Gold Wing Road Riders Association Friends for Fun, Safety ... March Newsletter.pdf · been an MSF...
Transcript of Gold Wing Road Riders Association Friends for Fun, Safety ... March Newsletter.pdf · been an MSF...
“The F
ireball”
FL
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March 2020
Gold Wing Road Riders Association
Monthly Chapter
Gathering
1st Saturday
of the month
Eat at 8am
Meeting at 9am
4705 US Hwy 98N
Lakeland, Florida
Chapter Directors
Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg
(607) 427-8777
2020 Couple of the Year
Kenny & Deb Weberman
March Events
Jason’s Deli Mar 02nd
Gathering Mar 07st
Buffalo Wild Wings Mar 10th
Homosassa Springs Mar14th
Chapter Picnic Mar15th
Team Meeting Mar 16th
Dairy Queen Mar 19th
District Rally Mar 19th—21st
Johnson’s BBQ Mar 25th
Mason Jar Mar 28th
2017 Florida District
Chapter of the Year
National Director National Assistant Director Florida District Directors
Jere Goldman Bob Shrader Bill & Cheryl Smith
Friends for Fun, Safety & Knowledge
Rick & Madalena Buck
Assistant District Directors
District Contact for the Fireballs
41ST ANNUAL
FLORIDA DISTRICT
GATHERING OF THE Wings
March 19th—21st
“LUCK OF THE IRISH”
WWW.lakelandfireballs.org
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I am writing this the day
after our Fire Ball Rally.
First and most important-
ly a huge THANK YOU to
all who worked on the
Rally. A lot of people
spent hours working to
make decorations, plan-
ning events, checking and
rechecking to make sure
all the many details were
in place. I do believe we
had FUN working togeth-
er. At the Rally many our
guests told me that they
were having a good time
and complimented us on
the Rally. Rally numbers
were down slightly and as
a result our “profit” also
was down but don’t wor-
ry—we are still well FUNd-
ed.
We have a few additional
things happening in addi-
tion to the normal Meet
and Eats, rides etc. By
the time you read this we
will have held a Training
Day Sunday Feb 23. Also,
March 15 we will have an-
other picnic for the mem-
bers to celebrate our
snowbirds before they
head north. On March 19-
21 we will be attending
the Florida District Rally
in Altamonte Springs.
There will be guided rides,
a talent show, games etc.
We are planning to enter
the Chapter skit and The
Chapter Pride events.
Saturday is our “work day”
as we work the games
from 8:00 to noon.
The weather does seem
like spring is earlier than
normal for Florida. Many of
us are transplants from up
north. At least this week
they are dealing with some
major cold weather so
don’t rub it in when you
are out riding as they don’t
like it!
Ride Safe
Ed Bahrenburg
CD for the Fire Balls
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Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg
Chapter Director
Wow! What an honor to be selected to serve as Florida District Educators. We were so sorry to hear of Rick Northrop’s unex-pected illness. We wish him a speedy recovery and continue to keep him in our thoughts and prayers.
I guess some introduc-tion is for those of you who do not know me or my wife, Diane. Diane and I are retired from the Hills-borough County Sheriff’s Office. Diane served for 29 years with her last assign-ment being the Coordinator for the School Crossing Program scheduling 273 Crossing Guards. I served for 40 years with my last 22 years being a Motorcy-cle Officer. I was a Florida State certified Police Mo-torcycle Instructor and Mo-torcycle Crash Investigator. I also competed and still do compete in Police Motorcy-cle Competitions. I have been an MSF Instructor since 1996 and continue to teach today. I am certified by the MSF to teach BRC & BRC-2 two-wheel motorcy-cle courses as well as Trike, Sport Bike, Can-Am Spyder and Slingshot clas-ses. I am also certified by Evergreen Motorcycle Training to teach Side Car Classes. Diane was also an MSF Motorcycle Instructor and would assist me with classes.
While I was a Florida State Motorcycle Crash In-vestigator, I got to see the unfortunate side of riding. It was after investigating numerous motorcycle crashes I realized one of
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passion and teaching safe riding our goal. We hope to meet more of you at the 41st Annual Florida District Gath-ering of the Wings on March 19th-21st in Altamonte Springs.
Ride safe,
Dominick & Diane
Dominick & Diane DeSiato
the major findings in the Hurt Report to be true. Most motorcycle crashes could be avoided if only the rider knew what to do to prevent the crash. It was those crash investiga-tion experiences that moti-vated me to begin to teach riders. Hopefully through my teaching I could pre-vent some of the preventa-ble crashes from occurring.
We joined GWRRA 5 years ago after we retired. I am in the process of be-coming a certified GWRRA Rider Course Instructor. I will be attending an In-structor’s Class on May 30th to become GWRRA ARC certified instructor and another Instructor’s Class at Wing Ding in July to become GWRRA TRC certified. I am assisting members now on getting two new ranges certified for our use. One will be in Clearwater and one in Jacksonville. Many of our members need riding clas-ses to maintain their cur-rent Levels status. There are also many MFA CPR classes in progress cur-rently. They are not just for maintaining Levels but could save the life of a loved one. Check the Dis-trict Website and Group Works for class listings in-formation.
We are excited about our new position with the Florida District of GWRRA. We have been receiving a lot of welcomed support from Staff and Members which is greatly needed and appreciated. Riding has always been our
Rider Education
I accidently rubbed
Ketchup in my eyes...
Now I have
Heinzsight!!
Why did you join GWR-
RA????? That is a ques-
tion we all get asked from
time to time. While many
of the answers revolve
around riding and the fel-
lowship of Chapter life
(which is the part I like
the most), there are
many who join for other
reasons. Which spawns
the question, are you get-
ting the most out of your
GWRRA membership?
How long has it been
since you checked out the
ever-expanding list of
benefits available as part
of your membership in
GWRRA?
There are many ways be-
ing a member of GWRRA
can save you money --
and not just when travel-
ling. Do you mention that
you have taken GWRRA
rider courses when you
renew your bike insur-
ance? Many companies
will give you a discount
for keeping those current.
Speaking of insurance
how many of you are pay-
ing for roadside assis-
tance as an addition to
your bike insurance pre-
mium? We get it for free
as part of our GWRRA
membership, so you can
eliminate it from your bike
insurance (if you have Res-
cue Plus you can remove
roadside assistance cover-
age from your car insur-
ance as well). There are
discounts on life, health,
and long-term care insur-
ance, cell phone plans, of-
fice supplies, and other
non-travel related purchas-
es. When traveling, do
you have the GWRRA dis-
count information on lodg-
ing, car rental, or even
cruises? Have you taken
advantage of the GWRRA
RIP planning services?
Many of the benefits are
described in the "Officer’s
Handbook”, however I rec-
ommend going to the
"Benefits" page under the
"Members'" tab of the
www.gwrra.org for the
most current listing.
The more money you can save by taking advantage of the discounts offered to
GWRRA Members, the more money you will have available for participating
in GWRRA events or
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purchasing that all im-
portant "SAFETY
CHROME"......
THE MORE YOU KNOW THE BETTER IT GETS!
WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
Membership Enhancement
Jim & Alice Bontrager
WHAT IT MEANS TO
BE CHAPTER COUPLE
OF THE YEAR
I started riding motorcycles
in 1977 and again in 1983,
shortly after Debbie and I
were married. We pur-
chased our first Goldwing, it
was a 1986 Interstate 1200.
A few years went by and in
1991 we joined GWRRA in
Michigan and we rode with
Chapter E in Oakland Coun-
ty. Unfortunately, after only
a few years due to health
and financial issues we sold
our Goldwing and left GWR-
RA.
We retired to Lakeland,
Florida in 2015. An oppor-
tunity surfaced in 2018 to
purchase a 1996 Goldwing
1500 SE, this led us back
down that familiar road of
motorcycling with the GWR-
RA. I found the Lakeland
Fireball Chapter and called
the Director, Ed Bahren-
burg. He invited Debbie
and I to dinner with he and
his wife Dottie. After dinner
with much conversation, we
rejoined the GWRRA organi-
zation. We joined the Lake-
land Fireballs on June 28,
2018.
This chapter welcomed us
with open arms. All the
members were extremely
friendly, helpful and knowl-
edgeable. We have
learned so much since
joining the chapter and
feel like were part of a big
family and feel like we
have been riding with them
for years.
In December 8th, at the
Fireball’s Christmas Party
we had no idea what was
about to happen. They
called us up to the front of
the room and gave us the
privilege to hold the title of
Chapter Couple of The Year
for 2020. We know that
there are so many people
throughout the country in
GWRRA who have held this
honorary title and we want
to tell you what it means
to us.
We take this honor, this
privilege, this title very se-
riously. It mean’s a great
deal to us and we will not
disappoint our Chapter or
any part of the GWRRA in
any way while we hold this
title. We will do our very
best to promote, educate,
to make new friends
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Kenny & Debbie
Weberman
Couple of the Year
and bring new ideas to
make our chapter better
and most of all have FUN. We wear our Chapter Cou-
ple of the Year medallion,
our pins and badges very
proudly. It’s very im-
portant to us that we keep
up this very honorary tradi-
tion.
Fireball Proud
With much appreciation,
Kenny & Debbie Weberman
What you didn’t know about
St. Patrick’s Day;
St. Patrick’s real Irish name
was Maewyn Succat. He
took the name Patrick when
he became a priest. He was
born in Scotland or Wales.
At a young age of 16, he
was abducted and brought
to Northern Island as a
slave to herd sheep. After a
long and lonely 6 years he
escaped his captors. He left
Ireland only to return after
he had a vision that he was
supposed to spread Christi-
anity throughout his adopt-
ed country. He wasn’t liked
by the Druids or the King.
Only after he was able to
demonstrate that his Chris-
tian God was more powerful
than their pagan gods, was
he allowed to continue. He
did this by performing feats
and miracles only his God
could have done. In doing
so he converted Ireland to
Christianity and is thought
to have baptized over
100,000 people. Of course,
he was also credited for
running all the snakes out
of Ireland into the sea
(scientist say there were
never snakes in Ireland),
who really knows. Another
reason for visiting Ireland,
no snakes.
Luke Wadding, an Irish
Franciscan friar from
Waterford, persistent ef-
forts was responsible for
March 17th being pro-
claimed a feast day in
1558. Why March 17th, it
is the date of St. Patrick
death in 461 in Saul Coun-
ty Downs. The first St.
Patrick day parade was in
1737 in Boston or New
York (one report stated
Boston and another stated
New York) USA, not in Ire-
land. The holiday was not
celebrated with a parade in
Ireland until 1903. In the
19th century the tradition
of wearing green, sham-
rocks and drinking green
beer began, before that
the color most associated
with St. Patrick’s Day was
blue.
A few tidbits about St. Pat-
rick’s Day in America.
In 2016, Americans spent
a total of $4.4 billion on St.
Patrick’s Day. That’s an av-
erage of $35.40 per person
celebrating the big day.
It’s been celebrated in
space.
It takes 25 pounds of dye
to turn the Chicago River
Green.
Corned beef and cabbage
is a traditional dish on St,
Patrick’s Day. In America
it is estimated that in 2009
26.1 billion pounds of beef
Page 7
Rita Willis
Newsletter Editor’s March Message
and 2.3 billion pounds of
cabbage was produced in
the USA for St. Patrick’s
Day .
In the 2016 census there
were 32.3 million residents
in America with Irish an-
cestry (I’m one part of a
very large group).
I hope you enjoyed reading
this as much as I did re-
searching it.
Greetings Fireballs from your chapter
Ride Coordinator.
March 14 — 9:00 AM RaceTrac North
(US 98 & Marcum Rd.) Ride to Homo-
sassa Springs. Be sure to bring a picnic
lunch. $13 cash entrance fee.
March 28 — 9:30 AM departure from
RaceTrac North (US 98 No. & Marcum
Rd.). Ride to Mason Jar in Umatilla.
Please check the Fireball calendar and
watch for the weekly “Happenings”
emails with additional information for
each destination. And more to come in
April 2020!
Let’s Ride!
Leo Soucy
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Ride Coordinator
March 2020 Riding Adventures:
GWRRA Anniversary
Congratulations to
Jim & Cindy Pozenel 1989
Kenny & Debbie Weberman 1991
Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg 1999
Leon Rumohr Mar 02nd
Bob Kelly Mar 14th
Susan Povey Mar 16th
Gary Andrew Mar20th
Joe & Stormee Lupo
Rich & Betty Baxter
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!
2020 Fireball Rally - “TROPICAL VACATION” IN REVIEW
There are lots more Photos on our
website www.lakelandfireballs.org.
Mike and Sue do a wonderful job as
our photographers, so take a look.
The prices for advertising in our Monthly Newsletter are as
follows:
(Yearly Rates)
$25—business card
$50—1/4 page
$100—1/2 page
$150—full page
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Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg
Chapter Directors
2448 Snowy Plover
Lakeland FL