West Orlando Wings News Chapter FL1-W

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1 GOLD WING ROAD RIDERS ASSOCIATION FRIENDS FOR FUN, SAFETY AND KNOWLEDGE West Orlando Wings News Chapter FL1-W Serving parts of Orange, Seminole, Lake, and Osceola counties REGION A AUGUST 2013 FLORIDA DISTRICT Chapter Directors Carolyn and Ted Russell cd.fl1w@gmail.com ACD & Webmaster Kevin Lang traildawglang@gmail.com Chapter Treasurer Jim Gorski bigredtriker@gmail.com Rider Educators Ken and Mary Ann Long longkma@gmail.com Membership Coordinator Paul and Diane Andberg paul@andberg.com CG Greeter & Quarter Bucket Jim Pickup gl15trike@aol.com Ride Coordinator & IOY Gary Hoop twohoops@usa2net.net Events Coordinator/MFA Instructor & COY Connie Miller flwhitewolf@gmail.com 50/50 Sales & COY Brian Miller floridaernurse@gmail.com Motorist Awareness Coordinator Tim Tobin tstobin@gmail.com Chapter Shirt Sales Patti Geist pkh1900@aol.com Nova Scotia Trip MONTHLY CHAPTER GATHERING 2ND SATURDAY EAT 4:30 AND MEET 5:30 PERKIN S RESTAURANT 989 W ORANGE BLOSSOM TRL HIGHWAY 441 APOPKA, FL See you there! Director of GWRRA Jere Goodman Region A Director Bob and Nan Shrader FL District Director Bill and Gina Berry bgberry93@tampabay.rr.com Assistant District Director District Convention Coordinator Cliff Hotchkiss District Rider Educator Rick and Pam Northrop Membership Enhancement Bruce Griffing & Mary Haight District Treasurer Jim & Rebecca Iverson Motorist Awareness Coordinator Nate & Danelle Kinion Leadership Trainers Rick & Madalena Buck FL Couple of the Year Dana & Jo Voight

2 FLORIDA GWRRA EVENTS September 7! FL2-A 35th Anniversary Party! West Palm Beach September 12-14! Region A Rally/Convention! Eufaula, AL October 5! FL1-A Tampa - Fall Festival! San Antonio/Tampa October 5! FL1-D Pensacola - Green Frog Getaway! Pensacola October 12! FL2-G Ft Myers - Pancake Breakfast! Ft Myers October 17-19! Mississippi District Rally/Convention! Gulfport, MS October 19! FL1-H Daytona - Biketoberfest Breakfast! Ormond Beach November 2! Multi Chapter Goulash! Clewiston November 3! Tampa Bay Ride for Kids! Lithia November 9! FL1-X Orange Park - Spaghetti Social! Jacksonville November 16! FL1-K2 St. Pete - Skills Challenge & Rodeo! St Petersburg January 11! FL2-L Lakeland - Sock Hop! Lakeland January 18-26! FL1-K Palm Coast - 8 Day Cruise! Ft. Lauderdale February 1! FL1-S Zephyrhills - 30th Anniversary Party! TBD February 8! FL1-G Deltona - Happy Days Again Rally! Sanford April 12! FL1-F2 Ocala - Chapter Rally! Ocala August HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! 06 - Angelo Messano 10 - Shirley Amos Sweetheart ANNIVERSARY! Congratulations to Mike & Janet Pomakis 28 - Lance & Elise Lowery

3 CHAPTER W ROCKS!! AUGUST 2013 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Breakfast at the Winter Garden Restaurant :30 pm Chapter W Monthly Gathering DOUBLE BONUS NITE Breakfast at the Plymouth Woodshed (Details below) Lunch at the Tilted Kilt (Details below) Newsletter articles due to cd.fl1w@gmail Staff Meeting Perkin s 6:30 p.m Ride to Wolfy s Waterfront (Details below) MOST RIDES LEAVE FROM THE MOBIL (1501 N ROCK SPGS RD, APOPKA, FL) UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED If you are going but not from the start location, please notify the Road Captain (RC). AUGUST August 10 is Chapter W s Monthly Gathering of it s members. This will be Double Bonus Points night for the Florida District. We don t know who will show up from anywhere in the state of Florida. Come early and get your seat! Meet at 4:30 to eat with the meeting starting at 5: The Plymouth Woodshed is a great mom & pop place near Apopka along Rt Chapter W will be meeting there at nine for breakfast. Address is 2250 W Orange Blossom Trl, Apopka and you will find it on the corner of 441 and Boy Scout Blvd. Ample parking around back and on both sides. Come on your bike or in your car. It doesn t matter to us. We look forward to seeing you Lunch is being served at the Tilted Kilt at the corner of Lake Mary Blvd & Primera Blvd. just one block from the I-4 Lake Mary exit. Meet at the restaurant at 11:00 to beat the crowds. Excellent food and nice service makes this place stand out as a good destination for lunch. Go to tiltedkilt.com or GPS 901 Currency Circle, Lake Mary, FL 22 - Newsletter articles are due to Carolyn at cd.fl1w@gmail.com. All articles are welcome. Don t worry about spelling or grammar. I ll spruce it up. Recipes and jokes are always welcome. Make sure to label the subject line: Chapter W Newsletter Staff Meeting at Perkin s Restaurant. All Road Captains are welcome. We will be working on rides & activities for October. All Chapter W members are welcome to this meeting. Come share ideas. September 7 - Ride to Wolfy s Waterfront Bar N Grill in Sanford. KSU from the Mobil at 9:00 Road Captain is Gary Hoop.

4 Newsletter Advertising Prices Full Page Ad - 12 months! $200 6 months! $100 1 month!! $ 20 Half Page Ad - 12 months! $150 6 months! $ 75 1 month!! $ 15 Business Card - 12 months! $ 75 6 months! $ 38 1 month!! $ 10 Other Monthly Gatherings Cocoa FL1-N - 3rd Tuesday - 6:00-8:00 PM Kay s Real Pit BBQ 1552 King St., Cocoa, FL Important Websites Chapter W website: FL1W.gwrra-regiona.org FL District: floridadistrict.com Region A: gwrra-regiona.org GWRRA International: gwrra.org Chapter W Gift Shop Merchandise PINS GWRRA Crest Lapel Pin...!$ 1.00 GWRRA Crest Hangar B/G...!$ 5.00 Visitation Pin FL1-W...!$ 2.00 Green Eggs & Ham Pin...$ 1.00 PATCHES Griffin 10 Back...!$ Griffin 4 Front...!$ 6.00 Chapter W Rocker Set...!$ Region A patch...!$ 6.00 FL District patch...!$ 6.00 Large Map...!$ 8.00 Small USA Map or FL...!$ 7.00 APPAREL Chapter Polo - Green...!$ Chapter Polo - Orange...(see Patti) FLAGS Antenna Flag - Chapter...!$ Antenna Flag - USA...!$ Shopkeeper is Carolyn Russell. order to CD.FL1W@gmail.com or call for questions. Daytona FL1-H - 2nd Thursday - 6:00-8:00 PM Duff s Buffet Sunshine Park Mall - US Hwy 1, Daytona Beach, FL Proud Printers of this Newsletter Deltona FL1-G - 3rd Saturday - 9:00-11:00 AM Patio Grill 2900 S Orlando Dr, Sanford, FL Inverness FL1-T - 1st Tuesday - 6:00-8:00 PM B&W Rexall Drugs Restaurant 214 US Hwy 41, Inverness, FL Orlando FL1-H2-1st Saturday - 5:00-7:00 PM Perkin s Restaurant 6425 University Blvd, Winter Park, FL

5 Chapter Director s Message By: Carolyn & Ted Russell, Chapter Directors Chapter W Rocks!! Hi Everyone, Chapter W did a Long Distance Ride to Nova Scotia! The trip left July 6th from Tavares, FL. (See the picture on the front of this newsletter.) A big thank you goes to master planner and road captain, Gary Hoop, Chapter W Ride Coordinator. You will want to see Gary s article Let s Go For A Ride later in this newsletter. The folks that went on this 5,100 mile odyssey have made memories and cemented friendships along the way. They will be telling the stories-on-the-road at the September Chapter Gathering which will be the second Saturday of the month. You won t want to miss this meeting! As you are reading this Ted and I are almost to Alaska! This is an exciting time for us. We are celebrating a milestone anniversary with a trip we have been wanting to take for a long, long time. For the summer we have had a lot of get togethers early in the day to beat the heat! Dubsdread Tap Room was a new place for Chapter W and a good spot. We will be going back! We also had a ride to the Mason Jar near Umatilla. We met at the restaurant and had a great breakfast. Boy, was there a load of motorcyclists there. We also had breakfast at the Winter Garden Restaurant just this week. We want to welcome Ray and Rose who rode over with us, and thank Patti G. for inviting them to come along. We kept adding tables and chairs as Chapter W folks found there way to Winter Garden. We had a good time. Next week we roll into August. The August Chapter Gathering will be the GWRRA Florida Bonus Month for us. That means other chapters will be coming to our meeting to collect bonus visitation points. We will continue to eat at 4:30 and the meeting will start at 5:30. Hope to see you there! Also, the planning team has put together some good places to visit in August. Check out the calendar for August. Ted and I will be celebrating another anniversary coming in October. This will be our two year anniversary for leading this wonderful chapter. Ted and I have decided it is time for us to move on to persue other interests. We will be stepping down as your Chapter Directors at the end of the year. It has been an honor to serve you and we look forward to seeing what is in store as Chapter W turns a new page. Ted and I plan on being a part of GWRRA and Chapter W for many years to come. We love our chapter family as much as we love riding our motorcycles. What would we do without this positive force in our lives? In the meantime, we will be looking for someone to head this special group of people. If you are interested in learning what we do behind the scenes and possibly taking that next step into leadership, send me an at cd.fl1w@gmail.com. We d love to talk with you about the great possibilities and blessings you get from serving this special family. We love you guys. In a couple of weeks I will be having my grandbabies on my lap, and Popi (Ted) will be at the swing pushing our little ones. We will see you when we come back from our vacation with lots of stories to tell. Hugs to you all! Happy Trails Carolyn and Ted

6 Message from MEC By: Paul & Diane Andberg, MEC Coordinators At the beginning of 2009, I wrote an article on GWRRA Member Benefits on one-half of a page of our newsletter. Since then, Member Benefits have EXPLODED! I just downloaded the Member Benefits from the GWRRA home page and the resulting WORD document was 10 pages long! Here is a one-line list. Check out the GWRRA website for the details of each of the following. Wing World Magazine (included in membership) Rescue Towing and Emergency Roadside Service (included in membership) Rescue Plus An optional $25 upgrade. Gold Book Service Directory - You re never alone when you carry your Gold Book. Rider Education Free in Florida! Chapter Life - Come join the fun at a Chapter meeting! Leadership Training Free training that focuses on leadership skills. Membership Materials full-color patches, decals, Membership pins, plus more Find-A-Friend Council accumulate sponsorship credits towards Hall of Fame Awards. Couple of the Year (COY) COY recognition programs. Special Interests Groups Special interest groups. Professional Office Staff Exceptional customer service at Wing Ding In addition to the above, there are numerous Member discount programs: GWRRA Visa card VPI Pet Insurance Liberty Mutual Auto & Home Insurance Long Term Care Insurance Monumental Term Life Insurance TransAmerica Medicare Supplement Insurance RX Discounts LifeLine Screening: Preventative Health Screenings Big Bike Parts GWRRA Wireless Center FREE BlackBerry's and more OfficeMax Discounts LifeLock Identity Theft Protection JC Motors Transport GWRRA Official Products Apparel, jewelry, rider education aids, etc. GW Pins & Patches (custom made) Red Roof Inn - 15% discount on stays at all locations Motel 6-10% discount on stays at all locations Wyndham Hotels 20% off Wyndham including Days Inn, Ramada, Super 8 and more. Avis Car Rental - You can save up to 25% off. Budget Car Rental Up to 25% off. GWRRA Vacation Center Services Discounts on tours, cruises, etc. TNT Vacations Discounts Offering discounts on 26 tropical destinations. GoAhead Tours Vacation Discounts Travel Now - Discount travel program. So, you can see how Member Benefits have expanded in just a few years. Don t forget these services / discounts are available when you need them!

7 My Love for Motorcycling By: Kevin Lang, Assistant Chapter Director Lance s article A Change of Heart inspired me to write this article. I love this quote from his article: there are few times in one s life when a decision is made and without knowing, it absolutely changes your direction in life. I was first introduced to motorcycling when I was 14 years old living in Ohio. My dad and our neighbor Don were great friends. Our neighbor bought a dirt bike and got my dad interested in motorcycling. So, my dad bought a Honda 350. Back then, it seemed like a big bike. During the summer, my dad would give us rides all around the local back roads and parkways. During the winter, our neighbor would put a ski on his front wheel and pulled us on a toboggan around our backyards and neighboring golf course. It was a great time and I was hooked. Then, my dad sold his bike and we moved to Florida. But, I was still hooked. My first three vehicles were motorcycles, Honda 350, 450 and 750. My dad bought a Gold Wing and became a member of GWRRA. It was a burgundy 1100 Aspencade (I m not sure what year). At one point, I had moved back to Ohio and every summer we would meet in Gatlinburg TN and ride the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have many great memories of the trips we had taken. When I moved back to Florida, my bike went into storage and I started borrowing my dad s Gold Wing. Now, I am not only hooked on motorcycling but I am also hooked on Gold Wings. But, life got busy and I got away from motorcycling for about 20 years. After my parents passing, an opportunity came available for me to buy a motorcycle and the Gold Wing was the only one I wanted. To my surprise, I received Claire s support. And, there is that decision that changes your whole direction in life. My retirement plans now revolve around the motorcycle with traveling either on or with the motorcycle. This was my Honda 750 Kevin Lang Assistant Chapter Director traildawglang@gmail.com

8 FL District News Bill & Gina Berry, FL District Directors We hope you summer FUN is as good as ours has been. We attended Wing Ding in Greensville, SC and had a FUNtastic time. We would like to thank all of you (77 folks from 12 chapters) who assisted the Florida Team in covering the Poker Run and Ticket Sales. We saw so many of you and we saw you were following Rule #1...having FUN! The weather was bit on the wet side and yet it didn t stop the FUN! Many of the Florida folks were staying at the Drury Inn and the FUN continued. Special thanks go out to FL1-M and to FL2-L for sharing their 4 wheel rides with us during some of the hardest showers. Both of these groups rented vehicles during the week and shared it with others getting to and from the hotel or convention center. This is the kind of things that make GWRRA folks the best anywhere in the world! Tommy and Gail Wilson from Region N were selected as the International Couple of the Year at Wing Ding. We congratulate them and know they will be good ambassadors for GWRRA in the coming year. Our very own Dana & Jo Voight represented Region A in the selection process and they were outstanding! Our non-bias opinion tell us they were the best! Wouldn t you agree! Florida won the Largest District in Attendance outside of South Carolina. A number of Florida folks won awards. Great job all! You made Florida proud! August can be a mixed bag of weather giving us extreme heat or following July s example, lots of rain. Either way, we want to get out and visit our friends and socialize. We purposely set up the visitation program with this in mind. If you feel it s too hot or rain is a possibility, you can still visit and get points. I just read FL1-F2 Ocala s newsletter and it states, We will go by car if necessary. We know chapters are out visiting and yet many are not turning in the visitation forms. Only 10 out of 36 chapters have turned in visitation forms to Cliff. Hopefully, many more chapters are visiting for the FUN part while others are also visiting for the FUN part AND enjoying the competition side of the visitation program. We would like for you to turn in a visitation form each time you visit another chapter and after you attend the Region A rally. This allows us to compile statistics and make changes if necessary. We want to provide you with something that is easy to do and FUN at the same time. This also brings up our Plaque Attack Program that several chapters asked for. It was put in place as another reason for friendly competition and for chapters to travel around the state chasing Billy the Bobber while visiting with their friends and having FUN. Poor ole Billy has been floundering at FL2-E, Miami, for a long time. Please someone go and get him. He wants to ride the wind on a Wing not splash in the surf! Looking to September 7th, FL2-A, West Palm Beach, will be celebrating their 35th Anniversary as a chapter. They were the first chapter chartered in Florida. They are planning lots of party FUN, and we are all invited for the celebration! It s also Double Points visitation. Please let them know you re coming and how many so they can plan the food and FUN accordingly! Region A Rally is next on the event calendar outside of Florida - September in Eufaula Alabama. The Region staff will put on a great time for all who attend. Eufaula and The Lake Point Lodge is a great setting, and we Wingers have the place to ourselves. Fishing and golfing is available along with vendors, seminars, and just great FUN! Announcement! Announcement! We have a new venue for the 2014 Chapter Conference! The Hampton Inn & Suites (Tampa Northwest/Oldsmar, 4017 Tampa Road, Oldsmar, FL 34677, ) will be the Host hotel for our conference on January 3-5, Plan to arrive Friday evening, if possible, as the conference starts early on Saturday and runs through Sunday Noon-time. (Continued on Page 10)

9 S.L.A.D.E. By: Ken and Mary Ann Long, Chapter W Ride Educators Now that I have had my bike turned into a trike, I decided I should take a short two hour class from SafeRide to learn the different handling characteristics of a trike. At the end of the class I was given a great little booklet entitled Sidecar/Trike Education Program published by the Evergreen Motorcycle Safety Council. While the information is targeted to trikes, some of it is good information for all types of motorcycles. Defensive drivers should always be aware of their surroundings. The following five step process known as S.L.A.D.E. will help you survive road hazards. Search for hazards: Search aggressively ahead, to the sides, and behind to avoid potential hazards even before they arise. How aggressively you search, and how much time and space you have, can eliminate or reduce harm. Be especially alert in areas with limited visibility. Visually busy surroundings could hide you and your motorcycle from others. Locate hazards: Other vehicles, pedestrians, animals, potholes, guard rails, bridges etc. Remember, you should carry contact emergency information, along with medications and allergies, readily accessible. Is your First Aid kit in your trunk? If it s in a saddle bag, you might not be able to get to it. Also, always carry your cell phone on your person, in a jacket pocket or on your belt in the event you get separated from your bike in an emergency situation, you can still call for help. Anticipate: Consider your speed, distance, and location of hazards and anticipate how they might affect you. Decide: The mental process of determining your course of action depends on how aggressively you searched for hazards. The result is your action. You want to eliminate or reduce the potential hazard. You must decide when, where, and how to take action. Evasive action: Carry out your decision whatever it may be. Communicate your presence with lights or horn. Adjust your speed by stopping, slowing, or accelerating. Adjust your position and/or direction. In potential high risk areas, such as intersections, shopping areas, and school and construction zones, cover the clutch and both brakes to reduce the reaction time needed. The bottom line is to keep alert to your surroundings as best you can. The better you can do that, the more safe fun miles you will have. Safe riding, Ken & Mary Ann Long Side note: We are coming to the end of two years as the Ride Educators. We will be stepping down at the end of the year. If someone wants to take over then, or sooner, please let me know. Thanks.

10 (Continued from Page 8) The hotel is beautiful! Rates are $79 plus 12% tax per night. They are offering their 2 Queen Standard Rooms, 2 Queen Bedroom Suites, King Standard Room, and King Bedroom Suites at the $79 rate as available. The Cut-Off Date for RSVP s is Sunday, December 8 at 5 PM EST. Through the Cut-Off date, Group members are entitled to the Group rate, as long as rooms are available in the Group room block. Reservations requests or rooming lists received after the Cut-Off Date will be accepted on a space available basis. Group name: GWRRA. Please be considerate and realistic when blocking rooms for your chapter. Remember! The Chapter Conference is an approved chapter expense if chapter FUNds are available. It is the one event where new information, your OCP recertification, yearly financials and all the business stuff gets taken care of. We also announce the visitation winners and restart a new year of FUN in supporting and visiting our FL GWRRA family! You also have an opportunity to sit with the District Director (me!) for one on one questions at the Director s Round Table. Again, we want to thank each and every one of you who participate in GWRRA and especially in the Florida District! Each time you travel either on a motorcycle or by 4 wheels, you represent the best of what makes this association so outstanding...friends for FUN, Safety, and Knowledge! Thank you for allowing us to serve as your Florida District Directors! See you soon and always remember Rule #1...Have FUN!!! Bill and Gina Berry Florida Senior District Directors Assistant District Director s Message By: Cliff Hotchkiss, Assistant District Director Well, here we are at the end of the second quarter of visitations for Unfortunately I seem to have several chapters who did not send in forms. I suspect they are out there, but due to Wing Ding didn t get mailed. If you have some that haven t been sent in, please go ahead and send them to me, even though they are late. As of this time I have FL1-A, FL1-L2, FL2-A, FL1-K, and FL1-G as our top five. The flyers are out for our fantastic Wing Gathering coming up next March. Grab one and get registered today! Also, don t forget to make those all-important hotel reservations before you forget. It s a real bummer to get there and discover you forgot to reserve a room. This rally/convention is going to be a blast and you ll want to be a part of it. I think that s it for this time. Stay SAFE and have FUN. Cliff Hotchkiss Assistant District Director (FL1-G, FL1-H2, FL1-W)

11 Let s Go For A Ride! What are the chances of being rain-free for 16 straight days in July as you travel 5100 miles? Not great! Well, the improbable nearly happened. I think we rode a total of 30 miles in the rain on our Nova Scotia trip! And that was on the 1 st and next-to-last days of the ride. We had 8 bikes and 9 people make the whole trip. Riders from FL1-W included me, Shirley, Ted and Michelle. Lee and Deborah started out with us, but had to turn back after some bike repairs. We left Florida on July 6 th and got back home on the 21 st. We were blessed with outstanding weather the whole time we were in Canada. What a beautiful country. The planned highlight of the trip was to ride the entire Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island, NS. It was a 275 mile day of outstanding scenery, warm temperatures and blue skies. Perfect! We stopped at many overlooks for pictures and found a great restaurant for lunch. The next day we visited the picturesque village of Peggy s Cove on the way to Halifax. On our last full day in Canada, we stopped at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park to walk on the sea floor at low tide in the Bay of Fundy. Everyone had a great time. Friendships were deepened as we shared this experience. (You meet the nicest people on a Honda (or Yamaha)!) There were even a few nicknames developed during the course of the two weeks, but I won t get into that! Gary Hoop FL1-W Ride Coordinator

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