W

Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel, or maybe it's spring just around the corner. Warm riding weather is approaching, be ready! April is a very busy month for Chapter W. We have the Chapter B Birthday party in Cheyenne the 5th, if it's warm enough we may ride or drive over, it's only 100 miles, lots of good food, fun, 50-50, door prizes and more. If you would like to ride or go with us, please contact John Oliver 436-3616 to make plans. We also have our Thirteenth Birthday party on April the 27th at 1:00 pm. This is a big event for area Goldwingers. Make plans to attend if you can. It will be at the El Charitto restaurant in Scottsbluff.We are having a Get together on the 13th to finalize the plan for the Birthday party, we are trying to make this the best party ever, so come join us.
The Nebraska District Rally will be held on June 5-6-7 here in Scottsbluff. We plan to showcase our Western Nebraska area with rides, fun, 50-50s, raffle items, District couple of the year competition and many more things to do here "between a Rock and a hard place." Make plans to attend!
Get Together DATE CHANGE, SUNDAY APRIL 13, 1:OO PM, EL CHARITTO IN SCOTTSBLUFF. Final planning for Birthday party the 27th.

John and Sherry are both sick with the flu so the meeting was run by Steve Knode, Assistant Chapter Director. Awards were given to Ted and Deb Pritchard for achieving Rider Level I. Also recognized were Amy and Steve Hodges for reaching Rider Level II. The Harriger’s also have reached Rider Level (?) but were not present to receive their award.
Level IV awards were given to Steve and Jennie Knode and Ron Devier. John and Sherry Oliver will receive their awards at the next meeting. Ron also mentioned that Steve and Sheryl McLean met all the requirements of Rider Level IV but had chosen not to apply for the award. The WY Chapter B birthday party was announced. It will be held at 9am at the Knights
of Columbus hall on April 5 in Cheyenne. Everyone was encouraged to attend, if possible, to support a Chapter that always supports us. I told everyone that John will coordinate the trip and if the weather was good, we might take the
bikes. Otherwise John has a van and would not mind filling it up with Chapter W folks. The training weekend at Norfolk on April 11-12was announced.
April 27 will be our Chapter’s birthday party at El Charrito at 1:00pm. I announced that we needed more door prizes and Raffle items. John will contact Sandberg’s for prizes, Steve Knode will contact Kawasaki Corner and Steve McLean volunteered to contact Celli’s. Phil was not in attendance but we figured he would be responsible for the cake. John will get the ice cream and Deb said she would get the plates and table ware. The June District Rally was discussed. T- Shirts are still in the works, as are the pins. I mentioned that we will need to make media contacts to let people know
about the rally. Ted suggested that the Couple of the year should do interviews with KNEB, if they are interested in a story. I said that our District Rally is not in Wing World (I saw it in the new Wing World – ed). I sent an e-mail to Lance this evening asking him to check on that. I think John and Steve should contact the Scottsbluff Mayor’s Office about the Mayor welcoming GWRRA at our opening ceremonies. I reported that the ice cream social has been arranged and we’ll need more raffle items and door prizes. Asking for volunteers to handle registration and 50/50 ticket sales on the 5th, Ted, Deb, Rosa and Jennie they would be available starting at noon. Ron finalized the list of people wanting to take part in the trike course. He explained and I emphasized that today is the day to sign up or we’ll give the slots up to others. A location for the trike course needs to be nailed down. Suggested areas included the Parking lot at the old Wal-Mart, part of KMart
parking lot, WNCC and Lake Minatare State Park. Phil and Jim were not in attendance so we did not have a report from either of them. We showed Rosa’s quilt to the group. It’s very nice. Rosa asked about how we would get raffle tickets for the quilt. Sheryl volunteered to look in to having raffle tickets produced at various places and get back to Us with prices, etc. We estimated needing 500 tickets. We considered sending a picture of the quilt to Jim for inclusion in the newsletter and saying that we would sell raffle tickets to anyone who would not be able to attend the rally. We sold $43.00 in 50/50 tickets. The big prize of $15 was won by Deb Prichard and $7 was won by Ron Devier. Both donated their winnings back to the chapter. Thanks! Door prizes were won by the following: Milk Chocolate candy bar – Ted Prichard, Dark Chocolate candy bar – Gene Claver, Candle lantern Ron Devier who gave it back to be drawn again…Rosa won it.
Terry Scott offered his business parking lot for campers during the District Rally. He said there’s no shade but anyone needing a place to park is welcome to use his lot. Ron ran through the TCLOCKS exercise as a Safety item. It was suggested that business cards be made for The Couple of the Year to hand out. Someone asked if we are going to have any “skill events” at the rally with prizes awarded. We had 23 people at the get together, including the Hodges 2 kids and Lakota.
Steve

Good news! It warmed up and dried up enough for yours truly to get the Wing out and take a ride. This was a bit of a forced issue, though, because the Saturday before this day, I intended to take a ride and found the back tire flat. I
couldn't believe it. That wheel almost never is low on air, let alone FLAT! So I aired it up and found a leaking valve stem. I had this occur on the front tire right after I bought new tires last spring and found that Sandberg's had not replaced the valve stem during the tire replacement. We had a short discussion about that issue when I picked the bike up with two new valve stems (I thought). But, in actuality, they had only replace the front valve stem, the one that was leaking, and not the one on the rear so now I found myself dealing with a flat tire. So, on this warm day with my road finally dry, I took the Wing back to Sandberg's. I had aired up the tire the night before and found it had lost about 20 pounds of pressure. So I put about 45 lbs in it and headed for the highway. Before getting on the highway I checked it again and had not lost any air
pressure so I continued on the remaining 4 miles to Sandberg's running about 45 mph. At Sandberg's I found out that they had only replaced the front valve stem last summer. I was a little miffed, let's say, and told them my opinion which is that any time a tire is replaced on a bike it should include a new valve stem. Someone said, "That's $7." I said, "That's a $200 tire!" But I continued by telling them that even if they had to add the price of a valve stem to the cost of the tire, a new valve stem should be included. It's not like we carry a spare. Sandberg's agreed with this logic and said that's the way they would do it from now on. So anywhere you get a tire replaced, ensure that a new valve stem is also included in the deal. I was lucky in that my flat occurred while in my garage and 6 miles from help. Murphy's Law says that normally you won't be that lucky.PS - After getting the new valve stem I had a nice ride to Henry, NE and back so "All's well that ends
well". Also, I saw Dwight out on this trike and I saw Ted go by on his recently purchased trike. Looks good, Ted! And I also saw our Chapter Director getting some fresh air on his Wing the other day. So, can spring be far behind?

I hope you all enjoyed the March ride. It sure was a great ride and the lunch was great. I really love the new BBQ place we went to. I really enjoyed the new scenery. It was nice to get in a little over 175 miles. If you are wondering what the H___ I am talking about you are doing ok. With this lousy weather I have only been daydreaming about a nice ride. I guess we could call it a virtual reality ride i.e.. all in my head. I suggest that we schedule a real ride for April 26 and try to force the weather man to cooperate. We will meet at 27th and Ave I at 10:30 and find lunch in Sidney. (the annual Cabalas trip)

Rosa Devier

It is a month closer for our big trip to the cold north. We know that many motorcycle riders has made this trip but some how that doesn't stop me from worrying. Ron is busy getting the big green machine ready. New brakes, spark plugs and other items hat every one had told him he needs to do. Our trailer should be here this week and we will then give it a trial run to see if we can stand up to camping again. Our bodies are a lot older since the last camping trip that we did (our kids were still in grade school)). We hope we can take the bike to Chicago to pick up the trailer. We are anxious to try this all out. We are ready also to do some spring riding and also attend some supper rides. It seems like there is always something we need to do. You would think that with no kids at home and it is not time for spring work we would have time for everything. We are looking forward to the summer rides with all of you
.Rosa

A P R I L 5 T H – W Y - B C H A P T E R B I R T H D A Y P A R T Y ( S E E A T T A C H M E N T )

A P R I L 1 0 T H – 6 : 0 0 P M S U P P E R R I D E R U N Z A , B R I D G E P O R T

A P R I L 1 3 T H - 1 : 0 0 P M G E T T O G E T H E R E L C H A R R I T O , S C O T T S B L U F F

A P R I L 2 4 T H – 6 : 0 0 P M S U P P E R R I D E P R I M E C U T , S C O T T S B L U F F

A P R I L 2 6 T H – 1 0 : 3 0 A M R I D E T O C A B E L A ’ S , M E E T A T 2 7 T H A N D A V E N U E I , S C O T T S B L U F F

A P R I L 2 7 T H - 1 : 0 0 P M C H A P T E R “ W ” B I R T H D A Y P A R T Y , E L C H A R I T T O , 2 1 S T A V E , S C O T T S B L U F F

J U N E 5 T H – 7 T H-N E B R A S K A D I S T R I C T R A L L Y , H A M P T O N I N N , S C O T T S B L U F F

I have had many riders talk about the problem with traffic now that cars and trucks are able to drive much faster and seems lots more numbers out there, What do we do about those guys that tailgate. Well, lets see what the MSF Rider Handbook says. Drivers that tailgate pose a hazard. They may not be able to stop as quickly as motorcyclists. It is important not to let a tailgating driver distract you from SEEing ahead. In general, it is best to increase your following distance from vehicles ahead to give yourself time and space to execute a smooth, gradual stop. This avoids putting tailgating drivers in a position that requires them to make a quick stop. Some other options to respond to a tailgating driver are: Flash your brake light (communicate your intentions). Gradually reduce speed to create more space in front (adjust speed). Maintain a lane position that discourages sharing the lane (adjust position to protect your lane), or change lanes if possible. Turn at the next opportunity, into a street or parking lot, to allow the person tailgating you to pass by. This probably is much easier to read about than to actually pull this off. But I know when we are riding my plan is to do whatever I can to get away safely from this situation, and each time its different. We all need this escape plan at all times.