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16 January 2008 Gathering More pictures just added!!! As I drove from work out to the Chapter U January gathering, I wondered what the evening would bring. Over the six months, our gathering has had more and more new faces and people show up. In fact, a few times, the room at the Golden Corral has been rather cozy! January 16 was no different as 31 people showed up to greet, eat and meet and talk about a favorite mutual activity of riding. After the Pledge of Allegiance and introducing new faces, we settled down to the serious business of catching up with chapter staff’s activities during the last month. Brad Severe announced that a location (Pickerill Park in Schertz) and date (October 18) have been selected for our first chapter rally. JD Kvapil has volunteered to coordinate our rally planning, and the first rally meeting will be Saturday, February 2, with a “Ride to the Rally Meeting.” JD has lots of experience in planning and running rallies in Kansas but he will need lots of help so we hope lots of members will plan on bringing their ideas to our first rally meeting!
Couple views of the group! Was a very full house with 31 present! Charlie, Senior or Assistant Chapter Educator (he’s had both titles in the last year) talked about the first and great Parking Lot Practice earlier this month. He then introduced Court VanSickler as the new Chapter U Educator. Court then gave his first Educator presentation on being ready to ride with your mind, body and bike! Thanks Court for stepping up and taking on this important role in our Chapter. Dave Weaver talked about Membership Enhancement. Chapter U has had about 100 people in attendance at the various chapter functions before this meeting! This month seems like it will prove to be a new benchmark in attendance for our chapter. Dave is planning on adding a page to the chapter website specifically for membership enhancement and will be working with Reynaldo Espinosa, our chapter webmaster on adding that function. Mike Mills, Ride Coordinator, talked about the past and upcoming ride schedules. With the winter weather, everyone needs to be sure to check the website or call Brad to check on last minute changes. Behind the scenes, Olin Gover filled in as Chapter Photographer for Tom Byrd whose digital camera didn’t have a memory card in it! Olin also helped pass out the participation tickets to everyone present...a ticket for being there, for riding your bike, for bringing raffle prizes and for wearing Chapter U clothing! Lots of opportunities for getting free tickets!
Thanks to the generosity of our members and sponsors, we had lots of door prizes for our drawings and game of skillJ! Thanks to John Simonick for a nifty portable cooler complete with teddy bear and bath products, Duke and Chela Thompson for bringing a sweet smelling candle, Sal Pesta for all sorts of goodies including an insert for an 1800 trunk, Tom and Nancy Byrd for packs of mini Lysol spray cans to deal with less than clean pit stops on the road, and Ron and Maria for cool Gold Wing decals. Special thanks to Bert Navin who not only brought two raffle prizes but donated part of his 50-30-20 winnings back to the Chapter treasury! Of course we had our $50 gift certificate from Joe Harrison Motor Sports and a certificate for a free oil change from Cycle Rider. With the miles Chapter U is logging every month, those gift certificates sure come in handy. Make sure you identify yourself to and thank our sponsors for their continuing support!
After the gathering adjourned, everyone stood around and visited more! I had to eventually shooo Brad home as I had to get up the next day for school. As I drove home that night, I had to smile to myself that again our monthly chapter gathering had not failed to disappoint. The good-natured ribbing of any Harley riders present, the jokes and laughs, the friendliness towards new people and the evident focus on safe riding has a lot to do with making Chapter U what it is. More and more people are making a contributing by bringing a give-away, volunteering their time and resources, and passing on their ideas and suggestions, and it appears what our members feel by contributing as well as participating is just increasing the fun they receive by being part of our chapter! Our monthly meeting has indeed turned into a gathering because it is a gathering of kindred souls looking for what the GWRRA motto promotes “Friends for Fun, Safety and Knowledge!” I look forward to the next chapter activity and hope to see you there! Jill Severe
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