february, 2007 wing wag · crowsnest pass instead. our first day got off to a very wet start at...

Coming Events

Feb 12 Monthly Meeting Mar 1 Co-Rider Course Mar 31 Bunko—Pot Luck Or Apr 14

Gold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders Association Chapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter AB------------A (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) Newsletter

February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007February, 2007

Wing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing WagWing Wag

Near Ya Ha Tinda Ranch www.goldwingcalgary.com

Words from our Chapter Director

Turple Brothers of Red Deer sponsored a set of tires, as a prize, at last year’s Region J Rally held at Ainsworth Hot Springs, BC, on the weekend of August 5-7th, 2006. Special thanks to Ron and Carol Hodgson and all the staff and volunteers of GWRRA who made the event such a success. Elite III tires are what I have been running on my 2006 Wing, and I look forward to needing this new set soon. I picked the tires up just before Christmas and Glenn was gracious enough to spend time with Roger and myself. Regards, Jim Baker WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

What’s Inside

Sixteen Days on A Gold Wing .....2 Wings In The Sunny South..........3 Early Bird On The Wing .............3 Victoria Day Fun Run..................6 2007 Motorcycle Show .................7 Bunko Night—Pot Luck ..............8 News & Notices.............................9 Classifieds ...................................10 Calgary Area Staff Listing ........11

A picture of myself, Glenn Turple, and Stephanie from Turple Brothers.

Wing Wag February, 2007 Page 2

Since this was my very first mo-torcycle trip ever, and our first motorcycle trip together, most of our family and friends were very curious about how we were getting on. We decided early to keep a journal and then tried to send emails to them every day or so. This article is derived from those emails Day 1, Due to a prediction of 25 mm of snow in the mountains we al-tered our planned trip and in-stead of going through Banff and Radium we decided to go south and then through the Crowsnest pass instead. Our first day got off to a very wet start at 9:00 in the morning with 50C and rain. The rain lasted most of the morning until we got to Claresholm when we filled up with gas. The rain stopped for a while but the tem-perature hovered between 50C and 60C. We stopped for lunch at Tim Horton’s in Fernie and after a 45 minute break it was back on the bike with full stom-achs. We got rained on again between Fernie and Cran-brook. The clouds started to break up at Cranbrook and the temperature got up to 110C. By the time we got to Sand Point, Idaho the skies were largely clear although there were still some clouds around that looked quite nasty, but the temperature was up to 150C. We stopped for the night in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho at a Holiday Inn Express and had supper at the Outback Restaurant the only place within walking distance. After 9.5 hours and 722 kilometers on the bike we really didn't want to

get back on it again. We are both looking forward to tomor-row morning, day 2. We are hoping the weather will improve

but expect another day or two of cooler temperatures and in-termittent rain. Day 2, We woke up this morning to blue skies and 150C, what a treat. It didn't last all that long though, and we were soon get-ting rained on again. The tem-perature in Kennewick, WA was 170C when we had lunch and the skies had cleared slightly. We just kept trying to head for the blue patches but had two more bouts of rain with a low temperature of 80C before our day was finished. We got into Bend, OR at about 6:00 having traveled 700 km in 8 hours. The skies have broken cloud and the prediction for to-morrow is more of the same but temperatures in the 15 degree range. We hope to drive into the Cascade mountain range tomorrow but may have to rent a car for the day if the weather doesn't hold as predicted; we sure hope that won't be neces-sary. Day 3, This was a day of ex-tremes. While most of the day

was sunny there were clouds in the mountains. The low for the day was 30C near Mt Bachelor and the high was 170C late in the day. We spent some time in

the morning looking for covers for Colin's boots. It seems they have become less than water-proof since his soaking on his last trip in early July, but we had no luck finding any decent pro-tection. Guess that means new boots next year and we will have to pray for dry weather for the rest of this trip. We drove the Cascade Lake Loop (where Mt Bachelor is) then went to Paulina Lake in the Newberry Volcano Area and had lunch in a very quaint log cabin restaurant with a roaring fire in a Franklin

(Continued on page 4)


At the first meeting of the new year (January 8, 2007) we were treated to a presentation by Tracy Dow, Event Coordinator and Ride Educator, from the new Lethbridge Chapter AB-L. This new and ambitious group has chosen to sponsor a rally right out of the gate. Wings In The Sunny South will be held from June 29 to July 1, 2007. This is a great date and location

for anyone traveling to Wing Ding in Billings, Montana to fit in another rally and help sup-port this new chapter. Speaking of helping the new chapter—they will most likely be looking for volunteers to help keep things on track during the event, so if you have the time and inclination please don’t hesitate to offer up your ser-vices to our friends a little far-

ther south. There are accom-modations for everyone, camp-ing, hotels, and dormitory style lodging are all available. De-tailed information about all as-pects of the rally and contact information is available at the Chapter AB-L web site: www.gwrra-lethbridge.org WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Here is a picture of Rod Banman, who was our first rider to a Chapter AB-A function of the year. He road to break-fast Sunday morning the 28th of January. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


type stove--the hamburgers were great. After lunch we drove on a circular road to the top of lava butte where we had a 360 degree view of the area. Colin climbed to the fire

watch station but because I hate UP I stayed below and laughed at Colin climbing the huge hill. Day 4, We started the day with a crystal blue sky and the only cloud for-mations in sight were caused by the contrails of the air-craft. There are a lot that fly over this area! We spent most of the day going in a circle around the top of Crater Lake. The views were spectacu-lar and so was the weather. Af-

ter returning to the valley below the crater we were able to take off our cold weather pants and rode for the first time this trip with just our jeans. Our low to-day was 120C and the high was 220C. What a treat, this is why I wanted to try a bike trip—for days like today. Day 5, It has been a great day. We cov-ered 536.1 kilometers in just

over 8 hours. Our low tempera-ture was 130C at 10:00 this morning and our high was 310C at about 5:00 this after-noon. We saw a most unique water fall that is generated al-most solely from an under-

ground spring. It was really in-teresting as the water would seep out of the rocks at a lot of different places and then there was the surface creek that was generated by the spring some distance away and from limited ground run off. VERY COOL! We also went to Lassen Volcanic National Park which is sort of a combination of Mt. St. Helens and Yellowstone. The road is sort of like the one at Glacier

National Park and was also built by the Civilian Conservation Corp. That group did some very impressive work in so many locations throughout the US. We visited a museum de-voted to the Corp in June of this year and it really gave us a great appreciation of what it accom-plished. After checking into our hotel in Redding, CA we went to the Sundial Bridge a very im-pressive structure that is illumi-nated by lights in the bridge deck at night, but we didn’t stay

to see the display. Day 6, We started the day in Redding at a high temperature of 220C and reached our low temperature for the day of 130C in the Whiskey-Town, Shasta, and Trinity Na-tional Recreation Area. Lots of smoke from forest fires and we even drove by the command post for the fire fighting service, several of the roads in the area were closed due to the fire but we never did see exactly where it was. What a wonderful mo-torcycle road with lots and lots of twisty bits for Colin to play with although he was a little hesitant about trying too much as he is rather new to two up riding and didn't want to scare me. As we got closer to the coast the wind got very strong and tried to blow us off of the bike a few times. We stopped for lunch in Ferndale a small re-stored Victorian town near the northern California coast. Most of the houses and business are the original Victorian buildings restored and updated over the years, very picturesque; we had lunch in the old hotel. After lunch we rode on to The Avenue of the Giants which is a road

(Continued from page 2)

(Continued on page 5)


through several large groves of

giant redwood trees and we even drove the bike through

one of the trees and took some pictures. The road had lots more twisty bits and Colin got a little more experimental with his cornering, some of which were close to 360 degree turns sending us almost back the way we had come. Colin also discov-ered that the first things on his

bike to touch the ground in tight turns are his foot pegs, or his feet if poorly posi-tioned. We saw that his are not the only pegs to hit the ground in the tight turns as the pave-ment in some corners looked rather like a barcode with all the scrapes cut into the pave-ment. We eventually reached the coast and our first views of

the ocean were well worth the trip with lots of waves crashing on the rocks below and lots more twisty bits with near shear drops off the edge and several with no guardrails. We

got to our hotel in Fort Bragg after 507.3 kilometers and 8.5 hours on the road and had to clean not just bugs but also sea spray off of the helmets and windshield. We had supper at the harbor and watched the sun set. Day 7, We left Fort Bragg and went to the Mendicino Botanical Gar-dens just a couple of miles from our hotel and spent an hour or so wandering about, not much was in flower so late in the year but the dahlia gar-den provided an incredible dis-play of color. We had wonder-

ful hamburgers at the Cypress

Bar & Grill in Gualala and then rode on to Fort Ross. Fort Ross was built in the early 1800's by the Russian-American Trading Company, similar to the Hud-son Bay Trading Company in Canada. The fort tried to be-come a colony but eventually gave up when after several years the expenses seriously out stripped the profits. The fort and all its contents were sold to a Californian who stripped it and let everything else rot. It has been rebuilt in part according to pictures and letters of its time. We arrived at The Bogata Bay Lodge which was a wonderful place. We had our room upgraded and ended up with a full ocean view, a fire-place, and a jetted tub for two. We had a wonderful ro-mantic dinner at the Duck Club Restaurant where we watched another sunset then returned to our room with the rest of our bottle of wine from supper to enjoy the fireplace, and the sound of the waves beating against the shore. We both slept like logs with all of the fresh air, as we had left the patio door open while we slept. Life just doesn't get any better. With all the stops we only logged 206.6 kilometers in 7 hours and the temperatures ranged from a low or 160C to a high of 220C. To be continued ... Lisa Miller WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

(Continued from page 4)


The Victoria Days Fun Run is in Ephrata Washington on the May long weekend. The current plan looks like this. The ride will leave in the afternoon on May 17th. We will travel to Cran-brook, British Columbia on the Thursday, arrive in Ephrata, Washington on Friday. We will leave after the closing ceremonies on Sunday and ride to Sand-point, Idaho and return home on the Monday. The host hotel is the Best Western in Ephrata, Wash-

ington. The phone number is 509-754-7111. This year attendees will be re-quired to book their own rooms. When booking a room, people must let the

hotel know that they are participating in the GWRRA weekend event and would like to book one of the rooms set aside for Ronnie Lopez. Bob Van Nes has reserved a room and 18 of the 39 rooms are already spoken for. Contact Bob Van Nes for more information. Regis-tration forms will be avail-able at the February 12th meeting. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


The GWRRA booth at the 2007 Motorcycle Show. Seated L - R Brenda Van Nes & Bill Mitchell, standing L - R Barry Rutz & Bob Van Nes

It was great to see how every-one in the Association wanted the Motorcycle Show to suc-ceed by Volunteering for a shift at the Show and offering to help with the pictures and man-ning the booth. With out this enthusiasm GWRRA would not have had their name adver-tised.

Alex Middleton WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


Writers Wanted If you have a story about your recent mo-torcycle adventures we would love to share it with the other GWRRA members by publishing your story in the Wing Wag. Please email your stories to Lisa Miller at editor @ goldwing calgary.com

ince these early months of the

year are usually not very bike worthy, we are try-ing to arrange an alter-nate event to get the group together to allow us to have some of the fun and friendship that is so much a part of the club. At the moment we are looking at either March 31 or April 14th for a Bunko evening which

will included a Pot Luck supper. Since some of our club members are away for the winter and returning in late March, we don’t want to hold this event too early so they too can join us. Rose will have a sign up sheet at the February 12th meeting to try to determine who is inter-ested in attending and which date is the best for the most members. Then we will know when to book a facility and we

can start looking for an appropriate location. We will announce the date and location when they have been determined.

Sharon Sanders and Rose Perrin WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

1020 Meridian Rd. N.E. Calgary, AB T2A 2N8


1. The Co-Rider Course will be held on March 1, 2007 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at 660 Palmer Rd NE in the offices of Executive 1 Air (the same place the last CPR Course was held). Please contact Wes Braden at 286-7364 or by email at ridereducation @ goldwing calgary.com if you are interested in participating.

2. The Calgary Ride for Dad will be held on June 2nd. Interested individuals can get information at www.MotorcycleRideForDad.org or by calling John McKinlay-Key at Cell: 613-818-0480 or Res: 613-489-3334, his email address is [email protected]. While this event is not sponsored by our chapter we want to keep members informed of other riding opportunities.

3. The Ride for Sight will be held from June 8th to 10th. Interested individuals can get information at www.rideforsight.org or by calling 1-800-451-3331. While this event is not sponsored by our chapter we want to keep members informed of other riding opportunities. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


CALGARY AREA STAFF Chapter Directors Jim & Dorothy Baker 285-0063 chapter director @ goldwing calgary.com

Quartermaster Brian Perrin 241-7955 quartermaster @ goldwing calgary.com

Newsletter Editor Lisa Miller 288-0845 editor @ goldwing calgary.com

Treasurer Joy Somers 293-5134 treasurer @ goldwing calgary.com

Ride Coordinator Rod Banman 208-8142 ride coordinator @ goldwing calgary.com

Rider Training Don Martin 281-4687 rider training @ goldwing calgary.com

Rider Education Wes Braden 286-7364 rider education @ goldwing calgary.com

Rider Course Terry Burrill 333-9914 Instructor rci @ goldwing calgary.com

Social Coordinators Rose Perrin 241-7955 social 1 @ goldwing calgary.com & Sharon Sanders 280-0990 social 2 @ goldwing calgary.com & Joanne Quinlan 271-5239 social 3 @ goldwing calgary.com

Social Coordinator & Vi Banman 208-8142 Membership social 4 @ goldwing calgary.com Enhancement Assistant

Membership Darryl Minsky 286-9711 Enhancement webmaster @ goldwing calgary.com Coordinator & Webmaster

Classified AdsClassified AdsClassified AdsClassified Ads The Classified ads are free to all members and associates of the GWRRA. While advertised items do not have to be Gold Wing related, we do insist that all ads pertain to motorcy-cling. Ads will appear on a space available basis for one month. Should you wish to continue to run your ad for a sec-ond or succeeding month, you must resubmit or renew your ad. Deadline for submission is the 25th of the month pre-ceding publication. To post an ad or if the item is sold or the offer withdrawn, please contact Lisa Miller at: editor @ gold-wing Calgary.com

50/50 Winner50/50 Winner50/50 Winner50/50 Winner

There was no There was no There was no There was no 50/50 Draw 50/50 Draw 50/50 Draw 50/50 Draw

at the January at the January at the January at the January Monthly MeetingMonthly MeetingMonthly MeetingMonthly Meeting

GWRRA TOLL FREE NUMBER (CANADA & US) 1-800-843-9460

NATIONAL LEADERS

Executive Director Melissa Nordeoff (623) 581-2500

Intentional Dir of Ops Jim Hodge (228) 875-1764

Natl Dirs for Cdn Ops Dennis & Yvonne Evans (???) ???-????

Natl Rider Ed Director Gordon Murphy (709) 753-2318

Region J Directors Phil and Margaret Craven (250) 353-7108

District Directors Ross & Audrey Woolsey (780) 922-2670

NOTE: Email addresses in this publication are displayed in a manner that will deter automatic address harvesting programs. This step is taken to reduce unsolicited email to any email ad-dresses we post. We regret any inconvenience caused for our legitimate visitors. Remove all the spaces in the email address to make it work.


Monthly Meetings Monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Monday of each month. This is a time to share informa-tion and to meet old and new friends who like to ride together for FUN, Safety and Knowledge. See you at the next meeting at the Fox Hollow Golf Club, 9th Street and 32nd Avenue N.E. Dinner @ 6:30; Meeting at 7:00 PM.

Rain, snow or shine, we meet for breakfast every Sunday morning about 9 AM. This is a great year round way to stay in touch with your GWRRA friends. So, if you have missed the op-portunity to join us for breakfast recently, why don’t you come on over to the Fox Hollow Golf Club, 9th Street and 32nd Avenue N.E.

Michael Oram Agent/Advisor

Cell: (403) 990Cell: (403) 990Cell: (403) 990Cell: (403) 990----HOME {4663}HOME {4663}HOME {4663}HOME {4663}

February 2007

EVENT SCHEDULE

DAY/DATE EVENT AB-A SPONSOR

Feb. 12, 2007 Monthly Meeting

Mar. 1, 2007 Co-Rider Course Mar. 31 Bunko and Pot Luck Night or Apr. 14, 2007

“Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge”

Come ride with us.… …..Everyone Welcome!

For the latest updates on what we are doing and where we’re going,

check out our website:

www.goldwingcalgary.com


NEW ADDRESS:

3rd Floor, 609 - 14 Street NW

Calgary, AB T2N 2A1 (403) 777-0111 OFFICE (403) 242-9699 RESIDENCE

february, 2007 wing wag · crowsnest pass instead. our first day got off to a very wet start at...

Documents