GWRRA AL-U News September 2017

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CRUISIN U’S NEWS Gold Wing Road Riders Association

Chapter “U” Dothan, AL. Southeast Region “A”

FRIENDS FOR FUN, SAFETY, AND KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER DIRECTORS Bruce & Eileen Williamson

eileengram@aol.com

REGION “A” DIRECTORS Jim & Sue Jackson

RegionDirector@gwrra-region.org

ALABAMA DISTRICT DIRECTORS

Frank & Linda Teasley Director@Alabama-gwrra.org

ASSISTANT CHAPTER

DIRECTORS Pat & Darnell Lapera patlapera@yahoo.com

DISTRICT COUPLE OF THE YEAR

2016-2017 Robert & Gail Brown

ALABAMA DISTRICT TEAM

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS Ron Landers

Ron & Corky Alexander

SUNSHINE LADY Darnell Lapera

patlapera@yahoo.com

MONTHLY GATHERING Second Tuesday of every month

6:00 PM Eat - 7:00 PM Meet Golden Corral, Dothan AL

RIDER EDUCATORS MOTORIST AWARENESS

Carl & Jan Breeding

CHAPTER EDUCATOR LTC James & Freida Clayson

334-791-3288 james.clayson@gmail.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter & State Officers….2 District News………….......3 District Rider Ed….……….5 Chapter U Rider Ed……….5 SAADD News ... ……...….7 Bruce & Eileen’s Gab….….8 Ride Schedule…………..…9 Calendar.……………..……10

LEADERSHIP TRAINERS

Roy & Anita Fosnight

TREASURER Melissa Stumpf

melissa.stumpf@yahoo.com

MEMBER ENHANCEMENT & CHOY COORDINATORS

Kenneth & Veronica Campbell

NEWSLETTER EDITOR Richard Stumpf (334) 477-3667

richard.stumpf1@gmail.com

COY COORDINATORS Terry & Barbie Cleveland

TECHNICAL ADVISOR Albert (Bubba) Houser

(334) 797-5058 Hueyman19@yahoo.com

VENDOR COORDINATORS Linda Teasley

DISTRICT CHAPLAIN Trina & Bill Barden

WAYS & MEANS Joan and Ray Collier joancollier@aol.com

TREASURER Sara & Harry Leach

WEBMASTER Larry & Penny Anthony

On the cover: RIP Jaybird and Yo-Yo.

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Greetings fellow riders, at this writing we are preparing for our trip to Wing Ding in Grapevine Texas. We are looking forward to this trip and we hope all of you are as well. We are planning to get in some extra sightseeing while we are out. We hope many of you can attend and support Alabama’s and Region A’s COY, Robert and Gail Brown as they participate in the International selection process. The selection will occur on Tuesday Aug 29th and we hope to have a BIG group from Alabama and Region A there to cheer them on. Wednesday is Alabama’s day to work the Registration and Day Pass table. If you are planning to be there on Wednesday and can spare a couple of hours please come by and join us for a good time. You will get to meet members from all over the world and perhaps make some new friends. As a thank you for helping you will receive a volunteer pin and a ticket to the BIG ice cream social. We hope to see you there.

As most of you know by now there is a restructure going on in GWRRA that will take effect on Jan 1st, 2018. Other than what you were sent by home office there are few other details to share at this time. As we are given more information we will pass everything along to you. As we stated in a previous email, this change will not affect 95% of all the members in GWRRA. Please remember that the District Team is here for you and will continue to be there in the future. Please let us know if you have any concerns about anything going on in GWRRA and we will do our best to help.

The only other rally going on in our area is WOTS in North Carolina in late September. We are planning to attend and ride the mountains for a weekend and we hope to see many of you there. October will be a very busy month for us and we will discuss those events in next month’s newsletter.

In closing, please remember all of our men and women in uniform that serve our great country as well as all of our first responders and all of their families. Say thanks to all of these folks every time you have a chance. We hope to see each of you out on the road,

Frank and Linda Teasley

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School’s in, perhaps now it will cool down. As I write this I am only partly packed for my Wing Ding trip, and dreading the Texas heat. Soon we will be preparing for cold weather, but in the meantime, there is the opportunity for some beautiful riding and exploring. My plea is that before each ride you take the time to think about the preparations you have made and the ride you have planned. Evaluate the dangers involved and think of strategies to avoid disaster. With school back in session, there is increased traffic on the roads and school zones to worry about. Soon the leaves will be changing colors, this will also increase vehicle traffic. Once the leaves start falling, they will add another element of danger by reducing your traction and possibly even masking road hazards. Have you checked your vehicle carefully lately? Many assume everything is fine, since you just used it, but have you picked up a nail in a tire? Are your tires getting slick, or have belts showing? Do you have fluid leaks? Have you checked the air pressure in your tires and checked the oil and coolant lately? Thinks go wrong, and a good bike or trike check before riding is a good form of insurance to make sure you catch problems before they become disasters. Jan and I are teaching a trike course in Grapevine, and when we get back we hope to be able to offer additional courses within the state. If you have access to a suitable facility I would appreciate your assistance in getting them set up. If you need Medic First Aid, I am sure Robert and Gail could also use help coordinating for classroom facilities for those. Keeping the members safe is a team effort. It involves training, sure, but it also involves all of the members planning and preparing. Under the new structure, Anita has suggested that a desirable qualification for the Ride Coordinator is that they be a Road Captain. I agree with this, I also think it should be someone who takes safety seriously. Being the Chapter Ride Coordinator does not mean you should come up with all of the rider, nor plan them all. There are others in your chapter who have ideas of fun activities and great rides. The role of the Chapter Ride Coordinator is to coordinate, bring the group together, discuss possibilities, and document the plan. Let’s all work together and try to keep our friends safe and enjoying themselves. Ride safely, ride often, call a friend. Carl & Jan Breeding Alabama District Educators

P a g e | 5 Buyer Beware (Or At Least Be Informed) When It’s Time To Replace Your Riding Jacket Buying a motorcycle helmet that will do its job when needed is pretty simple. Just look for the DOT sticker and stamp and you have a helmet that will do its job when needed. If your headgear also has a Snell rating, so much the better. The rest of your choice is all about fit, color, comfort and design. But, during my recent search for a new riding jacket, I discovered (once again) how much I didn’t know about the subject. So, what follows are things to consider, and for you to decide what is fact and what may be “marketing.” Sources include marketing materials from several manufacturers that shall remain nameless and several industry magazines and Web sites. For exhaustive detail on the European standards, visit: http://www.pva-ppe.org.uk/standards.htm. When many of us were in our teens, jacket choice was pretty simple – tough black leather. But now we have leather in multiple weights, and materials like Cordora, Ballistic Nylon, and Kevlar. Which is best? The answer is, “The one you are going to wear.” Anything beats riding in a T-shirt. But how do you know the one you are going to wear will do the job when it’s needed? There are no officially approved safety standards in the U.S. for motorcycle jackets. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) may try to change that in the future, but, for now, we are limited to the CE (Conformite Europeen) standard used widely in Europe and adopted by some American manufactures. Testing of body armor to meet the CE standard is similar to the U.S. DOT tests for helmets. The difficulty is that some jackets have a “CE Approved” label which only means that the body armor used in the jacket is approved, not the jacket material itself. So, claims such as “abrasion resistant,” “shock absorbing,” “impact resistant,” may be misleading. For a jacket to live up to those claims, it would have to meet the PPE standards (Personal Protective Equipment) set in England in 1995. Some mesh jackets have a Polyurethane coating that reportedly may melt into the skin when sliding on asphalt. Others are equipped with body armor that would easily fail CE criteria and provide little protection in the event of an unplanned separation of you and your Wing. When that happens, research tells us that there are critical areas of the body needing the most protection. The area of the most frequent impacts includes knees, hips, elbows and shoulders. So, ensure that your proposed purchase offers good protection in those areas. While protection of other upper body parts may not require as much armor, abrasion resistance, seam strength and tear resistance are important considerations. The minimum requirement to meet “high abrasion resistance” (sliding on your back, for example) is 4 seconds. An ordinary pair of denim jeans provides 0.6 seconds and a single layer of 1.4 mm cow hide will last 5.8 seconds. The material itself should have a tear-strength strong enough to repel a sharp object from penetrating the outer layer, and jackets should be lined with a slippery material to allow your

By Bob Berry

P a g e | 6 body to slide against the external shell, further reducing the risk of your skin being penetrated by sharp objects that get through the outer layer. Additionally the lining should have a high melting point, to ensure it does not melt into your skin under friction from road surfing. None of the protective material will do you any good if the seams separate under stress. A test reported in Motorcycle News, in the UK found only 4 out of 18 leather suits from the major European manufacturers, passed all the tests against the European Standard. Twelve of these suits failed the burst test due to either thread and/or leather failure. Look closely at the seams. Seams in the critical areas should have at least one row of concealed or protected stitching, to hold the seam together after the visible stitching has been worn away against the road surface. Check the stitching. It should be regular with no dropped stitches, which indicate a potentially weakened seam. Leather should have 11-14 stitches per 5 cm, fabric should have 13-16 stitches per 5 cm. Too few stitches means the seam will be too weak, but too many stitches will actually weaken the fabric. Additional layers should be double stitched. Getting the answers to all of this requires some research. Magazine reviews and motorcycle Web sites are a good place to start. I’ve had good luck talking directly with the jacket manufacturers. Most are pretty straightforward with their responses to my questions. So, which jacket is best? To repeat – “the one you are going to wear.” Choose yours for comfort, utility, visibility, good looks, and price. Then add a little homework to ensure that the jacket will perform well at the critical time. Ride Smart & Be Safe! James and Freida Clayson

GWRRA AL-U

Chapter Educator

P a g e | 7 The month of August has been extremely sad for both the Alabama District and the World, as we have lost three much cherished people. Rufus “Jay-Bird” Lawhorne of Chapter G, Kenneth “Yo-Yo” Campbell of Chapter D and Jerry Lewis the comedian and actor. Both Jay-Bird and Yo-Yo have been a positive influence on GWRRA for many years and through their support have helped to improve the Alabama District Gold Wing World. These men will never be replaced in our society and will be terribly missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to Veronica and Yvonne in their time of need with a personal request that if there is ANYTHING they feel we can do for them, PLEASE allow us the privilege to help.

REST IN PEACE JAY-BIRD and YO-YO

Other news for Corky and I is that we have been very successful in visiting all the Chapters in the SAADD area, except Chapter A. We promise that the first Gathering after we return from Wing Ding and a visit to California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, etc. we’ll be right there!! We usually take two and a half months, but only one and half this time!

Chapter F for the month August had 16 members present. We had a great time and a good 50/50!! They have the greatest Gathering place I have seen yet. A gathering room with plenty of space, air conditioning, good service and peace and quiet. Oh, and the chow is great too! Thanks Sid and Virginia for a fun time as usual.

Chapter M is coming along quite well with Dave and Linda at the helm. They had an over nighter the weekend of 21 and 22 August. From what I have gathered they had 16 members take part in it. Congrats Chap M.

Chapter G is seeing more members showing up for rides, even though it is quite hot this time of year. Like all Chapters, we are waiting for the real good riding months to come along. We’ll have to schedule more Country music/eat rides in the future! Good BBQ, good music by Jim Hubbard and fun things to do. If any chapter is looking for a place to visit with Chapter G, or on your own, may I suggest De Funiak Springs Fl. Wine tasting/tour (18 kinds for free), BBQ, Country Music, Florida’s Highest Point, and one of only two perfectly round lakes in the world. The other one located in Switzerland. All just 30 minutes from our home. It may turn out to be an over nighter for some of ya, so I would be happy to assist anyone in the logistics and planning, if ya like. It’s right off of I-10, so there are plenty places to stay and eat.

Chapter U has improved 100% in these past few years under the tutelage of Bruce and Eileen Williamson. His staff increases by one position almost every month. And what a staff it is. Completely versatile and willing to make “IT” happen. All Chapters should be so gifted. Wonderful Job Chap U. Keep the rubber on the road, it works best that way!

Ron and Corky Alexander

SAADD

(Southern Alabama Assistant District Directors)

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AL-U PROPOSED RIDE SCHEDULE FOR SEPTEMBER 2017 – QUESTIONS? CALL 334-237-0466

If you have a ride you would like to add to the schedule, please contact: Bruce Williamson eileengram@aol.com (334) 237-0466

Rosetta (Corky) Alexander rcalex@fairpoint.net Home: 334-858-7734

Cell: 334-406-4171

Corky’s Custom Covers www.facebook.com/corkyscustomcovers

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GWRRA Cruisin’ U’s September 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Spaghetti Supper –

American Legion KSU

5PM Chevron 52W &

Brannon Stand

2

3 Kick Tire

Milky Moos Ozark

3PM

4 GWRRA-FL-1L

PoFolks Panama City

6PM

5 GWRRA-AL-G

PoFolks Enterprise

6PM

6 7

8

9 Auburn

University Tour KSU

8AM Hardees Ozark

10

11 12 GWRRA-AL-U

Golden Corral

Dothan 6:00 PM

13 14

15 Fish Fry Ride

KSU 5PM Florida

Welcome Center 231 S

16

17

18 19 20 21 GWRRA AL-F Montgomery

6 PM KSU 3:30 PM

Hardees Ozark

334-237-0466

22 Bfast Buffet

Chipley KSU 6AM Chevron

Hwy 52 & Brannon

Stand

23

24 Kick Tire

CiCi’s Dothan

3PM

25 26 27 28 GWRRA GA-H

Albany GA Call 334-237-

0466

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