HOG CALLER

HOG CALLER
Southwest Florida Chapter of the Harley Owners Group
Volume 11, Issue 2
February 2015
Website: www.swflhog.com
2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIRECTOR:
Ron Chappron
239-872-5285
rchappron@aol.com
Asst. Director
Bob Hotovy
239-770-8202
justbobh@embarqmail.com
Secretary
Anita Corrado
347-234-3885
Hugger1213@yahoo.com
Treasurer
Linda Hicks
239-691-4407
lindaloma52@hotmail.com
Editor
Jim Gruber
239-994-1201
jamesgruber@peoplepc.com
Membership & Goodwil
Linda Leitch
239-281-2665
Aquaknot11@yahoo.com
Road Captain Coordinator
George Corrado
845-590-5753
gtc1024m@yahoo.com
Safety Officer
Vern Brown
239-849-1018
schmedlapJoe@aol.com
Historian
Bill Mobley
239-410-2603
wmobley@yahoo.com
HOG Chapter Manager
Kelly Lanham
239-275-4647
kellyl@sfe-us.com
Activities Coordinator
Larry Will
630-945-1452
ldwill@sbcglobal.net
Webmaster
Bobbie Buczyna
239-940-3678
rbuczyna@comcast.net
From The Direct
or
Director
Hello everyone. This is going to be a very busy year, but I know this
Chapter can handle it!! Beginning this month with our Annual
Membership Renewal Party at the monthly meeting.
Come join us to not only renew your membership, but to hang out
with new and old friends. We will have a Continental breakfast, don’t
worry, we remove ALL calories from the food before we serve it.
The fun and renewal registration begins at 9:00 AM but check Linda
Leitch’s article just to be sure. Hope to see you at the meeting.
Along with the SFE Tour ride and the Florida State HOG Rally,
don’t forget about the great “Easter Bunny Toy Run” to the Children’s
Hospital at Health Park. This is a two day event on the Friday and
Saturday before Easter. We will need volunteers for Friday and
Saturday so if you can donate some time, let us know. As always, it
is greatly appreciated.
Hopefully you were able to attend our Annual “Wayne
Throckmorton” Mini Golf Tournament on February 1st. By the way,
if your reading this on February 1st, put it down and jump on the
two wheeler and come have some fun. Ride leaves Six Bends at
10:00 AM. “Tee Off” is at 10:45 AM at Castle Golf on Gladiolus
Drive just West of Lakes Park. $8.00 per person includes 18 holes
of golf, clubs (a putter) and cart (your feet), what a deal.
Our Chapter Manager, Kelly Lanham, has been reassigned within
the Six Bends Harley Davidson corporate structure. We would like
to let her know that we enjoyed having her with us and wish her
great success in her future endeavors. Thanks Kelly!!
As an old friend moves on, we welcome a new friend. Mr. Zak
Gibson will move into the position of Chapter
Manager. I’m sure everyone will join me in
welcoming Zak to his new position and wish him
great success also. Welcome Zak!!
On a personal note, I know I can type this better
than I said it at the January meeting. I would like
to thank all of you, from the bottom of my heart,
for your calls, emails, ecards, cards and texts’
concerning the passing of my Mother. My family
and I greatly appreciated all the concern, thoughts
Chappron
and prayers. “Friends” will get you through anything!! RonDirector
Pg 1
Ride Safe,
Dealership hog Chapter Manager- Kelly Lanam
I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year. Six Bends Harley-Davidson started having
their Friday night Cruise In Car Show from 5-8p every week and no longer have live music on
Wednesdays. We also moved the live music to the Pit area so we are closer to the store on
Sundays and you can receive 25 VIB points when you come to hang out from 1-4pm. We
enjoyed serving you breakfast on your meeting day and thank all those who helped clean up the
Triple Tree Room. We also wanted to thank those who came in on Wednesday to be part of the
commercial shoot for us…can’t wait to see your famous faces on TV!
Although this goes to print before the chili cook-off has happened…I hope to
see lots of faces there, if not as a winner, as a taster!
I also wanted to let you know that my role at Six Bends Harley-Davidson has
changed. I will no longer be the Chapter Manager and will be focused on our
marketing efforts full-time. Zakary Gibson (Rider Services Manager) will be
our new H.O.G Chapter Manager. Please join me in welcoming him to his new
role! I have had a great time working with everyone and will see you around!
Thank you,
Kelly Lanham
Marketing & Communications Manager
Kelly Lanham
Chapter Manager
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Do you realize that the 2015 Florida H.O.G. Rally is October 7th – 10th, and by the
time you read this, that’s only 8 months away.
The rally event equipment and some event supplies are here. Our web site and
face book page are up and running. We are receiving pre-registrations
and volunteer preferences and rally preparations are under way. Be
sure to thank your 2015 Rally Team for all of their efforts.
Our web site is: flstatehogrally.com
You can go on-line to pre-register and sign up as a volunteer to
help at the rally. We encourage you to pre-register and sign up, on
line, to volunteer early. This will help us in our planning process.
Thank you for your rally ideas and enthusiasm to help! We look
forward to making this a great rally!
Have a great month! Ride safe!
Just Bob
Bob Hotovy
Assistant Director
Pg 2
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA CHAPTER HARLEY OWNERS GROUP
SCHEDULE OF HOG RIDES & EVENTS AS OF 1/26/15
Check HOG Line 275-4647 option 5
February 2015
Sunday
Mond
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
ay
ALL RIDES BEGIN AT HDFM UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, AND END AT THE DESTINATION.
Events in Green are other Bike events
Rides in Blue are SWFL HOG;
All Rides are closed rides unless
otherwise noted
A (P) MEANS AN EVENT OR RIDE HAS VIB POINTS GIVEN AT DESTINATION
4 5RDG&DSWDLQ¶V
Choice, 10am, RC
Paul P
Saturday
1 :D\QH¶V*ROI
2
Tournament, in memory
of one of our own, Castl
Golf, FM, 10am, RC
Jack F
3 Ride Planning
Meeting / Road
Captains, 6:30 SB
6pm, SB
8 GENERAL
MEETING(P), 10am,
9am-10am, 2015
membershiprenewal,
continental brkfst,Ride
after, Sandy Parrot,
Bonita, RC Ron M
9
10
15 Crackling Jack's,
Naples, 10am, RC Ken
16
17
18 THE GUN RUN
(Ride to visit local
Gun Dealers)10am,
Jerry K
19
22 Ride Back To
(Sunday @ The PIT),
10am, RC George
23
24
25 5RDG&DSWDLQ¶V
Choice, 10am, RC
Len
26 Board Meeting, 27
6:30pm, Six Bends
6pm Six Bends
28 Cross Roads Café, CC,
10am, RC MikeS (P)
3 Ride Planning
Meeting Road
Captains, 6:30pm
4 5RDG&DSWDLQ¶V
Choice, 10am, RC
Mike S
5 1st Shootout
6
Qualifying Round
RIDE LEAVES
FROM HESS
CORNER OF
DELPRADO & 41
AT 10AM
7 Orange BlossomTrail,
10am, RC George
5
6
7 Florida State Fair,
Tampa, 9am, RC Mike S
VFW Post in LaBelle n
o
State Road 29, Poker Run
Registration9am
11 5RDG&DSWDLQ¶V
Choice, 10am, RC
Mike S
12
13
14 Valentine Day Dinner
Ride, 6:30pm,Sunflower
Café, FM, RC Jack F(P)
Cape Coral Bike Night,
CC, 4pm, RC Mike M
1 MEMBER RIDERS 2
"LUCKY PICK", 10am
RC George
20
21 Capt Con's, Pine
Island, 10am, RC Just Bill
(P)
ACTIVITIES OFFICER
Many Thanks to those who participated in the Cape
Coral “Adopt-a-Family” Christmas ride. All had the usual good
time at the High Seas Christmas light boat cruise and dinner as
well at those that attended (great turnout) for our annual New
Years Day “hang over” ride to the Green Flash restaurant.
Upcoming events for January to note: the Hog shootout
and cookout on Jan. 17th, the Clearwater motorcycle expo at
Quaker Steak and Lube on Jan. 24th and our ride to the Octagon
Wildlife Sanctuary on Jan. 31st (Adults $10, over 55 $5).
In February: on the 1st we have our Wayne Throckmorton
memorial golf tourney at Castle Golf ($8) and optional lunch at
Bayside Grill along with our ride to Tampa for the Florida State Fair
on the 7th. Always check the chapter calendar for times and watch
for the blasts for any last minute updates.
I have had many new ride suggestions and am always
looking for more. Please remember that our rides are scheduled
up to two months in advance so we will
do our best to implement new rides and
destinations in as soon as possible.
Keep those ideas coming—this is your
chapter: so help us make it the best that
we can!
Welcome back to our chapter
and the warmth to all those from the
frigid north....our ranks are swelling and
it is great to see the large turnout for our
rides and events.
Have a great month and ride safe.
Larry Will
Activities Officer
Road Cap
tain Co-or
dinat
or
Capt
Co-ordinat
dinator
I know I did this last year, but it is still really
Impressive . This should have gone in last month’s Newsletter,
but I didn’t have all the figures in for the year 2014 at the
time.(disclaimer)
So Here We Go:
DO WE RIDE or DO WE RIDE
?????
Here are the cumulative Stats for the year 2014:::
Total Number of Rides 143
Total Number of People attending our rides
>>>>>>> 2,703
Total Number of Bikes on our rides 2,200
(and here’s the best one)
Total Number of Miles Traveled
9165 ONE Way
Remember we all had to come home
We are just starting this year’s riding,
Come Be A Part of this years Stats!!
Pg4
RIDE SAFE GEORGE
Membership & Goodwill
Our number of memberships for Feb is 404.
The first month of membership renewal for
2015 went very well, with 204 people
renewing. At the Feb General Meeting from
9-10AM we will be doing renewals upstairs
by the Triple Tree Room. That meeting is
on Sunday, Feb 8th. There will be a
Continental Breakfast available upstairs. I
wish to thank Joan Fenwick, Jerry Hicks,
Linda Gehrlein, Fran Wilson, Diane Roberts,
Rebecca Sewell, Deb Spirithawk, Reta
Grassini, Warren Jack, Lin
Williams, Tim & Tena Jones,
and Jane Brenner who
volunteered to work
membership renewals at the
Jan meeting.
Four Goodwill cards were
sent out on behalf of SWFL
HOG during the month. If
you know of a member who
is ill or has a loss, please
Linda Leitch.
email me that information.
Membership &
Ride Safe, Linda Leitch,
Goodwill
Director
Membership/Goodwill
Road Cap
tains Lis
t
Capt
List
George Corrado Coordinator (239) 772-3242
Jack Fenwick- Asst CO (239) 209-7968
Vernon Brown
(239) 849-1018
Ron Chappron
(239) 872-5285
Ken Dixon
(239) 541-8460
Mike Gaudio
(239) 284-2972
Bill Geary
(239) 433-5021
Len Grassini
(239) 443-9254
Bob Hotovy
(239) 770-8202
Jerry Knapp
(701) 721-6565
Linda Leitch
(239) 281-2665
Bill MC Neill (Just Bill (239) 292-2539
“Big Jim” Moran
(239) 265-4098
Mark Moran
(239) 333-5692
Ron Mueller
(314) 791-9939
Bill Mobley
(239) 410-2603
Paul Perisho
(239) 785-4721
(239) 224-9944
Bernie Somers
Mike Spirithawk
(239) 849-5766
Mike Tompkins (MTT) (239) 462-1873
“Diddles: Vecchio
(917) 517-0831
Larry Will
(630) 945-1452
Al Wise (PC)
(239) 283-2176
HOG Activities
Photo by Bil Mobley
Photos by Linda Leitch
Activity Photo’s
Photo by Bil Mobley
Pg 5
New Members
Linda Leitch
New Members introduced at the
January 11th General Meeting:
Member of the Month:
Tom Budner
Member of the month is Tom
Budner. He lives in Cape Coral, and
was originally from Bethel CT. He
rides a 2011 Electric Glide. He says
he loves to ride as much as possible.
Photos by Linda Leitch
Pg 6
Secretary’s Report
The meeting in Dec. was a
Christmas celebration.
Therefore there are no
minutes. I would like to
welcome our snowbird
friends back. We’ve missed
you. Just a word of concern,
please be extra careful on the
roads. The traffic seems to
have quadrupled and many of Anita Corrado,
Secretary
those drivers are looking for
an address. George and I call it
the “Florida Shuffle” when the drivers cut across
three lanes of traffic as they try to reach their
destination. They are not paying attention to the
road.
Looking forward to a wonderful and safe 2015.
Anita
SurPrize
Congrats to Chapter Member Ron Cox who
won the monthly drawing of a 39" LED TV.
Shown here with Ron is Kelly Lanham Six
Bends Marketing & Communications
Manager.(Photo by July)
SAFET
Y
AFETY
When we ride solo or with a small group we tend to take up a lot of space along the
roadway and are not too concerned about our riding position on the road. When riding in
formation this changes all the rules on the roadway. We travel at a two second interval between
the motorcycle in front and to the rear of us. We ride staggered giving a one second interval with
the bike adjacent to us. This is very important to maintain the correct interval, giving all a safe
operating zone to drive. Veering into the path of the person behind you, the reaction time for all
motorcycles around is shortened. This is where crashes start to form. Only conscious thought
and paying attention keeps your path straight and it needs to be
practiced. Line of travel is the path you maintain in relationship on the
roadway to others in and near your lane. When riding in a formation this is a must.
When you’re uncomfortable keeping it uniform within tight formations or are unsure of
your own riding performance, go to the rear of the formation where you have more reaction
time. If you are in the front of the pack and have a problem, it could affect the riders behind
you. Practice riding on the inside and outside lines of travel in the group formation. It does
change the feel of the ride on curves, oncoming traffic and making turns on the roadway. Find
the area that feels good.
The only way to get comfortable and competent in your motorcycle riding is to put the
miles on. There are enough large open parking lots or back roads without obstruction to
practice. Practice U-turns, figure eights, starting off and braking. You will be surprised how
much better you become just by putting some mileage on.
Vern Brown
When riding in formation it’s very important to maintain your correct distance and
Safety Officer
spacing among the other riders. Group riding is not for everyone, it’s a choice we make. If
you are not comfortable in the group formation ride behind the group or find the destination
and take an alternate route and meet up for the lunch. Being aware will help all in having a safer ride.
Every rider makes their own choices, make wise ones. Vernon Brown
Pg 7
HOG General Meeting - January 11
February 2015
Volume 11 Issue 2
Designed & Produced by
Jim Gruber, HOG Editor.
Six Bends Harley-Davidson
9501 Thunder Road
Fort Myers FL 33913
T 239 275 4647
F 239 274 3323
www.sfe-us.com
Meeting Dates:
Road Captains/
Planning:
1st Tuesday each month
6:15 pm @ HDFM
Board of Directors: Last Thursday each month
6:15 pm @ HDFM
General Meetings: Second Sunday each month,
10:00 am @HDFM
This newsletter has been approved
by the Management of
Fort Myers Harley-Davidson
Photos by Linda Leitch