BANDIT TELEGRAPH WINGS AGAINST THE WIND AUGUST north of I-10 in Crestview, FL. 8 a.m. to eat and 9 a.m. to meet

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1 GOLD WING ROAD RIDERS ASSOCIATION WINGS AGAINST THE WIND CHAPTER FL1-O CRESTVIEW, FLORIDA REGION A, FLA DISTRICT GWRRA Directors and Chapter Officers National Director Don and Cindy Brock National Operations Director Jim and Margie Hodge Region A Director Larry and Patti Lingo Florida District Director Bob and Nancy Shrader Florida Assistant District Director Jack and Betty Birge District Couple of the Year Jake and Joanne Jacob FL1-O Chapter Director Wes and Jill Davis FL1-O Assistant Chapter Director Vacant Rider Education Charles Haraway Ride Coordinator Gene Lamm Public Relations Darrin and Donna Proehl Treasurer Berney Benham Web Mistress Rosa Mohrbacher Sunshine Jill Davis Historian Vacant Goodie Sales Jill Davis INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Directors Corner 2 Rider Education 3 Chief Bandits 4 Chapter/District 5 Event Photos/Misc 6 AUGUST 2006 BANDIT TELEGRAPH August Featured Story This is Mike Mohrbacher, one of our own, and this is his story Growing up, there was a guy that lived next door to us that had an old, old Harley with a kick starter and a side shifter. I always wanted a motorcycle, but my mother wouldn t hear of it. I once strapped a lawn mower engine to the back of a bicycle, and my mother blew her top!! I started riding motorcycles in 1970, on a Honda 305 Dream, but I don t remember what year the bike was. Since then, I ve owned a number of bikes, to include a 1972 Honda 500, Suzuki 650, 1982 Honda FL1100 with after market fairing and bags, 2002 Kawasaki, Nomad 1500, 2004 Kawasaki, and a Vulcan 750. Now I m riding a 2005 Honda Gold Wing. I m also housing a 2006 Honda Sabre 1100 for my son while he s away at school. Over the years, I ve had 2 accidents. Both of them happened in the Philippines, when I started riding. Both could have been avoided if I had been a more experienced rider. A couple of years ago, my wife Rosa and I were riding on Highway 98 in the outside lane. There was a Jeep in the inside lane with two surf boards tied down on the top. Just as I was passing her and reached the right rear corner of the Jeep, the surf boards decided to come off and go airborne. I thought we had bought the farm! There was no time to do anything except duck. One board went across in front of the bike. The other board went over our heads and clipped Rosa on the left shoulder, but didn t hurt her. It sure scared the both of us. Calendar of Events 7 FL1-O meets the third Saturday of each month at Ryan s just north of I-10 in Crestview, FL. 8 a.m. to eat and 9 a.m. to meet

2 From the Chapter Directors. Wes and Jill Davis Smile Walter!! See any Bandits?? The Stallion Report from Wing Ding 28 Well, if you didn t get to Wing Ding 28 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville you REALLY missed a great time!!! So much to do, so many people to meet and greet. Wes and I left on Saturday morning and got into Nashville around 3 p.m. We had to stay at the Holiday Inn Select the first two nights because blonde me didn t make reservations at the Gaylord Opryland Resort for enough nights. Anyway, it was clean and the pool was very nice, albeit a bit on the warm side. But, as usual with Holiday Inn s, they don t seem to be able to handle many people in the restaurant. But, it was still comfortable and relatively quiet. We got to the resort on Monday morning bright and early. Wes and I worked registration along with all the other Panhandle Bandits that went to Wing Ding. Fort Walton, Milton and Pensacola all had lots of folks attend. There were a few blurps, like no one at the Information Desk until about 9:30 a.m. (Registration opened at 8 a.m. and the greeters weren t told where things were), and they kept changing the place to buy tickets for some optional tours for Gold Wingers. No one was set up at the Rider Ed, Poker Runs or SIG, (Special Interest Group) tables, so we had to field those questions as well. But, on the whole it was wonderful, fabulous and exciting!!!! I can t say how much Wes and I enjoyed meeting and greeting people as the throng of humanity came through the doors. It was great!!! There are a lot of people who don t volunteer for things, and I guess because I m just a hard core volunteer and enjoy people, I had an outstanding time! Wes, also met so many people! And did what he loves best; talking motorcycles and GWRRA! But, standing for 4 hours can take its toll on the legs and feet. (My back as well.) So, once we left registration we had the remainder of Wing Ding to do as we pleased. There were so many seminars that you didn t know which one to attend first. One I missed and would love to have attended was one on the European Wing Ding!! Yes, that s right. A EUROPEAN Wing Ding. So, I really couldn t tell you anything about it. I m sure it will be announced. What fun that would be! The Gaylord Opryland Resort had a few hiccups and burps. Wes and I checked in at noon and got a room at 8 p.m. Evidently, there were lots of teens there. One group was The Future Business Leaders of America and another was America s Teen Miss, or Tennessee s Teen Miss, whatever! Anyway, one or both of the groups trashed so many rooms that Gaylord cleaning staff couldn t clean them fast enough to get others in the rooms. Not their fault, but it was tiring waiting around for the room. Then the parking for the Wings was ridiculous. They actually put us in the employee parking lot, way in the back. When I say way in the back, I mean WAY in the back. Then they bussed the employees nearly 40 minutes to get to work. I guess I just felt like we paid for a room and should ve gotten a parking space as well. Despite these problems it really was a great time. I can t tell you how many Gold Wingers and non Wingers we met and hope to see again. The Resort had so much to do and was so HUGE that you couldn t get to everything you wanted to do. I especially liked the Conservatory area. Waterfalls and plants. I couldn t be happier!! Then they had free entertainment. (Well, by free I mean you didn t have to pay extra.) They had a women on stilts dressed as ivy called Divine. Great visual. They had a show where people flew around a waterfall suspended by straps called Floats. Another group they had called the Peking Acrobats. None of us could fathom how anyone could walk after contorting the body the way the women did. The men climbed poles using their hands and arms only. Such strength! They were amazing! The resort had restaurants of differing types, like Italian, fine dining, casual, snacks, buffet, pub and sports bar. All the food we had, while being a bit pricey, was great! (Wes especially like the pub). There was live music and dancing and all kinds of stuff going on. You couldn t possibly become bored. Plus, there were so many vendors! And different ones. One woman was selling antique clothing and another was selling prepackaged foods, like soups, dips, etc. And, for the guys, they had many, many motorcycle vendors. Then there were GWRRA activities galore and test rides. I wanted Wes to try an 1800 and he wanted to ride an ST I wanted to try the ST. But, like I said, you couldn t get it all done, so neither of us tried the bikes. But, they were there for all to try. Closing ceremonies was so much fun despite the fact that in order to win the prizes you had to participate in a game of skill. They drew three numbers, (or more since some went home because of this), then they had to throw 3 darts. The highest score won. They gave the losers free registration to Wing Ding 29. (I could ve stood the consolation prize. Pretty nice of them I thought.) The Wing was won by a local boy. He will get his choice of any 2007 Gold Wing. They aren t made yet, so he will have to wait a bit for his prize, but what a prize! They also had a live band and dancing in-between throwing the darts. They dispensed with the usual prize awards presentations at the ceremonies, i.e., Poker Run winners, oldest, youngest riders, etc., and introductions. I guess you have to do those sometimes, but it made closing ceremonies fun and fast. Wing Ding 29 will be in Billings Montana. I wanted to sign up right there and then, but with Wes working we have to work out a few details, like vacation time to see if we CAN go. I know he wants to take his bike and I want to take the RV, so we re at an impasse. We ll work it out. There were so many people excited to go to Billings that they may have another record Wing Ding like this year. Speaking of records, here are a few stats that I brought back with me: Wing Ding 28 was the largest Wing Ding ever with 13,583 participants There were 1,246 Gold Wings and 1,288 non Wings in the parade. The parade made the Guinness Book of Worlds records as having the most single make bikes, the Honda Gold Wing. 328 people signed up to belong to GWRRA. 1,293 attended seminars, and last but certainly not least, 4.1 million dollars were given to Pediatric Brain Tumor, Ride for Kids from Gold Wingers making GWRRA the largest contributor to the foundation. On the way back we stopped at the Jack Daniels Distillery with Randy and Ginny Bauer. We were fortunate enough to be able to partake of the food at Miss Mary Bobo s Boarding House. It was actually in a Distillery dining room since the boarding house itself is under extensive repair work, but the food was served Family Style with other people, (14 at our table). The food was excellent and we met more new people in the process. It was a great time! GWRRA is a BIG family organization. Internationally! There were people from all over the world. The Canadians seemed to have the most fun, though. Check out the picture I got from one member of The Eh Team! The fun, the camaraderie is something that you have to experience for yourself. Make plans to attend! We ll see you there! Jill and Wes UPS Likes Wes and Jill!! PAGE 2

3 The Rider Education Corner. Thankfully, She Practiced What She Preached On an October afternoon last year, my wife Carol and I were out on our Wings on US-127 just north of Hudson, Michigan. I was in the lead and Carol was following me. We were enjoying this great road and the pleasant autumn weather with our cruise controls set at 55 mhp speed limit. Suddenly, to my left, I saw a blur. About the same time, I heard a sickening crunch. Glancing at my left rearview mirror, I saw the body of a large mule deer rolling across the roadway. In my right rearview mirror, I was horrified to see Carol s Wing flipping end over end along the shoulder of the road. Carol flew through the air and landed on her backing the roadside ditch. An ambulance arrived quickly and took Carol to the nearest hospital. Numerous X-rays and CAT Scans revealed no broken bones or brain damage. She had some contusions and was badly bruised all over. The hospital personnel could not believe she had no broken bones and commented on her protective clothing. Later, Carol revealed that she had never seen the deer that struck her Wing on the left front quarter, just behind the front wheel. Nor did she remember fling through the air and ending up in the ditch. But thankfully Carol had practiced what she preached. She had followed the advice she has been giving or years as Chapter TX-D s Educator by wearing protective equipment head-totoe. Her helmet was deeply scuffed in several places. Her leather jacket and pants were shredded. Her boots were both scuffed in the toe and the ankle areas. Her safety glasses had two deep vertical scratches on the right lens. Her gloves kept her hands abrasion-free. Her bike was totaled. Hopefully this report will change the thinking of at least some of our readers who don t think helmets and protective clothing are important. You never know when the unexpected will occur, an it s too late to put on a helmet or other protective gear when you re flying through the air! By Art Herzog, GWRRA # Texas Charles Haraway If you noticed, I have been silent about the Alabama Rally to this point. Well folks it s time to start talking about what is in store. We have some surprises for you and I hope you like. 1. This year at the rally we will conduct certified GWRRA courses for both ERC two wheels and Trikes. That s right we will have a ERC course and a Trike course. At least one of these courses will start on Thursday morning prior to registration. The schedule will be determined later. Just know it is our hopes to provide the safety training so needed in the state and the rally is a good place to start. Space is limited so if you want to attend either of these classes you will need to confirm your desire on your registration form. I will in turn notify you if a seat is available and then you can send in your $50. A portion of this money will be returned. We will keep the portion required to pay for materials, expenses and secure the parking lot. Lunch will be provided. 2. We will have two cruises this year. At least we have two scheduled. If we don t have enough participation in one of them the people signed up for that cruise will be given the option to go on the other. 3. We plan to have a dunking booth. Chapter directors and District Staff stand by for the members are going to get their chance to dunk us. This will be conducted a little different than most dunking booths. What we will be doing is selling balls to throw and for each ball you purchase you will receive a 50/50 ticket. Not only will the lucky winner get half the pot but also get to try to dunk some of their favorite targets. How s that for a twisted 50/ This year we will not have the indoor games. Instead we will simply give away door prizes. You will have the opportunity to purchase door prize tickets instead of playing the games. This will reduce the amount of people needed to work and make door prize distribution more fair. As we know there are always some games that give more tickets than others and interest in the games has been falling away. 5. We are searching for a band to play after the talent show. If we don t get a band we may simply get a disc jockey and have karaoke. This one hasn t been decided yet. 6. As you know our problems with the Lafayette Hotel will no longer be an issue. Our host hotels are the Malaga and Ramada Inn. Parking will no longer be a problem as both the Ramada and Malaga have large fenced parking lots. 7. The hospitality suite will be at the Malaga Inn Courtyard. This is a lovely courtyard across the street from the Civic Center complete with tables and chairs outside. Should the weather turn bad we will move it inside. 8. We are planning a cookout at the Ramada Inn on Friday night prior to the talent show. 9. The lighted bike show will be on Thursday night in the Civic Center in conjunction with the Ice Cream Social. 10. We will have tours of the area once again. 11. We will have a road captains course again. 12. We have new vendors interested in our rally and hope to have them attend. 13. The Grand Prizes will be $2500, $1000, $500 and we don t plan to throw darts. 14. Wow and we are just getting started. Make plans for the rally now. Get your pre-registration forms in as soon as possible and if you intend to take one of the cruises you need to indicate on the registration form which night you prefer to secure your tickets. Don t forget to indicate if you want to attend one of the motorcycle courses (Trike or ERC). Charles Haraway Jim & Karen Lee PAGE 3

4 NOTES FROM THE CHIEF BANDIT S DESK Jack and Betty Birge Once again Betty and I want to thank the 57 folks who worked the morning shift, opening day at Wing Ding. I would also like to thank those of you who volunteered to work, but wasn t needed. We received praise all the way down from National to District. In fact, National Staff stated this was the best ran, opening day in six years and I would contribute this to you guys leading the way. I counted a total of 88 folks attending from the Panhandle, and found out after returning of a new couple from Crestview attended we didn t count. The region Rally (August 31-2 Sept) is fast approaching and the Panhandle is tasked with taking charge of the Lighted Bike show which is scheduled for Friday night downtown at I have delegated this to Wes Davis, CD of FL1-O and he will be looking for a few good folks to help him. As always, we Bandits will be cooking pancakes and sausage on Saturday morning from 0800 to 0900 which is a couple of hours later than in the past. Being there will be no tables to bus or keep setup, I won t need as many folks to help this year. Cooks, servers and a few to clean up will be the basic needs. This kitchen is a lot smaller than we are used to, but we will overcome and have some fun at the same time. I know a lot of you in the Panhandle will be making a day trip due to the closeness of the Rally site this year and we will be looking for you there. Some other events in the area you might be interested in attending are as follows: Chapter FL1-A2 over in Tallassee has their annual Mall Show scheduled for Sat. the 12 th of August. They have been having this event for several years and use it as an excellent public relation tool and even sell a few tickets for the Gold Wing raffle. If you have the time, ride on over and support the Bandits on our east side. Then the 16 th of September, the D team from Pensacola will be having their mall show, which also will be the final Bandit Getaway planning session prior to the event in October. As of the first of July, there are a total of 611 folks, here in the Panhandle, who are members of our organization, but only about one third are active in the 6 chapters. It s their choice of course, but they really don t know what they are missing by not participating with the active members do they? There are a lot of folks who have not signed up for the Annual Bandit Getaway, remember this is your event to host for others and also make some operating funds for your chapter. There are eleven vendors signed up already and we expect more, outstanding poker run, food, music, parade, games and giveaways just to name a few things offered. Make sure this major event is on your calendar, Oct 20/21, Until next time, ride safe and have fun, Jack and Betty Birge Darrin and Donna Proehl need your input for future newsletters. Anything of interest, items wanted or for sale, rides that you would like the group to go on, or anything that might tickle your fancy in the motorcycle world!! Any business advertisements that you would like posted in the newsletter, send to Wes and Jill Davis. PAGE 4

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6 2006 FLORIDA GWRRA EVENTS Aug. 31-Sept 2 Region A Rally Perry Aug 12 FL1-A2 Annual Mall Bike Show Tallahassee Sept. 16 FL1-D Annual Mall Bike Show Pensacola Sept 23 FL1-F Benefit Poker Run Port St. John Oct. 8 FL1-H Bike Show Volusia Mall Oct Mississippi Rally Mississippi Oct Panhandle Bandit Getaway Crestview Nov.4 Four Chapter Spaghetti Social Orange Park Nov. 4 Florida Rider Fair St. Petersburg Nov. 11 FL1-L2 Poker Run Wesley Chapel Nov. 18 FL1-A Poker Run Tampa Dec. 9 FL1-S Mingle & Jingle Zephyrhills 2002 Yamaha V-Star Ready to Ride! Lots of extras! Brand new $600 mustang seat, hard lockable saddlebags, detailing, windshield. Loaded with chrome, lights and additional accessories FLORIDA GWRRA EVENTS Jan. 20 FL2-L Pirate Fest Lakeland Jan. 28 FL1-H Multi Chapter Breakfast Flagler Beach Feb 10 FL1-M Anniversary Clearwater Feb. 17 FL2-B2 Spaghetti Social Sarasota Feb 23/24 FL1A2 Annual Mini Rally Lake Talquin Mar.3 FL1-W Breakfast / Brunch Apopka Mar Florida District Rally Kissimmee May 26 FL1-F2 20 th Anniversary Poker Run Ocala Must sell due to health reasons Aspencade 1500 with 2003 Trike conversion. 45K miles, $17,500 Bike is clean and in excellent condition. Call Bob Higdon at Located in Alabama. Jim Lee Other social meetings and their meeting places FL1E-2 Fort Walton meets 1st Saturday at The Golden Corral 8am to eat, 9am to meet. FL1-Q Milton: meets at the Red Barn in Milton on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. 6pm to eat, 7pm to meet. FL1-D Pensacola: meets at the Golden Corral at 2260 Langley Ave, Pensacola every 2nd Saturday of the month. 8am to eat, 9am to meet. FL1-L Panama City: They meet at Larry s BBQ in Callaway the 1st Wednesday at 6pm. FL1-A2 Tallahassee: They meet at the Golden Corral on Monroe St., in On the Delta at the Gaylord Opryland Anyone claim this couple?? BIRTHDAYS Aug 1-Mike Mohrbacher Aug 10-Bettie Phillips Aug 24-Lynda Sanders Aug 26-Sheron Haraway Aug 28-Becky Donaldson and Sue Simpson Aug 31-Gary Rohr ANNIVERSARIES Aug 13-Jack and Betty Birge PAGE 6

7 August 2006 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Mike Mohrbacker 2 FL1-L Larry s BBQ in Callaway 6p Ft. Walton Meets 6 7 Kick Tires Crestview Sonic 6:30p 8 Milton Meets 9 10 Bettie Phillips Pensacola Meets Staff Meeting Pick-a-pair 5p Crestview Meets Kick Tires DeFuniak Springs 6:30p Becky Donaldson Sue Simpson Pizza Night Hide-A-Way 6p Lynda Sanders District Rally in Perry, FL begins Gary Rohr 25 Dinner Ride to Gator Café in Baker 26 Sheron Haraway