June 2002

Trails End.......

ROLL CALL: Sandy Stroud, Floyd Nunnelee, Danny Parker, Larry Cole, Charlie and Darnell Gibson, Jimmy and Margaret Rogers, Don Oller, Dick Salveson, Terry and Mary Carol Scott and yours truly, Stan Viets.

This meeting was very important, with a lot of business to cover. But first, I reminded all that another nomination and election would be coming up in October and November of this year. This will permit us to have a new or reelected slate of officers in place for the renewal of our AMA Charter by January and get our second year as the Memphis Tour Riders off on the right foot.

Before proceeding to the nominations I outlined the nomination and election procedure we would follow.

This outline would be typical for each of the five (5) elected offices, President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Road Commander.

1. As Chairman I will accept nominations from the floor for each office.

2. Accept motion for nominations to cease. Is there a second to the motion? Discussion, comments, willingness to accept, etc. if there is only a single nominee then accept a motion and a second to elect the nominee by acclamation. Vote yes or no by a show of hands.

3. If more than one nominee, the names will be published in Happy Trails with voting to take place at our June meeting.

If for any reason there are no nominees for any office, this procedure will carry over until next month. The floor was opened for nominations as follows.

President:  Stan Viets nominated by Floyd Nunnelee

    Motion to cease nominations, Sandy Stroud

    Second, Don Oiler

    Unanimous affirmation from the floor

Vice Pres: Terry Scott nominated by Floyd Nunnelee

    Motion to cease nominations, Sandy Stroud

    Second, Danny Parker

    Unanimous affirmation from the floor  

Secretary:  Darnell Gibson nominated by Sandy Stroud

    Motion to cease nominations, Danny Parker

    Second, Floyd Nunnelee

    Unanimous affirmation from the floor

Treasurer: Danny Parker nominated by Floyd Nunnelee

                Motion to cease nominations, Dick Salveson

   Second, Sandy Stroud

   Unanimous affirmation from the floor

Road Commander B.J. Max nominated by Stan Viets

                Motion to cease nominations, Charlie Gibson

                Second, Floyd Nunnelee

                Unanimous affirmation from the floor

All members in attendance congratulated the new MTR Officers. The officers accepted their election and I accepted on behalf of B.J.

Unfinished Business:

We are now a Tennessee nonprofit Corporation as of April 18th. Our Official name is “Memphis Tour Riders”. Our incorporation document was filed and recorded, on April 26th, as a permanent record with the office of the Shelby County Register. The next step is to apply for a Federal Identification number and pay the $150.00 user fee for our Exempt Organization. To date our outlay is $257.00, plus the $25.00 for the AMA Charter. Our AMA Charter has been framed and passed around for all to see.

Officer Comments:

I have copies of the applications for those that do not have access to the Internet or haven’t downloaded the form yet. They make good handouts.

Eddie and Bonnie Garner are doing a wonderful job on our MTR website. Eddie is continually improving and updating it and we are amazed every time we log on. It is a useful tool for club information plus it’s a great recruiting tool. Please sign the guest book when you can. Note the new members’ only access feature?

Vic Motley, former Tennessee Rider Education Director with the gwta wanted all our MTR members to know what a good job and hard work Terry and Mary Carol Scott put in as Chapter M’s safety director. They deserve our thanks and received a round of applause.

This had not been a good month for MTR members, Danny Parker’s wife, Lori, was involved in a motorcycle accident and suffered a broken ankle requiring surgery with at least two months recovery time. Her new Silver Wing is repairable and in the shop. Bill Jones is still in the critical care at the Methodist Hospital and is in serious condition; Julia is staying at the hospital she thanks all fur they concern. Ann Branch has been in and out of the hospital several times and is now borne and recovering with the help of her excellent nurse, Bob. Please keep them all in our prayers for a full recovery.

David Elston, Brenda Crawford, Jimmy and Margaret Rogers and others rode to Branson, on Friday May 3rd. All -had a good time at the rally but one of their group experienced alternator problems, requiring a U-haul trip home.

Please support the sponsors and advertisers in Happy Trails. We now have five but we need more. Thanks to Dick Salveson for selling the latest, Loco Joe’s Pinstriping. The advertisers get a mailed copy of Happy Trails plus their ad is posted and linked on our web site. Thirty dollars a year is a good value.

New Business:

We have flyers on the upcoming Rides and Activities BJ and David and others have planned as well as hard copies of our membership list, birthdays and anniversaries. See member page at www.mtrmc.com for the latest updates.

Our next ride will be on Saturday June 1st to Mousetail State Park for the AGWA Freedom Wings, Po-Boy Picnic. We will leave from Shoney’s, Summer Ave. and Sycamore, departing at 900 AM. See the details in the May issue of Happy Trails and the web site. Don Oller outlined Mousetail activities that include a three dollar all you can eat dinner...while it lasts.

Saturday June 8th the first annual Burnt Burger 200 Ladies take a break cookout at Chickasaw State Park. Again all details are in Happy Trails and on the website. MTR will pay for the food, drinks, etc. A majority approved the expenditure of $100.00 for the cookout. Of course this will depend more or less on the number attending.

Quotation of the month: “A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking Earl Wilson

Our next meeting will be June 13th here at Jimmy C’s. Thanks for coming, Ride Safe......Stan and Jean

PAGE 2

The Fish Camp Run

It was a cold and blustery morning. How cold was it Johnny? Well when I struck a match to light the furnace, it was so cold the blaze froze, broke offend stuck up in the floor. And it was damp and windy too and felt more like November than the middle of May. The clouds, as well as my spirit, hung low as the Memphis Tour Riders prepared to leave Shoney’s for The Fish Camp in Centerville, Tennessee. To be honest, considering the nasty weather, I didn’t think anybody would show up. But I was wrong. Unlike the Tour Riders of the past few years, this new bunch is already developing a reputation as an outfit that rides, rain or shine.

In its last few years, Chapter M had gone a bit stale for one reason or another and we hardly ever rode as a group anymore...But after declaring our independence, all that went out the window. After declaring our independence it was like new life had been introduced within the ranks and everybody seems bent on making this thing work, even if it means riding in weather that is at best, miserable. Today would be no different and before it was over, we would find ourselves riding Highway 48 within a formation of eighteen motorcycles. Not to shabby considering Mother Nature’s sour mood.

Five bikes left Shoney’s at 8:00AM. Thirty minutes later exactly as outlined in our itinerary, we cruised by the Longtown Exit where we were joined by two more bikes. The temperature was 47 degrees. Factor in our speed of 65 MPH and you got a wind chill of 20 degrees. In May! I know it’s not politically correct but a little of that global warming would have sure been welcome this morning.

Arriving at Love’s Travel Center in Jackson, we take our first break, gas up, warm up and pick up three more bikes...Now we are ten. And, like the trains of WWII’s infamous Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, we are on time. Hildia and I find a steam vent on the south side of the truck stop and gradually begin to thaw. A few weeks ago we left Memphis for Mule Days in weather that was eleven degrees below this morning’s temp of forty-seven, but for some reason today seems colder. We conclude that it’s probably because it’s so damp. That, plus thirty MPH winds that cut to the bone. And let’s be frank here, some of us didn’t dress for cold weather. Hey, it’s the middle of May, whadda’ you want from us? I didn’t even bother to put my jacket liner in and Hildia’s electric vest quit working. Some of the riders didn’t have glove liners and I heard that David Rush didn’t have anything on under his jeans, which sounds kinda’ kinky if you ask me. I actually began to shiver not long after leaving Jackson. Shivering, I’ve read somewhere, is your body’s way of warming you up. All that shaking creates friction and of course friction generates heat. It must be something to that ‘cause about ten miles out of Jackson I settled down and actually became quite comfortable.

I know this is getting boring but we arrived at the Fish Camp in Centerville at, you guessed it, 11:45, our projected ETA. The Fish Camp is a cool looking place with a huge rock outcropping for a backdrop and plenty of paved and level parking. They even had motorcycle slots on the east side of the restaurant...Neat. The food was decent. I had a hamburger steak, mainly because it was grilled but I snuck a bite of that nasty “flied” fish off Hildia’s plate and it was to good to be healthy.

Vic Motley and his bunch showed up a little after twelve and now we are eighteen bikes and the Fish Camp is jumpin’. Well, jumpin’ in an AARP sort of way. Fish, hushpuppies, iced tea, lots of loud talk with lots of good friends and fantastic machinery waiting outside. It just don’t get much better good people.

Thanks to all who braved the nasty weather and thanks to all the Jackson and Nashville riders who once again made a huge contribution to the success of our ride. And thanks to Vic Motley for recommending the Fish Camp. You can rest easy Vic, the fish was decent so you’re off the hook.

The following is a list of those riders who participated........   

MTR RIDERS: Stan Viets, Charlie and Darnell Gibson, B.J. and Hildia Max, David Rush, Jimmy and Margaret Rogers, Don Oller...Guest Riders: Ed and Evelyn Davis, James Taylor, Ralph Cole, Vic Motley, Donney Jenkins, Floyd Thomas and last, but certainly not least, George Dansbury.

Thanks to all of you and on behalf of the members, I would like to take this opportunity to extend to all our guests an open invitation to join the Memphis Tour Riders. You're our kind of people and we would welcome you aboard anytime. 

bj

HAPPY TRAILS

PAGE 3

50 / 50

Winner 50/50 Jackpot: Jimmy Rogers $30.00

The Men That Won't Fit In 

There’s a race of men that don’t fit in,

A race that can’t stay still;

So they break the hearts of kith and kin,

And they roam the world at will.

They range the field and they rove the flood,

And they climb the mountain’s crest;

Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,

And they don’t know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far, 

They are strong and brave and true; 

But they’re always tired of the things that are, 

And they want the strange and new. 

They say: “Could I find my proper groove,

What a deep mark I would make!’

So they chop and change,

and each fresh move Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs

With a brilliant, fitful pace,

Its the steady, quiet, plodding ones

Who win in the lifelong race.

And each forgets that his youth has fled,

Forgets that his prime is past,

Till he stands one day, with a hope that’s dead,

In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has

missed his chance;

He has just done things by half.

Life’s been ajolly good joke on him,

And now is the time to laugh.

Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;

He was never meant to win;

He’s a rolling stone, and it’s bred in the bone;

He’s a man who won’t fit in.

Robert W. Service  

The Memphis Tour Riders

SECOND ANNUAL BLAZING SADDLES RUN

MOUSETAIL PARK RUN

Saturday, June 1st

Chapter F of the American Gold Wing Association is throwing their annual “Po Boy Picnic⁹’ at Mousetail Landing and we plan on going. We will meet at Shoneys, Sycamore View and Summer Ave. at 8:00AM and depart around nine. Mousefail Park is located on the Tennessee River near Linden and if past history is any indication, there should be plenty of burgers and dogs to be et. So mark your calendar and make plans now. See you Saturday.

Saddle Time: Approximate 4 1/2 hours

Happy Trails  is Published Monthly by Possum's Anonymous, Memphis, Tennessee 901-377-9140