The Official newsletter of Region "A"                                     

What’s Happening . . .??

       Wing Ding has come and gone, and August is just about to do the same thing.  So what has been going on in Region “A”?  

       Well to start with, I have had laser surgery on both eyes.  Strange to realize that white is actually “white”.  And now I can, for sure, keep my eyes on all of you folks out there.  Other than that, it has actually been a rather busy month.  To start with, there was a GWRRA ARC Instructor Course held in Rome, GA.  The facilities that the members of GA-L, Rome, GA, had were very nice.  Nice, large classroom space, the riding range was excellent, (it was on an airport runway, so you know it was flat and smooth), and they kept plenty of iced down water available.  And it was a good thing, because the heat was, in a word, brutal.  I would like to congratulate Marvin Seritt, Kevin Henkle, Murry Cail, Roy Degler, Gean Taylor and David Newby for taking the time and expense to complete this strenuous course.  Folks, let me assure you, the Instructor Course is NOT a gimmee!!  Georgia now has 6 brand new, not so shiny, ARC Instructors.  I truly hope that the GWRRA members put those guys to good use.  And to make the course even more impressive, the Master Instructor Trainer (MIT), Harry Dollarhide, rode all the way from Oklahoma to put these six men through their classroom and range riding exercises.   Four days of stress and heat.  Yep.  They earned it.  

       I must tell you, I am excited about the Region “A” Convention also.  It was decided that we would attempt to have a Team Challenge.  Now to tell you the truth, I really didn’t expect any participation.  Thought we would give some demos and explain the Challenge, in hopes of getting some interest for the next Convention.  Oops!  Guess what!  There will be 4-5 teams (as of right now) that want to participate in this event.  Plus, there are several individuals that want to participate!  That is so great, I can’t tell you how much fun this is going to be.  It will be Saturday afternoon at 2:30PM - 3: 30PM on the parking lot in front of the cabins/cottages.  There isn’t much going on at that time, other than the Statistics Award presentations.  So, come on out and join the fun.  Cheering sections are authorized, so rooting for you people will be good.  If you get this newsletter in time, you can stop at the Region RE table and sign up.  So come out and join the fun . .

       And as always, always be watchful for the unwatchful

Chuck & Anne

       We are once again approaching our 2011 Region “A” Convention at the beautiful Lakepoint Lodge in Eufaula, AL.  Cindy and I hope to see ya there in what we like to call Gods Country. Of course we see all Alabama as Gods Country since we live in this wonderful state.

       Just this past weekend we spent several hours at the Lodge and participated in a CMA Rally seminar on Rider Education. Cindy and I joined by two of our local Chapter “AL-M” members watched a movie, new to us, presented by the MSF in conjunction with CMA. I tried to get a copy of the movie while we were there but the presenter said he was not allowed to pass copies on. Oh well it was worth a try!

       I haven’t heard anything new to report from National. This however, doesn’t stop us from doing what we do best – Educate! 

Ray & Cindy

HELLO REGION “A” MEMBERS

       It has been so HOT that a lot of members choose to travel with air conditioning, but if you choose to ride, remember to stay hydrated and take plenty of breaks. 

       I don’t know how many of you have attended a Motorcycle Crash Scene Response Seminar, but if you have let me put a thought out there.  Have you ever thought at a chapter gathering to set up a response team? What this means is that certain people in the chapter are assigned to do certain things at an accident scene, remember setup from MEDIC FIRST AID. Assign a couple of people to handle traffic and a Medic First Aid team and someone to call 911. This can cut a lot of time and let you handle the situation a lot more effective. 

       The Region “A” Rally/convention is just around the corner and the Region has planned a lot of things for you to enjoy. We also have a MEDIC FIRST AID class, a Trailering course and of course Team Challenge riding event so come down to Eufaula, Al and enjoy in the fun.

Buddy

       The Region “A” Convention along with the Couple of the Year selection for 2011 - 2012 is only a couple of weeks away. Who will be chosen?

       We will remember Dianne Hickly from Georgia was tragically taken from us but Bob said he would be there and I am sure Dianne will be by his side in spirit.

       Will it be - Woody & Debra Jones from Mississippi, Gregg & Renee Dempsey from Alabama or maybe Rick & Madelena Buck out of Florida. Or could it be the next couple we are featuring this month and the last before the selection in Eufaula, Bill & Judy Dunaway from South Carolina.

       So lets hear from them in the last segment this year of In "Their Own Words"

"Their Own Words"

       We are Bill and Judy Dunaway and we proudly participate with South Carolina Chapter J, who honored us in January 2011 with the Chapter Couple of the Year.  Then in April we were once again honored when we were selected as the South Carolina District Couple of the Year.  We have been active in our chapter since the first gathering in November 2008.  We have both completed the Officer Certification Program, are currently Level III, current in CPR and First Aid.  We have been the Chapter Rider Educators since May of 2010, and are currently the Chapter Directors.  Judy has also been the chapter cookbook coordinator and a regular contributor to the chapter newsletter since 2009.  Bill recently completed the PLP Facilitator Course and is now certified to do PLP’s.  We have ridden over 25,000 miles on our Honda 2007 Goldwing 1800 Motortrike since joining GWRRA and most of the miles have been to GWRRA functions.

       We are both South Carolinians, born and bred, something unusual for the coastal region of South Carolina.  Bill grew up in the upstate and moved to the Myrtle Beach area in the late 1970’s.  He started riding Honda motorcycles at the age of 16.  Over the years he owned a Honda 350 4cyl, a Honda Dream 300, and a “souped-up” CB160.  As a young adult, he concentrated more on making a living for his family than he did on having fun but as his son grew, they both became very active in saltwater fishing, even participating in several big tournaments.  Motorcycles were left by the wayside in hopes of catching the “Big”one.  Bill has been a self-employed master electrician for over 30 years.

       Judy was born in the Pee Dee area and moved with her mother to Myrtle Beach in the mid 1960’s.  She’s always admired the beauty of a motorcycle, but was hesitant to ride as she had friends who, thru carelessness or in-attention, had some painful spills.  During their growing years, she was very active with her children’s school and scouting activities and she has worked as bookkeeper and office manager for the last 30 years.   We consider ourselves still newly-weds having only been married since 2006.  Between us, we have 4 grown children, 3 children-in-laws, and 5 grandchildren who think it is awesome that we are “old people” having so much fun on our trike.

       Bill really wanted a motorcycle, but Judy was just adamant that she would not ride 2-wheels.  He compromised and started looking at trikes.  Bill did his research and decided a Goldwing was the ride he wanted.  He found one in Florida and we drove all the way down past Daytona with the trailer to look at it and he hoped bring it home.  That was the last time the trike was on a trailer.  Shortly after we bought our trike (notice now it has become OURS, not his) we took our first road trip.  There had been a tropical storm hanging out south of us for several days and now it was moving up the coast.  Judy didn’t want to go, if it rained, she might get wet!!  She actually got on the trike with her bottom lip hanging out in a pout.  We took the back-roads and ended up in upstate South Carolina at the end of the day.  Did we say it was mid August and HOT!  NO Rain!  Judy was done.  She called her daughter and told her that Bill could rent her a car, buy her a car, buy her an airplane but she was NOT getting back on the trike ever again.  Next day she hopped on and has been there ever since.  She’s sat back there on trips of two straight days of hard rain, temps from the 20’s to the 100’s and yet she still rides—always in long sleeves, long pants, gloves, and helmet.

       We joined the GWRRA on the recommendation of the guy we bought the trike from.  We really didn’t know what to expect from GWRRA, but it didn’t cost that much and we thought we might get a free t-shirt or something.  Shortly after joining, we were contacted by Dale West, the CD of Chapter J and invited to a Chapter Meeting.   At our first meeting we found so many new friends, and some we already knew.  What we didn’t realize was we had just met a bunch of people who would become like family to us, a family of all ages and all diversities who had one BIG thing in common, having SAFE FUN.  And SAFE was, and remains, very important to us. 

       We have visited numerous other chapters, have been to the Region “A” convention in Eufaula, AL, to district conventions in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina and we attended our very first Wing Ding in Knoxville in July of this year.  We are having so much fun in GWRRA and hope it is contagious to the many people we meet.  We proudly wear our GWRRA patches and medals and pins and willingly talk to strangers about the many benefits of joining.  Judy has been jokingly accused of “stalking” the riders of any Goldwing she doesn’t recognize to invite them to a gathering or ride.  We strive to be not just good, but GREAT ambassadors for the GWRRA.

Lynn & Lyn