Page 1 Chapter Newsletter for October 2004 Est. 1990 Vol. #10-2004 Director s Report In November we will have the big elections. No not between Kerry and Bush, the HOG chapter elections. At the October chapter meeting we will take nominations for all the chapter officer positions. I urge all members to consider running for a chapter officer position. We need people to step forward and help our chapter move forward. Our chapter has a great bunch of members and it is a privilege to serve as an officer. If you are interesting in holding an officer position, please contact me so we can get your name on the ballot. Please see the attached side article for a complete list of the officer positions. Gary Landsgard will lead the chapter on the annual Leaf Ride on October 3rd. Meet at the Kwik Star in Waukon at 10:30 am for an 11:00 am ride. This will be the last official chapter ride for 2004. I m sure there will be some unofficial last minute ride planned somewhere before the snow flies. Plans are being made for the annual Halloween party scheduled for October 30th. Activities Officer Jim Reiser will have information on this event at the chapter meeting. Brandi from the dealership will have sign-up forms at the chapter meeting for the upcoming Open House and Fashion Show. This is our chance to strut our stuff with the latest motor clothes from Harley Davidson. Thank You to Jean Kane and Bernie Jaster for hosting the annual Toys for Tots Ride. This year s ride was the largest attendance we have ever had for the annual event. We had 50 bikes, 69 adults and 2 children on the ride. Thanks to everyone who took the time to bring toys for this very special event. Hopefully we can make some child s Christmas a little brighter with these toys. Again, I urge all members to attend this month s chapter meeting to take part in our officer nomination process. I hope to see everyone at the meeting. Till then, take care and ride safe. Jeff Mehmen/Director jmehmen@lifelineambulance.com 1-563-578-8072 Annual Chapter Leaf Ride Date: October 3 rd Time: 10:30-11:00 Meet: Waukon Kwik-Star Ride Time: 11:00 Ride Host: The honor or hosting and leading today s Road Adventure go to Road Captain # 1 Gary and Marsha Destination: The Isle of Capri in Marquette The Plan: We will ride a roundabout route in beautiful Allamakee and Clayton Counties admiring the spectacular colorful foliage of the countryside. At the Isle of Capri we will dine at their famous buffet. This is our last scheduled ride of the year. Don t miss this Road Adventure!
Page 2 Northeast Iowa HOG Toys for Tots Ride Sunday, September 19th chapter members and guests gathered at Waukon Harley-Davidson for our annual Toys for Tots ride. The honor of hosting and planning today s Road Adventure went to Road Captain s # 5 Jean and # 8 Bernie. Jeff and Randy did registration starting at 10:30 and ran until 11:30. The cost of going on this ride was one toy per person. With this being an open event and such a gorgeous sunny day, a whooping 69 riders and 2 children signed up. Usually we have about 30 to 40 on a ride. With 50 bikes on this ride, our road captains broke the ride up in 2 groups. At 11:30, Bernie led the first group, with Jean and Vic riding the sweep position. 5 minutes later Road Captain # 9 Randy led out with the second group with Road Captain # 2 Mike bringing up the rear. The planners were to take us riding through some of the most beautiful country in Allamakee, Clayton, and Dubuque Counties. The border counties in Iowa, Illinois and Grant County Wisconsin, down to the Quad Cities are part of the same driftless area of the hills of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Riding mostly county roads we rode through the towns of Rossville, Monona, Farmersburg, Saint Olaf, Elkader, Littleport, and on to Edgewood. Here we stopped a short break at the BP. The second group arrived a few minutes later. Riding on Bernie led us to the town of Elkport. We took a tour through the town. As you remember Elkport was devastated by the wild Turkey and Volga rivers spring flooding. It looked like the Turkey rose 10 feet out of its bank, spread across the flood plain, and rose another 25 feet over the dike. It then spilled in the town destroying every building. The editor too is originally from Elkport and has never seen anything like this. A tragic loss. Moving on we rode through the towns of Garber, Guttenberg, Millville, North Buena Vista, Balltown, and Sherrill our destination. Here at the Barn bar and restaurant we pulled in. They were expecting about 30 people and we showed up with 71, but got the job done. After about 2 hours of having lunch and socializing we started to break up and go our way. Oh by the way, we got a great treat, we saw the fourth quarter of the Bears throttling the Packers. This is the most attended chapter event I can remember. A terrific ride and a great lunch. Outstanding job Jean and Bernie. Jim Hyde/Editor Chapter Picnic Sunday morning, August 29, 41 chapter members gathered at the Monona Kwik Star. Today s Road Adventure is our annual chapter picnic. The honor of planning, hosting, and leading today s exciting event went out to Jim Reiser our activities officer. Surprise, no rain clouds today. It s a sunny, slightly chilly, but still a gorgeous day. At 10:30 Jim gave a short briefing and gave the order to fire up. With Jim in lead 26 bikes headed east on county road B45 to Marquette. Here we crossed the Mississippi to Praire du Chien and picked up the Wisconsin Great River Road heading south. In my opinion the Great River Road Scenic Byway on both sides of the river from Red Wing to the Quad Cities is one of the best rides in the Upper Midwest. This part is certainly no exception as we rode through Wyalusing, Bagley and on to Cassville where we had a short break at the BP. Continuing south we rode on to Potosi, here we doubled back on Grant County Road U to Bloomington our destination. Jim had the picnic dinner catered and it was set up waiting for us at the City Park. We dinned on a hearty meal of roasted chicken, brats, all the trimmings, and desert. After dinner we spent time socializing and later in the afternoon the members started to break up and head their own way. Jim is to be commended for the outstanding job he did putting this Road Adventure together. A two-part event; a 90-mile ride in beautiful Wisconsin and delicious picnic dinner. Great job Jim! Jim Hyde/Editor
Page 3 Stack of Stuff By - Jim Hyde/Editor E-mail Addresses Requested Members, who haven t submitted their e-mail addresses to our director and activities officers, please do so. They have important information to pass along. Jeff: jmehmen@lifelineambulance.com Jim: jreis@tds.net State HOG Rally Planning Meeting The planning meeting for the 2005 State HOG Rally will be held in Ames on October 9th. Attending will be our assistant director Hoop who is also chapter liaison officer for the state rally along with one volunteer who will represent our sponsor. Each chapter has 2 votes in electing rally committee members and selecting the next years rally site and date. The newly elected committee then plans the state rally. The 2005 state rally is July 15-16 in Carroll. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, they are to submit them to one of our representatives. Carroll Rooms Hoop reports there are 3 double and 5 single rooms left of the 10 rooms he booked. They are at the Carrollton Inn. 1-800-798-3535 Members planning on attending should book early. Carroll is a town of about 10,000. Rooms will be scarce if you wait. Hoop reports this is the only motel in town with a swimming pool. Don t forget to pack your swimsuit! New Members Doug & Vicki Heilmann Bradley Nichols Ritchie Powell Dan Reiland Welcome Aboard Luana, IA Rochester, MN Waukon, IA Spring Valley, MN 2005 Chapter Officer Nominations Beginning now and ending November 13 at the chapter meeting, nominations for 2005 officers are now open. Anyone desirous to become a chapter officer, now is your chance. All positions are up for nomination. You may nominate yourself. This will be brought up at the October meeting. You may submit your nomination then or anytime right up to election night. Submit all nominations to Jeff, our chapter director. Jeff Mehmen/Director jmehmen@lifelineambulance.com 1-563-578-8072 Election night is Saturday, November 13 at the chapter meeting and Cho-Sun Supper in Decorah. Motorcyclist Clocked at 205 mph Minnesota state troopers pulled over a motorcycle going 205 mph on Saturday, Sept 18th on highway 61 south of Kellogg. The rider, Samuel Tilley 20, of Stillwater was cited for speeding, reckless driving, and driving without a motorcycle license. Editors note: I thought this news article was interesting.
Page 4 Secretary s Report/Chapter Minutes September 10, 2004 - Meeting called to order @ 7:33 pm by Jeff Mehmen. - 17 members were present. 1) Secretary s report was given and approved. 2) Treasurer s report was given and approved. 3) Road Captain Bernie Jaster reported on the Toys for Tots Ride on September 19th. 4) Meet at Waukon Harley Davidson at 10:30 for an 11:30 ride to Sherrill Iowa. 5) Brandi from the dealership reported on the Open House and Fashion Show November 14th. She will have sign-up sheets at the October chapter meeting. She also advised the group that there will only be a fall show. There will no longer be a spring show. 6) Activities Officer Jim Reiser reported that there were 41 members present at the picnic. 7) He also asked the group for thoughts on the Halloween party scheduled for October 30th. 8) There will be more information on this event at the October meeting. 9) Head Road Captain Gary Landsgard reported that the annual Leaf Ride will be held on October 3rd. Meeting at the Kwik Star in Waukon at 10:30 for an 11:00 ride to Marquette. We will be having brunch at the riverboat. Gary also reported that they are proud grandparents again. A new granddaughter named Kyra Ann. 10) Assistant Director Gary Hooper reported that the Iowa State HOG Rally planning meeting will be held in Ames on October 9th. He along with several other chapter members will attend the meeting. Gary also reported on rooms available for the 2005 rally being held in Carroll. Please contact him if you are in need of a room for the rally. 11) Jan Ellis advised that there is a donation container at Brandi s desk for the son of one of her friends at work. We will discuss further donations at the October chapter meeting. 12) Director Jeff Mehmen reported that we need to start thinking about nominations for 2005 officer positions. We will have nominations at the October chapter meeting. If you would like to hold a position or know someone that would, please contact Jeff. 13) A moment of silence was held for the anniversary of the September 11th 2001 events. - Door prize won by Sue Ryan. - Meeting adjourned at 8:14 pm by Jeff Mehmen Respectfully Submitted, Traci Mehmen Just For Fun
Page 5 Walking In Memphis! The Mississippi River with its big arching bends and massive width is magnificent from the overlook at the Metal Museum in Memphis Tennessee. It was a satisfying end to our stay in the home of the blues. As Bruce Bearinger my traveling partner and I sat basking in our surroundings I thought back over our journey. We had left late Tuesday morning with Bruce showing me some great back roads around Clinton, Iowa. Now Bruce likes the back roads and the slow meandering ride and I like the back roads as well but also love flying down the interstate. Most of this trip was to be interstate so I promised Bruce that I would stay under 80 mph as he worries about pushing his bike hard. We arrived at my brothers home next to St Louis, Missouri about 8:00 PM. Wednesday we hit the interstate and at a stop in Arkansas we were awestruck as a 1970s Impala pulled up and Elvis got out, gassed up and drove away. Did I mention it was Elvis week at Graceland? We pulled into Memphis and headed straight there. It was a site with a tent full of people listening to impersonators and a truck mounted big screen TV with the Aloha Hawaii concert playing on it. Graceland was enlightening about Elvis the man and his deeds. We visited all the shops, museums and his plane. Then it was off to find Beale Street and a room within walking distance. Just in case! The hotel was a treat. We negotiated a steep winding brick ramp under the hotel to park. Then hopped in an open elevator that never moved and figured out the door was falling off. Great visual as the other elevator groans and bangs as it stops at the third floor! From the Hotel we headed for Beale Street the birthplace of the blues. Now let us warn you if some asks you if they can ask you a question say no or save time and cough up 88 cents as they want money. Beale Street was just as we imagined they block of the streets and you can buy refreshments and walk from place to place. There was such a blending of music on the street as all the various places had different styles of entertainment. Watching the horse and carriages ride by and seeing the old building fronts sure took you back through time. It had been a great day. Today Thursday we visited the Gibson Guitar factory and learned how they make guitars and their various prices from $1000 to $5000 each. They said if their employees have perfect attendance for a year they get a free guitar. I had to pull Bruce alias Guitar Man away from the application area when we left. We walked through Beale Street again on the way back, then loaded up, and headed to the Metal Works Museum. The museum had art made from various metals and when we walked through the back yard we discovered this postcard view that we are now enjoying. We will be leaving soon to get back to our loved ones and share the experiences we had while Walking in Memphis! Take care and have fun. Your roving reporter Vic Kane
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Page 7 Chapter Officers Director...Jeff Mehmen Ass t Director...Gary Hooper Secretary...Rick Zanatta Treasurer...Sue Ryan # 1 Road Captain..Gary Landsgard # 2...Mark Zweilbohmer # 3...Norbert Ryan # 4...Wayne Ryan # 5...Jean Kane # 6...Gary Gissel # 7...Bob Wierck # 8...Bernie Jaster # 9...Randy Ellis #10...Bruce Bearinger Activities...Jim Reiser Safety...Kay Brewster Photographer # 1...Ron Brewster Photographer # 2...Bob Wierck LOH # 1...Traci Mehmen LOH...Shelli Wierck LOH...LeAnn Jevne LOH...Myrna Zanatta LOH...Gail Zweilbohmer Webmaster...Ron Kovarik Membership...Jean Kane Liaison...Daryl Hinton Editor...Jim Hyde Ass t Editor...Linda Sires Roving Reporter...Vic Kane P.O. Box 377 New Albin, IA 52160 jimh@acegroup.cc (563)544-4271 The Northeast Iowa Chapter newsletter is the official not for profit monthly publication of the Waukon Chapter, and is service for H.O.G. club members. Submission of materials for this publication by any chapter member is encouraged. Deadline for submission is the 20th of each month. News articles travel stories, cartoons (in good taste), recipes, for sale items, etc., are welcome. Your submissions may be mailed to the Editor, at the above address, or to Waukon Harley- Davidson. This newsletter is published by the Northeast Iowa Chapter of Harley Owners Group, Chapter # 1450. Harley-Davidson Inc, Waukon Harley-Davidson, and the Northeast Iowa HOG Chapter make no claims to the accuracy of the material presented in this newsletter. Copyright 1996 by the Northeast Iowa Chapter of Harley Owners Group. Material from this newsletter may only be reprinted without permission in other Harley Owners Group newsletters or publications. All other users must obtain authorization of the Northeast Iowa HOG Chapter.