CRUISIN U S NEWS Gold Wing Road Riders Association Chapter U Dothan, AL. FRIENDS FOR FUN, SAFETY, AND KNOWLEDGE

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2 P a g e 2 CRUISIN U S NEWS Gold Wing Road Riders Association Chapter U Dothan, AL. FRIENDS FOR FUN, SAFETY, AND KNOWLEDGE CHAPTER DIRECTORS Bruce & Eileen Williamson eileengram@aol.com ASSISTANT CHAPTER DIRECTORS Pat & Darnell Lapera patlapera@yahoo.com SUNSHINE LADY Darnell Lapera patlapera@yahoo.com RIDE COORDINATOR LTC James & Freida Clayson james.clayson@gmail.com TREASURER Melissa Stumpf melissa.stumpf@yahoo.com NEWSLETTER EDITOR Richard Stumpf (334) richard.stumpf1@gmail.com TECHNICAL ADVISOR Albert (Bubba) Houser (334) Hueyman19@yahoo.com WAYS & MEANS Joan and Ray Collier joancollier@aol.com CHAPLIN/EVENTS COORD. open DISTRICT COUPLE OF THE YEAR Bill & Vicki Cater MONTHLY GATHERING Second Tuesday of every month 6:00 PM Eat - 7:00 PM Meet Golden Corral, Dothan AL TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter & State Officers.2 District News...3 District MEC...4 Ch. Ride Coord 5 SAADD News.6 Bruce & Eileen s Gab..7 Getting Stuck... 8 Goldbook Review... 9 COY Report.. 10 Chapter MEC..11 Calendar ALABAMA DISTRICT DIRECTORS Frank & Linda Teasley Director@Alabama-gwrra.org ALABAMA DISTRICT TEAM ASSISTANT DIRECTORS Ron Landers Ron & Corky Alexander RIDER EDUCATORS MOTORIST AWARENESS Carl & Jan Breeding LEADERSHIP TRAINERS Roy & Anita Fosnight MEMBER ENHANCEMENT Danny Baker COY COORDINATORS Terry & Barbie Cleveland VENDOR COORDINATORS Linda Teasley DISTRICT CHAPLAIN Trina & Bill Barden TREASURER Sara & Harry Leach WEBMASTER Larry & Penny Anthony On the cover: We ve been going places. Come with us!

3 P a g e 3 Greetings fellow riders, at this writing we have just returned from the Tennessee District Rally where Alabama was awarded the largest district from the Southeast Area outside Tennessee. Way to go Alabama members!!! That s two in a row for Alabama as we also took home the same award from Florida!!! A great big thank you to all who attended both rallies and let s keep it going in South Carolina! Speaking of South Carolina, that is the next District rally on our schedule. It occurs May 3 rd through the 5 th in Newberry South Carolina so let s go have some fun! Speaking of rallies, our own Alabama District Rally will have occurred by the time we write another article. The District Team has been working hard to make this a very special event for all of you. We hope you have sent in your rally registration and made your reservations at the Marriott. Please remember that our room block expires on May 8 th so if you want a room there, at our special rate, you need to book it very soon. AFTER THE 8 th OUR ROOM RATES WILL EXPIRE AND THE RATES WILL INCREASE! Please make your reservations now! We have lots of fun activities planned for you this year including two guided rides, one on Friday after lunch and one on Saturday morning. Chapter A is putting these together for us, so plan to attend at least one, they will be lots of fun! Please remember your COY baskets, these are always great to see displayed. The rally theme is Rocking on the Bay, A Salute to Rock and Roll so get your costumes ready for the costume contest on Thursday evening and put your skits together for the talent show on Friday evening! We are really looking forward to seeing all of you there! Please remember that the key to having fun at a rally is to participate! The folks that have the most fun participate in the most activities. Please see the schedule that was sent out last week and make your plans to participate in as many activities as you can, you will enjoy yourself. Frank and Linda Teasley

4 P a g e 4 WOW! What a great way to start off the month of April, with the great turn out at the Annual District Picnic at the Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury, Alabama. Even though the weather wasn t the best for everyone that wanted to ride, there was still a fine turnout of over 100 Gold Wingers. It was a good time to mingle with friends from ever chapter in the state. Thanks to Randall, Curtis, & Philip, the burger and dogs were as fantastic. Then what a grand time we had at the F & Z Fun Day! Once again there were over 100 in attendance, and a yard full of beautiful Gold Wing motorcycles. With all the different colors would remind you of a bag of Jelly Beans! Speaking of Jelly Beans, I think Jelly Bean Day also fell in April. I know there were several of our GWRRA family that rode the 40 To Phoenix ride. I hope all of them had a safe trip and I m looking forward to hearing about their adventures. I trust everyone had already signed up for the 2018 Alabama District Rally, again being held in the scenic city of Mobile, Alabama, home of our first and oldest chapter in the state, Chapter A. For those of you that have not there is still time to get your Pre- registration in before the cutoff date or you can register on site at the rally. I hope to see everyone there. It s going to be a great rally with lots of FUN and Friends! So, safe riding and if I don t see you prior to the rally I ll look forward to seeing you in Mobile. "Safe Riding and Keep Them Wheels Vertical". Danny Corky s Custom Covers Rosetta (Corky) Alexander rcalex@fairpoint.net Home: Cell:

5 P a g e 5 We had a great time at the District Picnic. Although the weather was iffy, we all had a great time. Many of us also rode to Panama City for FL 1-L's picnic. The weather was also iffy for that event, but we nevertheless had a great time. It was a wonderful ride. This month we should have better weather. But we also have more opportunities to ride. We have the following rides/activities: 1. May 4/5 Chapter G Ride to Pensacola (Baseball game and Lighthouse tour - overnight) 2. May 12 Tin Top Café Breakfast ride 3. May Alabama Rally Mobile AL 4. May 30 June 5 Missouri Rally Branson MO With all of this long-distance rides ahead of us, many of us will need to consider our trailers and are they ready to go? I will be conducting a Trailering Seminar at the Alabama Rally on Saturday May 19 at 9 AM. Don't miss it. Freida and James Clayson

6 P a g e 6 Hello All, Chapter G, along with 11 other Chapters, road on a most wonderful riding day to Chapter F & Z s Fun Day. They had 106 visitors to attend with untold number of bikes in the yard. The ride to and from was very smooth with two Road Captains at the helm. Moving from one lane to another was some of the best we have had. I personally like to see all bikes move from one lane to the other at the same time. I believe it shows control and communications between them all. And NOW we The District of Alabama has about 12 NEW Road Captains trained. Have you all been using them? That is what they are trained for ya know? Also along those same lines, have we thought much about Motorcycle PR? I firmly believe that we all are in the business of PUBLIC RELATIONS. Everything we do on our ride projects either good or bad on us all. Wingers, Crotch Rockets, Hells Angels etc. During our ride Saturday I could see our Trail (Harold Clark) Securing a lane with courtesy and common since. Riders in our line waited for the Lead to give the command to move over. Just one more thing then I ll quit. When a 4 Wheeler is looking like, or acting like, he wants your piece of hwy, let them have it!! Whether we give it up begrudgingly or willingly matters not, it will always look like we did it on purpose, and that is a +-+ situation for us. 1. He thinks we did it for him, and 2. We don t get Road Rash. So think about it a little and come up with your own thoughts. Our District Director mentioned at the Fun Day that there are only 12 rooms left at the Rally Rate ($89.00). So if ya are still on the fence about going may that info will help you make the decision. You have until May 8th to receive this rate, afterwards rooms go up to $ Remember that 2 won t go into one Ron and Corky Alexander South Alabama Assistant District Director

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8 P a g e 8 We all love to do things that are familiar to us, we tend to go out on the same night, eat at the same places, and watch the same type of movies. Even if it does seems safe and comfortable, we should still try new things. I am a relatively new member to our GWRRA club, just over two years, but we tend to do the same things on the same days in the month. There is nothing wrong with this, as you will know what to expect and if it is a good place to eat (WE RIDE TO EAT) something to look forward to. However trying new things or even doing things on the spur of the moment can be fun. Recently we had a beautiful forecasted Saturday and on the spur of the moment I sent out a text message to several of our group members that like to ride. Only a few responded due to the short notice of the ride but all we had planned was a destination, (the Little White House and Pine Mountain) and go to another groups gathering at the end of the day. It was a very fun ride, we stopped and ate lunch at a place I had never eaten before (Mike & Ed s BBQ). It was very good, and we made it to the AL-M Gathering on time. The next weekend we had a planned trip but the weather was predicted to be bad late on Saturday and all day Sunday so we changed it to a short trip close to home. For us it was a 177- mile trip, but we lived the furthest away. For others, it was much shorter. We went to a place none of us had been before, Big Jim s on Lake Seminole. The weather held out for us, and as we were going to the destination between motorcycles passed by us which to me that is a good sign. We arrived and had a wonderful meal of catfish, shrimp and chicken strips. The food was excellent, and the staff were very friendly. Last weekend almost everyone that rides was gone to the Florida Rally, and it was another beautiful day with moderate temps and no clouds, it was a little windy. Again on the spur of the moment we called another couple, Richard and Mellissa and asked them if they wanted to ride to a place in Georgia that I had seen on the internet which was supposed to have excellent BBQ. The stories were correct, very good BBQ and a wonderful ride for us both. We took a more scenic route to the location and more direct on the way back. For Mary and me, it was a chance to get out of the house and enjoy the countryside with friends and good food at the destination. The point of this article is to step outside of your box occasionally. You can be spontaneous and see what is out there. Who knows, you might find you can have just as much fun exploring new places and things to do, and you get to get out there and ride. Bubba Houser Tech Coordinator Alabama U

9 P a g e 9 ACD s GOLDBOOK REVIEW Friends, Fun, Safety, Knowledge Hey U s! I just got my gold book in the mail and instead of just putting it in the trunk of my bike like I usually do, I opened it and looked at it page by page. I found things in it that made me realize there is a lot of good information in this book other than just my name and location. I wondered if anyone else looked at it, so I started to ask a few of the other members and the people I asked said they also just put it away like I did. So, I thought that it would be a good idea to discuss this a little just to let the members know why it is important to open the book and read some of the information and benefits that are available to us. Going through the pages I found a full page on Road Riders Rescue with all the phone numbers needed to call if you are stranded somewhere. You will also see a page on how to get the most from your GWRRA Membership, in 2018 and another two pages of advertisements for car rentals, hotels, bike parts, life lock and many more ads of businesses serving GWRRA members. One of the most important things I have found, is a membership application for GWRRA. You can tear this off, make a bunch of copies and when you find someone that you like to have as a member give it to him or her and explain how being a member can benefit them as it has us. There is a whole page on 8 great ways to introduce GWRRA to someone new. I have also found towards the end of the book a motorcycle inspection sheet, where all you do is check off the blocks as you inspect your motorcycle. Also, a 3-day his and hers no trailer packing list, it gives you an idea how to do this. I have just given you a brief review of just some of the many benefits that is in the Gold Book. I do not have enough room to list them all in this short article. So, this is the time for you to grab your book, and finish thumbing through the rest of the book to see the other benefits that you may take advantage of. Use the tools given to you by GWRRA! Patrick and Darnell Lapera Assistant Chapter Director

10 P a g e 10 Riding season is well underway and Chapter U has been on the road! We have attended two very windy and chilly picnics and one fun day that lived up to its name! On April 7, we attended the Alabama District picnic at Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury, AL. Out of the seven that attended, only one braved the elements on his wing. Kudos to Bubba! It was a cold, windy picnic but that did not stop us from enjoying good friendship, food, and fun. On April, 14th twelve of us rode our wings to Panama City to attend Chapter FL1-L s picnic at the beautiful Under the Oaks park. It truly was under the oaks! It was a windy day but we held on tight to our food and had a great time visiting with our friends in Panama City. Mary and Freida had a really great time as they tested the bounce house that was set up in the park for a party. The ride back home was very nice, as the wind subsided and we stopped in Ozark at DQ to have a little ice cream. April 21st was another great ride to AL F & Z s fun day. There were around 106 people in attendance! We had a group of nine, most of us first timers to F & Z s fun day. We were introduced to some new games and had fun participating in them. Our ride home took us down some beautiful country roads. Coming back into Ozark, we couldn t pass DQ by without stopping for a treat! We are looking forward to more adventures as the weather becomes better and the days get longer! Ride safe! Be safe out there! James & Freida Clayson

11 P a g e 11 We are getting into full swing with fun in April and May. Several of us are racking up the points for our point system. Remember this will culminate with our Christmas Party fun. So keep coming to the gatherings and other events. Show your Cruisin' U Pride and wear your chapter shirts and vests. We attended 2 picnics and a Fun Day during April. Lots of fun was had by everyone. We have our annual Alabama District Rally coming up soon. At this rally there will be 2 Guided rides and several seminars/modules taught. I am teaching a Trailering seminar there. There are several Chapter U Members that will be part of the entertainment so don't miss it! Plus our very own Pat and Darnell Lapera will be competing for District Couple of the Year. Please come and support them! We have 2 events near the end of May/beginning of June I want to make you all aware of. (1) Missouri Rally - 30 May - 5 June Many of our chapter will be attending. Some have even planned to stay afterwards to fish for trout in the world famous Lake Taneycomo. (2) Alabama District Motorist Awareness Day (MAD) June 2 Those who do not go to the Missouri Rally will need to meet at the Alabama Welcome Center to promote Motorist Awareness. I have been told that FL 1-L will be supporting us for this. Thanks to our friends in Panama City! Please remember to keep your memberships current. It is through those dues that our Association is able to function. James & Freida Clayson

12 P a g e 12 GWRRA Cruisin U s May 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 GWRRA AL-G Gathering Po Folks Enterprise 6PM Staff Meeting Ray & Joan s 6PM 5 FL-1-L Picnic Blountstown KSU 8AM Ross Clark & Cottonwood Rd SC District Rally 6 7 GWRRA-FL-1-L Gathering Po Folks, Panama City KSU 3PM Chevron 52 & Brannon Stand 8 GWRRA-AL-U Gathering Golden Corral 6PM Tin Top Breakfast Ride KSU 8AM Hardees Ozark AL District Rally GWRRA GA-H Meeting BJ s Buffet Albany GA June 1 2 MAD Day Missouri Rally