“The F

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March 2020

Gold Wing Road Riders Association

Monthly Chapter

Gathering

1st Saturday

of the month

Eat at 8am

Meeting at 9am

4705 US Hwy 98N

Lakeland, Florida

Chapter Directors

Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg

(607) 427-8777

Gwrra.ed.dottie@gmail.com

2020 Couple of the Year

Kenny & Deb Weberman

March Events

Jason’s Deli Mar 02nd

Gathering Mar 07st

Buffalo Wild Wings Mar 10th

Homosassa Springs Mar14th

Chapter Picnic Mar15th

Team Meeting Mar 16th

Dairy Queen Mar 19th

District Rally Mar 19th—21st

Johnson’s BBQ Mar 25th

Mason Jar Mar 28th

2017 Florida District

Chapter of the Year

National Director National Assistant Director Florida District Directors

Jere Goldman Bob Shrader Bill & Cheryl Smith

Friends for Fun, Safety & Knowledge

Rick & Madalena Buck

Assistant District Directors

District Contact for the Fireballs

41ST ANNUAL

FLORIDA DISTRICT

GATHERING OF THE Wings

March 19th—21st

“LUCK OF THE IRISH”

WWW.lakelandfireballs.org

Page 2

I am writing this the day

after our Fire Ball Rally.

First and most important-

ly a huge THANK YOU to

all who worked on the

Rally. A lot of people

spent hours working to

make decorations, plan-

ning events, checking and

rechecking to make sure

all the many details were

in place. I do believe we

had FUN working togeth-

er. At the Rally many our

guests told me that they

were having a good time

and complimented us on

the Rally. Rally numbers

were down slightly and as

a result our “profit” also

was down but don’t wor-

ry—we are still well FUNd-

ed.

We have a few additional

things happening in addi-

tion to the normal Meet

and Eats, rides etc. By

the time you read this we

will have held a Training

Day Sunday Feb 23. Also,

March 15 we will have an-

other picnic for the mem-

bers to celebrate our

snowbirds before they

head north. On March 19-

21 we will be attending

the Florida District Rally

in Altamonte Springs.

There will be guided rides,

a talent show, games etc.

We are planning to enter

the Chapter skit and The

Chapter Pride events.

Saturday is our “work day”

as we work the games

from 8:00 to noon.

The weather does seem

like spring is earlier than

normal for Florida. Many of

us are transplants from up

north. At least this week

they are dealing with some

major cold weather so

don’t rub it in when you

are out riding as they don’t

like it!

Ride Safe

Ed Bahrenburg

CD for the Fire Balls

Page 3

Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg

Chapter Director

Wow! What an honor to be selected to serve as Florida District Educators. We were so sorry to hear of Rick Northrop’s unex-pected illness. We wish him a speedy recovery and continue to keep him in our thoughts and prayers.

I guess some introduc-tion is for those of you who do not know me or my wife, Diane. Diane and I are retired from the Hills-borough County Sheriff’s Office. Diane served for 29 years with her last assign-ment being the Coordinator for the School Crossing Program scheduling 273 Crossing Guards. I served for 40 years with my last 22 years being a Motorcy-cle Officer. I was a Florida State certified Police Mo-torcycle Instructor and Mo-torcycle Crash Investigator. I also competed and still do compete in Police Motorcy-cle Competitions. I have been an MSF Instructor since 1996 and continue to teach today. I am certified by the MSF to teach BRC & BRC-2 two-wheel motorcy-cle courses as well as Trike, Sport Bike, Can-Am Spyder and Slingshot clas-ses. I am also certified by Evergreen Motorcycle Training to teach Side Car Classes. Diane was also an MSF Motorcycle Instructor and would assist me with classes.

While I was a Florida State Motorcycle Crash In-vestigator, I got to see the unfortunate side of riding. It was after investigating numerous motorcycle crashes I realized one of

Page 4

passion and teaching safe riding our goal. We hope to meet more of you at the 41st Annual Florida District Gath-ering of the Wings on March 19th-21st in Altamonte Springs.

Ride safe,

Dominick & Diane

Dominick & Diane DeSiato

the major findings in the Hurt Report to be true. Most motorcycle crashes could be avoided if only the rider knew what to do to prevent the crash. It was those crash investiga-tion experiences that moti-vated me to begin to teach riders. Hopefully through my teaching I could pre-vent some of the preventa-ble crashes from occurring.

We joined GWRRA 5 years ago after we retired. I am in the process of be-coming a certified GWRRA Rider Course Instructor. I will be attending an In-structor’s Class on May 30th to become GWRRA ARC certified instructor and another Instructor’s Class at Wing Ding in July to become GWRRA TRC certified. I am assisting members now on getting two new ranges certified for our use. One will be in Clearwater and one in Jacksonville. Many of our members need riding clas-ses to maintain their cur-rent Levels status. There are also many MFA CPR classes in progress cur-rently. They are not just for maintaining Levels but could save the life of a loved one. Check the Dis-trict Website and Group Works for class listings in-formation.

We are excited about our new position with the Florida District of GWRRA. We have been receiving a lot of welcomed support from Staff and Members which is greatly needed and appreciated. Riding has always been our

Rider Education

I accidently rubbed

Ketchup in my eyes...

Now I have

Heinzsight!!

Why did you join GWR-

RA????? That is a ques-

tion we all get asked from

time to time. While many

of the answers revolve

around riding and the fel-

lowship of Chapter life

(which is the part I like

the most), there are

many who join for other

reasons. Which spawns

the question, are you get-

ting the most out of your

GWRRA membership?

How long has it been

since you checked out the

ever-expanding list of

benefits available as part

of your membership in

GWRRA?

There are many ways be-

ing a member of GWRRA

can save you money --

and not just when travel-

ling. Do you mention that

you have taken GWRRA

rider courses when you

renew your bike insur-

ance? Many companies

will give you a discount

for keeping those current.

Speaking of insurance

how many of you are pay-

ing for roadside assis-

tance as an addition to

your bike insurance pre-

mium? We get it for free

as part of our GWRRA

membership, so you can

eliminate it from your bike

insurance (if you have Res-

cue Plus you can remove

roadside assistance cover-

age from your car insur-

ance as well). There are

discounts on life, health,

and long-term care insur-

ance, cell phone plans, of-

fice supplies, and other

non-travel related purchas-

es. When traveling, do

you have the GWRRA dis-

count information on lodg-

ing, car rental, or even

cruises? Have you taken

advantage of the GWRRA

RIP planning services?

Many of the benefits are

described in the "Officer’s

Handbook”, however I rec-

ommend going to the

"Benefits" page under the

"Members'" tab of the

www.gwrra.org for the

most current listing.

The more money you can save by taking advantage of the discounts offered to

GWRRA Members, the more money you will have available for participating

in GWRRA events or

Page 5

purchasing that all im-

portant "SAFETY

CHROME"......

THE MORE YOU KNOW THE BETTER IT GETS!

WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

Membership Enhancement

Jim & Alice Bontrager

WHAT IT MEANS TO

BE CHAPTER COUPLE

OF THE YEAR

I started riding motorcycles

in 1977 and again in 1983,

shortly after Debbie and I

were married. We pur-

chased our first Goldwing, it

was a 1986 Interstate 1200.

A few years went by and in

1991 we joined GWRRA in

Michigan and we rode with

Chapter E in Oakland Coun-

ty. Unfortunately, after only

a few years due to health

and financial issues we sold

our Goldwing and left GWR-

RA.

We retired to Lakeland,

Florida in 2015. An oppor-

tunity surfaced in 2018 to

purchase a 1996 Goldwing

1500 SE, this led us back

down that familiar road of

motorcycling with the GWR-

RA. I found the Lakeland

Fireball Chapter and called

the Director, Ed Bahren-

burg. He invited Debbie

and I to dinner with he and

his wife Dottie. After dinner

with much conversation, we

rejoined the GWRRA organi-

zation. We joined the Lake-

land Fireballs on June 28,

2018.

This chapter welcomed us

with open arms. All the

members were extremely

friendly, helpful and knowl-

edgeable. We have

learned so much since

joining the chapter and

feel like were part of a big

family and feel like we

have been riding with them

for years.

In December 8th, at the

Fireball’s Christmas Party

we had no idea what was

about to happen. They

called us up to the front of

the room and gave us the

privilege to hold the title of

Chapter Couple of The Year

for 2020. We know that

there are so many people

throughout the country in

GWRRA who have held this

honorary title and we want

to tell you what it means

to us.

We take this honor, this

privilege, this title very se-

riously. It mean’s a great

deal to us and we will not

disappoint our Chapter or

any part of the GWRRA in

any way while we hold this

title. We will do our very

best to promote, educate,

to make new friends

Page 6

Kenny & Debbie

Weberman

Couple of the Year

and bring new ideas to

make our chapter better

and most of all have FUN. We wear our Chapter Cou-

ple of the Year medallion,

our pins and badges very

proudly. It’s very im-

portant to us that we keep

up this very honorary tradi-

tion.

Fireball Proud

With much appreciation,

Kenny & Debbie Weberman

What you didn’t know about

St. Patrick’s Day;

St. Patrick’s real Irish name

was Maewyn Succat. He

took the name Patrick when

he became a priest. He was

born in Scotland or Wales.

At a young age of 16, he

was abducted and brought

to Northern Island as a

slave to herd sheep. After a

long and lonely 6 years he

escaped his captors. He left

Ireland only to return after

he had a vision that he was

supposed to spread Christi-

anity throughout his adopt-

ed country. He wasn’t liked

by the Druids or the King.

Only after he was able to

demonstrate that his Chris-

tian God was more powerful

than their pagan gods, was

he allowed to continue. He

did this by performing feats

and miracles only his God

could have done. In doing

so he converted Ireland to

Christianity and is thought

to have baptized over

100,000 people. Of course,

he was also credited for

running all the snakes out

of Ireland into the sea

(scientist say there were

never snakes in Ireland),

who really knows. Another

reason for visiting Ireland,

no snakes.

Luke Wadding, an Irish

Franciscan friar from

Waterford, persistent ef-

forts was responsible for

March 17th being pro-

claimed a feast day in

1558. Why March 17th, it

is the date of St. Patrick

death in 461 in Saul Coun-

ty Downs. The first St.

Patrick day parade was in

1737 in Boston or New

York (one report stated

Boston and another stated

New York) USA, not in Ire-

land. The holiday was not

celebrated with a parade in

Ireland until 1903. In the

19th century the tradition

of wearing green, sham-

rocks and drinking green

beer began, before that

the color most associated

with St. Patrick’s Day was

blue.

A few tidbits about St. Pat-

rick’s Day in America.

In 2016, Americans spent

a total of $4.4 billion on St.

Patrick’s Day. That’s an av-

erage of $35.40 per person

celebrating the big day.

It’s been celebrated in

space.

It takes 25 pounds of dye

to turn the Chicago River

Green.

Corned beef and cabbage

is a traditional dish on St,

Patrick’s Day. In America

it is estimated that in 2009

26.1 billion pounds of beef

Page 7

Rita Willis

Newsletter Editor’s March Message

and 2.3 billion pounds of

cabbage was produced in

the USA for St. Patrick’s

Day .

In the 2016 census there

were 32.3 million residents

in America with Irish an-

cestry (I’m one part of a

very large group).

I hope you enjoyed reading

this as much as I did re-

searching it.

Greetings Fireballs from your chapter

Ride Coordinator.

March 14 — 9:00 AM RaceTrac North

(US 98 & Marcum Rd.) Ride to Homo-

sassa Springs. Be sure to bring a picnic

lunch. $13 cash entrance fee.

March 28 — 9:30 AM departure from

RaceTrac North (US 98 No. & Marcum

Rd.). Ride to Mason Jar in Umatilla.

Please check the Fireball calendar and

watch for the weekly “Happenings”

emails with additional information for

each destination. And more to come in

April 2020!

Let’s Ride!

Leo Soucy

Page 8

Ride Coordinator

March 2020 Riding Adventures:

GWRRA Anniversary

Congratulations to

Jim & Cindy Pozenel 1989

Kenny & Debbie Weberman 1991

Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg 1999

Leon Rumohr Mar 02nd

Bob Kelly Mar 14th

Susan Povey Mar 16th

Gary Andrew Mar20th

Joe & Stormee Lupo

Rich & Betty Baxter

Page 9

Page 10

!

2020 Fireball Rally - “TROPICAL VACATION” IN REVIEW

There are lots more Photos on our

website www.lakelandfireballs.org.

Mike and Sue do a wonderful job as

our photographers, so take a look.

The prices for advertising in our Monthly Newsletter are as

follows:

(Yearly Rates)

$25—business card

$50—1/4 page

$100—1/2 page

$150—full page

Page 11

Ed & Dottie Bahrenburg

Chapter Directors

2448 Snowy Plover

Lakeland FL