OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

BMWRA # 53 BMWMOA # 216
 

CAST YOUR BALLOT

Shelba Murray

It is now time to vote for Knobby officers for the 2001-2003 term. The election committee members, Gene and Patsy Smith and Kathy Rector, have received nominations for officers, have contacted the nominees, and have submitted the names for the ballot.

Please use the ballot in this newsletter to vote for the nominees of your choice. Mail your ballot to the elections committee so the committee can receive it by November 15th, 2000. The elections committee will forward the results to me, and I will publish them in the November newsletter.

The names of the new officers will be announced at the annual Knobby Christmas party and will take office during the January business meeting. Thank you for taking part in the voting process.

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KNOBBY CAMPOUT HELD

On September 8-10, a whole lot of Knobbies converged on the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Camping Resort in Cruso, NC, for the annual club campout.

Many things made this an excellent campout. The weather was warm, clear, and beautiful. The food was good, the company was excellent, the conversation was interesting and, in some cases, informative. (For example, did you know that Gene Knight was once a pea picker?!?)

There were also plenty of door prizes, and I believe that everyone won at least one prize. The coveted RIDE for KIDS jacket went to Haskell Shealey, who said, "Call my name", and Tim Hudspeth actually did! Others won jackets, shirts, hats, tool kits, and various other prizes donated by several individuals and businesses. All in all, it was an excellent campout.

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KNOBBY CHRISTMAS PARTY SET

The club Christmas party will again be at Little Siena Restaurant near Marion, NC. We will meet at 12:30 on December 10th in the upper room. The cost for the meal with iced tea or soft drink will be $14.00. There will be ice for those of you who choose to brown bag. Also, bring a $5 to $10 gift if you want to play "Mad Christmas".

Little Siena can be found at the intersection of US Route 70 and NC Route 80. From the Asheville area, take I-40 East and get off at the first Old Fort exit, which will put you on Route 70. Follow 70 for about 10 miles until you see the restaurant on you left. From the Hickory area, take I-40 West to exit 86, which is the Marion, Shelby, Bakersville exit. Turn right at the end of the exit. Go through the first light; this will put you on the 221 North Marion bypass. Travel about six miles to the next light, and turn left onto 70 West. Follow 70 until you see the restaurant on your right.

If you would like to attend, you must mail a check for $14 per person to Danny Wilson, and the check must be received by November 25th so we can give the restaurant an estimate of how much food to prepare. Danny's address is
 

Danny Wilson

3474 Icard Dairy Barn Road

Connelly Springs, NC 28612

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BMWRA RALLY ATTENDED

Tim Hudspeth

We left for Lancaster on September 13th at 12 noon. Since it was only 450 miles away, we decided to take a detour. By 4:30pm, we were in Beckley, West Virginia, on our way to Niagra Falls, Parry Sound, Sault St. Marie, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and finally Lancaster, Ohio, for the BMWRA Rally.

If you look at the Super 8 Motel book for Beckley, it shows the motel off of I-64. When we got to I-64 East, I took the exit. No Super Eight. It's on the other side of Beckley at I-64 West. Now we know what "downtown" looks like, anyway. Dinner was at Applebee's. So far on this trip, the food has been good. We left Beckley at 6am, and arrived at the New River Gorge visitor center in the pre-dawn fog. It was closed. No matter. I know a back road. Several switchbacks later (down a narrow, twisty, gravelly in places, one lane in places, steep, steep, no guardrails road), and we're at the bottom and looking up at the fog. We parked on the lower bridge and took some photos of the New River Gorge Bridge. It's 800 feet above the river; we are about 50 feet above. Impressive. we left up the other side of the gorge. Not quite as narrow or steep. Fun!

We follow the Appalachian Mountains all day. We even rode through Punxsutawney Phil's hometown. One hour south of Buffalo, NY, we stop to put on rain gloves. The sky is definitely precipitous ahead. I couldn't look off interstate in Buffalo to see the sights, but Susan told me about them. I'm glad we didn't have to exit anywhere in town. At the Canadian border, the guard asked if we had any firearms. After assuring him that we didn't, he welcomed us to Canada. We rode along the Niagra Parkway to the falls. The "Knight's Inn by the Falls" isn't. It is a half mile away, and none of the roads at the falls match a name on my map. Finally, we locate the elusive inn. $65 Canadian isn't bad for a room. $40 Canadian for two cheeseburgers and two Cokes at the Denny's next door is! It's raining hard now, so we postpone viewing the falls until morning.

Morning is beautiful. There's a 70% chance of rain and not a cloud in the sky! Also, at 7am, no one is up yet. We take several very nice photos and leave for Parry Sound. If you have internet access, look up COMPASS on the Ontario webpage. They have realtime highway cameras. Niagra to Toronto has heavy, fast traffic. If you don't like heavy, fast traffic, don't travel anywhere near here. About 30 miles south of Toronto, a truck is losing aluminum out of the open bed. We accelerate around it at the next hill. Somewhere on film in Ontario is a picture of a K1100RS two-up at 117mph.

West of Toronto is beautiful. Canadian highway17 is cut from a rock bed which stretches for mile after mile. Traffic isn't bad now, and we're enjoying the ride. Our motel in Parry Sound is right where the map said it would be. We rode the two blocks around town anyway, and then we checked in. The afternoon consisted of a walk around town, lunch, the docks, shopping, relaxing back at the motel, walking back to dinner, then back to the motel. A good day! North! Today's forecast, sunny. It misted ice on us! Fortunately, it let up after only a few minutes. Cold! Lunchtime was going to be a Subway sandwich on the Georgian Bay. Then we were attacked by dozens of aggressive jellow jackets! We had to surrender food and drink to them. A half hour later, I spy a sign to my left: "Restaurant". I turn around and stop. Beautiful beyond words. It's a nice little motel and restaurant with picture windows overlooking the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. Carolyn Beach Motel. We sit down to eat. I order a room. This was the best stop of the trip. One of the best stops ever. Benches on the point. Stunning sunset. Good food 200 feet away. And a motorcycle shop just across the street. We will be back!

Day 5. Back in the USA. We had to pay to get back in. The bridge is a toll. One bridge, one dollar. We travel interstate to the Mackinaw Bridge. Third crossing for us with no wind. I'm told this is unusual. We stop at the Mackinaw city park for pictures. The K75s, R1100RS, and now the K1100RS have all posed here. Sleeping Bear Dunes was the next stop. Nice place to visit, but we must press on. In Midland, we stop to find a motel. This is where the BMWMOA National was. We pass by the four-laned boulevard entrance and also pass on the high-priced motels. Not fancy, just high-priced. Twenty miles down the road, we stop at a new Super 8. $45.00 This will do.

Remember Lancaster? That's where we are headed. After traveling through all three curves in southern Michigan, we enter Ohio. The road seems to be cut out of the corn fields. It's pretty, no traffic, with sweeping turns. Three hundred miles of corn later, we enter Lancaster. I miss the motel again and pull over at a turn-through on US 33. Incredibly heavy traffic! I finally give up on a safe U-turn and pull the third wheelie of this bike's career. Power corrupts, or something like that. Anyway, we found the motel. Walking distance to good eats. Park at your door. This is good. I wash and wax the bike, then off to do laundry. At the laundromat, I Armor-All and polish the bike for tomorrow's rally visit.

As we enter the rally, we meet Jim Baker on his way out for a ride. We visit awhile, then register. The rest of the day and the next morning consist of the usual rally visitations, a demo ride, more walking around, and some sitting. After lunch on Wednesday, the clouds thickened, and we retreated to our room. That evening brought a spectacular lightning show and some wind and rain. Back at the fairgrounds, Jim was standing with a small group observing the approaching storm. A lightning bolt struck on the horizon, and the fellow beside Jim picked up his camera, focused, and took a picture. This was serious lightning! Fortunately, the really severe weather passed around us.

The final rally day went by too quickly. We could do this for weeks! Many of the Knobbies made it to Lancaster, and we made a club ride to the AMA Museum in Pickerington. Afterwards, several of us rode to Re-Cycle BMW. I led, but I only knew where I was going for the first 30 miles. After that, it was luck. Took 'em right to the place! Back at the fairgrounds, Jim, Susan, and I ran into Mr. Hellman, BMW OTL editor. He apologized for being in a car. He had several awards to present, and the BMW wagon held more than his GS. Speaking of awards, Thursday evening's were a little sparse, but Shelba won a Kermit Chair! I hope Santa drops a couple of those down our chimney! Friday. Pooh. Another rally over. Home is still too close, so we head over to West Virginia via Ohio 555. This is a very curvy road. Very much like a roller coaster ride, except not being able to see over the next hill or which way the next turn went wasn't exactly great fun. The Ohio River ferry crossing was neat, but after five hours' travel, we had only covered 150 miles! We hit the interstate. The next 150 miles took only two hours. We head for Marlington and dinner at French's Diner. It doesn't get any better than this. Saturday was a nice ride home through familiar roads. We went to the kennel and bailed out Seneca, the wonder lab. Time to wash and wax the bike again.
 

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SWAP SHOP

For Sale: 1974 R90S. Has 100 miles on new, rebuilt motor, new stainless steel exhaust, new electronic ignition, and a new windshield. Kick start is not working. Asking $5000 or best offer. Call (740) 964-9727. 

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26th RETURN TO SHILOH RALLY VISITED

 Terry Murray

Wondering if I was crazy or not, I headed out early Friday morning into an advancing Canadian coldfront to attend the Return to Shiloh rally. It was very cold, but at least I didn't get wet. Once there, I found good camping weather: cool, very windy, but no rain.

I lucked out in the door prize drawings, and other Knobbies won, too. I won a BMW heated vest, a $50 gift certificate for a K&N filter, and a gift certificate for valve cover gaskets. Sharon Wilson won some T-shirts, and Ed Blackwelder won a soft pack cooler.

Coming home on Sunday morning was a cold experience. East of Savannah, the ground was white with frost, and it was 31 degrees. Light rain followed me from the Tennessee border to Nashville. Each time I thought that I should stop to put on rain gear, the rain let up, so I never did suit up, but I didn't get warm again until about 2pm, either. Would I go again under the same circumstances? Sure.

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BMWRA at HOCKING HILLS ATTENDED

Shelba Murray

The BMWRA rally this year was a good rally in a good location with nice weather... after the tornado went through, that is. The Fairfield County fairgrounds was flat and grassy, and there were clean, well-supplied restrooms and showers with plenty of hot water.

The storm Wednesday evening was the worst I'd ever seen, though. The wind and rain were very strong, but I think it was the seriously close, blue-white lightning strikes that sent most of us to the grandstands to wait it out. Anyway, we all survived and lived to see the closing ceremony and the door prize give-away Thursday night. Happily, I won a wine red Kermit Chair embroidered with "28th BMWRA Rally 2000", and , No, it is not for sale.

After the rally, we said our goodbyes and rode with Danny and Sharon Wilson to Bob and Gretchen Adams' home in Pataskala, Ohio. We enjoyed a lazy afternoon as we walked around the grounds and admired the garden and wild flower beds and fruit trees. After going out to dinner that night and conversing with our hosts, we camped overnight in their back yard. Gretchen cooked a large, delicious breakfast the next morning, and then we made our way south by way of back roads. That night found us in Grayson State Park in Kentucky. We all took hot showers, cooked dinner on our electric grills, and sat back to watch Danny's TV. The reception was lousy, so we ended up going to bed early. The next day was a little misty, but warm, as we rode on home. This was another fine rally to add to the book.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

October 27-29 14th Annual Tarheel Travelers Halloween Campout, Zooland Family Campground, Ashboro, NC

November 3-5 21st Hot Springs Arkansas Ramble, Hot Springs Natl. Parkat Gulpha Gorge Campground (901) 774-3777 or http://members.xoom.com/pcrow.1/hs.htm

4 10th Annual BMW Swap Meet, Blue Moon Cycle, Norcross, GA 10am-4pm

5 Vintage Ride for 1973 and older motorcycles. For info, log on to http://www.bluemooncycle.com or call (770) 447-6945

10-12 Cajun Guzzi-Beemer Rally 2000 Catfish Haven Recreational Park, Layfayette, LA (337) 236-5744 or www.geocities.com/swampscooter

17-19 9th Annual Sun Your Buns Rally, Venice Campground, Venice, FL (941) 722-0289 e-mail BMWGSTJ@aol.com

December 10 Knobbie Christmas Party
 
 
 

KNOB MOUNTAIN MOTORCYCLE CHAPTER

OFFICIAL BALLOT FOR KNOBBY OFFICERS 2001-2002
 

Directions: Each regular and associate member may vote for one person for each office. Each voter must sign this ballot in order for the vote to be valid.
 

President: ____________________ ____________________

Terry Murray (incumbent)
 

Vice President: ____________________ ____________________

Bill Clayton

Tim Hudspeth (incumbent)
 

Secretary: ____________________ ____________________

Bobbi Smith (incumbent)
 

Treasurer: ____________________ ___________________

Hal Smith

Sharon Wilson (incumbent)
 

Activities Director: ____________________ ___________________

Gene Smith

Danny Wilson (incumbent)
 

___________________________________ ________________________________

Name of person voting Name of person voting
 

Date ____________________________ Date __________________________
 

Note: This ballot must be in the hands of the election committee by Nov. 15.
 

stamp
 
 

Knob Mountain MC Election Committee

Attention: Gene Smith

3078 Hwy 18 South

Morganton, NC 28655

Terry L Murray stamp

5110 Old Linville Rd.

Marion, NC 28752

tlm@wnclink.com
 
 

KNOB MOUNTAIN NC MOTORCYCLE CHAPTER

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