May 31, 2016 HOG TALES Southern Maine Portland Harley Owners Group Chapter # 1731 Sponsored by: Big Moose Harley Davidson - 375 Riverside St. Portland, Me. (207) 797-6061 800-HARLEYD SMPHOG PRIMARY OFFICERS Left to right, Treasurer: Tony Baker / Chapter Director: Deb Weekes Assistant Director: Bunny O Leary / Secretary: Anne Zahares Hi Everyone! It looks like we're finally done with the cold and headed into Memorial Day Weekend with some good riding weather! Be sure and check the ride schedule for some great destinations that our members and Road Captains put together for this year at our annual planning meeting... and check the H.O.G. Line often for changes & last minute adds for those open dates. Can you believe the first ice cream ride of the season is next Wednesday? Bring on summer!! Ride Safe Everyone! Deb Weekes Director [! 1]
THE SMPHOG OFFICER S FOR 2016; PICTURED ARE : BOB TYLER, HAM ROY, EUGENE BOULLIE, TONY BAKER, COREY ZAHARES, BOB FOSS, ANNE ZAHARES, DEB WEEKES, CHRIS WEEKES, ANNE RODERICK, JEN FOSS, PHIL ANDRUKAITIS, BUNNY O LEARY, JOE PETTY, RON HOLLEY, JOE ROBINSON [! 2]
Assistant Director by Bunny O Leary Welcome to the Month of May.. if the weather would just cooperate we could be riding more than we are these days, however, if you are out and about be safe and watch out for the roads that have not had Mr. Sweeper on them yet. Lots of construction on Rt. 26 in Oxford this summer and the road from Bridgton (Rt. 302) to Fryeburg is getting a major facelift, 95 North of Portland to the Gray Exit also under repair. The Maine H.O.G. Rally * July 13-16, 2016 * Rally Headquarters Cross Ins. Center 516 Main St. Bangor ME * Pre-Registration is $25 per person * No Rally merchandise is included with your registration. * Rally Merchandise is available Ala/Carte (on- line or mail in order form) * Registration DEADLINE is May 25th, (postmarked ) * You must be a National HOG member to register * Volunteers are needed for the rally to be the success that it is. SMPHOG will be responsible for doing the Bike Events this year. We will need people to help set up the area, events, judges, if you have not signed up yet to volunteer please do at the next two meetings. You can also volunteer in other areas of the rally too. See me at the meeting for a rally brochure or you can get information/ register on the website www.mestatehogrally.com. They also have a facebook page.www.facebook.com/ Maine.State.H.O.G. Rally H.O.T. Harley Officer Training Thank you to Steve Reynolds, our H.O.G. Chapter sponsor and SMPHOG for sending me to this training. The main focus this year was on Ride & Have Fun.. People do not join the Chapter for meetings and more meetings.. this kind of topic confused me as some of the participants have meetings for everything.. Road Captains have their own meeting, LOH has theirs, Primary officers has one.. and so on.. We are lucky to have a business meeting so we can have things in order and only bring to the Chapter what we need their vote on or opinion. We have a Chapter Social/Meeting to disperse information and mingle with fellow H.O.G members. Another big topic are H.O.G. Rallies. H-D and H.O.G. had started with Regional and National Ralliesvery well attended. States started to have their own rallies so numbers started to go down and the Regional / National rallies went with the just the State Rallies, but now those numbers are down, so it is now looking like more Regional Rallies instead of State Rallies. The work STATE was removed from the Rally title last year. Now proposals can be submitted to Bruce Motta, our Regional Manager, which can be anywhere you think, would be a good place for a rally. He will be deciding where the rally will be, there will be no more Voting for rally site proposals by Chapter & Dealer Reps. [! 3]
Anytime you attend H.O.T. you pick up good ideas and bring them back to your chapter. I look forward to sharing some fun soon. Again, see you on the road, Ride and Have fun!! SMPHOG Activities... Our ride schedule looks great for some fantastic rides this riding season. In my corner, I basically plan the off season activities because once the Ride Season begins there are plenty of rides and things to do. A couple of the activities that is a lot of fun to attend is our Summer Picnic and our Christmas Party. The summer picnic is scheduled for Sunday August 7 at Apple Valley Campground in Acton Maine. Some of the members are already planning to go camping there for the weekend. Bob Tyler or Rick Bragg would have more details if you need information. Our picnic usually consists of Lobster or Steak with side dishes. Last year, Bob Tyler provided a turkey and dough boys for us. We played a form of Bingo with small prizes provided by members. There will be a $ 5 dollar commitment fee and signup sheet in an upcoming H.O.G. social/meeting. There is also a chapter ride to the summer picnic which details will be forthcoming. Our SMPHOG Christmas Party will be held on Saturday, December 3rd beginning at 6 p.m. Details to come at a later date. As always, I am open to any suggestions/ideas for activities for our chapter. I enjoy being the Chapter s Activities Officer and look forward to the Riding Season. Just want to mention that another way to get to know your fellow SMPHOG members is to volunteer at our BBQ s held at Big Moose. Its a fun day and our Chapter is sponsored by Big Moose so come flip some burgers or help any way you can.. July16th is a BBQ and because it is the same weekend as the Maine State H.O.G. Rally we need some volunteers to step up to man the BBQ that day. Have a great summer, and remember Ride and Have Fun. Bunny O Leary : Activities Director [! 4]
Rear-View Mirror By Steve Markiewicz, Chapter Historian Some highlights from past SMPHOG newsletters and the National HogTales magazine: Ten years ago, in the April 2006 SMPHOG Hog Tales newsletter: The ride schedule for April and May 2006 included a weekend ride to Brooklyn, New York, leaving Maine on Thursday, May 25. I asked John O Leary at a recent Big Moose BBQ if he happened to know anything about this unusual-sounding ride, and as luck would have it, he was one of the participants. The ride was led by Vini Bancalari, who John said was from New York. According to John there were about ten people on the ride. The group actually stayed outside New York City, near the Tappan Zee Bridge, and rented a van that would carry 12 people so that they wouldn t need to deal with parking a bunch of motorcycles in Manhattan. They went into NYC on two days for sightseeing, which included Rockefeller Center and Ground Zero. John said it was good trip, except that it rained the whole time! The 2006 ABC s of Dining contest was described. There were three columns on the contest form: The first column was pre-assigned dining destinations beginning with letters A to Z that were worth two points each; the second column was a blank list where contestants could list alphabetical eateries of their own choosing, which were worth one point each; the third column was for an alphabetical list of contested-selected ice cream stops. Bonus points would be awarded for completing any entire column and for submitting a photo that included yourself, your bike, and the Maine State Rally ABC sign. The 2005 ABC s of Dining winners were listed with Anne and Chris Broderick in 3 rd Place, Corey Zahares and Anne Newcomb in 2 nd Place, and Clif Day in 1 st Place (with a perfect score!). 15 years ago, in the March/April 2006 national Harley Owners Group HogTales magazine: The results of the 2000 HOG ABC s of Touring contest were published. Corey Zahares and Anne Newcomb tied for the most points of any contestants in Maine, with 69 points each. A full-page ad included a quiz to help you decide whether or not leasing a new Harley-Davidson was for you. Leasing a Harley? Is that like, why buy the hawg when you re getting never mind. 20 years ago, in the May 2006 SMFHOG Hog Tales newsletter: Congratulations were sent out to Spider and Diane of the birth of there new grandson, Justin. Congratulations also went out to Todd and Jennifer Bosworth on the birth of their son Theodore Bosworth III. A new ride idea was proposed: [! 5]
it is closed to any more participants. But don't worry, if you can't get in on the West Quoddy ride, there are other rides along the coast, including a guided ride to Stonington -- the lobster there is just as delicious! Another first for the Maine H.O.G. Rally this year is the that the Harley-Davidson Demo Truck is coming, and it will be there for all four days of the Rally! So if you ever wanted an opportunity to test ride several different Harley models...this is your chance. THE 2016 MAINE H.O.G. RALLY By Tony Baker The 2016 Maine H.O.G. Rally is one of over 30 state H.O.G. Rallies taking place this year. If you can't make any of the others across the rest of the country, hopefully you'll be able to make it to Bangor Wednesday July 13th through Saturday the 16th for the 21st annual Maine H.O.G. Rally. Yes, you read that right -- four days of riding fun -- the first time the Maine H.O.G. Rally has been for four days! The Rally was last held in Bangor in 1998, and this year's Rally will have at least as many opportunities to create fond memories. A staple of Maine H.O.G. Rallies has always been the many guided and self-guided rides. This year's police-escorted all-day ride on Thursday to West Quoddy Head with lobster lunch is one of the highlights, but you are required to pre-register for this ride if you want to get in on the fun. Space is limited, so be sure to preregister before Rally Headquarters is at the Cross Center, right near the Paul Bunyan statue. This is where Registration and the Information Center for the Rally will be located. Venues for the different Rally activities will vary, with the kick-start party Wednesday evening at the Central Maine Harley- Davidson Dealership, and the closing ceremonies Saturday evening at the Sea Dog Restaurant on the waterfront. Because we know that at the end of a long riding day some of you want to unwind, a shuttle bus will be available from 6:00pm to 11:00pm every evening. To see the complete Rally schedule, and to register for the Rally, go to www.mestatehogrally.com. By going to the website, you will also see that there are over 10 different hotels and/ or motels within close proximity to the Rally. There are still plenty of rooms available, so don't miss out on the Rally just because all the rooms are booked at one or two of the hotels/motels. There is also a campground listed for those of you who want to bring your RV [! 6]
2016 SMPHOG Officer s DIRECTOR: Deb Weekes Director@smphog.com 329-6403 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Bunny O Leary asstdirector@smphog.com TREASURER: Tony Baker treasurer@smphog.com SECRETARY/MEMBERSHIP: Anne Zahares. secretary@smphog.com ACTIVITIES/COMMITTEE: Bunny O Leary rdkingryder@hotmail.com CHAPTER PHOTOGRAPHER: Ron Holley theother47@yahoo.com 319-3710 SAFETY OFFICER: Chris Weekes weekesend@gmail.com 837-1200 WEB MASTER: Jackie Morrison webmaster@smphog.com HEAD ROAD CAPTAIN: Cory Zahares hogtails@maine.r.r.com 282-9588 NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Ron Holley theother47@yahoo.com LADIES OF HARLEY: Elaine Jones LOH@smphog.com CHAPTER MERCHANDISERS: Bob & Jennifer Foss. bob-jen@roadrunner.com CHAPTER GREETER: Joe Petty deniseneal55@gmail.com VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: Anne Broderick emberb@roadrunner.com SUNSHINE OFFICER: Josephine Holley jmhol246@gmail.com CHAPTER HISTORIAN : Steve Mankiewicz stephenmcz@maine.rr.com GRILL MASTER : Ham Roy grillmaster@smphog.com CHAPLAIN & E-MAIL BLASTER: Phil Andrukaitis- 650-2003 www.phil_andrukaitis@hotmail.com ROAD CAPTAINS: Phil Andrukaitis- 650-2003 Eric Barrett- 831-8741, Eugene Boullie- 854-3451 Paul Brookes- 408-9448, Dana Doliber- 490-1259, Bob Foss- 318-5274, Elaine Jones- 650-8135, Steve Markiewicz- 749-5633, Mike Rancourt- 650-6039 Joe Robinson - 232-2526, Kelly Sullivan - 233-4335, Bob Tyler - 651-3250 Kerry Sullivan - 233-4345, Mark Walton- 590-6080, Chris Weeks - 837-1200 CALL THE SMPHOG HOG LINE FOR INFORMATION ON ALL EVENTS AND RIDES. 207-471-7990 [! 7]
2016 H.O.T Training Back in January I was asked by Tony if I wanted to attend this years H.O.T Training. Well because being the guy I am I told him sure, I m always looking for ways to be hotter (ha ha). With a chuckle he said, NO, not that kind of hot, and he explained that it is Harley Officer Training. Since I had just volunteered to become a Road Captain, I said heck, why not! The training was at the Providence Omni Hotel on Friday and Saturday April 28-29, 2016. The weather wasn t supposed to great and we had all highways miles to get there, so we decided not to ride the Bikes down (this time). I was not disappointed! Like anything else that Harley Davidson does, they did it up right. The opening ceremony started out with a Roar as two Area Managers entered the stage on brand new bikes (talk about loud), very cool! We then got to see the latest commercial videos and listen to some inspirational words about our roles and what to expect in the training sessions. These sessions were all designed with interactions between the members and the Staff. The training was designed with five (5) different tracks designed for specific emphasis. Each of the tracks has six (6) specific courses you can take during the training period (Friday and Saturday). The tracks and their courses were as follows: (I was signed up for the First-Timers track) -- First-Timers -- Knowing the Family Business -- Risky Business -- The WOW Factor -- Strengthening Your Dealer Relationship -- The Good, the Bad, and the Unnecessary -- Welcome to the Family -- Membership -- Communicating with Different Personalities -- The Good, the Bad, and the Unnecessary -- The Chapter Journey -- Inspire Through Leadership -- Conflict Prevention and Resolution -- Welcome to the Family -- Connections -- The WOW Factor -- Strengthening Your Dealer Relationship -- Communicating with Different Personalities -- The Good, the Bad, and the Unnecessary -- Conflict Prevention and Resolution -- Welcome to the Family -- Events -- Knowing the Family Business -- Signs of the Ride -- The WOW Factor -- The Off Season -- The Chapter Journey -- Welcome to the Family -- Management -- Knowing the Family Business -- What s the Risk -- The Off Season -- Communicating with Different Personalities -- Inspire Through Leadership -- Welcome to the Family [! 8]
If you ever have the chance to go to this training, do yourself a favor and go to it. After the classwork was done, we were entertained on Friday Night and had the pleasure of listening to two and a half hours (non-stop) of the band Dejavu, if you ever have the opportunity to see them live, don t miss it, they were awesome. Here is their Facebook page if you want to check them out: During the dinner and dance, we had a guest from Harley headquarters show up, the Great Grandson of the Founder, William A. Davidson, and son to Willie and Nancy, Bill Davidson, VP of the Harley Museum. He was there for the closing ceremonies, and to talk about the Museum. He also announced that the Museum is now free for ALL HOG Members, very cool! So, while we had the chance, a few of us were able to get a photo op with him and also get his autograph [! 9]
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Oh! what fun we do have. Type to enter text [! 11]
RIDE SCHEDULE THUR JUNE 2016 2016 Ride Schedule 3 DATE EVENT Rd Capt Start Time Location APRIL Sat 4/9 BBQ 12-3 PM Big Moose Sun 4/10 Breakfast Oxford Casino 9:30 AM Oxford Casino Mon 4/18 Business Meeting Deb Weekes 6:30 PM Stroudwater Christian Church Sat 4/23 BBQ 12-3 PM Big Moose Tues 4/26 Chapter Meeting Deb Weekes 7:00 PM American Legion Hall Fri-Sat 4/29-30 H.O.T. Primary Ofcrs Providence RI MAY Sat 5/7 Big Moose Sun 5/8 Mother's Day Ride Bruce Currier 10:00 AM Big Moose Sat 5/14 BBQ - Customer Appreciation 12-3 PM Big Moose Sun 5/15 Sat 5/21 Bean Hole Supper - Gorham Gene Boullie 4:30 PM Big Moose Sun 5/22 Mon 5/23 Business Meeting Deb Weekes 6:30 PM Stroudwater Christian Church Sat 5/28 Sun 5/29 Mon 5/30 Tues 5/31 Chapter Meeting Deb Weekes 7:00 PM American Legion Hall JUNE Wed 6/1 Ice Cream Ride Mike Rancourt 6:30 PM Big Moose Sat 6/4 BBQ 12-3 PM Big Moose Sun 6/5 Lighthouse Ride Elaine Jones 9:30 AM Big Moose Tues 6/7 Bike Night @ Sea Dogs Police Escorted Big Moose Wed 6/8 Ice Cream Ride Kerry Sullivan 6:30 PM Big Moose Fri 6/10 TGIF Mark Walton 6:30 PM Big Moose Sat 6/11 Ride to Black Sheep Breakfast Steve Markiewicz 8:00 AM Big Moose Sat 6/11 Black Sheep Annual Breakfast 9:00 AM Hollis Baptist Church Sun 6/12 Tour de Cure Kennebunkport Wed 6/15 Ice Cream Ride Gene Boulllie 6:30 PM Big Moose Fri 6/17 Ride to Laconia Steve Markiewicz 9:00 AM Big Moose Sat 6/18 BBQ 12-3 PM Big Moose Sun 6/19 Ride to Georgetown Kerry Sullivan 9:30 AM Big Moose Mon 6/20 Business Meeting Deb Weekes 6:30 PM Stroudwater Christian Church Wed 6/22 Ice Cream Ride Elaine Jones 6:30 PM Big Moose Sat 6/25 Covered Bridge Ride Gene Boulllie 9:30 AM Big Moose Sun 6/26 Joint ride w/augusta Chapter Big Moose Tues 6/28 Chapter Meeting Deb Weekes 7:00 PM American Legion Hall Wed 6/29 Ice Cream Ride Chris Weekes 6:30 PM Big Moose [! 12]
OK SAFE HARLEY RIDERS GIVE ME A CAPTION: Type to enter text AND FOLKS THAT S IT FOR THE MAY NEWSLETTER. RON H. [! 13]