Alamo City Wings. Chapter H Officers

Transcription

1 August May Alamo City Wings Volume 32 Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge! Issue 05 Chapter H Officers Chapter Director Bruce MacMaster BAMac45@aol.com Assistant Chapter Director Vacant Chapter Educator Vacant Secretary/Treasurer Charles Fleming txgoldwing00@att.net Membership Coordinator Phyllis Ellis Pcelde@swbell.net Chapter H Staff Web Master Dean Davis dean@jeanniesherbs.com Newsletter Editor Kathy Vallejo kvall@att.net Technical Advisor Len Ellis Pcelde@swbell.net Chapter Photographer Dean Davis dean@jeanniesherbs.com Activity / Ride Coordinator Charles Fleming txgoldwing00@att.net * From the Chapter Director * This month seems to have gone by very quickly. The weather can not make up its mind whether to remain in winter mode or switch over to summer mode. We had great weather going up to Fredericksburg for Chapter O s Bluebonnet Rally. We did the quick route up so we could go on their planned ride which we modified so we did not have to backtrack. We arrived back from the ride just in time for Bar B Q from Coopers. We did not have to worry since they had plenty which allowed some in our group to partake in seconds. We were not the largest chapter in attendance nor did we win any of the prizes but we did win some of the silent auction articles and everyone had a good time. Since it stays light later now and the rally ended in plenty of time for us to take the long way back, we traveled to Highway 16 all the way to San Antonio. The next rally will be the Texas District Gumball Rally in Wichita Falls on May Our May gathering will be your last chance to buy raffle tickets for the grand prize of a motorcycle or the Rider Education prizes. If you are going Texas District Officer s & Staff District Directors... David & Christina Vidrine Asst. District Directors.... Mike & Robin Thacker District Educators... Ricky & Karen Frazier District Treasurer... Diane Shults Membership Enhancement Coordinator... Steve & Billie Fleming Asst. Membership Enhancement Coord.... Jim & Alvalin Woodul Entertainment Coordinator.... Kenny Shults District Couple of the Year.Mike & Robin Thacker COY Coordinators..Jean & Dave Simmons District Trainer... Open... Let everyone know at the meeting so we can ride up as a group. Vendor Coordinators... Kenny Schults Webmaster... Tom Sprague Newsletter Editor Christina Vidrine

2 Volume 32 Page 2 of 14 Issue 05 let everyone know at the meeting so we can ride up as a group. We still are looking for departure times to Wing Ding from our members. If you have decided on a date let us know so we can publish it on our website. We have people leaving two weeks before or the weekend before or just before the start of the rally. Some will spend the entire week in Greenville while others will spend just one or two days there. I m sure that no matter what your plans are someone will want to join you for a fun time. Our May meeting will be on the 1 st at 7:30pm at Logan s Roadhouse. Come early for dinner. Hope to see you there. Ride Safe and Often Bruce A. MacMaster, Chapter Director Rider Education TWO UP=HEADS UP By Jackie Vaughan The person who occupies the back seat of a motorcycle has always been called the passenger. Now they re called co-riders and it isn t simply to be politically correct. The word passenger suggests a person who has no responsibilities for the operation of the machine; one who is simply along for the ride. A co-rider, on the other hand, shares some of the responsibilities for the safe operation of the motorcycle. Sitting in the back seat means a lot more freedom to enjoy the scenery without worrying about the technical part of the ride. But with the freedom comes the responsibility. A co-rider does not have the right to bury herself in a book or to take a nap. A blanked out person on the back seat is of absolutely no help and may even be an additional danger if the ride has to brake or swerve suddenly. Her reflexive actions (such as to grab the rider wherever she can or to lean away) will probably be exactly the wrong ones. The co-rider should ride as exactly that, a co-rider. Not a passenger, but a second rider. While it is always preferable that the co-rider has had a motorcycle safety course, even the normal street skills used in everyday driving will help in spotting hazards. Being an extra pair of eyes for the rider doesn t mean being a backseat nag. It means spotting hazards and knowing how the rider

3 Volume 32 Page 3 of 14 Issue 05 normally reacts and being ready to help in that effort. If the rider does not show that reaction, the corider should speak up. An experienced co-rider knows how hard her rider brakes during normal braking, and whether hard-line braking will be necessary. She prepares herself by holding the grab rails and bracing her feet. She does not slide forward, banging helmets and pushing the rider onto the tank. When she spots a pot hole or a large piece of rubber, she knows her rider will soon swerve, and she is prepared to let the bike move under her. She knows when it s OK to move around, and lets her rider know when she will make a move, such as scratching her ankle, which will affect the balance of the bike. The rider also has the responsibility to communicate with his co-rider. He should let her know when a nasty bump is coming or if he wants to counterweight a turn. He shouldn t play surprise just because he finds her reactions funny. Two-up riding is a team sport. And that means working together to make the ride fun and safe for both. THE LAST NICKEL A father walks into a restaurant with his young son. He gives the young boy 3 nickels to play with to keep him occupied. Suddenly, the boy starts choking, going blue in the face. The father realizes the boy has swallowed the nickels and starts slapping him on the back. The boy coughs up 2 of the nickels, but keeps choking. Looking at his son, the father is panicking, shouting for help. A well-dressed, attractive, and serious looking woman in a blue business suit is sitting at the coffee bar reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. At the sound of the commotion, she looks up, puts her coffee cup down, neatly folds the newspaper and places it on the counter, gets up from her seat and makes her way, unhurried across the restaurant. Reaching the boy, the woman carefully drops his pants; takes hold of the boy s testicles and starts to squeeze and twist, gently at first

4 Volume 32 Page 4 of 14 Issue 05 then ever so firmly. After a few seconds the boy convulses violently and coughs up the last nickel, which the woman deftly catches in her free hand. Releasing the boy s testicles, the woman hands the nickel to the father and walks back to her seat at the coffee bar without saying a word. As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no ill effects, the father rushes over to the woman and starts thanking her saying, I ve never seen anybody do anything like that before, it was fantastic. Are you a doctor? No, the woman replied, I m with the Internal Revenue Service. took the I10 detour for hazardous cargo to get around the backup. We never saw the accident but heard that it was another motorcyclist. The third was in Tarpon Springs, Fl. Again all but one lane was blocked. This accident did not evolve a motorcycle. If drivers would learn that merging should be like a zipper, they should go as far as possible in the blocked lane before moving over to get around the accident, everyone would get by faster and it would be fair to all. Before leaving Texas we saw the start of many different industries that are common on the coastal communities. The first was crawfish farms along the highway. These are large flooded areas that have red traps sprinkled throughout the pond. The meat from these crustaceans is used in Creole food. New Orleans is well known for its great combination of French and Creole food. TRIP TO KEY WEST It was ironic that we started out in the rain because San Antonio is still in water restrictions because of a drought. We were just on the edge of the rain and by our second gas stop we put our rain suits away for the rest of the trip. There were too many accidents on our way down to the Keys. The first one was on IH10 west of Houston where a motorcycle was down blocking all lanes. We had to get on the shoulder to get by. The second one was in Mobile where we

5 Volume 32 Page 5 of 14 Issue 05 interstate to get through Mobile and into Florida. In New Orleans we ate breakfast at the IHop that was affiliated with the motel and then went down to Jackson Square to have beignets. The restaurant was very crowded so we decided to go through the take out line and eat them in the park. They were good but very messy because they were drenched in powdered sugar. The three to an order that we each got were washed down with either coffee, latte' or hot chocolate. Along the coast in Louisiana and Mississippi we passed many bayous where fishing was the main industry. When the white beaches started in Gulfport tourism became the rule. The Far East part of Mississippi started a new industry, shipbuilding. We got off the coast road and hopped up on the As it was getting late and we lost two hours because of day light saving time and going into the eastern time zone we said we would stop at 5 o'clock where ever we were to eat. We lucked out by stopping at the small town of Defuniak Springs in Florida and ate at Mc Lains Family Steakhouse, that had a great deal on their buffet. All the food from salads to deserts including a large selection of entries was good. We arrived in Tallahassee about 9:00 pm ready for a shower and a good night s rest. The next day we headed down the west coast of Florida. When we went by Tarpon Springs I remembered when I used to live in Tampa that we would drive over to go collect scallops in the bay. We used a small boat to get out in the bay, which was shallow enough to free drive to the bottom and pick up scallops as they swam to gather food. When we got home we would cook up the batch right away to take advantage of the freshness of these delicate morsels. Another business in Tarpon Springs was sponge diving. The people that originally started this industry were mostly from Greece. We ate at a Greek restaurant right down the street from Len's brother's motorcycle shop.

6 Volume 32 Page 6 of 14 Issue 05 We stopped to say hello, see his classic motocross motorcycle collection and to do a little maintenance on an instant trike kit. I asked about the scallops they had on the menu (to see if they were from the local area) but found out they were the large deep-sea scallops. I ordered a spinach pie with a Greek salad instead and the waitress said that was a better choice. When the food came the salad was huge compared to the spinach pie but both were very good. I always like to go to local restaurants instead of chains when traveling because you usually get great tasting food and you get to try local delicacies. Another business that you don't see too often in other states was advertised on billboards along the Florida coast - Sinkhole repair. Most people now know about this problem since a sinkhole that formed in the middle of a house made the national news recently. It is nice to have CBs on our motorcycles to keep track of everyone. We got separated a lot going through cities because different people got stopped at different lights. Some were very long so the group that made it sometime was out of sight by the time it changed back to green. This was brought home after we got split into three groups each going a different way because of poor signage and one way streets but we were able to shortly round everyone up and get back on track via the CB. As we headed further south another water business started showing up. More and more SCUBA shops could be found on the highway. As we headed across the Florida swamps new businesses dealing with alligators and swamp tours could be found. We stopped at a gas station that also was a roadside attraction displaying birds and small alligators. The proprietor of a small shop came out to look at the bikes and said that if we wanted to go around to the back of the building there was a large alligator in the swimming pool. We of course had to see it so we went back and there was a nine foot eight hundred pound one in the deep end of the pool. In the shallow end was his smaller mate. They hardly needed the sign that read: No Lifeguard on Duty Swim at Your Own Risk. We stopped at an overlook in the Everglades and saw wild alligators, although they were not very active. There were lots of fish swimming with

7 Volume 32 Page 7 of 14 Issue 05 them and they did not care, must have already eaten for the day. We have been traveling without any motel reservations the whole trip but decided to check what was available in Key West since it was a ways down and there seemed to be more and more spring breakers as we traveled south. There were rooms available but they were all in the $200-$400 range, more then we wanted to pay. We decided to stay in Homestead and just ride down and back that afternoon. We ate lunch before heading down the keys. We picked a place in Homestead and everyone ordered their special of surf and turf. The steak was very tender and the shrimp were good in both size and taste. I was real lucky sitting next to our one person who is allergic to seafood but ordered the special anyway since it was less than if he ordered a steak by itself. I got to eat his shrimp except for the one I shared with another shrimp lover. After lunch we checked into the motel so we could drop off the trailers and backpacks before heading to Key West. We rode past the zero mileage marker of US-1 and then went to see the southernmost point of the continental US. On the way down we saw some animal crossing signs that were both familiar and new and different. The familiar one was a deer crossing one. What was different about this one was it was located on one of the southernmost keys. We saw deer on the way back and I wondered how they got to this key in the first place. The two new signs that I saw were for crossing locations of alligators and panthers, luckily we saw neither crossing the road. The next day we traveled through farm land where all sorts of fruits, vegetables and trees could be seen growing. There were large strawberry fields, lots of tomatoes with ripe ones easily seen from the road. We could see the workers picking up peanut plants and planting some new crop. If you get a palm tree in any northern state it probably came from one of the large groves that we passed. Short trees were loaded with papayas. We also passed coconut trees and stands

8 Volume 32 Page 8 of 14 Issue 05 advertised drinks made with coconut milk and sweetened with cane sugar. After traveling awhile we finally came across huge fields of cane sugar. I now know why purple cabbage is more expensive than the green; in a large field of cabbage only one strip was purple. It was a big contrast with the rest of the field of green. We than passed some of Florida's cattle industry. We saw signs at the entrance to the farms that said: Beef. It's What s for Dinner. Florida is a large producer of beef and has lots of cowboys, just like Texas. After we got out of cattle country we finally saw some orange groves. There were even lots of oranges on the trees but you could not smell them like if they were in bloom. We also pasted some groves that had been neglected and I don't think they will ever have any more fruit. Our route took us along the entire length of Lake Okeechobee, the largest fresh water lake in Florida. We had hoped to see the lake as we traveled but I forgot there was a 35 foot berm built around the entire lake in the 1030 s to prevent flooding of the surrounding farm lands so the only time we saw water was when we crossed a large bridge. After passing the lake we started looking for a place to eat. After looking for two restaurants that the GPS said were close by and finding them both closed we changed roads since we did not want to back track after going three miles out of the way looking for the second one. We eventually ended up were our original route was taking us and stopped at another local seafood restaurant. I could eat seafood all the time so I was happy with their special, broiled flounder. We stayed in Orlando on Wednesday night before heading to Daytona for bike week on Thursday. The motel even had a swimming pool that I used. I swim every day so I was missing that. It

9 Volume 32 Page 9 of 14 Issue 05 was an outdoor pool so it was cold but I was able to get a few laps in. On Thursday we planned to attend bike week in Daytona. The weather had been warm up to this point. When we woke up it was in the 40s with a wind chill in the 30s. We took off at our regular time of 8:00 am and encountered little traffic on the way. We stopped on the way to get gas for the trike that was pulling a trailer so it got the worst mileage and we used its range to determine when to stop for gas. The price was the highest ($4.37) that we had seen so he just got enough to get into Daytona where we all filled up for $3.81 per gallon. Our first stop was at the Sunshine Mall where all the gold wing venders were located. We all managed to find something for our bikes. I had my seat modified by Wing Soft. Nothing like traveling 2000 miles to Florida to have work done by a company that is located 100 miles away in Austin, Texas. We spent so much time there that we decided to eat lunch in the restaurant located in the mall. This was recommended by some of the vendors. Another buffet with lots of good choices. Next was a cruse down US-A1A to Main Street to see all the bikes lining both sides of the street and all the people hanging out. Bikes were parked everywhere downtown. Next we went to the Daytona Speedway to see the Honda display plus all the other venders attending the rally. They mostly dealt with Harley motorcycles but had accessories for all makes and models. We spent a couple of hours there and stayed to see if we could win a Go Pro camera. Nobody in our group won the camera but we did win a shirt and cap for riding the longest distance to the rally. We headed out across lake country for our planned stop in Ocala. We saw a couple of painted horses in town that reminded us of the painted buffalo in Custer, SD. Every city that uses painted animals for promotion of the arts uses what the local area is known for, in this case we were now in horse country. These are racing horses like you find in KY. Leaving Ocala the next morning going west saw more and more horse farms. There were also more cowboys and cowgirls used in advertisements just like in Texas. After a while we crossed over the famous Suwannee River. This was the second time on the trip for this was one section of US- 19 that we traveled in both directions. After going through one national forest and before going into the next one we came across another major accident blocking both lanes of traffic. This time we had to go into the grassy medium to get around it. It must not have rained for a while because luckily for us the ground was hard. After that we headed for the coast. This time it was the gulf coast in the Florida panhandle. The sand in this section is very white and very fine. We stopped at one beach and saw someone flying between feet above the water being held up by a stream of water produced by a jet ski

10 Volume 32 Page 10 of 14 and delivered to the pilot through a tube attached to his backpack. On the way to the tunnel on I10 going into Mobile we ran into another accident that backed up traffic on the entire bridge. We were on the bridge for a little over an hour. By the time we reached the tunnel the accident scene was cleared and it was clear sailing from there. This has been a bad trip for accidents. Most of the group decided to go straight home from Mobile the next day instead of stopping in Lake Charles like originally planned. No one was interested in gambling or seeing a show. We broke into three groups and left at slightly different times. I made it back at 7:30 PM after traveling about 660 miles of interstate. Besides the last day, we only did another 200 miles of interstates out of the total 3400 miles for the entire trip. It was great riding weather and everyone had a good time. By Bruce MacMaster MAY 27TH IS MEMORIAL DAY PLEASE REMEMBER ALL THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THE ULTIMATE FREEDOM OF THEIR LIVES SO THAT WE CAN ENJOY ALL THE THINGS IN OUR LIVES THAT ARE MEANINGFUL LIKE, FAMILY AND FRIENDS! Issue 05

11 Volume 32 Page 11 of 14 Issue 05 Alamo Cycle Plex I.H. 10 West Complete Bike Financing Sales and Service r WDC Trike Conversions, Inc * MTC Voyager Trike Conversions * Champion Sidecar-Trikes, Sidecars, Colorado Trailers & Patriot hard bags. * California Sidecar-Trikes, Escapade Trailers & Sidecars * Cyclone Alarm Systems * Klicktronic-Electric Shifter * LED Lighting * Rivco Accessories Wayne: 2wingnuts2@earthlink.net Daniel: 2wingnuts@earthlink.net Colby: 2wingnuts3@earthlink.net TRIVIA Broccoli is the only vegetable that is also a flower. MAY BIRTHDAYS Otis McDaniel. May 2 Bruce MacMaster May 4 Jeannie Davis...May 5 Strawberries contain more Vitamin C than oranges.

12 Volume 32 Page 12 of 14 Issue 05 Ride & Activity Schedule Date Start End Event Description Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 6:30 p.m. for 05/01/13 18:30 20:30 dinner, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. 05/05/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 05/11/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go TEXAS DISTRICT CONVENTION-MAY 16 th thru May 18 th -Check 5/16/13 web site for details TEXAS DISTRICT CONVENTION-MAY 16 th thru May 18 th -Check 05/17/13 web site for details TEXAS DISTRICT CONVENTION-MAY 16 th thru May 18 th -Check 05/18/13 web site for details Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go For those who did not go to TEXAS DISTRICT 05/19/13 08:00 14:00 Convention ARKANSAS DISTRICT CONVENTION-May 23 rd thru MAY 25 th Check the 05/23/13 web site for details ARKANSAS DISTRICT CONVENTION-May 23 rd thru MAY 25 th Check the 05/24/13 web site for details ARKANSAS DISTRICT CONVENTION-May 23 rd thru MAY 25 th Check the 05/25/13 web site for details Meet at Bandera Café (Bandera Road) for breakfast. Meet at 8:00am for breakfast, or 05/25/13 08:00 14:00 show up at 9:00am just to ride. 05/27/13 MEMORIAL DAY 06/02/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride pick a place and go 06/05/13 18:30 20:30 Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 6:30 p.m. for dinner, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. 06/08/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go Meet at Mimi s at La Cantera and IH-10 West for breakfast. Meet at 8:00am for 06/16/13 08:00 14:00 breakfast, or show up at 9:00am just to ride. 06/22/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 06/30/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go WING DING in Greenville, South Carolina July 3 rd thru July 6 th Check 07/03/13 web site for details WING DING in Greenville, South Carolina July 3 rd thru July 6 th Check 07/04/13 web site for details WING DING in Greenville, South Carolina July 3 rd thru July 6 th Check 07/05/13 web site for details WING DING in Greenville, South Carolina July 3 rd thru July 6 th Check 07/06/13 web site for details 07/06/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 12:00pm for 07/13/13 12:00 14:00 lunch, meeting starts at 1:00pm. 07/14/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 07/20/13 08:00 14:00 Ride to Utopia for breakfast at Lost Maples Café Utopia, TX and then ride in the area 07/28/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 08/03/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 08/07/13 18:30 20:30 Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 6:30 p.m. for

13 Volume 32 Page 13 of 14 Issue 05 dinner, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. 08/11/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 08/17/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 08/25/13 08:00 14:00 Meet at El Chapparel Helotes at 8:00am for breakfast, or at 9:00am just to ride. 08/31/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 09/02/13 LABOR DAY Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 6:30 p.m. for 09/04/13 18:30 20:30 dinner, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. 09/08/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go KANSAS DISTRICT CONVENTION Abilene,KS Sept 13 th thru Sept 15 th Check their web 09/13/13 site for details KANSAS DISTRICT CONVENTION Abilene,KS Sept 13 th thru Sept 15 th Check their web 09/14/13 site for details KANSAS DISTRICT CONVENTION Abilene,KS Sept 13 th thru Sept 15 th Check their web site for details 09/15/13 09/14/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go LUNCH RIDE DESTINATION TO BE DETERMINED===We will meet at 10:00am and go for a ride in the hill country and make our way for lunch around 1 to 2pm. 09/22/13 10:00 15:00 09/28/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 6:30 p.m. for dinner, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. 10/02/13 18:30 20:30 10/06/13 08:00 14:00 Going to Brick s in Bandera, TX for breakfast, then ride afterwards. 10/12/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 10/20/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 10/26/13 08:00 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS AT 2:00 AM- MOVE YOUR CLOCKS BACK going back to 8:30 am departure 11/03/13 08:30 14:00 11/03/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 6:30 p.m. for dinner, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. 11/06/13 18:30 120:30 11/09/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go LUNCH RIDE DESTINATION TO BE DETERMINED===We will meet at 10:00am and go for a ride in the hill country and make our way for lunch around 1 to 2pm. 11/17/13 10:00 15:00 11/21/13 THANKSGIVING DAY-TURKEY DAY 11/23/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 12/01/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go Chapter Meeting/Gathering at Logan s Road House on IH 10, Meet around 6:30 p.m. for dinner, meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. 12/04/13 18:30 20:30 12/07/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 12/15/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 12/21/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 12/25/13 CHRISTMAS DAY 12/29/13 08:30 14:00 Breakfast Ride - pick a place and go 01/01/14 10:00 15:00 HAPPY NEW YEAR.POLAR BEAR RIDE- Meet at 10:00am, and take a ride for Lunch in the Hill Country Note: Unless otherwise indicated all Chapter "H" rides start at the parking lot behind the Exxon and Whataburger located at Bandera Rd. & 1604 (Northwest San Antonio.) Rides are subject to change. Changes will be communicated via the website, Newsletter, and/or e-mai

14 Chapter Director 6419 Red Jacket Dr. San Antonio, TX 78238