BMW Riders of Knoxville

TaOctober 19, 2008

A little humor to end the Newsletter:  

A man appeared before St. Peter at the pearly gates.

"Have you ever done anything of particular merit?" St. Peter asked.

"Well, I can think of one thing," the man offered. "Once, upon a trip to the Black Hills out in South Dakota , I came upon a gang of high-testosterone bikers, threatening a young woman. I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So, I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker and smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground.   I yelled, "Now, back off!! Or you'll answer to me!"

St. Peter was very impressed, and as he jotted this down in the man’s book of records he asked, "When did this happen?"

To which the new guest answered, "Oh, I’d say just about 5 minutes ago."

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November Club Ride to Fobidden Caverns

Bob Winters led the November BMW ROK Club ride and Bob led thru the country side, then under the country side! That's right- under the country side. Bob led the way for 9 ROK members to Forbidden Caverns. Phil Daulton offered to write up a ride report:

 

November ROK Ride

A beautiful, but chilly fall day greeted us on Saturday, November 12, 2005 for the November ride. I had 27 degrees at my house as I left to meet the others at the Straw Plains McDonald’s meeting point. Knowing that it would be warmer that afternoon, I forsook the heated gear for my Carol Davis polar fleece cat suit under my riding gear. I was still cold, but I knew it would get better as the day went by.

I met up with ride leader Bob Winter, Ed Nabors, and Gunter Tillman at the Waffle House, two doors down from Mickey D’s for breakfast. Congratulations go to Gunter, who became a US citizen earlier that week! We were later joined by Tim Pruitt. After scarfing down a load of breakfast goodies to stoke the furnaces, we headed over to the meeting point to see who else might be there. We had four other riders present: Frank Armbrister, Bob Quinn with a guest, and a late arriving Les Dole.

Bob gave the ride rules speech, and we headed out to our first objective, Forbidden Caverns. You could not have asked for better riding conditions, as we toured the back roads of Kodak Road and TN 139 to Dandridge, and then TN 92 to Chestnut Hill. I didn’t see Duke the dog, with the secret bean recipe at the Bush Brothers plant. Maybe next time by, Duke. Roll that beautiful bean footage. From the we ran US 411 to the turn off for the cave trip.

We had hoped to connect with Richard Webb at the cave for the rest of the ride, since Bob had planned to have Richard show us a back road out back of Hot Springs, Big Laurel Creek Road , on which he had led a ride some years past. But he did not show up. We went on with the cave trip, which was a pretty good time, going about 6/10 of a mile of the cave for that tour. There is still some active development going on in the cavern, with the roof still dripping, and a stream running through there. It was an interesting tour. This cavern is beneath English Mountain , and at one point of the tour, we were about 650 feet under the mountain. We saw a few tiny bats in hibernation, hanging about the cave roof.

From there, Les Dole departed, and we continued with eight bikes to Hot Springs, NC for lunch, going via US 411 to Newport, and thence onto US 25/70 to Hot Springs. It was warming up nicely by then. We lunched at a spot on the main drag, called The Paddler’s Inn . I thought it might be some kind fetish bar, but it was about canoe paddling. Oh. We spent about an hour or so on lunch, which wasn’t too bad for the crowd they had.

After lunch, Tim bugged out on us, leaving us with seven bikes. Since Bob was unsure of the route, we decided to run US 25/70 over to NC 208, back into Tennessee as TN 70, towards Greeneville. I saw some fly fishers in some of the creeks we passed, trying their luck. Seemed like a fine day for that sport, too.

Rather than venture on into Greeneville’s Saturday traffic, we opted to take TN 107 back to Del Rio . This piece of road was a lot of fun, and cuts through a really pretty part of the Cherokee National Forest . From Del Rio, we headed back home, taking US 25/70 all the way back to Straw Plains Pike, and back to the starting point. With my commute to and from the meeting point, I put in a 200 mile day, for a very pleasing fall ride.

Thanks for leading the ride, Bobby!

Phil Daulton

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January Edition

After a short Holiday break for December the MBW ROK faithful met on January 2, 2006, at Puleo's Grill to start a brand new year. We had a mix of 31 members, new and old, as well as a couple of visitors. Eric Perry of Kodak, Tennessee, visited with us and rides a RS BMW (sorry Eric, I missed the year and model). With a turn-out of over 30 we were back in the banquet room and out of the garage for a nice change.

As mentioned on the Home Page starting last issue, ROK'n Down the Road Newsletter will have a "Letters to the BMW ROK" column. It will be here that anyone can write to the Newsletter and voice their concerns, criticisms, or encouragement for the club, club officers, club newsletter, or any other aspect of BMW ROK business. Out of common courtesy and respect please avoid making personal attacks on any individual, however with that said, it will not be the policy of this Newsletter to censor letters and if at all possible they will be printed in their entirity without editing. To read the current letters click here - Letters to BMW ROK. These letters will be left up for one more month then removed. So write in folks and give us something to print!

 

News and New Business

Not a lot happened at the First Meeting of the BMW ROK for 2006. The biggest topic for this time of year isusually the fact that is time to renew those memberships and get those dues in.

Eric Perry, of Kodak Tennessee, joined us as a guest. We hope we'll see more of Eric in the near future. Dave Erny announced that after Lube Tech (April 8, 2006 - more on that in a later issue) there will be a meeting for everyone interested in helping out with this year's ROK'On Rally. Lube Tech is always a good time. Motorcycles get washed and worked on, and everyone gets to hang out in Dave's great garage talking motorcycles - of course! Come on out to Lube Tech and plan to stay for the Rally Meeting.

Phil announced the names of the 2006 Officers in case anyone had missed the elections (yeah, you kow who you are). He also mentioend the RA Charter paper work was ready to drop in the mail. Phil had also received a letter from Rich Clepus that he had relocated to Moorseburg and would not be a member this year, fearing he would be too consumed by the move. Rich became a member while still living out of state and we look forward to his re-joining us in the near future.

Someone asked if anyone in the club was interested in doing a spring campout at the new Cherohala Motorcycle Campground. The general opinion was heck yes, so if you are interested let us know and maybe we can put together a Club event down there in the near future. The owners have offered to prepare cheap meals if there was enough interest, so let's see how many people want to go and let's do it!

It was mentioned at this meeting that perhaps in the near future the Club would hold a meeting at Countryside Market. However, since then we have learned that Chris Brown is back in the hospital. Chris is Michael (Crow) Brown’s brother, and proprietor of the Countryside Market. The doctors believe Chris has suffered a mild stroke. Let’s all keep Chris and the rest of Crow’s family in our thoughts in the coming days and weeks. While Chris is in the hospital and recovering Countryside Market will remained closed.

It was also decided to move the March meeting until after Bike Week this year so we can all have even more to talk about. That will make the meeting on March 13, 2006. We are also going to try to hold at least one Club meeting in or around Morristown as we did last year. If you have a location and would like to recommend a place in your part of town, let us know and we'll check into it, or even better, check with the proprietor to see if they would be interested in our club holding our meeting there some month.

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Treasurer's Report

BMW ROK Monthly Statement as of October 2005 - Summary

Beginning Balance		$572.46
Deposits (see details below)	+	$68.00
Debits (see details below)	-	$0.00
Ending Balance		$640.46

 

Details - Deposits

Check Number	Description	Amount
Memberships		$30.00
50/50		$38.00
Misc. Deposit
Total Deposits		$68.00

 

Details - Debits

Check Number	Description	Amount
none	none	none
Total		$0.00

Due to technical problems beyond my control the latest version of the Treasurer's report can not be published at time. Ok, ok, so I misplaced it when I find it I'll publish it. Thanks for your patience.

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BMW ROK Christmas Party

The 2005 BMW ROK Christmas party was a rousing success. With 25 or so members in attendance, and there was plenty of food to go around! There was smoked turkey, smoked pork, a delisious crab bisque, cheese balls, cakes, beans, carrots, meat balls, and much more. I dare say if anyone went away hungry their mouth must have been wired shut!

The Erny's were most excellent hosts and we thank them for their hospitality! After everyone had eaten there was lots of good conversation, and a few folks found the downstairs game room where a few games of pocket billards and darts were played. If you missed this the ROK 2005 Christmas Party you missed a good one.

Please take the time to visit the online Photo Gallery an stroll though the pictures from the 2005 Christmas Party .

 

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BMW Cruiser Rally:

Hi, I am writing to request you pass on information concerning a rally/get
together, planned for the third weekend in May in Madison, Indiana.

It is mainly for riders of the BMW R1200CLC style bike, but C's and other
interested BMW riders are welcome. Below is information on the event that
will be posted in the March BMW Owners News.

Thanks for any assistance in getting the word out.

Karl Hyzer - BMW R1200CLC BMWMOA #116973 Lone Star BMW Riders

Dallas , Texas

May 19-21, 2006

Sea of Shining CLC''s

Sponsored by Chromeheads Motorcycle Club #274

Friends and family of the BMW cruiser models are invited to "A Sea of
Shining CLC''s." A gathering of BMW luxury cruisers the third weekend in
May,2006. This is your chance to see and admire a luxury bike in BMW''s now
discontinued cruiser line. The get together will be held at the Clifty Falls
State Park , Madison , Indiana . An Inn , Cabins and Camping are available at
the park, or a hotel can be secured in the local area. Sign-up to see these
beautiful bikes and meet their riders. Go to www.chromeheads.org forum "On
the Road"section or www.R1200clc.com for registration info. Or contact
Robert Davis, 302-345-0807.

---

And: Destination MotorCyeles

Milton and Company have their new website up and would like input, or at least have everyone take a look at it. here is the new link, let Milt know what you think:

http://www.destinationmotorcycles.com/

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April Edition

ROK April 2006 Newsletter

by Phil Daulton (Many Thanks to Phil for stepping up this month when I couldn't attend the meeting)

 

Hey, I'm pinch hitting for Tim Pruitt , our usual Handsome Scribe, who is getting over a weekend move from apartment to hacienda. He did not make the meeting tonight, so I am working from memory and hastily scribbled notes, while it's still fresh in my mind.

We had a total of 24 dining and two late arrivals for a total of 26 tonight. Gunter Tillman brought his daughter for our only visitor.

We had two new members with us tonight, George Upton and Gary Barnes . George rides a R1150 Rockster and Gary has a K12RS. Welcome to our club!.

 

We had two other new members this month that were not at the meeting, John Morris and Herman Thompson . John is a friend of mine and rides a Honda GL500. I've not met Herman yet, so I don't know what he rides.

We also had three renewals this month, so the membership keeps on growing!

Ray Sanders could not make the meeting tonight, as he is in California on his motorcycle. Doing what, I don't know, but it had to be fun getting there on two wheels!

Treasurer's Report

Cindy was on hand to give us the Treasury Report: Beginning balance of $1059.78, with deposits of $75.00 and no debits for a final balance of $1134.78. I collected $15.00 from Greg Bell for his renewal after the meeting, so I will be forwarding that to Cindy .

Website/Newsletter Update

No website/newsletter updates to broadcast, except for saying that Tim didn't get last month's newsletter in due to his residence relocation difficulties, so he apologizes for that and will get the stale news out as soon as he can.

Monthly Ride

Jason Hinton will lead a ride this month, on Saturday April 15. I don't have the where ats for this ride, but we will get the word out as soon as possible. Come along with us and forget your cares, especially those Federal taxes - you did do them, eh? (see below for details)

Beating the Monthly Ride Dead Horse

I am still looking, no, pleading for folks to lead a monthly ride. This ride will be the first of the year, so please come out and support it. It's your club, and here's a chance to hang out and do the thing we all love to do – RIDE. Take a chance and step up to lead a ride – show us some of your fun back roads that some of us may not have been on or know about – even the ones that look like driveways.

Rally News

Dave Erny says there will be a Rally Committee Meeting at this weekend's Lube Tech event (more on this in a moment). Committee Folks, you know who you are, don't miss this meeting.

Also, all the club's share of the 50-50 pot goes to buying door prizes for the Rally. So please be sure to buy some 50-50 tickets at each meeting. Ya never know, ya might win, and it goes to help make for a successful Rally.

Our ads are now in both the MOA and RA monthly magazines. I am still working on the small paper ads to post in area shops and on bikes at other events, plus I need to post it on other club sites like Airheads, Oilheads, etc. So there is still much to do to blow the horn for the Rally.

Dickie Anderson is working on scoring some door prizes from other businesses, besides what we buy.

Old Business

I am dragging my feet on my tasks, having not made contact with Cherohala Campground about us doing a Spring Camp out there. Also, I was tasked with doing a membership phone list and I haven't got that yet either, Running out of excuses here...

Bob Winter is still waiting with baited breath for your club shirt orders. We have decided on Henley style shirts, and Bob was getting an order together tonight. This has dragged on for several months now, and we need to get this processed. If you weren't at the meeting tonight and want to purchase a club shirt, e mail Bob at the following e mail address: thewinterman@yahoo.com Please make the title of your e mail “ROK Shirts”, so Bob won't think it is junk mail, and he will give the details for ordering and price.

Jerry has found a location for the annual One-Off Eastsider's Meeting (poke, poke), finding a location in Dandridge. When he gets this nailed down, we will provide details for where and how to get there. I would like for the June and July meetings to be there.

We voted last meeting to buy a brick in the Daytona Beach Racing Memorial Monument which the Dick Klamfoth family is doing in Daytona Beach , on th boardwalk. It's a monument to the 12 guys who won the beach races from 1937 to 1960, and Dick is one of them. This is a work in progress, and Dick is trying to sell 8,000 bricks for the walkway around the main part of the monument. I bought one two years ago, and they are just getting around to getting them laid out. I saw mine this year, and was thrilled to be a part of it. It's a low key effort, though, and they have not sold many bricks. I was talking to Dale Walksler of Wheels Though Time about it when I saw him in Atlanta at the bike show, and found out that he had kicked in $10,000 for the big marble portions of the monument (that really blew me away; thanks, Dale !!). They cost $50, which isn't much considering the nightly beer budget of your average Daytona Bike Week attendee, and there's only about half a million of them down there. I would think that he could have sold out the 8,000 by now. Anyway, we are buying one, once Dick gets his website fixed, and it will say: “BMW Riders of Knoxville TN”, and our club will be famous forever. Or at least until all the glaciers melt and Florida is submerged under 20 feet of higher sea levels...

Lube Tech

Time once again for that annual ROK event, started by founder Rich Gardner and continued to this day by Dave and Sharon Erny . It's this weekend April 8, at the Casa Erny Workshops, near Panther Creek State Park . Most of you are familiar with the way there, but if you are not, contact Dave and Sharon at daveerny@bellsouth.net and they will send you directions. Show up as early as 8 AM , Dave will be brewing coffee and getting the shop ready. They will put on the feed bag at 2 PM . Please be sure to make this event, even if you are not working on or washing your scoot, it's a fun time club function, not to be missed.

 

News and New Business

Roger Coffey has shipped out to Nepal for the Everest Base Camp job he will be doing for 45 days at 17,000 feet while others of the team make an attempt on the peak. Follow his adventures by logging onto www.nolimitsclimbing.com and www.everestnews.com for periodic updates by the team. He will also be doing a blog for the News Sentinel titled “Hillbilly in the Himalayas , so look at the News Sentinel's website for that at www.knoxnews.com (their website). Read Roger's daily blog here as well by clicking on the Stories section of the BMW ROK Newsletter.

Milton McNally 's Destination Motorcycles has a Ducati Demo event on April 12, and a BMW GS demo event on April 22. Drop in on these days and git you some demos done.

The Riding Into History Concours in St. Augustine FL is on May 20, and has Cycle World's Peter Egan as the MC of the event. Swing by there and take a look at some things that would be better off getting bugs on them on the highway, instead of having the crap polished out of them. For details, check out www.ridingintohistory.org

Tim and I met Dale Walksler of Wheels Through Time again at the Atlanta bike show, and discovered a fascinating project he is doing. It's called The Time Machine, and it's a series of about 300 shows in streaming video about his restoration of 18 rare all-american machines. This will be a subscription service at $49 per year, look at his website www.wttthetimemachine.com for details. And if you have never checked out his museum in Maggie Valley , well, it's the best $12 you can spend. Go see it.

And Speaking of Maggie Valley and the surrounding area, this was seen in the News Sentinel this week:

The last 8 mile stretch of the Blue Ridge
Parkway, near Linville Falls, has been repaired and
reopened. That was the worst washout of several caused
by the 2004 hurricane rains. This should mean that for now the Blue Ridge Parkway is open from end to end once again. Let's hope we don't get any Hurricane remnants up that way again anytime soon, so plan those trips now!

We expect to be doing the map booth again at the Honda Hoot. Tim Pruitt is the contact person for the HRCA people for several events, since he works with TVA. He expects to hear from the ladies who run the event for HRCA soon, and we will run a sign up sheet for those of you that wish to help out in the map booth and the Ride for Kids event at the May meeting.

ROK members who finished the 2005 MOA mileage contest (drum roll please): Paul Brown , 10,233 miles; Greg Bell , 9,059 miles, Jim Pollard , 8,619 miles and Bob Quinn , 2,480 miles. Congrats to all these cats for sticking with it!

Gunter Tillman won the 50-50 drawing, splitting a pot of $56. Well done, Gunter !

Next meeting is May 1 at Puleo's. Be there, Aloha.

---

Treasurer's Report

BMW ROK Monthly Statement as of October 2005 - Summary

Beginning Balance		$1059.78
Deposits (see details below)	+	$75.00
Debits (see details below)	-	$0.00
Ending Balance		$1134.78

 

Details - Deposits

Check Number	Description	Amount
Memberships		$75.00
50/50		$0.00
Misc. Deposit
Total Deposits		$75.00

 

Details - Debits

Check Number	Description	Amount
none	none	none
Total		$0.00

 

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BMW ROK Monthly Ride

The April ride will be held this coming Saturday, April 15. Jason Hinton will lead the ride and following are the details, from Jason . We hope to see many of you there! Dust off your scoot, blow the spiders out of the pipes and join us for a good ride.

The meeting point is the McDonalds on the west side of Jefferson City .

We leave at 9:00 with gas tanks full and bladders empty.

From Jefferson City we'll take 92 and head down to Danridge and then continue on 92 down to Newport. From Newport we'll take US25 to Hot Springs and then NC209 down to Maggie Valley. We should arrive about noon for lunch at a little Italian place. Then over to Wheels through time from 1:30 to about 4:00.

The group then could split up with those in a hurry to get home taking I-40, and those with some more time to spare taking 441 through the park to Gatlinburg and beyond. According to Streets and Trips it will be 100 miles from Jefferson City to Maggie Valley and then 70 miles from Maggie Valley to the 66/I-40 Junction. The entrance fee at Wheels Through Time is $12. I will call to see if we can get a group rate. Please email this to club and post on the website.

Thanks,
Jason

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Letter from a Friend of BMW ROK :

Folks,

In the letters section this month there is a message from Ted Johnson (click Ted's name), whom I added to the list last year due to interest in the rally.
Needless to say, he didn't make the rally since he
lives in New Orleans . He is looking to relocate and
wonders if anyone knows of available engineering jobs
in this area. If you can give him any info, please
respond to his e mail address.

Thanks,
Phil

---

And: Gear Up Inventory Still For Sale

Here's a message from Julie Corl , about the last of
the Gear Up inventory going for cut rate prices. If
you didn't make the going out of of business sale some
time back, here is a chance to get a deal and help
Dave and Julie get rid of the rest of the inventory.


Dear Phillip,

Due to the loss of our lease, we have to sell our
inventory. David and I would like to offer the
following items for sale to club members for
incredible prices. If possible, would you mind
forwarding this list of items to all the members or
posting it on the website? We would really appreciate
it.

All items can be ordered at the prices listed below,
just add $8 for shipping and handling on any item. Or,
if you’d like to pick it up at the house, that’s fine.
If purchasing more than one item, call or e-mail for a
shipping price. If you live in Tennessee , we have to
charge sales tax.

Call or e-mail us with the item(s) you’re interested
in getting. Payment can be made by credit card by
calling us at 865-609-1638 or send us a check (made
out to Gear Up MotoSports) at the following address:

            Gear Up MotoSports
            7486 Chapman Highway, #121
            Knoxville , TN 37920

We’ll ship the item(s) to you and send you the
tracking information.

If there are other items in which anyone is
interested in asking us about, please feel free to
e-mail me (julie@gearupnride.com) or David
(dave@gearupnride.com).

Thank you so very much!

All the Best,

Julie, Dave and Jazmyn


Arai Helmets - New

            XD Motard, Silver, Small - $400.00 (retail
$527.95)

            Signet GTR, White, X-Small - $345.00
(retail $496.95)

            Signet GTR, White, XX-Large - $300.00
(retail $455.95)

            Signet GTR, Pearl Black, Large - $300.00
(retail $455.95)

            Signet GTR, Aluminum Silver, 3X-Large -
$365.00 (retail $559.95)

            Signet GTR, Cathcart, Medium - $350.00 (a
few scratches) (retail $566.95)

            Quantum2, Aluminum Silver, Small - $375.00
(retail $508.95)

            Quantum2, ReEntry, Large - $425.00 (retail
$508.95)


RUKKA - New

            Ladies AirPower R3 Pants, Size 38 -
$450.00 (retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Jacket, Size 62 -
$785.00 (retail $1,045.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 58 - $450.00
(retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 58 Short -
$450.00 (retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 60 Short -
$450.00 (retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 62 - $495.00
(retail $658.90)


Camping Items – New

            JetBoil Holiday Bundle Pack – includes
coffee press, pkg. of coffee, fuel canister & JetBoil
Cooking System - $60.00 (retail $89.95)

            Wallcreeper Sleeping Bags, Down, Large -
$170.00 (retail $239.00)

            Wallcreeper Sleeping Bags, Polyester,
Large (for people over 6’ tall) - $130.00 (retail
$179.00)

            Wallcreeper Sleeping Bags, Polyester,
Medium - $120.00 (retail $169.00)

            (There are more camping items available)

 

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May Meeting

So Remember May 1, 2006. Dinner at 6:00 and Meeting at 7:00.

Newsletter Reminder

The ROK'n Down the Road Newsletter can always use more content and don't forget we now have WORLD WIDE WEB exposure for those items you no longer need and want to sell (Classifieds). Also, be sure to pay a visit to the Meetings and Events pages. There you will find meeting dates, club ride schedules and other club activities.

The BMW Riders of Knoxville web page is taking shape. Photos from the 2005 Christmas party should be here, and a few of Novemeber's club ride before that. I am still working on the the History of the BMW ROK and it should soon be found in these pages. Also, the October Newsletter can be found in the Archive section. There is more on the way so stay tuned and visit often for any changes or important BMW ROK news!

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BMW ROK May 2006 Newsletter

by Phil Daulton (Many Thanks to Phil for stepping up this month when I couldn't attend the meeting)

 

Hey, I'm pinch hitting for Tim Pruitt , our usual Handsome Scribe, who is getting over a weekend move from apartment to hacienda. He did not make the meeting tonight, so I am working from memory and hastily scribbled notes, while it's still fresh in my mind.

We had a total of 24 dining and two late arrivals for a total of 26 tonight. Gunter Tillman brought his daughter for our only visitor.

We had two new members with us tonight, George Upton and Gary Barnes . George rides a R1150 Rockster and Gary has a K12RS. Welcome to our club!.

 

We had two other new members this month that were not at the meeting, John Morris and Herman Thompson . John is a friend of mine and rides a Honda GL500. I've not met Herman yet, so I don't know what he rides.

We also had three renewals this month, so the membership keeps on growing!

Ray Sanders could not make the meeting tonight, as he is in California on his motorcycle. Doing what, I don't know, but it had to be fun getting there on two wheels!

Treasurer's Report

Cindy was on hand to give us the Treasury Report: Beginning balance of $1059.78, with deposits of $75.00 and no debits for a final balance of $1134.78. I collected $15.00 from Greg Bell for his renewal after the meeting, so I will be forwarding that to Cindy .

Website/Newsletter Update

No website/newsletter updates to broadcast, except for saying that Tim didn't get last month's newsletter in due to his residence relocation difficulties, so he apologizes for that and will get the stale news out as soon as he can.

Monthly Ride

Jason Hinton will lead a ride this month, on Saturday April 15. I don't have the where ats for this ride, but we will get the word out as soon as possible. Come along with us and forget your cares, especially those Federal taxes - you did do them, eh? (see below for details)

Beating the Monthly Ride Dead Horse

I am still looking, no, pleading for folks to lead a monthly ride. This ride will be the first of the year, so please come out and support it. It's your club, and here's a chance to hang out and do the thing we all love to do – RIDE. Take a chance and step up to lead a ride – show us some of your fun back roads that some of us may not have been on or know about – even the ones that look like driveways.

Rally News

Dave Erny says there will be a Rally Committee Meeting at this weekend's Lube Tech event (more on this in a moment). Committee Folks, you know who you are, don't miss this meeting.

Also, all the club's share of the 50-50 pot goes to buying door prizes for the Rally. So please be sure to buy some 50-50 tickets at each meeting. Ya never know, ya might win, and it goes to help make for a successful Rally.

Our ads are now in both the MOA and RA monthly magazines. I am still working on the small paper ads to post in area shops and on bikes at other events, plus I need to post it on other club sites like Airheads, Oilheads, etc. So there is still much to do to blow the horn for the Rally.

Dickie Anderson is working on scoring some door prizes from other businesses, besides what we buy.

Old Business

I am dragging my feet on my tasks, having not made contact with Cherohala Campground about us doing a Spring Camp out there. Also, I was tasked with doing a membership phone list and I haven't got that yet either, Running out of excuses here...

Bob Winter is still waiting with baited breath for your club shirt orders. We have decided on Henley style shirts, and Bob was getting an order together tonight. This has dragged on for several months now, and we need to get this processed. If you weren't at the meeting tonight and want to purchase a club shirt, e mail Bob at the following e mail address: thewinterman@yahoo.com Please make the title of your e mail “ROK Shirts”, so Bob won't think it is junk mail, and he will give the details for ordering and price.

Jerry has found a location for the annual One-Off Eastsider's Meeting (poke, poke), finding a location in Dandridge. When he gets this nailed down, we will provide details for where and how to get there. I would like for the June and July meetings to be there.

We voted last meeting to buy a brick in the Daytona Beach Racing Memorial Monument which the Dick Klamfoth family is doing in Daytona Beach , on th boardwalk. It's a monument to the 12 guys who won the beach races from 1937 to 1960, and Dick is one of them. This is a work in progress, and Dick is trying to sell 8,000 bricks for the walkway around the main part of the monument. I bought one two years ago, and they are just getting around to getting them laid out. I saw mine this year, and was thrilled to be a part of it. It's a low key effort, though, and they have not sold many bricks. I was talking to Dale Walksler of Wheels Though Time about it when I saw him in Atlanta at the bike show, and found out that he had kicked in $10,000 for the big marble portions of the monument (that really blew me away; thanks, Dale !!). They cost $50, which isn't much considering the nightly beer budget of your average Daytona Bike Week attendee, and there's only about half a million of them down there. I would think that he could have sold out the 8,000 by now. Anyway, we are buying one, once Dick gets his website fixed, and it will say: “BMW Riders of Knoxville TN”, and our club will be famous forever. Or at least until all the glaciers melt and Florida is submerged under 20 feet of higher sea levels...

Lube Tech

Time once again for that annual ROK event, started by founder Rich Gardner and continued to this day by Dave and Sharon Erny . It's this weekend April 8, at the Casa Erny Workshops, near Panther Creek State Park . Most of you are familiar with the way there, but if you are not, contact Dave and Sharon at daveerny@bellsouth.net and they will send you directions. Show up as early as 8 AM , Dave will be brewing coffee and getting the shop ready. They will put on the feed bag at 2 PM . Please be sure to make this event, even if you are not working on or washing your scoot, it's a fun time club function, not to be missed.

 

News and New Business

Roger Coffey has shipped out to Nepal for the Everest Base Camp job he will be doing for 45 days at 17,000 feet while others of the team make an attempt on the peak. Follow his adventures by logging onto www.nolimitsclimbing.com and www.everestnews.com for periodic updates by the team. He will also be doing a blog for the News Sentinel titled “Hillbilly in the Himalayas , so look at the News Sentinel's website for that at www.knoxnews.com (their website). Read Roger's daily blog here as well by clicking on the Stories section of the BMW ROK Newsletter.

Milton McNally 's Destination Motorcycles has a Ducati Demo event on April 12, and a BMW GS demo event on April 22. Drop in on these days and git you some demos done.

The Riding Into History Concours in St. Augustine FL is on May 20, and has Cycle World's Peter Egan as the MC of the event. Swing by there and take a look at some things that would be better off getting bugs on them on the highway, instead of having the crap polished out of them. For details, check out www.ridingintohistory.org

Tim and I met Dale Walksler of Wheels Through Time again at the Atlanta bike show, and discovered a fascinating project he is doing. It's called The Time Machine, and it's a series of about 300 shows in streaming video about his restoration of 18 rare all-american machines. This will be a subscription service at $49 per year, look at his website www.wttthetimemachine.com for details. And if you have never checked out his museum in Maggie Valley , well, it's the best $12 you can spend. Go see it.

And Speaking of Maggie Valley and the surrounding area, this was seen in the News Sentinel this week:

The last 8 mile stretch of the Blue Ridge
Parkway, near Linville Falls, has been repaired and
reopened. That was the worst washout of several caused
by the 2004 hurricane rains. This should mean that for now the Blue Ridge Parkway is open from end to end once again. Let's hope we don't get any Hurricane remnants up that way again anytime soon, so plan those trips now!

We expect to be doing the map booth again at the Honda Hoot. Tim Pruitt is the contact person for the HRCA people for several events, since he works with TVA. He expects to hear from the ladies who run the event for HRCA soon, and we will run a sign up sheet for those of you that wish to help out in the map booth and the Ride for Kids event at the May meeting.

ROK members who finished the 2005 MOA mileage contest (drum roll please): Paul Brown , 10,233 miles; Greg Bell , 9,059 miles, Jim Pollard , 8,619 miles and Bob Quinn , 2,480 miles. Congrats to all these cats for sticking with it!

Gunter Tillman won the 50-50 drawing, splitting a pot of $56. Well done, Gunter !

Next meeting is May 1 at Puleo's. Be there, Aloha.

---

Treasurer's Report

BMW ROK Monthly Statement as of October 2005 - Summary

Beginning Balance		$1059.78
Deposits (see details below)	+	$75.00
Debits (see details below)	-	$0.00
Ending Balance		$1134.78

 

Details - Deposits

Check Number	Description	Amount
Memberships		$75.00
50/50		$0.00
Misc. Deposit
Total Deposits		$75.00

 

Details - Debits

Check Number	Description	Amount
none	none	none
Total		$0.00

 

---

BMW ROK Monthly Ride

The April ride will be held this coming Saturday, April 15. Jason Hinton will lead the ride and following are the details, from Jason . We hope to see many of you there! Dust off your scoot, blow the spiders out of the pipes and join us for a good ride.

The meeting point is the McDonalds on the west side of Jefferson City .

We leave at 9:00 with gas tanks full and bladders empty.

From Jefferson City we'll take 92 and head down to Danridge and then continue on 92 down to Newport. From Newport we'll take US25 to Hot Springs and then NC209 down to Maggie Valley. We should arrive about noon for lunch at a little Italian place. Then over to Wheels through time from 1:30 to about 4:00.

The group then could split up with those in a hurry to get home taking I-40, and those with some more time to spare taking 441 through the park to Gatlinburg and beyond. According to Streets and Trips it will be 100 miles from Jefferson City to Maggie Valley and then 70 miles from Maggie Valley to the 66/I-40 Junction. The entrance fee at Wheels Through Time is $12. I will call to see if we can get a group rate. Please email this to club and post on the website.

Thanks,
Jason

---

Up-Coming Events of Interest :

Coming in May Folks is the next Round of the AMA/FIM World Trials Championship! This level of competition doesn't come to our neck of the woods very often and if you have never seen what these guys can do on a motorcycle you owe it to yourself to attend. The event is May 19-21 in Sequatchie, Tennessee.

 

 

---

And: Gear Up Inventory Still For Sale

Here's a message from Julie Corl , about the last of
the Gear Up inventory going for cut rate prices. If
you didn't make the going out of of business sale some
time back, here is a chance to get a deal and help
Dave and Julie get rid of the rest of the inventory.


Dear Phillip,

Due to the loss of our lease, we have to sell our
inventory. David and I would like to offer the
following items for sale to club members for
incredible prices. If possible, would you mind
forwarding this list of items to all the members or
posting it on the website? We would really appreciate
it.

All items can be ordered at the prices listed below,
just add $8 for shipping and handling on any item. Or,
if you’d like to pick it up at the house, that’s fine.
If purchasing more than one item, call or e-mail for a
shipping price. If you live in Tennessee , we have to
charge sales tax.

Call or e-mail us with the item(s) you’re interested
in getting. Payment can be made by credit card by
calling us at 865-609-1638 or send us a check (made
out to Gear Up MotoSports) at the following address:

            Gear Up MotoSports
            7486 Chapman Highway, #121
            Knoxville , TN 37920

We’ll ship the item(s) to you and send you the
tracking information.

If there are other items in which anyone is
interested in asking us about, please feel free to
e-mail me (julie@gearupnride.com) or David
(dave@gearupnride.com).

Thank you so very much!

All the Best,

Julie, Dave and Jazmyn


Arai Helmets - New

            XD Motard, Silver, Small - $400.00 (retail
$527.95)

            Signet GTR, White, X-Small - $345.00
(retail $496.95)

            Signet GTR, White, XX-Large - $300.00
(retail $455.95)

            Signet GTR, Pearl Black, Large - $300.00
(retail $455.95)

            Signet GTR, Aluminum Silver, 3X-Large -
$365.00 (retail $559.95)

            Signet GTR, Cathcart, Medium - $350.00 (a
few scratches) (retail $566.95)

            Quantum2, Aluminum Silver, Small - $375.00
(retail $508.95)

            Quantum2, ReEntry, Large - $425.00 (retail
$508.95)


RUKKA - New

            Ladies AirPower R3 Pants, Size 38 -
$450.00 (retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Jacket, Size 62 -
$785.00 (retail $1,045.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 58 - $450.00
(retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 58 Short -
$450.00 (retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 60 Short -
$450.00 (retail $599.00)

            Men’s AirPower R3 Pants, Size 62 - $495.00
(retail $658.90)


Camping Items – New

            JetBoil Holiday Bundle Pack – includes
coffee press, pkg. of coffee, fuel canister & JetBoil
Cooking System - $60.00 (retail $89.95)

            Wallcreeper Sleeping Bags, Down, Large -
$170.00 (retail $239.00)

            Wallcreeper Sleeping Bags, Polyester,
Large (for people over 6’ tall) - $130.00 (retail
$179.00)

            Wallcreeper Sleeping Bags, Polyester,
Medium - $120.00 (retail $169.00)

            (There are more camping items available)

 

---

May Meeting

So Remember May 1, 2006. Dinner at 6:00 and Meeting at 7:00.

Newsletter Reminder

The ROK'n Down the Road Newsletter can always use more content and don't forget we now have WORLD WIDE WEB exposure for those items you no longer need and want to sell (Classifieds). Also, be sure to pay a visit to the Meetings and Events pages. There you will find meeting dates, club ride schedules and other club activities.

The BMW Riders of Knoxville web page is taking shape. Photos from the 2005 Christmas party should be here, and a few of Novemeber's club ride before that. I am still working on the the History of the BMW ROK and it should soon be found in these pages. Also, the October Newsletter can be found in the Archive section. There is more on the way so stay tuned and visit often for any changes or important BMW ROK news!

This Page last updated: October 19, 2008

 

June Edition

BMW ROK May 2006 Newsletter

by Phil Daulton (Many Thanks to Phil for stepping up again this month when I couldn't attend the meeting) I'm your source for news again this month: Tim Pruitt, our secretary and newsletter guy, has company in town from Arizona, and could not make the meeting.

There was a lot going on at the meeting, so I will try to get as much in here as I can, with what little notes I was able to take.

The BMW Riders of Knoxville held their June 2006 monthly meeting at The Point Resort, in Dandridge Tennessee this past Monday June 05, 2006. We were seated on a patio in the great outdoors, with a waterfront setting for dinner. With fabulous temps, clear weather and a nice lake breeze, we could not have asked for a better place to be. We did get a rogue cloud to come by and sprinkle on us for a bit, but then we were treated to a full rainbow! Thanks to Jerry Dobrianski for lining up this location for us.

This is what I would like to call “The Annual East Sider’s Meeting”. We’ve done a couple of these a now and it’s something I would like to see continue as a club tradition. I saw at least two dozen bikes in the parking lot, and that’s great to see.

Our own Robert Cooper showed up on a new K1200GT; yes, the one with All That Horsepower! Beautiful scooter, Robert!

We had a total of 36(!!) dining for the meeting. We had one visitor, Liz Heide, sister of Marvin Beard.

We had two new members with us tonight, J. P. Easter and Roger Coffey. Welcome to our club, and Roger’s case welcome back!! More about Rog later in the news

Treasurer's Report

Cindy was on hand to give us the Treasury Report:
Beginning balance of $1067.61, with deposits of $385.00 and debits of $458.85 for a final balance of $993.76.

Website/Newsletter Update

No web site/newsletter updates to broadcast, except for saying that last month's newsletter did not get posted. It’s possible that some of you did not get the word that we were meeting in Dandridge, although I sent an E-mail notice last Friday.

MY APOLOGIES TO ANY MEMBER WHO MISSED THE JUNE
MEETING, DUE TO THE CHANGE OF VENUE NOT GETTING POSTED
ON THE WEBSITE.

From Tim Pruitt - I take full responsibility for this faux-paus. Sometimes there is just no good excuse for not getting things done in time. I could blame work, still getting organized from our move and a myriad of other things, but the bottom line is I just didn't get it out. If you missed the meeting in Dandridge I apologize and hope you can make it there next month. Phil Daulton did the best he could to inform folks, I just dropped the ball.

Monthly Ride

No monthly ride this month, due to the campout and Honda Hoot as club functions; June looks like a busy month.

We do have a cool ride set for July 15th, by the King of Driveway Tours, Geoffrey Greene. This time Geoffrey has a circuit of Union County planned. Union County,
says Geoffrey, is Tennessee’s 88th smallest, of a total of 95. Yet he has managed to find about 190 miles of road to travel!

He plans to start the ride at his house in Halls, generously providing us with breakfast, if we show up early enough. We will also have a lunch stop at the
home of members Bill Manning and Shirlee Grabko. Plan on attending this ride, it looks like a doozy! We will provide details of the ride when Geoffrey gets it all
stitched together.

And here is Geoffrey's announcement:

Union County Gap, Creek, Valley, Ridge, & Hollow Ride

Scheduled for Saturday, July 15^th, 2006 starting @ 9:00 a.m.

Formed in 1850 from parts of Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Grainger, and Knox counties, Union County remains one of the smallest counties in the state but is blessed with some of the most beautiful and rugged terrain in this area. The exact derivation of the county name is unknown, but it comes from either the “union” of fragments from the five counties or for the strong feelings in eastern Tennessee for the preservation of the Federal Union. It is one of only 7 counties in Tennessee that is not named to honor an individual. Occupying only 224 square miles, it ranks 86^th in size among counties in Tennessee.

Union County is an interesting place to ride due to the plethora of little back roads tracking through gaps in the ridges, up and down hollows, alongside creeks, and following the crests of ridges. Many of these roads are not pristinely smooth, but they are very interesting and are located in beautiful surroundings. What you will see on this ride is as many back roads as could be routed, many of them only 2^nd and 3^rd gear roads, that connect some of the more familiar state highways that we more typically ride on our way somewhere else. All of the roads on this ride are paved, but they may not be the billiard tabletop smooth surfaces that we are familiar with in some of our more prosperous counties. We will all need to be watchful for gravel that has washed into the road and an occasional pothole. “Narrow”, “steep” and “curvy” will definitely be the words of the day. But don’t be intimidated…this ride could be done on anything from a small dual purpose bike to a full boat touring motorcycle.

You are invited to come to our house (Geoffrey & Cindy Greene) at 4701 Cabbage Lane in the Halls area for a pre-ride breakfast of biscuits with sausage, bacon, etc. from ~ 7:30-8:30 a.m. At 8:30 we’ll head over to the Citgo Convenience Market on TN33/Maynardville Highway just north of the Knox-Union county line from where we will depart @ 9:00 a.m. (in case you overslept and need to meet us as late as possible).

Easy directions to our house: From Knoxville, go north on I-75 to the Emory Road exit (#112). Turn right on Emory Road and go 5 miles past a couple of traffic lights to the first stop sign. At this four way stop, turn left on Andersonville Pike and go ~ ½ mile to a right turn on Hill Road. Go ~ 1 mile to a right turn on Cabbage Lane (for additional curves, continue on Hill Road until it dead ends, then turn around and come back). We are on the left at the bottom of the hill directly across from the first intersection and I’ll have a bike parked out front.

If you are coming out Broadway, go past the US441 (Norris Freeway) turnoff and turn left at the FIRST intersection onto Andersonville Pike. This puts you behind the WalMart shopping center. Go one block to a stop sign. At this four way stop, go straight ~ ½ mile to a right turn on Hill Road. Go ~ 1 mile to a right turn on Cabbage Lane.

If coming west on Emory, cross TN33/Maynarville Highway and go 1 block to a stop sign. At this four way stop, turn right on Andersonville Pike and go ~1/2 mile to a right turn on Hill Road. Go ~1 mile to a right turn on Cabbage Lane.

If you are coming from a different direction and need instructions, please give me a call @865-922-9887 or send an email to gigreene@aol.com.

This will not be a fast ride and I expect us to average no more than 30 mph not counting breaks. The first stop will be on a ridge top overlooking Maynardville with a second stop on TN33. About ½ way through the ride, we will be stopping at Bill Manning & Shirley Grabko’s house in Sharp’s Chapel where Bill & Shirley have graciously volunteered to provide a cookout lunch for us. NOTE: We need an approximate head count for this…please let me know if you think you will be coming. If you discover at the last moment that you can ride, even though you haven’t said you were coming, please come anyway. Bill & Shirley also encourage everyone to bring a swimsuit in case there is a desire to take a quick dip in Norris Lake before continuing (a cool dip might be quite pleasant).

On the return trip, we will have stops back on TN33 and in Luttrell before returning to the start point on Maynardville Highway. Total distance for the route is 189 miles (with almost 175 turns), so this will be an all day ride with the planned stops and lunch.

Beautiful terrain, good friends, and interesting roads…does it get any better? COME RIDE UNION COUNTY!!

---

We also have an October Ride scheduled by Richard Webb. More details as they come.

AND… if you ever get the itch to lead a ride yourself, be all means, step up and let us know.

Beating the Monthly Ride Dead Horse

We are alwaysl looking, no, pleading for folks to lead a monthly ride. It's your club, and here's a chance to hang out and do the thing we all love to do – RIDE. Take a chance and step up to lead a ride – show us some of your fun back roads that some of us may not have been on or know about – even the ones that look like driveways.

Rally News

All the club's share of the 50-50 pot goes to buying door prizes for the Rally. So please be sure to buy some 50-50 tickets at each meeting. Ya never know, ya
might win, and it goes to help make for a successful Rally! This time we made $27.00 towards door prizes.

Our ads are now in both the MOA and RA monthly magazines. I have small paper ads to post in area shops and on bikes at other events, plus I need to post it on other club sites like Airheads, Oilheads, etc. So there is still much to do to blow the horn for the Rally.

I sent out the small free ad we are given by the MOA this week, so it should appear in the July and August issues in ON Magazine. Look for it in the Where & When
section of the magazine.

 

Old Business

We voted several meetings ago to buy a brick in the Daytona Beach Racing Memorial Monument which the Dick Klamfoth family is doing in Daytona Beach, on the boardwalk. I am still working on getting that purchased. Their web site is screwed up so I must contact them by mail.

It’s time for the Spring Campout!! Yes, this Saturday (June 10) at the Cherohala Motorcycle Resort, we will be camping and cabining (is that a word?) in beautiful
Tellico Plains. We are operating on what I call the No- Plan-Plan, it’s just a loose association of several of us, about 15 or so, at this point. No telling what we
might get into, so we won’t be telling if it’s bad…

Come On Down and join us, find out!

Hoot Booth: I currently have 12 people signed up for the Hoot map booth. Not sure if I have enough coverage yet.

Ride For Kids Poker Run: Only have two signups for this. This event runs on Friday June 23.

Ride For Kids: This is Saturday June 24. I have eight signups for the front end and four for the back end. We can use more people here, please volunteer to help.

Contact me at phil_daulton@standardaero.com and I will tell you what’s involved.

---

Treasurer's Report

BMW ROK Monthly Statement as of October 2005 - Summary

Beginning Balance		$1067.61
Deposits (see details below)	+	$385.00
Debits (see details below)	-	$458.80
Ending Balance		$993.76

 

Details - Deposits

Check Number	Description	Amount
No Details		$385.00
50/50		$0.00
Misc. Deposit
Total Deposits		$75.00

 

Details - Debits

Check Number	Description	Amount
none	none	none
Total		$0.00

 

---

BMW ROK Monthly Ride

Stay tuned Geoffrey promises us news and updates real soon.

---

Roger Coffey Update :

EVEREST BASE CAMP MANAGER BACK IN TOWN

Roger Coffey was at the meeting, and provided us with a fine picture of himself with our autographed ROK Koozie that we sent him. In the back round was the
Khumbu Glacier Icefall, which is part of the route Team No Limits took on the recent Mount Everest climb. I will get the picture scanned and posted on the ROK
web site, so everybody can see it. Along with our other koozie shots provided by Jason and Gretchen Hinton, we now have shots of Koozie at 19000 feet
above sea level and 280 feet below sea level. Wow, that Koozie gets around!!

Hopefully, some of you have been reading the Internet posts of Roger’s adventure as Everest Base Camp Manager for Team No Limits in Nepal. I asked him to
stand and deliver an account of his trip. He graciously did so, and talked for better than twenty minutes about his and the team’s hardships and triumphs with Team No Limits. Plus he fielded a question and answer session. We of the ROK are proud
of Roger and are glad to have him back. He is also glad to be back in some of the best motorcycle riding area on earth.

---

And: Other News of Interest

The lovely Megan has left Milton McNally's Destination Motorcycles, and is now selling chrome safety equipment and assorted doo-dads at Smokey Mountain Harley Davidson in Maryville. Eeeeww!

Crow has got the Red Barn back up and running on Mondays.

Rallies attended: Several folks made it to some recent rallies in the Southeast. Bob Winter reports that the Nashville BMW club’s European Rider Rally in Burkesville KY was good. Cindy and Jerry said the GA Mountain Rally was good as always, with rain as always, and that we gave them passes to our rally as door prizes. Ed Nabors said that the BMW Riders of Alabama Huntsville Chicken Rally was the best ever, with the most attendance ever.

 

Rallies on the Horizon:

Greetings,

Its that time of year again. Rallies are in full swing. The date has been set for our clubs' annual rally - Carolinas BMW Motorcycle Owners Association. Attached is a copy of the flyer. I hope you have a safe and enjoyable summer of riding. Mark your calendar for one more event before the riding season is over. Hope to see you there!

Regards,
Keith Nunnery, 2006 President
www.carolinasbmwmoa.org

It's All About the Ride!

Dickie Anderson won the 50-50 drawing, splitting a pot
of $56.

 

 

Hi folks, I’m pinch hitting for the regular writer, Tim Pruitt, who could not be with us at last night’s meeting. So I will let you in on what went on. This may become rather windy, so please bear with me.

The BMW Riders of Knoxville held their October monthly meeting last night at Puleo’s Grille East Knox location. Things were packed in tight, as we were seated in the festive “garage” area of the restaurant and had 31 members present. One guy leaned in, took a look, and departed; I think he was an acquaintance of Geoffrey Greene and was there on a visit.

President Phil Daulton ran the meeting, which he started a little late at 7:20, so he could choke his food down; the service was somewhat slow last night.

We kicked the meeting off with a piece by Ed McNeil, about trying to get a Tennessee version of Jessica’s Law, which is a law against child molesters. He circulated a petition throughout the gathering, to be turned into the state legislators.

Phil then asked that everybody take a moment to remember Ron Vogel, a past ROK vice president, who was killed on a ride three weeks ago. Although Ron had not
been an active club member for the past several years, we all remember him fondly. Ron was also an MSF Rider Coach, and retired Air Force.

We had two visitors who joined the club after the meeting; Fred and Marcia Childress from the Oak Ridge area. They are the couple who recently bought Jerry and Cindy Dobrianski’s R65LS at the ROK On Classic rally. Welcome, Fred and Marcia!

Cindy Dobrianski was recognized and gave the Treasurer’s report for the past two months, since there was not a September meeting. Ending balance for October 02 is $703.53. Expenditures for September were $50.00 to the Daytona 200 monument fund (our brick!!). Expenditures for October were $65.48 to Dick Anderson for Rally door prizes. Income for September was $101.75 from memberships, 50/50 and merchandise (shirts and coozies). There was no income for October.

No web site updates, since Tim was not present. George Upton sent me two photos from last Saturday’s ride, so I have forwarded those to Tim for posting on the web
site, along with this newsletter.

Also, I asked the group present to please RSVP for the meeting notices, since that factors in to where we get seated at Puleo’s. I had 21 RSVP’s for the meeting, 3
of whom did not show up; which totals 15 folks who came in with out responding. Needless to say things in the garage were pretty packed. Had I told Puleo’s that
I had 30 respondents, we would possibly have been seated in the big room. So please take notice of the request to RSVP, folks. Thanks for listening to that rant.

Ride Report – Big Thanks to Richard Webb for leading the September ride this past Saturday. We had 10 members and 1 visitor, Geoffrey Greene’s brother in law. The day’s weather was El Perfecto. We departed from the Shell station on Straw Plains Pike and headed off to parts known only to Richard. We did the ferry crossing on Norris Lake. Bill Manning was spotted on a litter pickup detail out in the wilds of Sharps
Chapel. Since I saw no shotgun toting guards, I had to assume it was an adopt a highway thing, and not some kind of punishment! We all laughed and waved! Our tour
came into Harrogate, and a stop for gas, and then Richard turned us loose to run TN 63 to Sneedville at our own pace, to meet at the Hardee’s for lunch. That’s some kind of fabulous route! After a break, he resumed the lead and took us across TN 66 towards Rogersville, cutting off onto some back roads before we got there. The trip continued here and there until we came out behind the Smokies stadium, and saw the
tail end of some kind of old car show. The ride totaled about 200 miles.

I think Tim Pruitt has agreed to do a ride later this month, but we will have to see if his back is up to it. More news as we get it. Tim messed his back up last weekend, and is not getting around too well right now.

If anyone else has any cool rides they would like to share, please contact Phil or Tim and we will get them scheduled.

Rally News – Dave Erny rose to give us a report on the final rally tally. Good news was that we made nearly $550.00 profit this year. Not bad considering that we
only had 90 full registrations. The weather was excellent, but attendance was still lagging due to another hurricane on the eastern seaboard. A big thanks was issued to all the folks that helped make this a successful rally: Dave and Sharon Erny, Jerry
and Cindy Dobrianski, Jack and Maryann Alltop, Tim and Brenda Pruitt, Bob Winter, Dickie Anderson, Roy Drulard, Erik Perry and his son Mitchell, Doug York and Geoffrey Greene. Lost and found at the rally: one each beat up old radio that we were using for the TV sound system (I suspect this may belong to Jack Alltop).

I also got a nice e mail from a rally attendee from the BMW Riders of Mississippi, thanking us for a great rally, and that he had a good time.

I will also be writing thank you letters to all of the door prize donors: Frank Smith, Kermit Chair, Rider Wearhouse, Mitchell Perry, Bobarosa Café, Alcoa Good Times, Destination Motorcycles, Blue Ridge MC Campground, GA Mountain Rally, and also to our gracious rally hosts, Tom and Judy Betters of the Newport KOA.

Old Business – Bob Winter is your connection for ROK shirts. If you are looking for one, talk to Bob, he is trying to get another order together.

Also, we have made our donation to the Daytona 200
Monument for a brick with our club name on it, so our
little organization have our 15 minutes of fame on the
Daytona Beach boardwalk! Or five minutes, depends on
how long ya look at it… I think it’s a Cool Thing.

New Business – planning the ROK Christmas Party! This will be held Saturday, December 9, 2006 at Dave and Sharon Erny’s house. Plan on showing up at about 4 PM. We will issue news updates and directional info as the date gets nearer. Please plan on attending. Thanks Dave and Sharon, for hosting us again!

Election time is rolling around again, and if you would like to run for an officer position, or keep the one you are holding, please speak up! I have thought it over, and have decided on going for one more term as club President, but this will be the last hoorah
for me. I would like to see somebody else step up and run the club in 2008. Been a fun ride, but I think it is somebody else’s turn.

Of Interest – Jerry & Cindy recently bought a parcel of land in the Del Rio community. No, it’s not a cock fighting pit! It’s four acres on a sliver of land between two creeks. They have named it T.W.O. Creeks and it’s their dream to maybe make it a motorcycle only camp ground! They are clearing the land now, and if any one wants to stop by some weekend and hack brush, well hey, come on by. It’s located off of Old
Fifteenth Street, just off TN 107 in Del Rio. They plan on hosting some club campouts there next spring.

Apparently, no one is planning on attending Biketoberfest in Daytona this month. We’re full of the Daytona attitude when it comes to $150 a night fleabag motels, I guess.

I saw on the MOA web site forum that there is some kind of Airhead function going on at Cherohala MC Resort on the weekend of 10/13. It’s the Adventure Riders, one of those Virtual Clubs, and it’s called the ADV Eastern Airhead Rally. I called Peggy at the
campground, and she threw some names out, but I don’t know any of them. They told her that they were expecting 40 people for the event, and the cabins are all booked. So if anybody wants to venture down there and check things out, by all means do so. I’d go my self, but I’m out of own that weekend. If you may go, log onto to www.advrider.com and let them know; they are compiling a list on their internet forum.

The Time Warp guys are starting a Trials Club, but it meets once a month on the first Monday. Guess I won’t be hitting any of those meetings…

Jason and Gretchen Hinton are back from a couple of weeks in Europe; they were in Germany and Croatia. Gretchen was telling tales of ripping around on a 49cc
scooter at high rates of klicks – equaling about 30 mph US. Yow!

I got a flyer from a business that does tours of Vietnam on motorcycles. They are doing tours of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the North Vietnam/Laos/China border. This got me a lot of strange looks and not a lot of response. Hey, if this interests you, check
them out at www.ridevietnam.com.

Next meeting will be back at Puleo’s on Monday, November 6, 2006. Be there or be square, but don’t forget to RSVP when I post the notice.

And Dickie Anderson won the 50/50 draw, taking home $22.00

Thanks for reading, and see you at the November meeting!
Phil Daulton ROK Prez

Destination Motorsports BMW is celebrating their 6th Anniversary this month and on October 28, 2006, they will hold their own version of October Fest. The following is a note received from Destination:

COME JOIN US FOR OCTOBER FEST & 6TH ANNIVESARY EVENT ****

**** NEXT SATURDAY OCTOBER 28TH ****

**** DYNO YOUR BIKE *****

**** SEE THE NEW 2007 MODELS ****

**** FOOD & FUN ****

**** CLOSEOUT PRICES ON ALL REMAINING 2006 MODELS ****

Here is a link to a very interesting story and a reminder of why we all should wear that safety gear. This story is about a young woman in New Mexico that has definitely learned a hard lesson.
http://www.speedfreakinc.com/content/articles/riding/roadrashqueen.html

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January/February Newsletter 2007

The January Meeting
by Phil Daulton

A thousand pardons for me taking this long to get out the minutes for the January meeting. I have a couple of excuses. One is that I have been working 50 plus hours a week since early December, and these days I seem to find myself asleep in my chair evenings when I am at home.

The other is that I just got over two plus weeks of a rather nasty cold that had me hacking my guts out every morning in the shower. Sound like Frogman Smith, and it takes a lot out of a fellow, too. And I'm not getting any riding in, so I'm crabby, too.

But I'm over that now, and I need to get these notes out so we can do it again on February 5th.

So... the BMW Riders of Knoxville held their January monthly meeting at Puleo's Grille, East Knox location at the Strawberry Plains exit of I-40. We had a good turnout of 28 folks, one of whom was a visitor; Stewart from Maryville. Stewart just got into BMW's from several years on Harleys and saw us on the
Internet. We hope to see him back as a member.

We also had a new member David, a friend of Fred Childress. David recently acquired a BMW from guy who was selling the fire damaged bikes and it sounds like he got a good deal on it.

Tim Pruitt, our secretary was not present at this meeting, due to his back condition, so I was working with hastily scribbled notes and a bad short term
memory loss, so please forgive me for not getting our visitor and our new member's names.

Oh yes, we also had another visitor, a friend of Geoffrey Greene, Mr. Gordon Catlett, who was present with his wife Elisha, and son Caleb. See, I did get
some of this written down... Gordon has a K12LT.

Old Business – Cindy Dobrianski stood to give the numbers for December and January.

December saw a beginning balance of $770.53 with credits of $62.50 and no debits for an ending balance of $883.03.

January saw a beginning balance of $883.03 with 0 credits and debits of $166.09 for an ending balance of $666.94.

The credits were two membership renewals and 50/50 cash. The debits were the costs of our recent Christmas party.

A word about the party. We had a good turnout at the Casa Erny, and Dave and Sharon had smoked turkey and pork loin for a main course, with all kinds of side dishes brought by various members. If you didn't make it, you missed a good time. Big props again to Dave and Sharon Erny for hosting us for the second year in a row.

Since Tim wasn't at the meeting, we have no updates about the website. It's still there, though.

Ride Report – Monthly rides: Geoffrey Green is cooking up a ride for February 17 with a snow date of February 24. These are Saturdays, by the way. His ride will originate from South Knoxville and will end up at the Time Warp Tea Room, early enough in the afternoon to still call it lunch. This is a variation on his finer than famous Knox County Loop, and will encompass about 150 miles.
Long enough to warm it up for an oil change, anyway. Watch for future e-mails from Geoffrey for details.

Also, Bob Winter and Gunter Tillman have picked June as the month for their club ride. No details yet.

And Geoffrey has some fun planned for October, as he is plotting a Grainger County Loop for that month's ride.

Hey, we have a quarter of the year booked, and it's only January... If you would like to share a secret fun ride with us, let us know!

Rally News – Stay tuned for more news in the coming issues.

New Business – Other fun things on tap are a spring camp out at TWO Creeks, the Dobrianski's little getaway in Del Rio. They have been cleaning up the property and getting things ready to looking like a campground. Jerry and Cindy will be letting us know the plans in the future. This is a beautiful little stop just off of US 25/70 between Newport and Hot Springs. Lots of great riding there.

We kicked around the notion of doing the monthly ride with the night at the Drive In movies, also, but nothing has been set yet.

Other possible functions might be a camp out at Cruso, or back at Cherohala MC Resort, in Tellico Plains, where we camped last June.

We also kicked around the idea of a flea market. Jerry needs to get rid of some more coolers...

Last month I was looking around for a place to hold a meeting in north Knoxville, so Rich Gardner could hit a meeting. I looked at the new Puleo's on Cedar Lane, but they are not meeting-friendly. They have a room that holds 44, but would not let it out for meetings unless we guarantee 44 butts in the chairs. So much for that place...

Member Melanie Norton mentioned that her friends in the Motor Maids meet at the Litton's in Fountain City. This is home of the best burger in Knoxville, if you follow that Best of stuff in the local papers. I've been there, and the burgers are fabulous. The parking is not Best Of, though. It's a small lot, and some times you get stuck parking across the road from the place. Anyway, Melanie is looking into this, and I will also go check it out, especially the parking situation.

There is also the Time Warp we could do, but Dan is kind of limited on his menu. But you can't beat the motorcycle themed decor and atmosphere, and we can park on the sidewalk, like the hoodlums we are...

So give me a holler if you would like to see a meeting at either of these two venues, and we will see whats happens.

Other possibilities for this year could be a meeting in the Oak Ridge area for all you Westsiders. There is supposed to a pretty good place over there called
Magnolia's. This offer does not apply to Stephan Boatin...

It will be April soon, and that brings around the annual Lube Tech thing. Started by Rich Gardner way back when, and continued to this day at The Garages at Casa Erny, this is the place to dust off the winter cobwebs, change the air in the tires, and get things tweaked up for riding season. Dave was not at the meeting, but he will be giving details about when this event will happen. Even if you don't have any wrenchin' and tweakin' to do, come on by and join in the hilarity.

After a brief poll of those present, it appeared that not many will be attending Daytona Bike Week. The campgrounds have screwed us for the last time... I am planning on going, but I'm not sure if I'm doing the whole week or not.

Milton McNally was doing a bus trip to the International Motorcycle Show in Atlanta later in February. It's too late to sign up if you haven't already. It was primarily a Ducati thing with a bus trip there and back, a ticket to the show, some Ducati swag and a reception at the Omni Hotel with Ducati, for $100 a head. Don't know what kind of response he was getting, as I have been working six days a week and don't get out his way very often.

Well I don't know how I got two pages out of a 30 minute meeting, but that's about how it went.

Mike Copenhaver won the 50/50 drawing and collected a cool 28 bucks.

Next meeting will be back at Puleo's on Monday,
February 5, 2007. See ya there!

Phil Daulton




Of Interest – I have received several letters and E-flyers concerning events and other motorcycle related items that I thought would fit well in the Newsletter.

Greetings ROK members,

I have a friend that is moving back to this area after living in Hoboken, NJ for a couple of years. He's currently got a couple of dual sports but is looking for a more street oriented bike. He's been looking for something like a K75RT, K100RS, K1100RS (obviously something from late '80s to mid '90s with those models in mind). If you have a good clean low mileage K bike that you've considered parting with, I'll be happy to forward the information to him.

Thanks for taking a moment to read this message,
Geoffrey Greene   GIGREENE@aol.com

---

From: geo@mail.mapmuseinc.com [mailto:geo@mail.mapmuseinc.com]
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 1:00 PM
To: Daulton, Phil
Subject: Interactive Mapping of BMW Motorcycle Dealers and BMW
Motorcycle Clubs across the US


Hi,

About one year ago, Mapmuse.com began a project- the interactive mapping
of BMW motorcycle dealers and BMW motorcycle clubs across the US. We
initially researched and populated these maps ourselves, with the idea
in mind that BMW motorcycle enthusiasts would subsequently add to, and
enhance, the information we provided. We mapped each BMW motorcycle
dealer or club, and provided space for a written description, photo, and
link to a website. Since this project was started, the public has made
hundreds of additions and enhancements to these maps. We now have one of
the most comprehensive databases of BMW motorcycle dealers and BMW
motorcycle clubs in the US. If you were one of our contributors, we'd
like to thank you for your help!

I'm writing today to ask that if you know of any BMW motorcycle dealers
or clubs that have opened or closed in the last year, that you make
those changes to the maps. Also, we encourage you to add any clubs or
dealers that we are still missing. In this way, we hope to keep the maps
current and useful for everyone. This basic listing continues to be
free.

If you own or manage a BMW motorcycle dealership, we also have a new
option of a premium listing at $10/ year. This listing has all of the
features of the free listing, as well as an enhanced map presence, a
text link beneath the map, and more photos. 

If you have a BMW motorcycle related website, you can post a link in our
Recommended Links section (also $10/ year). You can read about these
options, and make changes, through easy to use links on the site- if you
have any problems, see http://find.mapmuse.com/re1/mmFAQ.htm#A4

The link to the BMW motorcycle dealers map is:
http://find.mapmuse.com/brand/BMW motorcycle

For BMW Motorcycle Clubs, see:
http://find.mapmuse.com/brand/bmwmc

If you are not familiar with MapMuse.com, we are a highly trafficked
mapping website with over 500,000 visitors a month. MapMuse's goal is to
help people find places related to their interests. MapMuse continues to
add new topics of interest each week. If you have a topic that you would
like to see mapped, you can suggest the interest on the MapMuse site,
and there is a good chance it will be addressed.

Lastly, if you have a related blog, newsletter, or website, a link or a
mention would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Cindy Jett
Mapmuse.com
1326 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005

---

And this from our friends at MOA:

Hi Ian,

The rally site search team was here a couple of years ago to look at
Knoxville TN.

I was invited by the City of Knoxville to be at the dinner and
presentation that they gave for the team. Ray Zimmerman, Chuck Manley,
the Kiltmeister and Dave Swisher were there to look things over.

Knoxville was pitching Chilhowee Park as a rally site. This is the site
used for the annual Tennessee Valley Agricultural and Industrial Fair
(east Tennessee's answer to the TN State Fair in Nashville).

This is the same location that the Honda Hoot has been using for the
past six years since they moved it here from Asheville NC.

This is also the same site that the Harley Owner Group is going to use
for their national rally in August 2007.

As far as Alabama goes, the Barber museum and race course facility in
Leeds (outside Birmingham) was used for an BMWRA national a few years
back, I think. May be wrong about that one. It is a real showplace.

I will pitch this letter to our membership in our next newsletter and
see if I get any responses. I have copied our club secretary, Tim
Pruitt, so he can add this to the newsletter.

Thanks for asking for our input!

Regards,
Phil Daulton
President, BMW Riders of Knoxville

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Schmeisser [mailto:ians@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 5:25 PM
To: Daulton, Phil
Subject: Help in scouting locations for the BMW MOA National Rally

Dear Phil -

I am writing to you as a representative of the BMW MOA Rally Site Search
Team, and asking for your club's help in identifying potential rally
location in the Southeast.

It's been a while since the National Rally has been in our neck of the
woods and since then our requirements have changed quite a bit.

Below I've listed our main requirements and would like to ask you and
your members to keep their eyes open for places like this as you're out
riding in Alabama.

State & Regional Fairgrounds, Convention Centers and Universities are
all good candidates.

We would very much like to get a place identified as soon as possible,
as it takes a long time to negotiate an agreement for an event such as
this.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions, but please *do not make
contact with the facilities themselves, as negotiations for events of
this magnitude are sensitive both for the club and for the facilities
under consideration.

Please contact me by e-mail or phone at 770-995-9003 if you have
questions or ideas!

Ian Schmeisser
Southeast BMW MOA Rally Search Team member


Basic requirements for our Rally
=========================================

- Rally to be held 2nd or 3rd week of July. Estimated attendance 6500 -
8000

- Site size approximately 100 acres

- 2000 motel/hotel rooms within 20 mile radius of site

- Indoor vendor exhibit area of 50,000 sq. ft. or more

- Grass camping area of 35 or more acres

- Exclusive "On Site" beer garden sales to be located in a designated
"Beer Garden" area

- RV Parking for 65-100 units, with or without power/water hook-ups

- Paved area (on or off site) to teach MSF's Experienced Riders Course.
Should be flat, and unobstructed area of at least 200 ft. x 300 ft.

- Grandstand/arena area with seating for 3500 or more.

---

Rally eNewsletter, Volume 7.01
June 23, 2006
35th Annual BMW Riders Association's International Rally

Biltmore Estate
Asheville, North Carolina

June 7-10, 2007

N35° 31.9' W82° 33.5'

Time to kick off this rally! I think by now you all have heard about the incredible site for the rally this year. For the first time they will let a group stay on the estate. Folks, this is a big deal! Biltmore often hosts car, cycle and other rallies, but they are considered day events and these rally goers leave the estate at 5pm go back to their hotels, only to do it again the next day. We will be the first group that will camp on the estate for three days. We will share the estate with the general public during the day, but when the gates close to the public at 5pm, we remain.
The rally site sits along an open span of field following the French Broad River and we will be bringing up Rally Central from the ground, much like traveling fairs did in the 1800's. Our rally will celebrate the essence of this place, the history of a time when life moved at a much slower pace. You can sense this when you drive through the stone entrance gate. Your rally fee will give you access to the estate for three days and includes tent camping. You can tour the house, winery or farm in addition to the rally fare you normally find: vendors, seminars, entertainment and food. Didn't see enough of the house on your first tour? Go again and again. If you've got the time, tour the house as many times as you can during the rally. You can also tour the winery and take part in sampling of the estate wines more than once. And we will be including estate wines for sale in the Beer Tent. You beer purists will have to share some space in the Beer Tent!
You will almost have too much to do during your time at this rally. The house, winery, seminars, and vendors: when will you find time to ride? Western North Carolina has some of the best roads, paved and dirt in the U.S. We will have self-guided tours available and don't worry GSers. We plan to have at least one guided GS ride, maybe more in addition to self-guided tours. The rally forum on the RA website has already had some interesting ride/route discussions. Join the rally forum and post your favorite rides.
Are your feet feeling tired just thinking about the distances over this 8,000-acre estate? We will have shuttles running Friday and Saturday to allow you to rest your feet between the house, winery and rally central.
As we kick off this rally, we want all of you to gain a sense of the time and place of this estate. The RA flags will be proudly flying to represent the BMW motorcycling community. We invite you to bring your club flags to represent your community, much like the families of old did when they attended the fair. The RA Hohenzollern eagle itself comes from a German family coat of arms from the middle ages. If you have a club tent, bring it and we’ll set up a spot for you to gather with your fellow “travelers”. Maybe we are like the traveling bands of yore (I’ve been dying to use that word!). As we travel the country we always gather to share our lives, stories and memories no matter where we set up our tents.
We have the opportunity to make history. You have been congratulating me on landing this great venue, but this was a true team effort between Biltmore Sales Group, Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau and myself. And in the end, if the great folks at Biltmore hadn't said, "we want your rally", we wouldn't be here. It was teamwork at its best.
My goal as Rally Liaison is to offer you two things: a great destination and a memorable journey to this destination. I feel confident this rally site has accomplished both. The rally website is up and running so check it often. We plan to post some interesting tidbits and things to do if you arrive in the Asheville area before rally time.
I'll talk more about Asheville and rally preparations in subsequent eNewsletters. Pre-registration will be fired up in February and if you are a vendor and are planning to attend, we will be posting vendor info during February also.
As always, if you have questions, contact me at rallyinfo@bmwra.org and I'll endeavor to answer them.
All roads lead to Asheville in early June......let the journey begin!
Debbi Harbour
Rally Liaison

---

The March and April Meetings
by Phil Daulton

In March the ROK met at the Old Same Place, better known as Puleo’s Grille this past March 12, 2007. We met a week later than usual due to Daytona Bike Week. I was in attendance for that event, and was roundly jeered by the crowd when I told them I drove a car down there. Maybe I can redeem myself someday and actually ride down there, but I’ve done maybe 15 bike weeks and drove to all of ‘em.

Well hey, I actually did ride down there. I did 19 demo rides while there. I just didn’t ride TO there. Yeah, that’s the ticket. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Ed Nabors said he was there, but I never saw his car. But hey, it’s a big event. Easy to miss a body.

We had a total of 33 members and friends show up for this meeting. We were in the garage, er, I mean patio, and seating was tight, be we made it through.

Bob Hicks was our only visitor, so Bob, we hope you had a good time, and will consider joining our group.

The lovely Cindy Dobrianski, our club treasurer, rose to give the numbers for March: Beginning Balance of $979.94; Deposits of $192.00; Debits of $0.00. Detailed, this was $165.00 in new/renewed memberships, and $27.00 from February 50/50.

Tim Pruitt was not present to give any updates on the web site and newsletter status.

Cindy provided me with an updated membership list, and I have just today updated my e-mail list with several new addresses, so apologies once again if you have not been receiving club e-mails.

 

In April We had a group of 28 folks on hand last night for our April meeting. We were at Puleo’s Grille East Knox, the weather was fine and I believe there were 16 bikes in the parking lot.

Of our group, we had two visitors. Geoffrey Green brought Roger White with him. Roger has a new R12GS, but last night he was on his Honda Interceptor. Dave and Sharon Erny had their daughter along for the meeting.

We also had one new member, Larry Key. Larry found out about our club from member Frank Smith. Larry rides a K12LT, and lives in west Knoxville. Welcome, Larry!

Cindy and Jerry came in a bit late, as they had some bike trouble and had to turn back. Jerry took a few minutes to find a suitable replacement scoot, and showed up on his Transalp.

Cindy gave the treasury report: Beginning balance of $1171.94, with deposits of $56.00 and no debits, for a total of $1227.94. The deposits came from two renewals at $30, March 50/50 at $21, and Jerry sold some koozies at $5.

Tim Pruitt was absent again for a therapy visit, so no updates on the web site to tell about. We did get some pictures and a story from Shirlee Grabko, pertaining to her and Bill’s recent trip to New Zealand. Look for this on the web site soon.

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Old Business –While I was driving my car around Daytona, wondering where the hell all those bikes came from, I took a moment to swing by the boardwalk and band shell on the ocean front to see how the Daytona 200 Monument was progressing. I was pleased and amazed. All the brickwork was laid in, but not secured, and that amounts to about 8,000 street bricks. They are arranged in a circle around the monuments. The named bricks are then grouped alphabetically. Our club brick was there! We are now Famous, at least until the next big hurricane washes everything away. I took some pictures of the monument and of the brick, and one with the Finer Than Famous ROK Koozie, too. Look for the pictures on the web site, as soon as Tim can update things.

Lube Tech is On! Our annual Lube Tech event is scheduled for Saturday, April 14th at The Garages of Erny, near picturesque Panther Creek State Park, outside of Morristown. Thanks in advance to Dave and Sharon Erny for hosting this event and putting up with all those noisy motorcyclists. We look forward to a big event. Dave’s garage has tools and lifts, but you need to bring any parts and consumables for your maintenance needs. We will be putting on the old feedbag later that afternoon, at Casa Erny On the Hill, next door. Look for directions to the event to be forthcoming from Dave, if you have not been there before.

The Honda Hoot is rolling around again, and once again, we have been asked by HRCA to man the map booth. I asked how many might be interested in working the event, and saw some hands raised. I will be passing around a signup sheet at the April meeting.

We also have been asked to help out on the Ride for Kids ride on the Saturday of the Hoot, and also for the RFK Poker Run. Not sure what day that is. Bob Winter is point of contact if you want to help of the Ride for Kids, and Geoffrey Greene is the man to see if you want to help do the Poker Run. These are super worthy causes, and please try to find some time in your schedule to pitch in.

Jerry Dobrianski volunteered to look into the club doing a camp out event at the Blue Ridge Cycle Camp in Cruso NC, sometime this summer. We will try to do something similar to what we did at Tellico Plains last summer.

Jerry also is looking into the June club meeting locating again at the lake front place in Dandridge. We had a nice meeting there last year. CRS has struck me again and now I can’t remember the name of the place. The Point, maybe? Can’t remember. More details as I remember them, or if somebody tells me.

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From the April Meeting: Lube Tech is on for Saturday, April 14, with Sunday April 15 for the rain date. Dave refused Jerry’s idea that we make Lube Tech a four day event. If you were not at the meeting and need directions to Dave and Sharon’s place contact him at daveerny@bellsouth.net. Things will kick off about 9AM. Show up any earlier than that and you may be kicked off, heh heh. Workspace and tools aplenty. Bring your own consumables for your bike. Oil Head Valve Adjustment 101 will be the class for this Lube Tech.

As mentioned in the March letter, there is volunteer work to be had during the upcoming Honda Hoot; in the map booth, Ride for Kids and RFK poker run. Contact info: for the map booth, Phil Daulton at phildaulton@yahoo.com, for the Ride for Kids, Bob Winter at thewinterman@yahoo.com, and for the RFK poker run, Geoffrey Greene at gigreene@aol.com. We look forward to your assistance!

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Ride Report –

For March: Geoffrey Greene gave us the dish on his February ride, done twice. The scheduled ride was cold and snowy, and a total three riders showed up. Geoffrey did the ride, and I guess they had fun.

He then rescheduled the ride for March 3rd, and eight riders were present. The ride went off without a hitch, and a good time was had by all. Geoffrey made his destination of the Time Warp Tea Room within a half hour of his target.

We’ve not had anymore ride leader volunteers for April. Our next scheduled ride is in July and also in October. We may do some kind of group ride to the BMW RA Rally in Asheville, which is the first week of June. I will be asking the group at the April meeting how many think they may be attending, and perhaps we can get a war party up for an Asheville RA raid, er I mean, ride.

No monthly ride for April. Arrgh Anyone care to step up and lead a ride for April?

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Rally News – The latest news from March and April ROK meetings

March Update: The Newport KOA has changed hands; Tom and Judy Betters have sold the place. I don’t have the new owners’ names, but Mike Copenhaver is their Veterinarian. That’s how we initially learned of the sale. Dave Erny has since contacted them, and they told them they would be glad to have us. So, the ROK On Classic lives on!! I will be posting notices with both the MOA and RA for their magazines and web sites to run. Dave says that George and Penny are running things at the campground. They were working for Tom and Judy in years past. George had a low speed get off last year on the way to the Vermont MOA National and has not ridden since, but is getting around OK. He and Penny have also put down roots here, moving to their new place in Bulls Gap, relocating from Florida. No more Hurricane Alley for them!

April Update: The Rally is definitely on. We will have the same deal with the new KOA member as we did with Tom and Judy Betters, the former owners. The present owner (Sorry Folks I still don’t know his name) is currently getting certified by KOA. Dave said that George and Penny are running things as the new owner gets up to speed. Our rally deal will be same as before: use of all the tent space area, plus the outbuilding/kitchen area. Dave also says that the cabins are almost all booked up already(!) and if you want to rally in a cabin, you had best get that reservation nailed.

We will be beating the bushes for door prizes, so if any of you have a line on some goodies, round ‘em up.

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New Business –March General Topics – There were several ROK folks at the Cycle World International Bike Show in February. This time the show was at the Georgia World Congress Center, which is downtown, next to the Georgia Dome. This was the same week end as the Atlanta Supercross, so the crowds were huge. That’s 70K people just for the SX race. Tim Pruitt and I drove down there (what the hell’s up with THAT) and ran into several other ROK folks that DROVE, too. Of course Geoffrey Greene RODE down there; that’s just a lunch run for him. We parked in Sandy Springs and took the MARTA train into town, which stops maybe a quarter mile from the event. Not a bad deal, eight bucks for a train ride and free parking. Until the SX race was over and we were packed in that little train like freaking sardines. Everybody was going to Sandy Springs. But the SX race was big fun, so it was worth the trip.

We saw Dave Corl down there; he was finishing up his job with BMW NA, doing all the show stops. Dave is now working a bit down at the Maryville Harley Experience, also known as Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson. I saw an ad from them in the paper this week, looking for a new Chrome Specialist. Wonder if Megan has moved on? If you are the Chrome Authority, by all means give them a call.

Geoffrey also told us about his trip to Daytona (yes, he rode), about a road he traveled that was 13 miles of bricks, one of the oldest paved roads in Florida. No, it doesn’t go back to the Ponce DeLeon days. He was also telling us about a cool hole in the wall BBQ place on US 17 called Big’s BBQ and Seafood. Sounded pretty tasty.

Geoffrey also said that the Knoxville Rider Training group is looking for new blood for rider coaches. Give Carroll Bales, the Rider Training chief a holler if you have the time and interest in doing this. Contact www.krep-tn.com.

There is an AMA Flat Track event coming up June 2, 2007 at the speedway in Bulls Gap, TN. This is right off I-81 and 11 E at the Bulls Gap exit. I have been told by a guy at work that the track can be seen from the Interstate, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. This is a half mile event, so they will be running the big twins, not the thumpers, so this means Big Fun. I have my scheduled pencilled in.

More Daytona stuff – I rode an F800ST while there. That is the new vertical twin bike with belt drive. Very pleasant ride with enough power to get the job done.

And I am always floored by the sheer millions of bucks of inventory at the BMW of Daytona shop. There was one room full of nothing but GS models, and one full of various models of the new inline four K bikes.

I ran into Dale Walksler while hanging out at the Speedway on AHRMA vintage racing day. I asked him how things were at Wheels Through Time, his museum of American motorcycles. Dale said that he was giving the town of Maggie Valley about five more years to get more friendly with him, and then he was thinking about packing it in with Wheels Through Time. There was a rumor last year that perhaps George Barber was going to buy him out and pack it all down to the Barber Museum in Leeds Alabama. That would be a huge loss to Maggie Valley, whether they know it or not. And once again, if you haven’t seen this place, by all means GO. Best 12 bucks you will ever spend, especially if Dale is in the house when you see it. Drive if you have to. But it’s a cool ride over there, too!

Gunter Tillman won the 50/50 drawing, netting him and the club 23 bucks each, I believe.

April General Topics: The MOA Mileage Contest is on. If you are an MOA member, look for the entry form in this month’s issue, record your start mileage and get at least two MOA members to vouch for you, or Milton at the BMW dealership.

The RA Rally is in Asheville this year, June 7 – 10, 2007, at the Biltmore House and Gardens. Several of the BMW ROK members are planning to attend. If you intend to attend, ahem, and maybe would like to get a group ride up to go over there, I will volunteer be a point of contact to list those folks and maybe some of you can do the group ride thing. Contact me at phildaulton@yahoo.com and I will get a list going. Let me know what days you are going over and how long you intend to stay.

Jerry promises to look into doing a camp out at Cruso. Possibly the week end after July fourth.

Also, we are going to do the June meeting at the Point in Dandridge. We met there last June also. The place has just undergone renovation, and Jerry is trying to make contact with them and set up the meeting. If this falls through, will do the June meeting at Puleo’s again. Tim and I are going to check into a possible meeting at Litton’s in Fountain City. For all you Northsiders.

Cindy was telling us that Ed Nabors has suffered some kind of crash on a bike, and is recovering from either a broken ankle or leg. I will contact Ed as soon as possible to see how he is doing.

We also heard that Greg Bell broke his wrist pushing one of them Harleys.

Ed McNeill is working in sales over at Alcoa Good Times Kawasaki/Yamaha. Detective work was tapering off, so Ed has changed careers. Swing by there some time and give him a holler.

Dave Corl is also doing some sales work at Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson, part time.

Benefit ride opportunity: This came from Bob Winter: There is a benefit ride for Autism, to be held Sunday, April 15, 2007. I have no info on what the suggested donation amount is. The ride is leaving from Biker Rags on Kingston Pike, just west of I-140, going about 55 miles and ending at Coyote Joe’s on Clinton Highway, just north of Merchant’s Drive. Sign ups start at 11 Am, ride starts at 2 PM. For further info contact Danny Huffaker at 660-8413 or Jayme Beeler at 705-0135.

We did a quick pass of the hat for 50/50, and our winner was Jim Hurley.

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Of Interest – We try to post up-coming events that folks might be interested in attending. If you know of an event that you think other club members would enjoy, or that you are participating in, please let me know at tdpruitt@bmwrok.org and I'll try to get it posted in a timely fashion.

AMA Flat Track Championship Racing to Tennessee
Bulls Gap Flat Track
June 2  Volunteer Speedway
Bulls Gap, TN
Type:  Half-mile/Twins
Phone: (423) 378-5942
For more information and season standing follow teh link below to the Official AMA web site.
http://www.1800flattrack.com/index.php?UID=FQtycTskAw27bNSVBg1U94m59DhHSn

AMA Superbike Racing at BArber Motorsports Park:
April 20-22  Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL
(Superbike Doubleheader)
Honda Superbike Classic 1.800.240.2300
www.barbermotorsports.com
or the AMA official Superbike Site at:
http://www.amasuperbike.com/index.php?UID=ZD0UZ7ZXeMj64ticW4Uo1gzbJ7sgs7

From Stayin' Safe Tours
StayinSafe Motorcycle Training Tour News

YOUR BIKE GETS TUNE-UPS, HOW ABOUT YOU?
IMPROVE YOUR STREET STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUE THIS YEAR while spending a weekend touring around on some fun roads with lots of curves!  Choose from several departure points, 3 in the east, and 1 out west: Pittsburgh, PA into Southeastern Ohio; Warrenton, VA, just west of Washington, DC, into the Blue Ridge Mountains; North Georgia, into the Smokies; and the Denver area, into the Rockies (see below).

SPRING TRAINING TOURS ARE FILLING UP!
The April Shenandoah/Blue Ridge Tour is full, standby space is available. The May Shenandoah/Blue Ridge has 1 space remaining; and June is still open.  Space still remains on the April Switzerland of Ohio tour that departs from Pittsburgh.  The May Smokies Tour is full, standby space is available.  Tours book on a first-come-first-serve basis, so don't miss out.  If you'd like training in 2007, book now to reserve your space: http://stayinsafe.com/schedule.shtml

New on our schedule this year, a ROCKY MOUNTAIN MOTORCYCLE TOUR WITH
STAYIN' SAFE training.  Join us in Colorado on RMMT's July 11-18 "Best of the West" tour.  Our ten year Stayin' Safe veteran, Pete Tamblyn, will conduct training sessions en route in the usual Stayin' Safe fashion with all day coaching via in-helmet communication.
For more information and reservations:
http://www.rockymountainmotorcycletours.com/tours/details.php?id=5

READ THE AMA'S STAYIN' SAFE TRAINING TOUR REVIEW AT:
http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/2006/stayinsafe.asp
If you aren't a member, join the American Motorcyclist Association!

READ BILL SHAW'S STAYIN' SAFE TRAINING TOUR REVIEW IN MARCH 07
MOTORCYCLE CONSUMER NEWS.
If you aren't a subscriber, you're missing out on an excellent publication.  Subscribe at http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/

We hope to see you on a tour this year.

"Ride Safe"
MaryAnn
For Stayin' Safe
--
MaryAnn Puglisi
eduVacations"
1431 21st St. N.W. Suite 302
Washington, DC 20036
tel: 202-857-8384
fax: 202-463-8091
maryann@eduvacations.com
www.stayinsafe.com

And this just in from Stayin' Safe

Greetings fellow motorcyclists:
We have some good news for those of you trying to get your Stayin' Safe Spring Training in on the full Smokies and our full Shenandoah/Blue Ridge Training Tours.

1 SPACE REMAINS ON A SMOKIES TOUR, MAY 14-16 Due to a cancellation on what started as a 3 person private tour, we have one space available Monday, May 14 to Wednesday, May 16.  The price is the same as our scheduled 3-day Smokies tour at $1,375.  It starts in northern Georgia and offers a variation on our usual Smokies route.  To register, go to the tour registration page at www.stayinsafe.com.  You won't find the tour listed on the registration pull down menu.  So select "private" tour. And in the Comments section, note that you'd like the May 14-16 Smokies tour.

NEW SHENANDOAH/BLUE RIDGE TOUR, JUNE 30-JULY1 Due to demand for the spring tours, we've added one in early summer.  This tour leaves from Warrenton, VA (45 miles west of Washington, DC) and runs through Virginia's Blue Ridge mountains.  Space is limited; to reserve go to the tour registration page at www.stayinsafe.com.

Don't miss out on your chance this year to IMPROVE YOUR STREET STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUE.  Standbys are always needed, and sometimes do lead to a booking. If you can't make these few early season openings, consider a September or early October tour.  Space is still available on the Switzerland of Ohio, Shenandoah/Blue Ridge and Smokies tours.   Or, join us in COLORADO on RMMT's July 11-18 "BEST OF THE WEST" tour.  Our ten year Stayin' Safe veteran, Pete Tamblyn, will conduct training sessions en route in the usual Stayin' Safe fashion with all day coaching via in-helmet communication.  For more information and reservations:
http://www.rockymountainmotorcycletours.com/tours/details.php?id=5

Up-Coming Rallys:

May 4-6:
17th Georgia Mountain Rally
Sponsor: BMW M/C Owners of Georgia #23
Location: Bald Mt. Park Campground Resort, Hiawassee, Ga
The coordinates for the rally site are: N34 53.289 W83 46.121
Website:http://www.bmwmoga.info

May 18-20:
2007 European Riders Rally
Sponsor: BMW Motorcycle Club of Nashville #101
Location: Burkesville, KY
Website: http://www.bmwmcon.org/rally.html

May 24-27:
19th "Great Chicken Rally" in Rocket City
(aka "Mo Chicken Rally")
Sponsor: BMW Motorcycle Owners of Alabama (#5)
Location: Ditto Landing, Huntsville, AL
Website: http://www.bmwmoal.org/

June 7-10:
35th Annual BMW RA International Rally
Sponsor: BMW Riders Association
Location: Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC
Website http://www.bmwra.org/rally/

June 22-24:
Missouri State BMW Rally
Sponsor: Springfield BMW Road Riders
Location: City Park, Crane, MO.
Contact: Connie Myers - BeemerGranny2@aol.com

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And this from our friends at MOA:

Dear BMW Motorcycle Owners,

Welcome to the first issue of E-XPLOR, the bi-monthly e-newsletter for XPLOR members presenting details about events, races and BMW rider activities around the country.  As a BMW owner, you can  join this program and access the whole of XPLOR at www.bmwxplor.com   [The e-newsletter starts below.]

Those of you who are GS riders will be very pleased to learn that our GS Rides are back, with the first one taking place in the Pine Barrens area of New Jersey from April 20 - 22.  There are only 75 slots available, and it's first-come, first-served.  Join XPLOR at www.bmwxplor.com and then register for the ride.  There's no charge (well, you have to pay for your own accommodations, unless you want to pitch a tent on the hotel's front lawn) and naturally there will be our usual goody bag of souvenirs for you to pore over after you get home.  Jimmy and Heather Lewis will be back providing their famous off-road instruction, there will two days of awesome riding, free nosh and of course, the chance to hang with fellow BMW riders.  You will get to see the new G 650 Xchallenge and Xcountry in action, too.   But you must be an XPLOR member and details are at www.bmwxplor.com so join today. 

See you there!
Best wishes and ride safe,
Laurence Kuykendall
Community & Communications Manager
BMW Motorrad USA

 

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October 19, 2008

 

This site last updated on: October 19, 2008

Since these pages were last up-dated we have had several meetings, including the June meeting being held at Alcoa Good Times Kawasaki-Yamaha Motorcycle dealership in Alcoa, Tennessee. We had a great turn out and Charlie and his employees fed us well and treated us like truely special guests. This months meeting is scheduled for The Point Restuarant in Dandridge, Tennessee, on beautiful Douglas Lake (The Point's Menu). We hope to have a big turn-out for the August meeting.

We have had several visitors at our last few meetings:
In May we had Richard Gray of Bloomington, Illinois, and Tracy Brooks of Knoxville. Tracy rides a K1200RS, but I missed what Richard rides.

June found us at Good Times and brought in several new friends. Mathew McDonald with a R1100GS; Mike davidson rides a R100RT; Andre Shutte has a K1200; Clay Brooks was riding a Ducati; and Tracy Brooks joined us again and is riding a K1200RS.

We were back at Puleo's in July and joining us was Mike Tresse on an R1200; Matt Bryant on a Suzuki 650 V-Strom (or Wee-Strom as he called it); and not really a visitor Rich Gardner, founding member of the BMW ROK, was with us and I do believe he was riding a nice R65.

To all of you Welcome and we hope to see you again soon! Rich, always great to see you at our meetings. BMW ROK probably wouldn't exist if not for you.

In June the Club had a ride led by Gunter Tillman and Bob Winter and culminated in a cook out at the Tillman's house. In July Geoffrey Greene offered to lead a ride, but as of the time of this newsletter going to press I do not know how that went, however I do know it was raining cats and dogs at my house at departure time. I hope you had someone turn out Geoffrey because I am sure you were there.

Our very own Jerry Dobrianski had a serious bout with pancreatitis. This was a bit scary for all of us, and Jerry spent several weeks in the hospital. At last report he was at home and recovering, but I am sure he can still use everyone's best wishes and thoughts to continue the healing prcess. Get Well Jerry we miss you.

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Old Business –

During the May and June meetings we discussed the Honda Hoot and Ride for Kids volunteers. Those events have come and gone now, and as usual the ROK showed itself well at each of these events. There are pictures now posted at the web site's photo gallery and you can get there by clicking : 2007 Honda Hoot and RFK Thanks to everyone who came out and worked the map and information booth during the show and to everyone who parked motorcycles, distributed bag lunches, and helped the organizers of the Ride for Kids.

There have been several Rallies in the last 3-4 months. Several ROK members have traveled to these events. The MOA International Rally this year was in Wisconsin, and the R.A. Rally in nearby Ashevlle , North Carolina. So far the reports have been favorable for both. If anyone has digital pictures taken at either or both of the big rallies please send them to the NEwsletter and we will get them posted on the web to share with all the membership.

President Phil notified the membership at the July meeting that he had re-charted our club with the MOA. He is now collecting R.A. membership numbers so he can re-up our charter with them as well.

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Ride Report –

I do not have any formal reports for the last 2 club rides, so if anyone would like to send me something we can get that posted.

Dick Anderson has offered to lead a ride on the third weekend of September. When details become available I will post them as quickly as possibble.

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Rally News –

It is really hard to believe but the 2007 BMW ROK ROK' On Rally is less that a month away. We hope you are planning to attend. All Club memebers are of course encouraged to attend, help out, and generally come out and enjoy the company of friends - old and new. So far we have inquiries from several states in our region of the country and a few outside of that, so it looks to be a promising gathering. Come on to help us swell the attendence and have some fun.

We will be beating the bushes for door prizes, so if any of you have a line on some goodies, round ‘em up.

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New Business –

Everyone should be thinking about November. November is election month for the BMW ROK and anyone interested in holding office should start now to let the membership know you are running for a position. The current crop of officers have been in position for about 4 years now, so if you want to try your hand at it, please think about stepping up in November.

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Of Interest –

Super Bike racing visits our neighbors to the north in August. The AMA races will be at Virginia International Raceway. It is a great event at one of the best tracks in the country and a wonderful ride from Knoxville to get there. Think about heading over that way. For more information follow the links below:

2007 Big Kahuna Nationals

The weekend of August 17-19 will bring the return of the fastest and most exotic road racing motorcycles in America to VIR for a seventh time as AMA Pro Racing’s wildly popular Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals brings the best in the business to do battle on VIR’s challenging 2.25-mile North Course. The doubleheader format will give fans two feature races for the headlining AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited, in which the factory teams and world’s best riders compete for corporate bragging rights utilizing staggering budgets to produce some of the most technologically advanced bikes on the planet. Rounding out the program will be AMA’s other pro series, the Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship presented by Shoei, AMA Repsol Lubricants Superstock Series and Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series, plus lots of off-track fun and excitement. http://www.m1event.com/bigkahuna/index.htm www.amasuperbike.com AMA Schedule>>> (back to top)

 

Up-Coming Rallies:

August :
GA August 3 - 5, 2007
4th Annual Festival of Fives - Georgia
5 United #324
A simple gathering of slash 5 riders and vintage riders. No fee other than your camping fee and a pass of the hat on Saturday night to cover Saturday's tasty dinner. Held at Two Wheels Only Motorcycle Resort (706-747-5151), near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Matt McCourtney, mattmccourtney@mac.com.

NC August 16 - 19, 2007
30th Dan'l Boone Rally
Carolinas BMW Motorcycle Owners Assoc. #220
Three states, one rally! Come join us at the KOA Campground in Boone, NC for the best riding anywhere. Rain or shine, ride NC's Blue Ridge Parkway and High Country, Southwestern Virginia and Northeastern Tennessee. Dust off that classic/vintage motorcycle and ride in. We have plenty of room for everyone and all brands. For directions and rally updates visit www.carolinasbmwmoa.org. GPS: N36 15.54, W81 39.87. Rally Fee: $40 per person, No pre-registration necessary. Fee Includes: Camping for Friday and Saturday night, 30th Anniv. pin for first 200, 5 tickets for Door Prizes, Vendor onsite, Friday dinner, Vendor onsite, Sat. B'fast, Catered BBQ dinner Sat. Donuts & Coffee, Sun. Morning -Endless: coffee, tea, hot chocolate. Early Arrival: Thursday night camping and Hot Dog Dinner: $8.00. Information Contact: John Olsakovsky - rally@carolinasbmwmoa.org, Website: www.carolinasbmwmoa.org

TN August 31 - September 1-2
Plan now to join the BMW Riders of Knoxville for our ROK' On Rally 2007! Once again it will be held in Newport, Tennessee, August 31 through September 2, 2007, at the Newport KOA. Come enjoy some of the East's great motorcycling roads. Newport is within easy riding distance of Deal's Gap and the world famous Highway 129 - The Dragon, the Great Smokey Mountains, the flowing Cherohala Skyway, and hundreds of miles of great roads you have never even heard about. If you just want to relax for a couple of days then come sit around a campfire and share stories of the road, enjoy a cold beverage, eat some of Dave's famous White Chicken Chillie, or hang around the Club House and watch a great motorcycle related DVD or video with friends old and new.

September:
KY September 7 - 9, 2007
Annual Beemers in the Bluegrass
Bluegrass Beemers #146
The 2007 Beemers in the Bluegrass Mini Rally is on again this year. The location is the Stillwater Campground, located on US 127, 8 miles north of Frankfort KY. The $20.00 registration fee includes: 2 nights camping, breakfast and evening meal on Saturday, and the door prize drawings. For more info contact: Roy Rowlett 3413 Holwyn Rd. Lexington, KY 40503

NC September 21 - 23, 2007
8th & Last R90S Rally
National R90S Sport Owners #67
Enthusiasts - join us for a gathering of the classic and beloved 1974-1976 BMW R90S. Sat. day ride, tech session, 3 awards for bike judging, award for long distance R90S ridden to rally, movies, flea market and door prizes. Rally site: Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge, Robbinsville, NC. The lodge is just minutes away from some of the best riding roads in the world: Cherohala Skyway, Deals Gap. Blue Ridge Pkwy, etc. Website: www.ironhorsenc.com or call (828) 479-3864 for room reservations. Reserve early, rooms will sell out quickly. Rally registration: $20/person. One night of free camping included with rally fee. Must pre-register by Sept. 10 to qualify for free night of camping. Send rally fee to: John Yee-Treasurer, 244 Candia Lane, Cary, NC 27519 or email John Yee at ducjyee@yahoo.com for more info.

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September/October/November 2007 Newsletter

 

BMW Riders of Knoxville HUGE News Letter
by Phil Daulton, ROK President, backup Scribe to the Scribe, and the guy who cuts the grass around the hangar. Holder of the Club Secrets, O Yez, O Yez!

06 November 2007

Riding Friends,

First off, an apology for not getting a newsletter out in a more timely manner. You would think we were a chartered club of the Procrastination Society, if you look at our web site. I'll take the blame for that, I am sitting on three meetings worth of notes plus things from the recent ROK On Classic Rally. As Mickey Mouse used to say, “On with the Show!” Or maybe he stills says that...

August 2007 – This was our annual East Siders meeting, and Dave Erny got us booked into the newly renovated Point Restaurant in Dandridge TN.

Now, where's them notes... Oh yes, we had a turnout of 31 folks, and the persistently dry weather made for some beautiful riding. Fun is always at someone else's expense, and this year while the farmers shook their fists at the clear blue and the lakes slowly dried up, we enjoyed riding days like you maybe only see in sunny SO CAL, where it never rains, as the song goes. That sentence should garner me an honorable mention in the 'it was a dark and stormy night' bad novel opening phrase competition. My dear old English teacher be a rollin' in her grave.

Where was I? Oh, yes, pontificating... At that meeting, we had two guests: Mary on her HD who is a friend of Melanie Norton, and Stuart Ulseth brought his friend Faye.

We had news of Jerry's recent hospital trip, and we were glad to hear that he was back home and doing better. He still was not up to getting out to the meetings, but we could tell that spouse Cindy was in much better spirits having him back home.

In discussing the Monthly Ride, we discovered there was none planned for August, but we did have Dickie Anderson leading a ride for September, Geoffrey Green for October and Bob Winter leading one in November. The kind of Club participation that I am looking for, but alas, it always the Usual Suspects. Leading a club ride is a great way to meet your fellow club members, a chance to show us somewhere we may not have been, and also to do our wheeled steeds a favor and give 'em some exercise. So give that some consideration and maybe step up and lead a ride sometime.

Geoffrey had led a ride for July, and reported that on one of the rare days of rain, or the smell of it, anyway, he had eight bikes show up. They had a nice little toot and ended up at the Time Warp Tea Room.

Rally News: Phil (that's me, I like to talk in the third person), reported that all the rally ads were finally placed with MOA and RA, and would also be on line on those organization's web sites. Door prizes were slowly coming together, as that Phil guy had some gifts, and Frank Smith donated another great little power washer. Michael Dozier, proprietor of a new motorcycle gear shop in Tellico Plains, 'Tellicomoto Outfitters, had contacted us and wanted to either offer some sponsorship, or give some door prizes. That Phil guy said that he would do a scouting excursion to the Plains of Tellico, and check out Michael's place. Andre Schutte has contacted me about a friend who wanted to be a rally vendor with a tattoo and piercing booth. We put that one to a vote, and Andre's request was denied. So much for Free Enterprise... An Insurance guy also wanted to set up a booth. This was a contact that was made at the Honda Hoot, and I was never able to re-establish contact with the fellow. So once again, the ROK On Classic would be vendorless.

Old business: Phil (why doesn't that guy sit down?) reported that he had renewed our club charter with BMW RA, and now Cindy owed him big bucks.

New business: there was none, other than Phil's (geez, give a rest, would ya?) impassioned plea for the membership to please consider giving back to the club in the form of service as a club officer. Phil mentioned that he was finishing up his fourth year as President of the ROK, and would sure like a rest. People continued to pick at their dinners and wondered where that annoying noise was coming from...

General topics: Tim Stephenson had e-mailed us pics of his recent Alaska trip, but no descriptive narratives. (I would later run into Tim one day in Maryville a couple of months later, and he said he did the ride on a rented KLR650, rode 2900 miles, and NEVER did see one stinking bear. That's all the narrative you get.) And apparently no one attended the recent AMA Vintage Days event at Mid Ohio. All those guys hang out at the Time Warp. I'm sure they had a good time.

And finally, Phil said there would be no September club meeting – it was Rally Time!! Next scheduled event would be back at Puleo's in October.

September 2007 – We survived a small but successful 11th ROK On Classic Rally, on Labor Day weekend, back again at the Newport TN KOA campground. We were dealing with new owners, as Tom and Judy Betters had sold the place in January. Our new hosts were Bert and Gina Bockoven. Successful, if you think losing a hundred bucks is your idea of success. Seriously, it was a fun time, as we greeted several many return ralliers, and some new folks too, Think we had about 85 guests, but Dave read those numbers so fast, I dunno... It was tragic, too. We had two gents that happened upon us from Florida. They had trailered up to Asheville NC and after a day's travels, came looking for a place to pitch their tents. We eventually talked them into rallying with us, as they were really only looking for one night's stay, not two. But they were there long enough to get to know some of us. Next day, they left out for another day's fun, and one did not return. He passed away during the ride, just dropped dead on his scoot, somewhere on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The other fellow made his way back to the rally site and told us what happened. It took several hours to get him settled down and get the whole story. He would have to ride back to Florida alone, the trailer rig belong to the deceased and was impounded by the law men. We watched Sunday morning as the local constabulary came out and appropriated the dead man's possessions. It was very sobering. Tim Pruitt has written a short story about these two friends. He will share his story, titled 'The Last Ride' soon on the web site. It is a beautiful piece and I hope that you will all read and enjoy it.

October 2007 – There we were, back at Puleo's Grille, for our October meeting. We had 25 folks and little Megan Hurley. Visitors there were, yes, says Yoda; we had John Jagger, Norman Mills and Roger Davis.

Tim Pruitt was not present to tell us anything about website and newsletter updates. I was left to rely on my own badly written notes.

Monthly Rides: Dickie Anderson reported that his ride was a success, with ten bikes along for the tour to the Clinch Mountain Overlook, home of the Vinegar Pie restaurant. Bob Winter firmed up his plans for the November ride, telling us that it would be a western Carolina tour, with a stop at several general stores, including the Mast store in Waynesville. Bring your trailers... Geoffrey's October ride would be 139 miles of Grainger County back road fun, as only Geoffrey can deliver it.

Rally News: Dave gave the final Rally numbers, talking faster than I could write. I just know we lost a hundred bucks and had a lot of fun.

There was no old business. I am noticing that this letter gets more condensed as I go along – got to stop the goofing around and write these darned things sooner.

New Business – Our Friend and Benefactor out at Dixie Lee Junction, better known as Destination Motorcycles, had decided to do another attempt at their famous 'Bike Nights for the Rest of Us'. Not sure who 'the rest of us' is here, since proprietor Milton McNally, after much deliberation, decided that the first Monday of the month would be most excellent time for bike night event. Some of our more senior members reminded me that a local BMW club had been meeting on the first Monday for some 15 years. What's wrong with this picture? Tim Pruitt and I decided to sortie out to meet with The Man Himself and ask him what the hey? His first response was the usual mirth that I get from what little face time I get with Milton when I visit. It was 'aah, you guys would just come in here, eat all the food and then gather in a corner and have your meeting.' I told him that his date choice had honked a lot of us off, and he said he was sorry, but after much deliberation decided that date was the easiest time for people to remember (so THAT's why we meet on the first Monday!?). It was decided that Milton could just have a good old time without us. We pause to remind ourselves what a great relationship Dave Bloodworth at Bloodworth BMW in Nashville has with that local club, the BMW Riders Association of the Mid South. How he hosts meetings, and pitches in to help at their European Riders Rally in Burkesville KY. To me, this is a guy that is taking an active role in building relationships that in turn build his business. And Bob Henig at Bob's BMW in Maryland year after year wins the award for signing up most new MOA members.

So here is MY HUMBLE OPINION (and it's a free country, so, let's hear yours): Milton just Doesn't Get It. He doesn't have to acknowledge us, and we don't have to shop there.

Other New Business: On a more pleasant note, we nailed down our annual club Christmas party date as Saturday the 8th. This year hosted by Jim and Deb Hurley, at their place in Knoxville. Details to follow as they happen, but it will be a club furnished main dish, and attendees asked to bring pot luck. Thank you, Jim and Deb, for inviting us into your home! Phil reminded us that we would be doing the officer election thing at the November meeting. Cindy Dobrianski said that she would be giving up her post as treasurer. Phil said that he was retiring as club president. Nobody said much else... It was announced that the November meeting would be back at Puleo's. Bob Winter said that he had a friend who was starting a new bakery business, but would also eventually have a meeting room with catering available. Bob said that his friend would like us to try a future meeting there. It was agreed that Bob would keep us posted about progress on this front. Phil mentioned that he had gotten an e-mail from member Fred Childress. Fred and his spouse Marcia have recently started an ice cream parlor in Oak Ridge. Fred said they can seat about 36, and would like us to look at having a meeting there next summer. Phil will keep in touch with Fred on this venture.

November 2007 – this is fresh in my mind, it only happened last night! We were back the The Old Same Place, Puleo's Grille.

Phil, feeling the effects of mild alcohol poisoning after wild (for him) celebration of his birthday the previous night, was tardy in getting out the November meeting notice, practically guaranteeing a light turnout of membership, especially those who might want to run for office. In this way he puts a hammerlock on his possession of the coveted President's position, which he has held for the past four years. And now, for a fifth year, he dares anyone to wrest this puissance of power away from him. Hah! If it were only like that. Actually, nobody stuck their hands up to volunteer for any posts, except for Deb Hurley, who agreed to take over the treasurer office from Cindy Dobrianski. Thanks, Deb, we love ya! So officers for 2008, the song remains the same: Phil Daulton, President; Bob Winter, Vice President; Tim Pruitt, Secretary and web nerd (hailed by popular acclimation, especially since he did not attend the meeting – see what you get, Tim?); and Jerry Mathers as The Beaver.

Website News – We were reminded that the website still announces our August meeting, now there's News You Can Use. I assured the membership that I would approach Tim about this issue.
.
Monthly Ride – We have another ride coming up, on Saturday, November 17. Bob Winter will lead the parade through Western Carolina and it promises to be Big Fun. I will post an e-mail to the membership as the date approaches, and Bob gets his plans together. And that's It for rides this year, unless one of y'all comes up with something else. Thanks to all of you that gave of yourselves this year in leading rides for us. You know who you are.

Oops, lets back up a little – we had visitors! Clark and June Luster were at the meeting. Clark is an MOA Ambassador, and they have just relocated to Del Rio TN. I believe they were going to join the club after the meeting, so welcome Clark and June!

And now, back to our story: Our heroes were lashed to the mast, waves from the storm pounding them mercilessly... oops wrong story. Geoffrey's October ride was a good one. He reported that ten bikes were there, ranging from a Goldwing to a Serow, maybe some of those BMW things too, and a good time was had by all. Another Vinegar Pie lunch stop – hey, we got to stop meeting like this...

Rally News: nothing to report, it's too early for that stuff now.

Old business: That old Bike Night for the Rest of Us business reared its ugly head again. One member went into what sounded to me like an apology for Milton's business practices. I observed that there were at least four Mondays in every month and he's not open on any of 'em. Good time for a bike night, except for that first Monday. Another member asked if we would consider moving our meeting night to accommodate that bike night event Over Yonder. It is my position that we aren't holding anybody hostage here, if you want to do Bike Night, then have at it. I like our little Monday meetings, and in respect to the rest of the membership, do not intend to change the date. Nor was I asked to put it to a vote. In fact, December's event will be an excellent chance for the membership to go visit with Milton. Our party is a Saturday event, and there will be no monthly meeting. So go eat his food, dig the atmosphere and see what's it about. If you love something, set it free...

Plans were firmed up for the ROK party at the Casa Hurley. It will be December 8 at about 3 PM until maybe 9-ish? Jim will be getting back to me with directions. Watch for forthcoming e-mails about his event, because there will be no monthly meeting prior to this gathering.

Bob Winter's friend Joe Nichols has opened his new bakery this week. This is the fellow that wants to host a meeting sometime in '08. Bob will keep us posted.

New business: Ed McNeil tells us that Charlie Jansing, owner of Alcoa Good Times, wants to host the club for a breakfast event and demo thingy when he gets in his allotment of Can Am Spyders. These are those nasty looking little three wheel rigs with two wheels in the front and one in back. I saw some at Daytona this spring, but none were available for demo, else wise I'da durn sure rode one of 'em. More details as I can pry them out of Ed.

Other new business: There was that officer election thing mentioned at the start of the letter. Third world elections have more verve. And more participation. Shame on us.

Crow Brown had a yard sale at the Red Barn this past weekend. Several members attended, and some picked up some new possessions.

Stuart Ulseth is back from a recent trip to Florida. He passed along some photos to run on the website. I have asked Stuart to give me some written content to go along with it, so I hope to see that soon.

Richard Webb and I attended the vintage event at the Barber Museum and track a couple of weeks ago. There was a fairly large Knoxville contingent there, but mostly they were Time Warp folks. Roger White was there, the only other ROK member that Richard and I saw. I took a couple hundred pictures. If you are nice to me I might show you a couple. The weather was fabulous and so were the bikes.

Well hey – I am caught up here. No more to report! Thanks for slogging though these nearly five pages with me.

I would like to say thanks again to all the people that support this club and have put up with my rambling efforts at leadership. I dedicate myself to better efforts in 2008, and to try to improve things as much as I can. Better meetings, more and different meeting sites, more ride participation, you name it. Thanks!

Regards,
Phil Daulton

(back to top)

Old Business –

 

(back to top)

Ride Report –

I do not have any formal reports for the last 2 club rides, so if anyone would like to send me something we can get that posted.

 

 

(back to top)

Rally News –

It is still a bit early to say too much about the 2008 ROk" On CLassic Rally. However, we will look into it and make a decision on how we can best facilitate our loyal guests and give them the best time we can whether it is in 2008 or 2009. Look here soon for pictures from the 2007 rally.

Rally Postscript: I would like to take this time to thank all these great friends that make this Rally what it is. And we DO get some great comments from our rally guests; they just love our low key, comfy event. Thanks folks: Dave and Sharon Erny (wouldn't be a rally without ya!), Jack and Mary Ann Alltop, Jerry and Cindy Dobrianski, Bob Winter, Dickie Anderson, Steve and Janet Lange, Doug York, Jason and Gretchen Hinton (all the way from Birmingham AL!!), and anyone else that pinch hit for us here and there. There may not be a 2008 ROK' On Classic. Our core group of stalwarts are planning a tour of the Czech Republic in 2008 that just happens to fall on the same time slot as the rally. Major volunteerism is going to have to happen if we decide to do this rally again for '08. We may have to give it a year off.

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March Newsletter

October 19, 2008

 

BMW Riders of Knoxville
March 2008 Newsletter
by Phil Daulton, wearer of many hats this month

29 March 2008

Greetings ROK'ers,

Here is another Newsletter dispatch for what's going on in the world of ROK.

APRIL MEETING NEWS – PAY ATTENTION HERE!!

We have had to change the location of the ROK Monthly Meeting for April. Bob Winter's friend is not open for business yet. So, the April meeting will be held at Destination Motorcycles, concurrent with their April “Bike Night for the Rest of Us” on Monday, April 7, 2008. Ride, if you can, the parking lot is small.

Now if you don't happen to know where this place is located, it is at Dixie Lee Junction, on the fur side of Farragut, which is at the split of US 11 and US 70. Fast way there: Take Exit 369 of I-40, which is Watt Road. Turn left at the ramp red light signal, then follow Watt Road to its terminus at US 11/70, also known as Kingston Pike. Turn right, then take the left fork (US 11) of Dixie Lee Junction towards Lenior City. Destination Motorcycles is on your immediate left.

They kick this event off at about 5:30 PM. Come by and slobber over the fine selection of BMW, Triumph, Ducati, KTM, Moto Guzzi, Vespa and Piaggio motorcycles
and scooters. Ed McNeil is just itching to sell you one!

Milton is going to give us some space to have our meeting at 7 PM. Come broke and hungry, because Destination is providing the grub for this event. I believe grilled hot dogs outside under the canopy were mentioned. See you there! And I hope it is a Large Crowd.

That being said, now we will shoot for May to have our meeting at the location Bob Winter is sorting out with his friend. Keep your fingers crossed.

Lately, The Dragon Pit, south of Maryville on US 411 was suggested as a potential site for a monthly meeting. I, Your Humble Servant, was dispatched there recently to check out the place for suitability. I sampled the cheese steak sammich on the advice of a certain MOA member. It was purty tasty, and the pile of fries with it would have sunk the Bismarck, had the Bismarck still been floating. It sunk me like a three foot putt... Anyway, I found that the inside has no meeting room, and the place is hardly big enough to swing a cat inside, much less seat the 30 or so folks that might show up for an ROK meeting. The place seats
around 40, but it would be awkward to try and have a meeting in amongst other patrons. However, they do have a rather sizable outside canopy, which at the moment holds only four picnic tables. The management said they had more tables coming. Conclusion: This
place would only be suitable for a mid-summer meeting, during fair weather and summer lighting conditions. If we schedule a meeting here, it will be July or later. I will let you know. From a restaurant standpoint, it is not a bad location, and they are open for breakfast, too. A handy stopping point if you are doing the Cherohala/Deals Gap loop ride.

More meeting confusion: At the March meeting, some one, and I cannot recall whom, said that they thought The Cafe Mozart, our location for the Annual Eastsider's Meeting, was closed. I asked Dave Erny if he would check that out, since he had booked the place. Dave reports that they are, indeed still open, since he and Sharon are in there every week or so.
They just have weird days and hours, and they will be open for our June meeting. We will give you location info as the date grows closer.

Looking for something to do tomorrow? Swing by the Time Warp Tea Room, located at 1209 North Central Street in Knoxville on Sunday, March 30, for the First Annual Time Warp Vintage Motorcycle Club Swap Meet. This event will occur from 1 PM to 4 PM, and Dan will have the big screen TV going with the tape delay of the Jerez, Spain round of Moto GP. Special menu for the event is two hot dogs any way you  want them, chips, cookie and a  canned drink or water for $5.

The rain date for this event is April 6.

Speaking of the Vintage Club, our own Geoffrey Greene was recently awarded the “Frosted Balls” award for the second year in a row. He is recognized for riding in all kinds of weather. As we well know... Congrats, Geoffrey!

Things I Get in the Mail: I recently received info in the mail about a worthy function by Bob's BMW of Jessup, Maryland. They are offering the Ultimate Bike Raffle, to support the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's Ride For Kids. For a $40 raffle ticket, or three for $100, you get entered for the Grand Prize of your choice of the following new BMW motorcycles:
the F800S, the F800ST or the F800GS. Also part of the grand prize is $1500 of apparel; $1500 in accessories; a two-day on the road rider school; transportation, hotels and meals for four days; free fuel for the first 600 miles; and free first 600 mile service, with personal tech time. Seeing how the GS has been held up on release by BMW NA, I wonder how they will deliver on that promise. Maybe it's the one BMW has been showing at events. There will also be other prizes awarded. To get your lucky tickee: Call 1-301-497-8949, or visit
their website at www.bobsbmw.com. Or drive by there; Geoffrey Green can provide you a good route, and you can get that IBA Saddlesore 1000 trip out of the way while you are at it.

Work on your own stuff? Here is something else I got in the mail last week: There is a business out there that fabricates special tools for working on BMW motorcycles, The Ed Group. They sent me an ad for a tool they have made for setting the swing arm bearing
preload and torquing the nut, while installing the Paralever swing arm. This nifty widget costs $97.50 and can be had by calling DonFinke of The Ed Group at 1-704-799-6456.

March ROK Meeting minutes: I was without a club secretary again during the March meeting and had to take my own notes while also running the meeting. Here is how I remember it. Disclaimer: This happened three weeks ago and I have slept since then. I also have had the input of approximately 112 NCAA men's and women's basketball games since then, so some things I remember may not be accurate. Your mileage may vary. Batteries
not included.

We met on March 10, at Puleo's Grille. Since I had very little response from the e mailed meeting notice, I booked us for the Patio, which strangely resembles a garage, and is about the same, acoustics-wise. We had attendance of 25 folks and two youngsters.

I had no secretary, treasurer, or rally guy there, so I was pretty much winging it as far as information services go.

We had a couple visiting, Walter and Shari Bukowski, from Dandridge, who will be joining the club. Welcome, Walter and Shari! They ride BMW models R90S and R1150RS.

Another visitor was Brad Henson, from Destination BMW Motorcycles. Brad works in Sales at Destination.

Monthly Ride: Yahoo! We will be having a ride for April. Bob Winter and Gunter Tillman will be reprising their event from last year, a ride with an endpoint BBQ at the Tillman residence. This is set for – oops – I didn't write down a date!! Maybe it's not set yet!?
We will bring this up at the April meeting.

Rally News: I have sent the ads to MOA and RA for our event to be listed in the respective magazines and web sites. That leaves the print ad to be sent to MOA later this year, and the handbill ads I still need to do for local shops and to give out at the GA Mountain Rally.

Alternate Meeting Sites: See earlier paragraphs in this letter. Presently, the April meeting is at
Destination Motorcycles on April 7.

Lube Tech: We originally set this event for 12 April at the Erny Garage in Motown. However, I was recently told that Destination Motorcycles offered to have us
hold this event at their location. THIS WILL BE A POINT OF CONTENTION AT THE APRIL MEETING, so please read what follows here. I visited the folks at Destination today to set up the April meeting and also to see what they had to offer for Lube Tech. This
conversation was between Milton, Ed McNeil and me. They have their side canopy (about 10 x 16 feet max) to offer as workspace, and it was mentioned that they would provide a lift. However, when I mentioned that Lube Tech is a Saturday event, this was met with a
frown by Mr. McNally. Saturday being one of their busiest days, he does not favor holding our event on that day, so it was suggested that Sunday would be better. There would not be more than one or two folks willing to come out on Sunday and open the business to work with us. There would not be as much tooling and logistics with which to work on the bikes as Dave's facility has to offer. My Humble Opinion: This is a Bad Idea. The only advantage here might be location for some, but to me this is little better than fixing a flat on the side of the road. Persuasive Argument: I would much rather have the event at the Erny household
as we originally scheduled, as Dave has much more workspace under roof, tools and TWO LIFTS. And not to mention all the cooking out we were going to do. And a nice country ride to get there, not contending with Knoxville traffic. This will be put to a vote at the
April meeting, because I am the club president, not the club dictator. Freedom for all and all that stuff. Make your decision and cast your vote.

Camp Out At TWO Creeks: The Dobrianskis were also not in attendance at the March meeting, but I am assuming that the camp out event is still on for June 7. Details as we get them.

I was able to renew our club charter with the BMW Riders Association for zero bucks, thanks to all the RA members we have on board. Thanks to all of you that provided me with yours numbers so I could get this task accomplished. MOA renewals will be due in June.
 
Dickie Anderson had some news on an event that he is working. Franklin Graham will be in Knoxville on April 25/26/27 for the East Tennessee Franklin Graham Festival, a ministry rally at the Thompson Bowling Arena. Part of the action will be a 1000 bike ride to the arena on Saturday April 26. The ride will start from several locations and converge on the arena.
There will be some big name entertainment at the event, including Ricky Skaggs on Sunday. To get involved with this ride, contact Dickie Anderson at 865-257-1467.

Geoffrey Green is looking for all kinds of volunteers to work the Ride For Kids event that is set for June 21 at Chilhowee Park. This event is concurrent with the Honda Hoot. Please contact Geoffrey at 865-922-9887, or you can e mail him at gigreene@aol.com if you would like to get involved in this event. We needs lots of help, please consider it.

Tom McCoig told us of an event coming up on Memorial Day weekend (May 24, I think). It benefits GATE, a special needs adult foundation. Please consider doing this ride. It will be coordinated with Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson in Maryville. I am not sure what the
suggested donation is for the ride.

Tom also told us about his son Jared's participation in the recent CCS races in Daytona Beach. Jared races a Ducati 749S, and Tom is his wrench. They had lots of fun racing action at the event. Jared raced several events and finished as high as 10th, I believe.

Herman Thompson has some friends in the cabin rental business, Brad and Ginger Clayton, doing business as High Frontier Cabins. They have two cabins available for rent located somewhere 4.5 miles off the Cherohala Skyway, on West Buffalo Creek. The cabins sleep about ten people, so if you want to do that big riding weekend of strafing the Cherohala with nine or so of your friends, check these folks out.

Call 828-479-5121, or visit www.highfrontiercabins.com.

Well, that about rolls it up for the March edition of the ROK Newsletter. Be sure to check out the April meeting at Destination Motorcycles on Monday April 7. Be there. “Aloha”, As Steve McGarrett says.

(back to top)

Old Business –

 

(back to top)

Ride Report –

I do not have any formal reports for the last 2 club rides, so if anyone would like to send me something we can get that posted.

 

 

(back to top)

Rally News –

It is still a bit early to say too much about the 2008 ROk" On CLassic Rally. However, we will look into it and make a decision on how we can best facilitate our loyal guests and give them the best time we can whether it is in 2008 or 2009. Look here soon for pictures from the 2007 rally.

Rally Postscript: I would like to take this time to thank all these great friends that make this Rally what it is. And we DO get some great comments from our rally guests; they just love our low key, comfy event. Thanks folks: Dave and Sharon Erny (wouldn't be a rally without ya!), Jack and Mary Ann Alltop, Jerry and Cindy Dobrianski, Bob Winter, Dickie Anderson, Steve and Janet Lange, Doug York, Jason and Gretchen Hinton (all the way from Birmingham AL!!), and anyone else that pinch hit for us here and there. There may not be a 2008 ROK' On Classic. Our core group of stalwarts are planning a tour of the Czech Republic in 2008 that just happens to fall on the same time slot as the rally. Major volunteerism is going to have to happen if we decide to do this rally again for '08. We may have to give it a year off.

 

March 2008

BMW Riders of Knoxville
March 2008 Newsletter
by Phil Daulton, wearer of many hats this month

29 March 2008

Greetings ROK'ers,

Here is another Newsletter dispatch for what's going on in the world of ROK.

APRIL MEETING NEWS – PAY ATTENTION HERE!!

We have had to change the location of the ROK Monthly Meeting for April. Bob Winter's friend is not open for business yet. So, the April meeting will be held at Destination Motorcycles, concurrent with their April “Bike Night for the Rest of Us” on Monday, April 7, 2008. Ride, if you can, the parking lot is small.

Now if you don't happen to know where this place is located, it is at Dixie Lee Junction, on the fur side of Farragut, which is at the split of US 11 and US 70. Fast way there: Take Exit 369 of I-40, which is Watt Road. Turn left at the ramp red light signal, then follow Watt Road to its terminus at US 11/70, also known as Kingston Pike. Turn right, then take the left fork (US 11) of Dixie Lee Junction towards Lenior City. Destination Motorcycles is on your immediate left.

They kick this event off at about 5:30 PM. Come by and slobber over the fine selection of BMW, Triumph, Ducati, KTM, Moto Guzzi, Vespa and Piaggio motorcycles
and scooters. Ed McNeil is just itching to sell you one!

Milton is going to give us some space to have our meeting at 7 PM. Come broke and hungry, because Destination is providing the grub for this event. I believe grilled hot dogs outside under the canopy were mentioned. See you there! And I hope it is a Large Crowd.

That being said, now we will shoot for May to have our meeting at the location Bob Winter is sorting out with his friend. Keep your fingers crossed.

Lately, The Dragon Pit, south of Maryville on US 411 was suggested as a potential site for a monthly meeting. I, Your Humble Servant, was dispatched there recently to check out the place for suitability. I sampled the cheese steak sammich on the advice of a certain MOA member. It was purty tasty, and the pile of fries with it would have sunk the Bismarck, had the Bismarck still been floating. It sunk me like a three foot putt... Anyway, I found that the inside has no meeting room, and the place is hardly big enough to swing a cat inside, much less seat the 30 or so folks that might show up for an ROK meeting. The place seats
around 40, but it would be awkward to try and have a meeting in amongst other patrons. However, they do have a rather sizable outside canopy, which at the moment holds only four picnic tables. The management said they had more tables coming. Conclusion: This
place would only be suitable for a mid-summer meeting, during fair weather and summer lighting conditions. If we schedule a meeting here, it will be July or later. I will let you know. From a restaurant standpoint, it is not a bad location, and they are open for breakfast, too. A handy stopping point if you are doing the Cherohala/Deals Gap loop ride.

More meeting confusion: At the March meeting, some one, and I cannot recall whom, said that they thought The Cafe Mozart, our location for the Annual Eastsider's Meeting, was closed. I asked Dave Erny if he would check that out, since he had booked the place. Dave reports that they are, indeed still open, since he and Sharon are in there every week or so.
They just have weird days and hours, and they will be open for our June meeting. We will give you location info as the date grows closer.

Looking for something to do tomorrow? Swing by the Time Warp Tea Room, located at 1209 North Central Street in Knoxville on Sunday, March 30, for the First Annual Time Warp Vintage Motorcycle Club Swap Meet. This event will occur from 1 PM to 4 PM, and Dan will have the big screen TV going with the tape delay of the Jerez, Spain round of Moto GP. Special menu for the event is two hot dogs any way you  want them, chips, cookie and a  canned drink or water for $5.

The rain date for this event is April 6.

Speaking of the Vintage Club, our own Geoffrey Greene was recently awarded the “Frosted Balls” award for the second year in a row. He is recognized for riding in all kinds of weather. As we well know... Congrats, Geoffrey!

Things I Get in the Mail: I recently received info in the mail about a worthy function by Bob's BMW of Jessup, Maryland. They are offering the Ultimate Bike Raffle, to support the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's Ride For Kids. For a $40 raffle ticket, or three for $100, you get entered for the Grand Prize of your choice of the following new BMW motorcycles:
the F800S, the F800ST or the F800GS. Also part of the grand prize is $1500 of apparel; $1500 in accessories; a two-day on the road rider school; transportation, hotels and meals for four days; free fuel for the first 600 miles; and free first 600 mile service, with personal tech time. Seeing how the GS has been held up on release by BMW NA, I wonder how they will deliver on that promise. Maybe it's the one BMW has been showing at events. There will also be other prizes awarded. To get your lucky tickee: Call 1-301-497-8949, or visit
their website at www.bobsbmw.com. Or drive by there; Geoffrey Green can provide you a good route, and you can get that IBA Saddlesore 1000 trip out of the way while you are at it.

Work on your own stuff? Here is something else I got in the mail last week: There is a business out there that fabricates special tools for working on BMW motorcycles, The Ed Group. They sent me an ad for a tool they have made for setting the swing arm bearing
preload and torquing the nut, while installing the Paralever swing arm. This nifty widget costs $97.50 and can be had by calling DonFinke of The Ed Group at 1-704-799-6456.

March ROK Meeting minutes: I was without a club secretary again during the March meeting and had to take my own notes while also running the meeting. Here is how I remember it. Disclaimer: This happened three weeks ago and I have slept since then. I also have had the input of approximately 112 NCAA men's and women's basketball games since then, so some things I remember may not be accurate. Your mileage may vary. Batteries
not included.

We met on March 10, at Puleo's Grille. Since I had very little response from the e mailed meeting notice, I booked us for the Patio, which strangely resembles a garage, and is about the same, acoustics-wise. We had attendance of 25 folks and two youngsters.

I had no secretary, treasurer, or rally guy there, so I was pretty much winging it as far as information services go.

We had a couple visiting, Walter and Shari Bukowski, from Dandridge, who will be joining the club. Welcome, Walter and Shari! They ride BMW models R90S and R1150RS.

Another visitor was Brad Henson, from Destination BMW Motorcycles. Brad works in Sales at Destination.

Monthly Ride: Yahoo! We will be having a ride for April. Bob Winter and Gunter Tillman will be reprising their event from last year, a ride with an endpoint BBQ at the Tillman residence. This is set for – oops – I didn't write down a date!! Maybe it's not set yet!?
We will bring this up at the April meeting.

Rally News: I have sent the ads to MOA and RA for our event to be listed in the respective magazines and web sites. That leaves the print ad to be sent to MOA later this year, and the handbill ads I still need to do for local shops and to give out at the GA Mountain Rally.

Alternate Meeting Sites: See earlier paragraphs in this letter. Presently, the April meeting is at
Destination Motorcycles on April 7.

Lube Tech: We originally set this event for 12 April at the Erny Garage in Motown. However, I was recently told that Destination Motorcycles offered to have us
hold this event at their location. THIS WILL BE A POINT OF CONTENTION AT THE APRIL MEETING, so please read what follows here. I visited the folks at Destination today to set up the April meeting and also to see what they had to offer for Lube Tech. This
conversation was between Milton, Ed McNeil and me. They have their side canopy (about 10 x 16 feet max) to offer as workspace, and it was mentioned that they would provide a lift. However, when I mentioned that Lube Tech is a Saturday event, this was met with a
frown by Mr. McNally. Saturday being one of their busiest days, he does not favor holding our event on that day, so it was suggested that Sunday would be better. There would not be more than one or two folks willing to come out on Sunday and open the business to work with us. There would not be as much tooling and logistics with which to work on the bikes as Dave's facility has to offer. My Humble Opinion: This is a Bad Idea. The only advantage here might be location for some, but to me this is little better than fixing a flat on the side of the road. Persuasive Argument: I would much rather have the event at the Erny household
as we originally scheduled, as Dave has much more workspace under roof, tools and TWO LIFTS. And not to mention all the cooking out we were going to do. And a nice country ride to get there, not contending with Knoxville traffic. This will be put to a vote at the
April meeting, because I am the club president, not the club dictator. Freedom for all and all that stuff. Make your decision and cast your vote.

Camp Out At TWO Creeks: The Dobrianskis were also not in attendance at the March meeting, but I am assuming that the camp out event is still on for June 7. Details as we get them.

I was able to renew our club charter with the BMW Riders Association for zero bucks, thanks to all the RA members we have on board. Thanks to all of you that provided me with yours numbers so I could get this task accomplished. MOA renewals will be due in June.
 
Dickie Anderson had some news on an event that he is working. Franklin Graham will be in Knoxville on April 25/26/27 for the East Tennessee Franklin Graham Festival, a ministry rally at the Thompson Bowling Arena. Part of the action will be a 1000 bike ride to the arena on Saturday April 26. The ride will start from several locations and converge on the arena.
There will be some big name entertainment at the event, including Ricky Skaggs on Sunday. To get involved with this ride, contact Dickie Anderson at 865-257-1467.

Geoffrey Green is looking for all kinds of volunteers to work the Ride For Kids event that is set for June 21 at Chilhowee Park. This event is concurrent with the Honda Hoot. Please contact Geoffrey at 865-922-9887, or you can e mail him at gigreene@aol.com if you would like to get involved in this event. We needs lots of help, please consider it.

Tom McCoig told us of an event coming up on Memorial Day weekend (May 24, I think). It benefits GATE, a special needs adult foundation. Please consider doing this ride. It will be coordinated with Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson in Maryville. I am not sure what the
suggested donation is for the ride.

Tom also told us about his son Jared's participation in the recent CCS races in Daytona Beach. Jared races a Ducati 749S, and Tom is his wrench. They had lots of fun racing action at the event. Jared raced several events and finished as high as 10th, I believe.

Herman Thompson has some friends in the cabin rental business, Brad and Ginger Clayton, doing business as High Frontier Cabins. They have two cabins available for rent located somewhere 4.5 miles off the Cherohala Skyway, on West Buffalo Creek. The cabins sleep about ten people, so if you want to do that big riding weekend of strafing the Cherohala with nine or so of your friends, check these folks out.

Call 828-479-5121, or visit www.highfrontiercabins.com.

Well, that about rolls it up for the March edition of the ROK Newsletter. Be sure to check out the April meeting at Destination Motorcycles on Monday April 7. Be there. “Aloha”, As Steve McGarrett says.

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Old Business –

 

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Ride Report –

I do not have any formal reports for the last 2 club rides, so if anyone would like to send me something we can get that posted.

 

 

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Rally News –

It is still a bit early to say too much about the 2008 ROk" On CLassic Rally. However, we will look into it and make a decision on how we can best facilitate our loyal guests and give them the best time we can whether it is in 2008 or 2009. Look here soon for pictures from the 2007 rally.

Rally Postscript: I would like to take this time to thank all these great friends that make this Rally what it is. And we DO get some great comments from our rally guests; they just love our low key, comfy event. Thanks folks: Dave and Sharon Erny (wouldn't be a rally without ya!), Jack and Mary Ann Alltop, Jerry and Cindy Dobrianski, Bob Winter, Dickie Anderson, Steve and Janet Lange, Doug York, Jason and Gretchen Hinton (all the way from Birmingham AL!!), and anyone else that pinch hit for us here and there. There may not be a 2008 ROK' On Classic. Our core group of stalwarts are planning a tour of the Czech Republic in 2008 that just happens to fall on the same time slot as the rally. Major volunteerism is going to have to happen if we decide to do this rally again for '08. We may have to give it a year off.

 

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New Business –

See Phil's newsleeter abov for new business.

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Of Interest –
AMA Superbike Races at barber Motorsports Park

www.amasuperbike.com AMA Schedule>>> (back to top)

Up-Coming Rallies and Events

Coming Soon!

January:

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October 19, 2008