Gold Wing Road Rider s Association Chapter P Pittsburgh, PA PA District, Northeastern Region

Transcription

1 Gold Wing Road Rider s Association Chapter P Pittsburgh, PA PA District, Northeastern Region Friends for Fun, Safety, & Knowledge Volume XI NOVEMBER 2012 Issue XI DISTRICT & REGION TEAMS NE Region Director Tom & Renee Wasluck Assist District Director Rick & Andi Riek District Director Dana & Danise Hartle Assist District Director Larry & Linda Dice Assist District Director & Membership Enhancement Coordinator Jim & Diane Heffelfinger District COY 2013 Walt & Pat Cole (814) District Rider Education & MAD Doug & Cindy Motter Assist. District Rider Education Phil Pirozzi Gathering: November 18th, rd Sunday of the Month Eat N Park Restaurant Route 60 & Manor Park Dr. Robinson Township, PA (412) :30 AM Breakfast 10:00 PM Meeting Chapter P TEAM Chapter Directors Marty & Karen Miller (412) millermartin@lycos.com Assistant Chapter Director TBA Chapter Educator Andy Lucas (724) Treasurer Larry Meyer 2012 Chapter Couple of the Year Andy & Hilda Lucas Ride Coordinator Larry Meyer (724) Mad Coordinator Andy Lucas Randy D. Shirley H. 3rd 25th What s Inside: Miller Time Page 2 Ride Meeting Page 2 Ride for Kids Page 2 Rider Education Page 3 Chapter Couple Page 4 On the Road with Howie Page 4 Carl Erb Story Page 5 Chapter Events Page 6 Jere D. Goodman Page 7 Chapter Events Page 7 Christmas Dinner flyer Page 8 Larry Meyer Flight 93 Ride Page 9 Newsletter Editor Darlene Pirozzi dpirozzi2003@hotmail.com Chapter Goodies Karen Miller Webmaster Marty Miller

2 GWRRA PA CHAPTER P NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 2 Marty & Karen Miller Except for a few people that ride in any kind of weather the riding season is over. In three weeks, it will be Thanksgiving and a month later will be Christmas. As I sit here and write this Hurricane Sandy has we should say missed the Pittsburgh area and that is ok with me. You take for granted the things we have like a warm house and to be dry. It will take those people months to recover and winter is all most here. We have put the final touches on the Christmas party and we think you will like it as its going to be better than last year. The cost will be $20 per person with the chapter picking up a $5 contribution towards the meal. We will have the same lady cooking for us as we did last year. The meal will be lemonbaked scrod and roasted chicken, pasta, and stuffed cabbage with salad and vegetables and potatoes. The party will be on December 9 th from 5 till 9 at the American Legion in Carnegie. (the same place as last year) If you wish to participate in the grab bag, please bring a gift for a man or woman with a $15 dollar limit. We also need Chinese auction items so bring whatever you have to raffle off. A little note from our ride coordinator..larry would like to have a ride meeting at the next gathering. We are going to eat at 8 with the meeting at 9 and we will have the ride schedule meeting right afterward and I hope we can be done by 11:00 o clock or so. So any rides that you would like to see added please come and let us know RIDE MEETING Larry Meyer, Ride Coordinator 2013 RIDE SCHEDULE MEETING WILL FOLLOW THE GATHERING DEC 16 TH. Please come for breakfast at 8:30 AM. The gathering will begin at 9:30 AM (half hour earlier) You are an important part of our chapter! Your suggestions help! No ideas turned away! PLEASE BRING IDEAS FOR NEW RIDES! Where would you like to go in 2013? What is that favorite restaurant you d like to go to? Maybe a favorite ride we have done before? How about an overnight ride? SPECIAL THANKS TO HOWIE AND ZEEK FOR STEPPING IN UP IN MY ABSENCE! If you can t come to the meeting, please send your ideas to me via at: gl1832@msn.com or call me at:

3 GWRRA PA CHAPTER P NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE COUPLE OF THE YEAR Andy & Hilda Lucas AUTUMN RIDING Autumn is a lovely time of year and compared to winter, it is a lot easier to cope with from the driver s perspective. Granted, it is about on time, but autumn has arrived. In addition, with it we have two predicable seasons problems. Fallen leaves may be colorful, but when combined with heavier seasonal rainfall, they can catch an unwary road user. Slippery leaves are a significant traction problem. As they fall, they tend to accumulate near the gutter. That in turn means that there is a potential vicious circle: the leaves get soaked and stick together, effectively blocking the drain and preventing water running away. So a combination of mushed up leaves and water accumulating between them quickly build up possible skit situation for motorists and a difficult area to negotiate for those on two wheels. The classic problem area is a leafy avenue where a motorist is taking a corner and perhaps unaware that one or more wheels are sliding across the mulch at the same time. The darker mornings and early evenings also means that spotting surface water is not as easy at this time of year. If the road surface is black, you can t see where pockets of water have accumulated until you hit them, which can mean a sharp, unexpected jolt to the handle bars. Treat leaves and unseen surface water with a degree of caution and be ready to slow down a little: you need to be certain what it is you are driving on. Remember to protect what you intend to use later on in life. Andy Lucas PA-P Educator ; The month of October has not been too active. We were going to Chapter D's gathering last Thursday at the North Park lounge. I will say that Hilda and I had a very nice dinner. We were the only ones there, no Chapter D members. We thought that the meeting was canceled because of the pig roast that Saturday. When we got home, I checked Chapter D's newsletter, and guess what! Their gathering is now held at Perkins in Cranberry. I will note that the PA chapter gathering list is wrong, it has not been changed. On Sunday, October 14 th, we went for a ride on the bike to McConnell s Mills. When we got home, our bike had oil all over the left side of the bike. I checked and found out that the left fork seal had failed. The seal not only failed, but the dust cap, rubber seal, medal clip and washer had all slid to the top of the shock. I called around and had the bike taken to West Hills Honda. I was afraid to ride the bike with no shock action on the left shock. I now sit at home with warm weather outside and no bike to ride. Isn t that the way it always happens. So, we will see what happens next month. Andy & Hilda Lucas COYPA-P Sick bay Larry had hip surgery as scheduled and is doing better than he expected as his bike knows.. Carl has a body cast because of a Kayaking accident and now thinks he s superman because you can t punch him and hurt him. He will be in that for a while. However, his bike also knows he is still alive, as he has put some miles on it with the ride coordinator on some of those beautiful days we had before Hurricane Sandy.

4 GWRRA PA CHAPTER P NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 4 October 22, 2012 I wish some of my fellow wing riders could share my experiences but it also gives us all something to talk about when we see each other. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the next gathering. On the road with Howie I am sending something for the newsletter, along with our visit to Daytona Beach for Biketoberfest, which is something everyone should experience, if you have never been, nothing like 100,000 bikes and more people than that and every sideshow and types of people you can only imagine till you see them. I got off track a little but we are staying near Ocala FL, which is home to the Big Daddy Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, so we made a trip there. I was highly impressed with the museum, it took about three hours to walk thru all the exhibits, there are about 100 racing dragsters and an extra room that is filled with motors from the drag racers. The museum is also filled with thousands of photos and other displays. Included in the admission is a second museum with antique cars and other automotive related antique tools and memorabilia. This museum is located on the same property and has some of the nicest antiques that I have ever seen. I was surprised to find a few one of a kind cars there. I also was very surprised to find a distributor testing machine that I have the very same one of. I have been trying to decide what to do with, I think I hold on to it. I also saw a transmission jack that I also have and still use. Another great day here! We went to visit my cousin Pat. I have not seen her for about 6 years. We had a great time talking about all the time since we have seen each other. Not a whole lot of riding about 150 miles but, very nice weather. Low 80's, and sunshine! We're off for some more visiting tomorrow, a little more riding. Looks like another nice day tomorrow! We'll keep ya posted! We decided to get home early to miss the predicted rain. So we left Morristown, TN at 9am yesterday and got home around 5:20 PM. A very smooth ride home, took the fastest route about 90% interstate. We were lucky, very little construction or traffic so we made very good time. Our trip was great. We enjoyed visiting family and all we saw during our travels. I have to say that as much as we enjoyed our trip, we are glad to be home and back with our friends and fellow riders. Looking forward to seeing all of you soon! Love Howie and Shirley I would recommend that you visit these museums should you ever get in the area. I am having a great time here with my wife and visiting my sister, we are going to visit my cousin Patty that I haven't seen her in years as she lives here in FL and me in Pa, I can t wait to see her.

5 GWRRA PA CHAPTER P NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 5 Old Bikers Never Give Up They Just Get New Parts or Props Carl Erbie Erb As most of you know, I had a serious back injury while kayaking two months ago and have not been on my bike since the accident on August 26 th. If you read your newsletters, you also know that Larry and Pat Myers have been a bit on the disabled list too. Larry had a hip replacement and Pat had a serious blockage scare requiring her to have stints placed in some of her arteries. We have been communicating about our medical woes and progress and just wondering if and when we would be able to get back in the saddle again. IT HAPPENED! YEEEHHHHAAAA! In a conversation with Larry early in the morning, yesterday Oct 26 th, he told me how good he felt about a ride that he and Pat took the day before. (I think there is going to be an article accompanying this one where Larry tells about that ride.) He also told me they were going to go on another ride today because he was feeling good and wanted to get out again before the weather turns ugly like the forecasters are predicting. I wished I was going along, but was in the middle of a two-day job of gathering up the leaves in my yard and mulching them. The other deterrent is that I am still under doctor s orders to wear the custom molded back brace/cast at least until my next appointment, which is in just a few days. I think the doctor is going to tell me then, that I no longer need to wear it. However, I don t want to take any chances because sometimes on sharp right turns when my sidecar goes up in the air, it jars my back if it comes back down too quick. Hee Hee! When I came into the house to tell my wife about Pat and Larry s great ride yesterday and about the ride they were going to take today, Camille said, why don t you go with them? Hot Diggity Dog, I never expected the boss to say that! Not being sure how comfortable I would be riding my rig with that cumbersome brace on, I gingerly sat down being careful not to pinch the boys too bad to see if I thought I could do a couple hundred mile trip. I was not terribly comfortable, but good enough. Back to the cell phone I go, Hello Larry where do you want me to meet you and what time! We set a time to meet at the first eastbound pull-over point on the PA turnpike just a couple miles past the Monroeville exit. I made sure I got there plenty early, but just as I removed my helmet and got off my bike to walk around a bit, here comes that familiar looking tweety bird machine and its two passengers dressed in yellow and black. We took a couple of photos of ourselves with our bikes, Larry without his cane, but still limping and me with my Star Wars looking bullet proof body cast before getting back on the Pike. Unfortunately, being the technologically challenged person that I am, I had my camera on video (I don t even know how to do that video thingy. I must have accidentally pushed the wrong button) and don t know if our talented newspaper editor can salvage any photos to accompany this article. they were doing some remodeling so I just walked around the site and read the information. I know this year is the 10 th anniversary of the rescue because I had seen something about it on the news. I must admit I did not remember all that much about it, so when I returned home I looked it up on the internet and read all about. What an incredible rescue all the volunteers, mining and drilling companies and government agencies did in such a short period of time to rescue all nine trapped miners. If you have never read about it, you should check it out, it is truly amazing, the very religious would say miraculous. Upon our arrival at the site, we saw a very interesting contrast of Things in America. It was difficult for us, especially for me with my wide sidecar rig, to get up to the parking lot because parked right in the middle of the drive was a beautiful, fancy painted, modern day, 45 foot long tour bus which was loading its Mennonite passengers. The women were all dressed in their traditional plain long dresses and their dainty white bonnets and the bearded men were dressed in their buttoned shirts and suspendered trousers. I do not envy, but certainly do admire the Mennonites, Amish and other religious groups like that for being able to keep to their traditions with all the worldly chaos that goes on around them. AMERICA, what a great country! We next went to the Somerset Discount Store on Main Street. If you have never been there, you need to check it out the next time you are in Somerset. It is a deceptively large Heinz 57 Variety type discount/closeout store with a surprising variety of tools, T-shirts etc I had never been there, but Larry and Pat had been there often. From Somerset we took Route 281 down into and through Confluence then at the top of the hill we turned off onto Sugarloaf Road down into Ohiopyle. The winding roads were fun and the scenery was beautiful. BUT we were more than just a taaaadddd late to see the beautiful foliage. From Ohiopyle we wound up over the hill on State Route 2010 through Deer Lake to Chalk Hill and then west on Route 40. At the top of the hill by Summit Lodge we took a right off 40, went down the windy road through Jumonville and then back down into Uniontown to the Golden Corral arriving just in time to catch the Senior Citizen s discount for an early dinner. After dinner we went on 51 to I-70 back to the Turnpike where I waived good by to Pat and Larry as I got off the Monroeville while they continued on to the next exit to get back to their home. It was a beautiful riding day and great ride for three Wounded Wingers who are Back In The Saddle Again. We only hope there are many, many more to come. We got off the PA Pike at the Donegal exit; took 31 into Somerset; stopped at a Sheetz for gas and some goodies then went on up to the Que Creek Mine Rescue Site. I had never been there before, but Larry and Pat had. The museum wasn t really open because

6 GWRRA PA CHAPTER P NOVEMER 2012 PAGE 6 NOVEMBER 2012 CHAPTER P EVENTS MARK YOUR CALENDARS! PUT THIS CALENDAR O N YO UR FRIG! DO N T M ISS ANY EVENT! DATE DAY EVENT LOCATION TIME NOVEMBER 18 TH 8:30 AM BREAKFAST SUNDAY GATHERING EAT N PARK 10:00 MEETING All rides subject to change.check chapter home page scrolling banner for details: Open ride is a ride that people want to go to and they can arrange a meeting place and time. If you are not sure about a ride due to weather or not sure where to meet feel free to call our ride coordinator, Larry Meyer on his cell at

7 GWRRA PA CHAPTER P NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 7 September 12, 2012 I am pleased to announce a special Wing Ding 35 Promotion in conjunction with our Home Office. We will be giving away a four-night stay and two registrations, (one from each Region-US and Canada) along with one winner from overseas. All full registrations received by May 1, 2013 will be eligible for a drawing to be held at Home Office and winners will be notified as to their hotel location and full registrations will be refunded. I encourage everyone to get their registrations in early as Wing Ding 35 in Greenville, SC will be an outstanding Wing Ding! Mark your calendars and don t be tardy; it s a grand old time at the Wing Ding Party! Sincerely, Jere D. Goodman Director of GWRRA

8 Sunday December 9, 2012 The American Legion 421 Jane Street Carnegie PA Social : 5:00 pm 6:00 PM Dinner 6:00 PM A Gift Grab-Bag will be held. If you are interested in participating please bring a gift marked for man, woman, or couple. $15 limit. Dinner Buffet Lemon-baked scrod and Roasted Chicken Pasta, and Stuffed Cabbage Salad, Vegetables and Potatoes. Chinese Auction Bring items to raffle off Clip reservation slip and send to: Marty Miller, 1321 Chappel Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA Make checks payable to: GWRRA PA Chapter P. Reservations due by December 2nd Name: Chapter Address: City: State: Zip: Phone: Number of GWRRA Members Attending: x $20.00 Number of Non-GWRRA Members Attending: x $25.00 Total Amount Due =

9 NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 9 Thursday - Flight 93 ride Larry Meyer 1 st long ride after surgery. 230 miles that day rode to flight 93 National Memorial took the turnpike, got off at Donegal, RT 31 lunch at the Oakhurst. $8.95 lunch buffet. Then to the memorial. No fee to enter. Entrance off 30 east, 3 ½ mile ride back to it. Enter thru a gate, to see 40 freestanding tablets, a ¼ of a mile walk. No gift shop. Out house style bathrooms no running water. They close at 5pm sharp. The ranger came back with a wheel chair after he walked 2/3 of mile. Over all, we were not impressed with the end result of this. Rangers there do a tour, answer any questions.

10 NOVEMBER 2012 ISSUE MAILING LABEL GOES HERE FIRST CLASS MAIL Marty & Karen Miller GWRRA PA Chapter P Directors 1321 Chappel Avenue Pittsburgh, PA Friends for Fun, Safety & Knowledge