the Candlelighters with $5,390 that we raised for them at our Pie Auction in February. We will also have some more super-secret surprise big announcement stuff with some of the Founders of our club attending the meeting. In case you didn t know, the club was founded in 1972, 42 years ago. So come out for a great dinner and some fun super-secret happenings. Don t forget your canned food! Candlelighter s Ride: - Cancelled - What now? As you all know, we had to cancel our Candlelighters Ride because of the lack of snow. The question now was what can we do for the kids instead of snowmobiling? We had lots of great ideas during the last two board meetings and in talking with Ruth of the Candlelighters we are almost to a decision. With the help of the Broadwater s of Lost Creek Marina and some of our members who volunteered their boats, we will most likely have a day of boating and BBQ at Lost Creek in June or July. Once we firm up the details with Ruth we will let you all know the date and details. Stay tuned Annual Summer Camp Trip Our annual summer camp trip will be at Howard Prairie Lake in the Willow Point campground on August Make your reservations in the first loop of the campground by going to: Jackson County Parks and Recreation website or; by calling (541) Once the first loop is full we will start on the second loop! We always have a great time boating, skiing, fishing and just hanging out. On Saturday we will have a potluck with the club providing the main dish and everyone brings a side dish to share and their own drinks. If you can t make it for the whole trip, just come up on Saturday! PG 4

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6 Snowmobile Maintenance : Before you Ride Something to keep in mind is that even though your sled may be prepared for the first ride of the season, it is every rider s responsibility to keep his or her machine in top condition right up until the last ride of the season. To do this you need to give your machine some basic in-season maintenance, not only so that we can enjoy a full winter s worth of riding, but also to provide us with a little peace of mind when we find ourselves 50 miles from nowhere. A few pre-operation checks should be considered before each and every ride. The most obvious check is for fuel and oil. Be sure that both are topped up before you head out. Other fluid levels that are often overlooked are the engine coolant and brake fluid. It is worth the few seconds it takes to verify the brake fluid in the sight glass of the master cylinder, and anti-freeze level in the reservoir tank. Both of these levels should be between the low and full. It is imperative to check the engine coolant level when the engine is cold to prevent an inaccurate reading (as well as the chance of being burned by hot coolant). Once it has warmed up, check the operation of the headlight beam switch for both hi and low beam settings. Verify that the brake and taillight are both operational. Another item of interest is proper chassis lubrication. Though this is not a procedure that must be executed before every ride, it should be done at least two or three times over the course of the season. Use high quality, low temperature grease. By doing this, you will prevent premature wear and corrosion on steering and suspension components. Before starting off after a cold night, be sure to lift each ski and bounce the track off of the snow to break them from the ice that may have accumulated over night. If you are in doubt about any of these procedures feet free to ask any of the more experienced snowmobile club members. They will be more than happy to help or can direct you to someone who can. Other daily checks include: Drive belt (always remember to carry a spare belt and plugs) check for cracks between the lugs and threads on the outside, if found replace belt Throttle lever operation, free movement & no frayed cable wire Brake lever, free movement & no frayed cable wire Starter rope, free movement & no frayed rope Engine stop switch (kill switch) Drive track alignment and tension, check manual for proper tension Sliders, skis and carbides, look for cracks excessive wear and broken parts Once these items have been checked, you can start the engine. PG 6

7 Last Hurrah Come and enjoy one last weekend (or day) with the Rogue Snowmobilers as we camp out at Thousand Springs. We will have the Last Hurrah weekend whether we have snow or not on April 12th and 13th. The club will provide hamburgers and hot dogs on the Saturday, April 12th at 4 p.m. Please bring a side dish and your own drinks. Despite the low snow levels we have had this season we still would like to get everybody together for one last day. We will have many activities such as a ping pong tournament a washer s tournament and I believe by that time the OHV system should be open out of Thousand as well. Of course the socializing and the food will be great like always. COME UP FOR THE WEEKEND [OR THE DAY] FOR GREAT TIMES AND GREAT PEOPLE. HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE! The Print Shop 150. N. Bartlett, Suite 140 Medford, Oregon AT THE COMMONS We specialize in providing you with premier printing and copier services. We are centrally located in downtown Medford Oregon, off riverside avenue. We are conveniently located at the Commons in the Lithia building. Hours: Monday - Friday 9AM - 5PM Telephone Number: PG 7

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