GWRRA - Gold Wing Road Riders Association Region D - Michigan District Michigan District Region D "The Great Lakes Region" "Friends for Fun, Safety and Knowledge" AUGUST 2016 Ray and Sandi Garris Director of GWRRA director @gwrra.org Jack Wagner Deputy Directors Region H & D jwagner10@cox.net Mellissa Eason Chief Operating Officer 800-843-9480 meason@gwrra.org Lloyd & Becky Glydewell Region D Directors (937)-322-7156 lglydewell@att.net Bob & Kim Scott MI District Directors bobnkim58@gmail.com MI DISTRICT TEAM Contact Information listed on last page Page 1 We are trying to get this I issue out early this month to once again remind you of the opportunity to enjoy two great rallies in the next two weekends. First off is the Region D Rally, July 28 th to July 39 in Coldwater, MI. The theme is USA Proud. At a time in our Nation's history like this, we need to pull together as the great extended family that we are and show Coldwater our pride. If you haven't been to a Rally in Coldwater, why not come give it a go. Your District Team is going to set up a campsite for judging that will make us Meechiganders proud. Next up the next weekend will be our Michigan Rally in Evart, Michigan. We won't plan the Rallies back to back next year and We only did it this year because it was the only weekend available at what is quite possibly the best campground in Michigan to hold a Rally. We have talked to the Osceola County Fair grounds and they will have made a couple of improvements for this year. We'll see smoother road surfaces on the grounds and the use of a much better building for seminars as well as everything we had last year. The planned rides have been updated, we will have a Western Jail to lock up rowdy cowboys and cowgirls. Friday night we'll have a square dance (sure we'll have lessons). continued
After the square dance, we will have a costume contest and some fun prizes that are top secret. The only problem we want you to have at the Rally is that you won't be able to Do it all! We will have a shooting gallery, might have a horse there to sit on for a picture, and more good guys and bad guys running around than you can shake a 45 at. If you aren't there, all we'll be missing is you! Now on a not so serious note, we are having the hardest time giving away money, I'm going to have to find out how Publisher's Clearing House does it. Oh, our prizes are a little smaller, but I wouldn't turn down $25.00 just for reading the District Newsletter online! For July, our winner COULD have been Steve Hayes from Chapter S-2. If you know Steve, see if he'll give you $25.00 cause he must not need it! Read the District Newsletter, find your membership number, call or email Bob Scott at 989-429-9144 or bobnkim58@gmail.com. And win $25.00! Keep the wheels turning, and a smile on your face. Just wear a full face helmet! Michigan District Director, Till next time, Bob Scott Michigan District Director Michigan Ohio Indiana 2016 Region D Couples of the Year! Brent & Sandra Blackburn Michigan Gary & Karen Ballou Ohio Ray & Melinda Faber Indiana Page 2
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Wear Your Helmet! Recently I came across an article in an ancient form of commutation, a news paper. It was dealing with accident statistics in Michigan. I was going to submit the whole article but my information retrieval device ( Kim) is unable to process my request. So to paraphrase the article it mentioned traffic deaths for different vehicles. Most were on the rise, including bicycle, cars and motorcycles. Of coarse Motorcycles caught my eye. The article made no mention of Michigan's recent change in helmet laws, but the statistics for the first full year with the new regulation in place, motorcycle deaths rose 29 percent in Michigan. I think this is profound. Wearing a helmet or not is certainly a personal choice. The law says so. Most of our members and friends choose to provide themselves with this level of protection so I'm preaching to the choir. I just wanted to share this with you to affirm you are making a good decision! Keep it Safe, every way You can. Bob Scott Michigan District Director A quick and easy email is all it takes to get your event in Wing World Magazine! Look for simple instructions in Wing World... Page 6
Couple & Chapter of the Year Brent & Sandra are Chapter Educators at Chapter E Page 7
As I write this the temperatures are in the low 70 s, the sun is shining, Bike Time in Muskegon is in full swing and it is the perfect time for a nice long ride. Unfortunately I am stuck at work but I will get a chance for a short ride later. I have spent some time checking out what the weather conditions are for our upcoming Region D and District Rally s and even for the trip to Wing Ding. So far everything is looking good, but we all know that the weather can and will change and we have to be ready to adapt. Being able to adapt can keep us safe while riding especially with rapidly changing traffic flow, weather and environmental conditions. It can help us have a good life, work and family experience. Adaptation can even help in our Chapter lives. Chapter activities change, membership has growth spurts or sometimes membership shrinks. Chapter Officers step down for whatever reasons and hope others will volunteer their time to step up to take over a position and help the chapter out. When everyone in the Chapter helps out things go smoothly and transition between officer changes are positive. All of this will help your chapter continue to be successful whether your chapter has 100 active members or 6 active members. The number of active members is not an indicator of a successful Chapter, the amount of fun is. Speaking of fun there are many activities coming up in the next couple of months make sure you check out the events page so you don t miss anything. Highlighting our activities for this year will be Wing Ding our National/International Rally in Billings Montana taking place August 31 through September 3. For those attending Wing Ding don t forget the International Couple of the Year Selection on Tuesday August 30 from 1 to 4:15 p.m. at the Rimrock Auto Arena Our own Region D Couple of the Year Melanie and Chuck Geggie will be participating in this selection and would like the support of their fellow Region D members. If you can make it please do and cheer them on. Now I feel like making plans for a nice long ride out through the prairies, plains and mountains of our beautiful country. Hope to see you soon, Cheryl and Randy Wiggins Membership Enhancement Coordinators Page 8
Hello everyone, Sandy and I are having great fun going to all the events, ice cream rides, going back to our home town of Kokomo, Indiana to see my mother and brother and his wife, went to Warsaw, Indiana to see Sandy s brother and kids. There are just not enough weekends during the summer. Since our last newsletter went out we went to the Region D Couple of the Year Camp Out. This was in Portland, Indiana. We had fun with the other District Couples, Gary and Karen Ballou from Ohio, and Ray and Melinda Faber from Indiana. This was an opportunity for the Chapter Couples of the Year to come and see what this was all about. We hope to see everyone at the Region D Rally in Coldwater, MI to cheer us on. We have been loving all the new friendships we now have with our Goldwing Road Riders Association family. We just wish we had joined sooner. My dad came up from North Carolina for during the 4 th of July week. We done a lot of talking and running around together. We went on our first ever hot air balloon ride, our balloon s name was Joseph s Coat, and the pilots name was Joey Gauthier, another thing to check off the bucket list. So if anyone is interested in a great balloon ride, here is the information. Balloon Depot Charters, 248-568-4847, or nudgeme@comcast.net. I taught an ARC course in Stockbridge with Ken Kintner from Chapter W. We had 4 motorcycles and 7 participates. I think we had as much fun as the participants. Please remember to keep up your skills and practice slow speed maneuvers. I heard someone say that Straight roads don t make riders good motorcycle riders. Or something to that effect. I was ready to teach at Sault Ste. Marie but only had one participant, so it was cancelled. Our chapter, Chapter E, went a road trip to the Tall Ship Celebration in Bay City. There were 18 motorcycles. We had a great time looking at all the old ships. We are getting ready for a great time at Region D Rally, I hope we see everyone there. We will have an update in the next edition. Brent & Sandy Blackburn Michigan District Couple of the Year Page 9
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I would like to thank everyone who helped sell raffle tickets this year. This will help The Children s Rainbow Connection of Michigan. Also it will help your Chapter make some money. Again a big THANKS to anyone who sold tickets. I would also like to thank my South East Section Chapters for having their tickets into me on time and in good order, it made my job a lot easier. We were on our way home Friday day from eating out and come up on a bike down in the middle of the road and the person that was driving the bike was laying in the road about 20 feet way from the bike. He had no helmet on. He had severe head injuries. Look at this picture and see if you can fine his helmet. I know in the summer it get hot and a helmet is hot to wear, but it can save bad head injuries. I know your family would like to see you come home,( if for some reason you had an accident) with no brain damage. SO WEAR YOU HEL- MET!!! (His helmet is in a cloth bag alone side the road). Will see all of you at Region D Rally And Michigan District Rally. Anyone going to Wing Ding 38 be careful and wear you helmet. Thank You, Bob & Marcia Kinsey, ADD SE Section Page 11
Region D FUN! Are You Having Fun? Michigan Rally FUN! Your Region Team and Michigan Team does it all for YOU so don t miss the FUN! Hope to see you all SOON! Ken & Patti Kintner, MI District Trainers ken@vplenawee.com (517) 902-9893 Page 12
By the time you read this, Region D will be over and Michigan Rally beginning. I think I'll go out on a strong limb and say that Region D was great. That all of you who went on a ride had a beautiful one. That each of you participated in as many fun events as you wanted to. That you all supported Brent and Sandy as our Michigan District Couple in the selection process for Region Couple. That you at least tried to donate blood. That you attended any of the great seminars that caught your attention. That you took a moment and thanked Lloyd and Becky, our Region Directors, or any of the Region Team, for a great rally. That you supported the vendors that came. That you enjoyed your free and/or discounted ice cream in town. That you had fun riding in the light parade through town. And what about the great meal that Jan put on for everyone! Did anyone try the pie eating contest? Or the Amazing Team Challenge? Did you go to the Grumpy Hour?? I hope you not only visited with 'old' friends, but made some 'new' friends, too. So much to see and do, your participation makes the Rally. I'm also pretty sure that not everything will have been what you wanted, but I hope that any criticism will be constructive and given with kindness. Look for the positives and let the positives outshine any negatives. With the exception of a couple of events, it's pretty much a ditto for the Michigan Rally. We'll want to thank Bob and Kim and other Michigan Team members for an outstanding 'Gunsmoke' rally. You'll want to participate to get the most out of our Rally. So grab your cowboy hat to exchange for your helmet when you arrive at the Fairgrounds in Evert, and plan for a gunsmokin' hot weekend of fun. Yes, this is not a 'normal' article from me to you, and a good portion of it is copied from my own Chapter J's newsletter article for this month. It's simply thoughts I wanted to share with you. What's hard in writing this early is not knowing who has become our new Region D Couple of the Year. Of course I am cheering for Brent and Sandy all the way. They are an exceptional couple that have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. I trust that all of you cheered them on, and will continue to support them in every way possible. Go Michigan District! Go Brent and Sandy!! Be Blessed, Carol and Gary Williams Michigan District Couple of the Year Coordinator Chapter MI-J Directors 517.262.6314 gwrra.mi.coy2014@gmail.com Page 13
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DATE EVENT CHAPTER PLACE AUGUST August 4-6 Michigan Rally (Gun Smoke) Michigan District Evart, MI August 12-13 Soo Locks Campout Chapter Q Sault Ste. Marie, MI August 13 Picnic Group Video 2015 Chapter S2 Bellville, MI August 18-20 East Central Section Campout Chapter V2 Host TBA August 31 Sept 1-3 Wing Ding 38 GWRRA Billings, MT SEPTEMBER September 9-10 Chapter Campout Ontario H Sault Ste. Marie, CA September 11 Anniversary Party Chapter K2 Big Rapids, MI September 11 32nd Annual Toy Run Chapter W Adrian, MI September 24 Anniversary Party Chapter F2 Davison, MI OCTOBER October 16 Boon s Lake Color Ride Chapter K2 Traverse City, MI Page 23
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