Chapter IL ~ DK Newsletter Happenings May, 2007 - Gwrraildk.org

Chapter IL ~ DKNewsletter HappeningsMay, 2007IL-DK Features This Month• Director’s Message• Assistant Chapter Director’s Message• Safety Educators Message• May and June Birthdays• Cortland Town Wide Garage Sales May4th&5thwww.gwrraildk.orgChapter IL-DK Established, August, 2001

GWRRA IL-DK Staff & District Info.Chapter Director Terry ClancyPhone 815-758-8568 Email irish@tbc.netAssistant Chapter Director Don & Cindy JanasPhone 815-572-2507 email dontech3042@comcast.netSecretary & Membership EnhancementPhone emailTreasurer’s Charlene ChamnessPhone 815- email nanachar22@hotmail.comRide Coordinator Cindy JanasPhone 815-572-2507 email cjanas@comcast.netRider Education Coordinators Bill & Mary Etta KeetonPhone 815-786-2394 email keeton602@aol.comWays and Means Coordinator Joe “Buck” PinionPhone 815-758-6098 email dk.syc.lcs@comcast.netM.A.D. Coordinators Ray and Bonnie ChickPhone 630-820-2177 email chickbonnie1@aol.comPublic Relations Kris & Sue AndrePhone 815-756-8374 email andrek855@sbcglobal.netNewsletter Staff Dean & Tracy CoylePhone 815-756-7084 email coylefam1@verizon.netIL-DK Web Mistress Sheila LarsonPhone 815-748-3138 email slarson713@aol.comDistrict Director Steve & Sandy SchlagerPhone email schlager@mchsi.netAsst. Dist. Directors Earl & Pat HobbsPhone 847-826-4107 email earlrh@sbcglobal.netDistrict Educators Steve & Tammy HattenPhone 309-346-3682 email s.hatten@insightbb.comWe meet the 1st Thursday of the month at the China House 1900 Sycamore Rd..DeKalb, IL

From your Chapter Director,Terry ClancyMay Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, etc., all very importantdays in this month of May. But are you aware that it is also MotorcycleAwareness Month? This is sponsored in part by GWRRA aswell as the State of Illinois. Yes, this is an important month to riders to bring attentionto those who only ride in cars and other vehicles of the like. I know many ofyou have made an effort in taking available that has been offered recently givingyourselves an edge in the daily meeting of both bikes and cars sharing the sameroadway. In fact, across the district, there have been many GWRRA members takingavailable training to make them a safer, more educated rider on these roadways.The 0 in 2007 campaign has really taken hold and a lot of folks are participating inthis. There has been a lot of training as well as a lot of fun and camaraderie goingon within GWRRA and its members in this District as well as this Chapter.In the month of April, we started by holding a Crash Scene Course at our Aprilmeeting and progressed from there on safety. There have been ERC Courses, RoadCaptain Courses, Co-Rider Courses, etc. that people from IL-DK have participatedin. Let’s all share what we have learned and share with those who couldn’t makethese classes. It can only make for a safer ride for all of us when we are on one ofthose important missions of looking for the perfect BBQ Rib Dinner.Speaking of food, we had a couple of nice Dinner Rides this month with greatturnouts from the Chapter. We visited the Golden Corral in Rockford and then wewent to Donnelly’s in Union. Not to forget to mention a quick emergency trip thelocal Dairy Queen in Hampshire following the dinner in Union.We also held our Chapter Roadside Pick-up this month. I am really hoping that inthe fall when we do this, we have a bigger turnout. It isn’t a difficult task nor is it adirty task. But as the saying goes; “The more, the merrier”. The more folks thatjoin in on projects and tasks we do as a Chapter, the more fun we have as a ChapterFamily. And think of the ice cream rides that can follow. Continued on Next Page

Can you believe it—30 years! It is a very exciting time for GWRRA—we’re fastapproaching the anniversary of our founding June 4, 1977. To our knowledge, weare the only single-marquee motorcycle association of this size to celebrate 30years of continuous existence.Our birthday is June 4, and we want to celebrate with you. In honor of this memorabletime, we would like to recognize the people who have made GWRRA sowonderful.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------This year, the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA) will celebrate its30th anniversary. What an accomplishment for a motorcycle association!Founded in 1977 by Paul Hildebrand and Shirley Stephens-Garcia, along withseven other fellow Gold Wing enthusiasts, GWRRA began as a dream and hasgrown, over the years, into an 82,000-Member, 55-country, internationally renownedreality.Today GWRRA—with over 880 Chapters, 4,000 Volunteer Officers and a corporatestaff of only 20—has taken the idea of association management and volunteerismto levels never before seen in the motorcycle industry. GWRRA is the world’slargest single marque motorcycle association!To celebrate its 30 years of success as an association, GWRRA is planning a seriesof events throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. The theme for these celebrationsis “30 Years of Memories.” Each event will also have a sub-theme of “GivingBack to the Member.”As you can imagine, 2007 will be a very exciting year for GWRRA and its Members.It will be a year of both memories and of showing appreciation for our Members.So plan to attend as many 30th anniversary events as you can.We know you’ll HAVE FUN!!! After all, that’s why you joined GWRRA, isn’t it?And, THANKS to all of you ---- GWRRA would not be here if it weren’t for you!

For the month of May, we have several items on the calendar. First(besides our Chapter Meeting) we have the Windshield Wipe which hasbeen canceled. We have a Dinner Ride to Culvers in Belvidere on the 17 thand don’t forget chrome and lights at Niehaus Appreciation days over theweekend of the 18 th to the 20 th . While June is right around the corner andfolks are making plans. We had scheduled for a St. Jude’s Poker Run inthe very beginning of June. This too has been canceled.So have a good, merry month of May, be safe and don’t forget youmoms on Mother’s Day this May 13 th . Be happy and safe everyone,Your Chapter Director,TerryTerry’s MessageContinued.

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Assistant Chapter Directors, Don & Cindy JanasWe had a very good month in April, some good riding days and training sessions.This is a great time to start off the season with a little parking lot practiceand Rider Ed/First Aid Training. Although, the first safety weekend inRockford was cancelled due to possible bad weather, the following weekendwas jammed packed. We even had several people ride in as standbys. Whata problem to have! Thanks to all who attended, we get points for that.We seem to be somewhat “STALLED” in our events this year. Not surewhat we are doing, I hear several events have been cancelled and/or weneed help getting the events setup. Folks remember this is “YOUR” Chapterand we need “YOUR” help in getting events setup and coordinated. I knowsome of our events are a little different from last year and we have had aturn-over in staff. We need your help to keep things running.I would like to thank Gene Shields and his church, The First EvangelicalFree Church, in Rockford for Co-hosting what turnout to be a very well attendedRiders Ed Training session. We had 18 people attend of which wehad a combination of GWRRA people and people from several otherchurches. Ray Chick gave his MAD Presentation, Dave Carter and DonJanas presented the seminars which were monitored by our own ChapterEducator – Bill Keeton. We had a very good time and were asked by severalattendees to come back and do other seminars.Along with our upcoming events, rides, campout, Wing Ding, etc. we reallyneed to start thinking about planning. We also need to thing about“communication”. This is one of my big things with people is communication!I know several people have made comments about getting emails,phone calls, etc. We all have a line of communications to our chapter. Weneed to communicate with each other and this can not be a “One Way”Street.Continued ….

It works both ways; you must be responsible for your own communicationsas well; what does that mean? If you are not getting emails orphone calls regarding a particular function, then YOU must make someeffort and call those that are involved in planning these events. I haveto say in this day and age it pains me hear someone say “I never gotthe email or the phone call or didn’t know”. We all have phones,internet access, email and people we are in contact with on a regularbasis. We put the information on the internet as website, interactivecalendar, for those who have access, we send out emails for thosewho have email accts, we call people for those who don’t have anycomputers. Yet we still hear people complain they did not get the information.Ask yourself this question next time you did not know… Whodid or could I have called to get it? We do the best we can to communicatewith everyone, but everyone needs to take some responsibility toget information as well. We really need to try and make communicationbetter by focusing on how to get the information to everyone ratherthan pointing fingers at who did not call you. Let us know what yourpreferred type of communication is; if you don’t have email that workslet us know. We feel it is very important to get information out but weneed to be updated on what works for you too.Don JanasTogether Everyone Accomplishes More!

May Birthdays:Bill Keeton ~ May 3Cheryl Boyce ~ May 5Brianna Coyle ~ May 15Alice Bennett ~ May 19Heather Byerly ~ May 25Jim Watson ~ May 28June Birthdays:Sheila Larson ~ June 2Ann Clevette ~ June 11Tom Roff ~ June 14Cindy Janas ~ June 19

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Bill, and Mary EttaKeetonChapter Educators, IL-DKWell Spring is here and riding season is in full swing. IL-DKStaff Members have worked hard to keep our Chapter busyover the winter months and now that riding season is in full swing we needeveryone to stay active in chapter activities. May is Motorcycle Awarenessmonth across the nation. As we get in to the full riding season with ourbikes we as motorcycle riders should take note of our safety and makeother drivers aware that we are out there too. You may say how are we goingto do that. It can be answered by taking part in awareness programs likecleaning windshields at rest stops or getting involved with safety programs.This could either be the MAD program or GWRRA levels, but either wayget involved. No one can look out for your safety better then you can! Soimprove your safety knowledge about riding motorcycles and take programsavailable to you.Safety also means wearing the proper safety equipment as you ride.GWRRA recommends that when you ride you use driving gloves (full finger),long sleeve shirt, long pants, boots and most important a helmet. Helmetssave lives whether people want to believe it or not I have first handknowledge of this. I have seen people hit the highway head first and get upand walk away from and the accident just because they had a helmet onwhen riding a motorcycle. Most motorcycle deaths that happen in this nationis because the people riding the bikes were not wearing the proper helmetsor not wearing one at all. Be Safe wear your safety equipment and letpeople know you are out there. One last note when riding at night if youhave extra lights on your bikes turn them on, the more lights the easier is itfor another driver to see you. Night riding can be the most dangerous formotorcycle riders because not many bikes have lights on the side of themmaking it harder for drives to see them at intersections. Be aware of otherdrivers when riding (night or day); don’t think they will stop for you justbecause you are on a motorcycle.PS. A grumpy old man walks into a restaurant and asks the maitre’d: Do you servecrabs here