WELCOME TO BACK COUNTRY A.T.V. ASSOCIATION, INC.

Transcription

1 WELCOME TO BACK COUNTRY A.T.V. ASSOCIATION, INC. THE OLDEST AND FINEST A.T.V. CLUB IN COEUR D ALENE, ID. Hells Canyon COEUR D ALENE, IDAHO MAY 2014 P.O. BOX 595 VOLUME 14 HAYDEN, ID ISSUE 5 EDITORIAL BY DAN HUTCHINS

2 Back Country A.T.V. would like to welcome our new members. David and Christine Ballard, Allison and Amanda Ballard ( Ballard Golf Cars and Power Sports) New Business member Jodie Heitzman-----Mike and Tammy Haines & Nick Steve and Kathy Gates----Bobby and Angela Gregory & Jacquelynn Mike Sherick------John Mahin Welcome to the oldest and finest A.T.V Club in CDA we do it right. The 50/25/25 Drawing was $ Total 50% was won by lucky Karen Hutchins - $ % went to the club - $31.50 The pot was won by the really lucky David Orr - $ Below is a form for MEDSTAR. As a group we get a discount. The group renewal fee is $48.00 for 1 year or $ for 3 years; per household. Mail checks or bring to June meeting Due Date 7/1/14 Please make checks out to (Back Country ATV P.O. BOX 595 HAYDEN, ID 83835)

3 NW-MEDSTAR Individual Membership Form For Group Discount Membership Information (Please print clearly) Please select one: One Year Three Years Please return completed form to company/organization contact. I am an existing member (if you currently have a NWMS membership) Primary Member Name: Mailing Address: City, State, Zip: Phone: ( ) Address: Date of Birth: Employer or Group (required): Family Information: Membership benefits are for the primary member, his or her spouse or domestic partner and dependents eligible to be claimed on income tax. (Northwest MedStar no longer tracks dependent information.) First and Last Name of Spouse / Domestic Partner Date of Birth Statement of Understanding I have read and agree to the benefits, terms and conditions of the Northwest MedStar Membership Program as follows: 1. The benefits of the NW MedStar Membership Program are for me, my spouse or domestic partner as well as family members eligible to be claimed on my income tax. 2. All insurance payments related to the air transport will be paid directly to or transferred to NW MedStar. 3. Air emergency medical transports are based on medical need, not membership status. Medical necessity must be determined by a healthcare professional, a pre-hospital healthcare provider or another qualified third party recognized by Medicare. 4. New member benefits take effect 5 business days after NW MedStar s receipt of a completed enrollment form with payment. 5 I may cancel my NW MedStar membership at any time, however fees are non-refundable and the membership is non-transferable. 6. The NW MedStar membership is applicable only for those air transports in the NW MedStar service area, unless performed by a service with a reciprocal agreement. Signature Date The group renewal fee is $48.00 for 1 year or $ for 3 years; per household

4 Local Rider Club aims to mend trail relations while promoting safe Backcountry recreation. By Tomas Clouse Spokesman Review. May 8th The mountains of North Idaho and Eastern Washington provide one of the greatest playgrounds in the world for outdoor enthusiasts who seek to ski, hike or ride their way into all the best nature can provide. More than 100 years of logging has also left a patchwork of either roads or trails that provide access to everything from mountain lookouts to hidden streams. It s those same trails that also have sparked usage conflicts between those seeking to enjoy the outdoors on foot and those who chose to do it on the back of an all-terrain or utility vehicle. But a club based in Coeur d Alene is trying to battle the motorized stigma by working with the U.S. Forest Service to maintain trails and provide riders with a safe, fun way to learn the backcountry. Most of us were ex-motorcycle riders who got tired of picking ourselves up off the pavement all the time, 70-year-old Dan Hutchins said. Bicycles are an option, but some of our hips don t work so good. This allows us to still get out in the woods. Hutchins is the ride coordinator for the Backcountry ATV Association, which has about 190 members. It organizes about 20 rides a year and works with the Forest Service to maintain trails, and thus, increase access. The group preaches safety first and it discourages abuse, such has riders going off-trail. It s those cut-your-own trail violations that raise the ire of everyone from federal officials to all other users of the forest lands. All the club riders are provided Forest Service maps that show the trails and roads where they are allowed to ride, Hutchins said. There are too many people who ride by themselves, he said. You can ride and ATV for an hour and not walk back that day. If you break down or get hurt, you are not making it out. Hutchins said he often did that, until he found the club several years ago. A lot of people admit to me that they get lost once they get off their back porch, he said. They don t know where they can legally ride. That s the advantage of a club like this. Plus, you can sign up to ride with people your own age. The Backcountry ATV Association, which meets every third Tuesday in the Lake City, has several members who are retired and ex-military. A lot of them don t have anything to do with riding, but they just support the sport, he said.

5 Easy Rider Trucks and trailers lined the parking lot of Fourth of July Pass as riders arrived last Saturday for the club s first organized ride of the year. Jim and Kathy McBride went through their gear as they prepared for the ride. They had extra cans of fuel and waterproof packs strapped to their ATVs, which carried everything from safety equipment to lunch. I love to ride, Kathy said. She and her husband live in Bayview and just started spending their winters in Arizona. It s good to ride with the group so you don t have people trying to tear up the countryside, Kathy said. Jim, 73, retired several years ago from Washington Water Power. He said it s the people who keep him coming back for the organized rides. I ve been doing this since the day pretty near it started, Jim said of the club. That s why all these clubs organized, is because the Forest Service doesn t want the public on public land. All the riders gathered and Hutchins gave the safety speech to make sure all of them had their radios tuned to the same frequency. Some of the riders wore camouflage, or stylized ATV clothing, and some wore Carhart rain gear. We used to run on Channel 13, but that s bad luck, Hutchins said. Then we switched to 7, but everybody uses that. We decided to go to If you can t remember that one Hutchins told the group that they would stay mostly on forest road during the several-hour ride through the mountains to Harrison, Idaho, which is nestled at the south end of Lake Coeur d Alene. We are going to have a good ride, he said. Keep your headlights on for safety so we can see everybody. Take care of yourself and the person behind you. Nobody should get lost. If you get lost, just stop. If you go up whatever road you find, you can get really lost. We will turn around and come find you. He warned them about a stretch of snow on the trail, but it wasn t a factor. One or two of us stop and help to make sure they get through a tough spot, he said. Everybody is a newbie when they first start out. Then you learn you can do things with an ATV that you never believed was possible. The group then powered up and rode single file up the logging road. It was a great ride, Hutchins said after the day ended. Down there at the marina (in Harrison), they were tickled to death to see us walk in with 30 people. We made their day. Everybody got back and nobody got hurt.

6 Hutchins said he s not had a single injury or mechanical breakdown during the rides he s organized. That s my goal. Nobody gets left behind, safely home every time he said. I tell them if they break down, we ll figure out a way to get you and your machine out of the woods THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014 Rathdrum s Frank Traver uses ATV as his legs Frank Traver has his wheelchair strapped to the back of his ATV for a ride at Fourth of July Pass. Most people use off-road vehicles as a thrilling way to experience the outdoors. But when Frank Traver hits the woods, the ATV becomes his legs. Traver, 59, of Rathdrum, lost the use of his legs during a logging accident in He was operating a tracked-skidder when the machine went over an embankment and he was thrown as it rolled. He was 28 years old. I try anything and everything, Traver said. I played wheelchair basketball for years. I tried snow skiing, road racing. But the outdoors remained off limits until his wife, Donna, bought him his first ATV. When we first met, I remember asking Frank, What do you miss the most being in

7 a chair? Donna said. He said, I miss walking in the woods. I remember thinking, I am so going to get him a four-wheeler so he can get back out into the woods. When Traver arrived last Saturday for the Backcountry ATV club ride, he unloaded his ATV himself. In fact, most members said they often forget that Traver has any disability whatsoever. This guy actually went down a trail one time with a chainsaw in his wheelchair, clearing a trail, and he put guys to shame, ride organizer Dan Hutchins said. Not only that, he teaches little-league hockey and plays wheelchair basketball. Traver serves as treasurer for the club, which has more than 190 members. He s going with us tomorrow near Cataldo to help us open trail. When you get to know Frank, you end up forgetting that he can t walk, Hutchins said. But Traver has had both elbows worked on and his shoulders hurt from the force needed to turn his big machine. Knowing his issues, the clubs pooled its money last year and paid to install power steering on his ATV. There was not a dry eye there, Donna said, because they want him to continue riding with them as long as he can. Jim and Kathy McBride, of Bayview, are both longtime club members. They said Traver is one of the best riders in the group. He goes everywhere, Kathy said. Traver has a modified steel rack attached to the back of his ATV that allows him to carry his wheelchair wherever he goes. We ve worked with him clearing trails, Jim said. I can t believe how much he does. Most people would have given up after an accident like that. But giving up isn t part of Traver s creed. He s figured out a way to snow ski and water-ski, among his many exploits, his wife said. Traver, who speaks softly behind a huge smile, said his wife was training for second Ironman in Coeur d Alene when she bought a small ATV. He used it to ride alongside her as she trained on her bicycle for the race. He had a hand-crank bicycle and would ride with me on my long runs, Donna said. I bought him (an ATV) so he could be on my long bike rides. Frank can change a flat tire in a heartbeat. I always felt so safe with him riding behind me.

8 Donna, 62, who has had health issues that forced her to give up bicycling, bought a second ATV so the couple could ride together. It s the best thing that has happened to him, she said. For a man who spent a decade logging and his life outdoors, the ATV became the only way to experience a little bit of his past. It s just beautiful out there, he said. I get the fresh air, the great scenery and I get to see the animals. FRANK & DONNA in HELLS CANYON MAY 2014

9 A MEMORIAL DAY STORY It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean. Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp. Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a golden bronze now. Everybody's gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier, Ed is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of shrimp. Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier. Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank you.' In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and place. When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach and on home. If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water, Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad used to say. Or, to onlookers, he's just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the seagulls with a bucket full of shrimp. To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They can seem altogether unimportant... maybe even a lot of nonsense. Old folks often do strange things, at least in the eyes of Boomers and Busters. Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida... That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better. His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero in World War I, and then he was in WWII. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft. Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger and thirst. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were or even if they were alive. Every day across America millions wondered and prayed that Eddie Rickenbacker might somehow be found alive. The men adrift needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle.

10 They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged on. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft... Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull! Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal of it - a very slight meal for eight men. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait.... and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea. Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull... And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude. PS: Eddie Rickenbacker was the founder of Eastern Airlines. Before WWI he was a race car driver. In WWI he was a pilot and became America's first ace. In WWII he was an instructor and military adviser, and he flew missions with the combat pilots. Eddie Rickenbacker is a true American hero. And now you know another story about the trials and sacrifices that brave men have endured for your freedom. You've got to be careful with old guys, You just never know what they have done during their lifetime. And now you know the rest of the story. FOR SALE For sale 2 place atv trailer. It is in good shape, wheel bearings just gone thru, tires good has a spare, $550. obo thanks, Joe.

11 Arnold Howe President Wid Stewart Vice President Fonda Stewart Secretary Frank Traver Treasurer Roy Heughins Board Member Butch Peacock Board Member Joe Saffeels Board Member Gary Strickland Board Member Todd Fencl Board Member Dan Hutchins Newsletter Editor & Ride Coordinator & Web Master Thomas leo Web Host ACE HARDWARE 1217 N. 4TH ST, CDA 1604 E. SELTICE WAY, POST FALLS ALLSPORT POLARIS HONDA E BROADWAY AVE LIBERTY LAKE, erich@allsportracing.com AMERICAN INCOME LIFE INS. Jenny Williams jwilliams@ailife.com CP Office Web site

12 BALLARD GOLF CARS AND POWER SPORTS N Warren Street Hayden, ID dave@ballardgolfandpower.com BLOWN MOTOR (Shane Lewis), N Reed Rd Hayden, ID Phone : shane@blownmotor.com CDA Powersports/Honda 2745 SELTICE WAY CDA ID bikes@cdahonda.com CDA POLARIS 6040 E SELTICE WAY, Post Falls ID cdapolaris@yahoo.com C+C CONSTRUCTION Licensed and Bonded Spokane, WA djflett@aol.com Colbert Power Sports N. Yale Rd. Colbert, Wa mark@colbertpowersports.com

13 Free Lance Carpentry Hayden, Idaho (208) Cross Country ATV E. Bunco Rd. Athol, ID GATEWAY MARINA P.O. Box 232 Harrison, ID JB s Restaurants 704 W. APPLEWAY, COEUR D ALENE, ID (208) jbs@gmail.com Joel s Lawnmower Repair E. 8th Ave Green Acres, WA (509) JWMOWERMAN@COMCAST.NET Intermountain Security ROCKWOOD CT, RATHDRUM,ID jim@intermountainsecurity.com

14 Kootenai County Fairgrounds PO Box 2437 Coeur d Alene, ID (208) mary@northidahofair.com Lifetime Roofing & Siding 903 N DIVISION Pinehurst, Idaho lt@ltrands.com MISSION INN Café & Grill E. Canyon Rd Cataldo, ID Aware5950@yahoo.com North Idaho Trophy Co N Government Way Coeur d Alene,ID northidahotrophy@frontier.com. The SnakePit PO Box 83 Kingston, ID (208) keginvestments@gmail.com MR. TIRE PO BOX 276, ATHOL,ID hindberg@yahoo.com

15 North Idaho Propane PO BOX 2096 Hayden, ID ROCKY MOUNTAIN ATV/MC 1551 American Way, Payson, UT State Farm Insurance Tim Skelton CDA,ID TLCWebHosting.com Inc. Web Hosting and Website Design for ATV Clubs Website Design and Hosting Member Benefit: 2 Months FREE website hosting when you pay for 6+months. Free domain when you pay annually.