Gold Wing Road Riders Association

District NE/SD - Chapter O September 13, 2018 Gold Wing Road Riders Association Officers & Staff Directors John & Cheryl Papson cornhuskerjohn@yahoo.com 402-292-7923 Treasurer George & Cheryl Lapka George.lapka@centurylink.net 402-339-9003 Newsletter Editor Jim Drawbaugh jdrawbaugh@msn.com 402-592-1849 Web Page Editor John Papson cornhuskerjohn@yahoo.com 402-292-7923 Membership Enhancement Coordinator Rick & Robin Saunders rs10473@gmail.com 402-895-7965 Sunshine Lady Angie Vogt angelavogt@rocketmail.com 402-369-5091 50/50 Raffle Jeff Vogt jefferyvogt@rocketmail.com 402-269-2697 Couple of the Year 2018 Jeff & Angie Vogt

Come join us for a gathering of Friends for Fun, Safety & Knowledge! NE-O Get-Together, Third Saturday of the month. Our next Chapter meeting will be Oct 20, Saturday ~ Chapter meeting We will meet at the Golden Corral Buffet and Grill, located at 1511 Gregg Rd, in Bellevue. Just off of U.S. Route 75 (Kennedy FWY) and Cornhusker Rd. We will have a private meeting room and of course, the really good news is, ALL YOU CAN EAT!!! Breakfast at 8am. Meeting at 9am. After meeting rides are back. Directors: John & Cheryl Papson cornhuskerjohn@yahoo.com 402-292-7923 Hope to see you there! Birthdays & Anniversaries September Birthdays September Anniversarys Marty Fawcett Sept 03 None Nancy Drawbaugh Sept 04 Bob Lake Sept 08 Bruce Vogt Sept 08 Rodger Fawcett Sept 17 Cheryl Lapka Sept 17 Dave Raddatz Sept 20 Les DeLano Sept 29 October Birthdays October Anniversarys Jim Drawbaugh Oct 03 John & Cheryl Papson Oct 01 Bill James Oct 14 George & Cheryl Lapka Oct 16 Nancy James Oct 19 Jim & Nancy Drawbaugh Oct 17 Bob McCorkle Oct 29 Herman Brown Oct 31 What s Happening in Chapter O

From the Directors Desk John & Cheryl Papson Chapter "O" Directors Chapter O MEETING DATE & LOCATION CHANGE! THIS JUST IN Phoenix Food & Spirits, (Phoenix 370) will no longer serve breakfast. Due to circumstances beyond our control, once again Chapter O will be changing the meeting date and location. Our next two (2) Chapter Meetings only will take place on (the 3rd Saturday of the month) Saturday Oct 20 and Nov 17. Breakfast at 8:00am with the meeting following at 9:00am. After the first of the year we will go back to the 2nd Saturday of the month. We will meet at the Golden Corral Buffet and Grill, located at 1511 Gregg Rd, in Bellevue. Just off of U.S. Route 75 (Kennedy FWY) and Cornhusker Rd. We will have a private meeting room and of course, the really good news is, ALL YOU CAN EAT breakfast buffet!!! Only $8.99 for adults and $7.99 for seniors. Eggs and omelets made to order, includes soup, desert and salad bar. Coffee and Juice is included in the price. Cheryl and I would like to thank everyone again for all the prayers during this time. The Septembers Chapter meeting was successful. We look forward to any new members or visiting guests at our meetings. Please contact me if any members are interested in volunteering to fill a position or helping out the chapter.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The Chapter O s Christmas Party will be Saturday December 1 from 5-10pm at Hy-Vee Located at 14591 Stony Brook Blvd (Stony Brook and 144th Street). The cost is about $15 per head with the Chapter picking up some of the cost depending on attendance (more info to follow) Please RSVP by November 18th by Email:cornhuskerjohn@yahoo.com or call (402) 292-7923 and leave a message. The gift exchange will be $20 per couple. (Black Friday sales are great for this event). Christmas Party Menu Turkey or Beef Salad with Ranch or Italian dressing Potatoes and Gravy Almond Green Beans Rolls and Butter Cake Coffee, Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Coke, Pepsi We will be announcing the 2019 Couple Of the Year and rewarding the person with the best Ugly Christmas Sweater along with 2018 Chapter Challenge certificates. Fun and games with a gift exchange, who could ask for anything more. Hope to see you there. Mark your Calendars for Sunday, December 9. One of our community services this year will be helping out Empty Tomb Ministries by providing a meal for the homeless community. This organization operates as a storefront church to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to support the community with food, clothing & assistance. This event is for a good cause and we are hopeful for a large participation number. We ll have more information on this event as it becomes available. Any personal certification requirements for the GWRRA Rider Ed Levels Program can be discussed individually. We have some members with training and membership due, and we would like to get set up with training dates to get everyone current. Feel free to join in the levels program at any time. Again, we look forward to seeing you next month at our Chapter Meeting on Saturday, Oct 20, at 9:00am. Breakfast at 8:00am. We will meet at the Golden Corral Buffet and Grill, located at 1511 Gregg Rd, in Bellevue. We ll see you again on Saturday, November 17. Thanks to all, for the help and support you give. Chapter NE-O Directors John & Cheryl Papson

From Our Members Visiting Ghostly Towns in Nevada s Esmeralda County Main Street in Gold Point, Nevada. Mining shut down in 1962, but a dozen or so people still call it home. I like a bit of barely populated desolation as long as there are roads going through. And Esmeralda is apparently the second-most people-less county in these 48 contiguous states, with less than 800 people living on its 3,589 square miles. That means each inhabitant has more than four square miles to him- or herself. That s a lot of room. No idea how many cell towers there are, as I foolishly left my cellphone at home. Back when the area was part of New Spain, deep green gemstones called emeralds were found here. It has been noted that Nevada is the most mineralized state in the union, with lots of gold and silver. And now lithium, a mineral used in making more efficient batteries as well as a medicine for people with bipolar problems.

That s U.S. Route 95 stretching out in front of me, with Reno some 280 miles to the north; I m going to stay in Esmeralda County for a couple of days. I m on a 2018 Honda Gold Wing Tour, and my trip planning gets me over four minor mountain passes on the way to Esmeralda. Those are Temblor Range summit on California State Route 58, Walker Pass on State Route 178, and then Towne Pass and Daylight Pass in Death Valley. Good roads all. I do like the lighter feel, as well as the look, of this new machine, and soon find myself diving into the twisties in a rather un-wingy way. That new double wishbone front end works very well on pavement, and I have the preload adjustment indicator set at rider and luggage. Good cornering clearance. On the flats I run Tour mode, but in the mountains I click into Sport, and find quite a difference. There is also Econ and Rain, but they don t interest me on this ride.

Traditional Nevada businesses are changing, having passed two brothels on my trip both closed. Maybe the ladies are collecting unemployment. The combined braking system is excellent, and I am used to always applying both front and rear at the same time, so all the pistons are bearing down on the discs. Quick slowdown. There is ABS as standard, which I tried out just for the fun of it, but never in need. We, Goldie and I, get into Nevada via the small town of Beatty, and then head north on U.S. Route 95. Shortly after entering Esmeralda County we turn left at Lida Junction onto Nevada State Route 266, two-lane pavement. There used to be a brothel, the Cottontail Ranch, at the intersection, but now it s shut down and for sale. Seven miles along I come to a sign put up by the state historical society announcing the turn to Gold Point, and informing me of the town s history. Miners had been in the area for years, getting silver out of the ground, but the big gold find was in 1927 and went on for some 35 years. After an accidental explosion caved in much of the mine in 1962, the town became rather ghostly.

The Tonopah Historic Mining Park covers more than 100 acres. That s the Silver Top headframe used for hoisting ore up from the mine, last used in 1948. Another seven miles of narrow asphalt and we enter the ramshackle elements of this once-thriving mining community. Today it has around a dozen inhabitants, with numerous No Trespassing signs letting nosey tourists know that all those wood shacks and rusty bits of metal are owned. I stop in front of a long building that has picnic tables out front, a Coors sign lit up in one window and radio music coming from inside. A knock on a locked door has no result, so I amble about for half an hour, the only noticeable activity being a jackrabbit cheerfully hopping along. Run up Gold Point on your computer and you will see that some enterprising fellow runs a little operation there, providing visitors with food and accommodations in a couple of refurbished cabins. Be an interesting night.

It is highly doubtful that anyone ever got hung from this rickety gallows in Gold Point, as it was built to attract tourists to the ghost town. Following the California Gold Rush of 1849, a lot of wannabe miners crossed Nevada on their way to California; some stayed to try their shovels in this desolate, often waterless, region. In 1861 Nevada became a territory, and Esmeralda a county. Local Indians, like the Shoshone and Paiute, were around, but they moved with the seasons and probably wondered why these strange white men were digging holes in the ground. No big strikes were found in Esmeralda until the very early 1900s. And then thousands of miners poured in, followed by the big mining companies.

I ride over to another old mining center on State Route 266, Lida, which had its good times and bad, and essentially shut down following World War I. The post office, opened in 1873, closed in 1932. It is all private property now, and at the entrance is a total of three mailboxes. Not much to see, unless I want to trespass. Three mailboxes at the entrance to the ghost town of Lida show the current population of the place. The post office here was closed in 1932. Dirt roads head every whichaway, but exploring them would be best done on an Africa Twin. Goldie handles OK on a hard surface, but soft stuff I worry about, as picking up 800-plus pounds is no easy task. And I have no cellphone. Returning to U.S. 95 I have a look at Goldfield, the county seat, a few miles to the north. In its day, it was a booming place. Gold was discovered there in 1902, and by 1906 more than 20,000 people lived in the town. After Prohibition came into being, a moonshine operation caught fire in 1923 and most of the wooden town went up in flames, leaving just the buildings made out of brick and stone burnt but still standing only the courthouse has been refurbished. Population is now about 300. The old gas station is long closed and there is only one small restaurant, the Dinky Diner, providing food.

The old mining tools are above the front door of this refurbished cabin in Gold Point, which is available for rent. The local cemetery has some oddball gravesites, like the one for the man who apparently died after eating paste at the library; must have been hungry. The automotive graveyard is called The International Car Forest, but that is down a dirt road. Daylight s waning, and I head off to spend the night in Tonopah, which is in Nye County. With more than 2,500 inhabitants, Tonopah, the largest town between Reno and Las Vegas, has two casinos, a half-dozen hotels/motels and a great outdoor mining museum. At 6,000 feet it can get a mite chilly during a winter night.

This truck is more than 100 years old, and the internal combustion engine greatly simplified the basic mining problem: how to get the ore from the mine to the smelter. Next morning I find the electronic tire-pressure regulator flashing on the screen, telling me that my rear tire is down to 37 psi, from the approved 41. Riding to a nearby truck-fixing shop I get the bike up on its centerstand and find no strange object in the tire. A manual gauge tells me the tire is at 39 psi, so I put a couple of extra pounds in, seriously hoping that it was the cold and altitude that had caused the regulator to read low pressure. No more problems the rest of the trip. On the road again, this time following a combination of U.S. 95 and U.S. 6, I headed for Silver Peak, another semi-ghost town. It s a chilly morning, and I do like the easily accessed buttons for the heated grips, heated seat and electric windshield, all of which work very efficiently.

This is downtown Goldfield, the seat of Esmeralda County. The refurbished courthouse is in the background, and an elderly residence in the fore. Some 35 miles west of Tonopah a sign indicates the road, State Route 265, south to Silver Peak, where minor silver deposits were discovered in 1863. The next 40 years were pretty slow, until gold was found and a major company moved in, acquiring a lot of properties, building a railroad and a large mill to process the ore. The town boomed until the precious metals ran out about 1917, but was never fully abandoned. The last census (2010) reported some 100 inhabitants. However, the place is reviving due to a new market for lithium. We come over a rise and before us is Clayton Valley, which seems to have several small lakes, which I think a bit odd in this arid place. Turns out there is briny water in the aquifer under the valley which has the lithium mineral; the water is pumped up to the surface, where it evaporates, leaving the lithium behind.

Best way to see the ghostly parts of Goldfield is to park the bike and walk around. Came across this poor fellow while on a stroll (yes, he is plastic). A company called Albemarle Corporation owns the mine(s) and is the only producer of lithium in the country. The electric car company Tesla appears to be very interested, having a large battery factory up in Reno. The town is mostly a decrepit affair, with crumbling buildings, dozens of abandoned vehicles and a newish refinery where I presume the lithium is processed. There are more than 4,000 acres of evaporation ponds. The population is said to have doubled, and a small elementary school has nine students. We head back to U.S. 95/6, go west to Coaldale, where U.S. 95 turns north to Reno, U.S. 6 west to Bishop, California. A small seam of coal was found near there around 1900, when railroads were being built and steam engines needed coal. It was very low-grade and the coal-mining business failed around 1920. However, roads were being built and after World War II a service station, store, restaurant and motel were prospering.

Nevada s road engineers have often had a simplified, and economical, approach to building highways straight lines. Though most motorcyclists appreciate a few curves. Leaking storage tanks put the gas station out of business in 1993, and soon the rest followed, creating a curious modern ghost town of disintegrating 1950s buildings. Fortunately the Wing s 1,833cc engine is pretty miserly on fuel, and when I run up the consumption rate on the instrument panel, it is generally about 40 mpg. So with the 5.5-gallon tank, I don t start to worry until we hit the 200-mile mark. Running along U.S. 6, we soon turn south into Fish Lake Valley, a wide trough running for 25 miles in between the Silver Peak range to the east, the White Mountains to the west. Lots of snow up there, and Boundary Peak, at 13,147 feet, is the highest spot in Nevada.

On our way home Goldie and I stopped for the night in Kernville, California, and Goldie challenged me to a game. I let her win, for fear she might throw a tantrum if she lost. Farmers and ranchers came to the well-watered valley in the 1860s, providing food for the nearby mining site at Palmetto. A post office opened in 1889, run by a postmaster named Dyer; the tiny town in the valley now goes by the same name. Unfortunately the lake has pretty much gone dry, but the valley still has some 200 yearround inhabitants. There are hot springs, owned by the county and free to the public, with a concrete soaking tub that is tempting. However, since they are off to the east side of the valley, six miles along a dirt road, Goldie shook her steering head when I stopped at the turnoff. A market with gas pumps constitutes the middle of town, and three rentable 100-year-old cabins, thoroughly modernized. The Boonies Bar, with food, is right across the road.

Down at the south end of Fish Lake Valley there used to be a small mining town called Oasis, but when the silver ran out, the town disappeared; all that is left is this ranch. Gas up and I m gone, with 10 miles of State Route 264 leading me to the non-existent mining town of Oasis the Oasis Ranch has taken its place. We are just over the border into California, and State Route 168 is a superb back road leading to Big Pine, crossing over Gilbert Summit and Westgard Pass. Great way to end a trip and Goldie goes into Sport mode.

Map of the route taken, by Bill Tipton/compartmaps.com. 2018 CHAPTER CHALLENGE ~ Nebraska Historical Markers ~ This year s challenge is to visit as many Nebraska Historical Markers as you can. There are more than 573 markers in the state and more than 100 markers just in Douglas County alone. We will award certificates at 3 different levels, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Visit 25 markers for a Bronze level,

Visit 50 for Silver and 100 for the Gold level. Certificates will be awarded for each level at the Christmas party. A picture (or selfie) of the marker number will be proof of visit. For more information visit the website THE HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE at https://www.hmdb.org/. You can find markers by state, county or city and get directions to them all. ============================================================================ Calendar of Events Sept 22, Sat. ~ Show and Shine At the Dairy Queen located at 345 S Washington St. in Papillion. Members receive a $1.00 off per member per purchase. Oct 20, Sat. ~ NE-O Get-Together, Third Saturday in October.. We will meet at the Golden Corral Buffet and Grill, located at 1511 Gregg Rd, in Bellevue. Just off of U.S. Route 75 (Kennedy FWY) and Cornhusker Rd. Breakfast at 8am. Meeting at 9am. After meeting rides are back. Dec 9, Sun ~ Fundraiser Mark your Calendars for Sunday, December 9. One of our community services this year will be helping out Empty Tomb Ministries by providing a meal for the homeless community. This organization operates as a storefront church to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to support the community with food, clothing & assistance. This event is for a good cause and we are hopeful for a large participation number. We ll have more information on this event as it becomes available. For more information and flyers, visit the Chapter 'O' Website at www.gwrraneo.com District NE/SD Website at www.gwrrane.com

****************************************************************************************** If you know of anything that is going to happen in the future, please e-mail John & Cheryl Papson cornhuskerjohn@yahoo.com. The more we know, the more will go. So let s keep everyone in the loop. Keep an eye on the Web site happenings page for ice cream and dinner runs. *********** Visit the web sites below for more GWRRA news. Chapter 'O' www.gwrraneo.com District News & Links (From the District Website) www.gwrrane.com National News From the Wingin It Newsletter www.gwrra.org Thanks To Our Sponsors! We thank the following businesses for supporting our Chapter "O" and encourage you to patronize them! Please

345 S WASHINGTON ST Papillion, NE. 68046-2439 402-339-8510

Good Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches

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