Yankee Beemers Motorcycle Club

June 2017 Pemi Pig Out !

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YB’s at SENECA ROCKS !

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President: Ken Springhetti Vice President: Rich “Catfish” Roy

Secretary: Karl Renneker Treasurer: Jim Sanders

Forum: Gary Nelson

Publisher: Dana Lewis Editor: Dwight Nevins

YB Store Manager: Rich Roy

Board of Directors: Duncan Cooper, Bill Cusack, John Gamel

Steve Martin, Todd Truex, Dan Walton Rally Chairs

Pemi River: Eric Kugler, John Shields, Duncan Cooper. Jamaica Fall Campout: Bill Cusack and Jim Sanders

Holiday Party: Bill Cusack Damn Yankees: Ken Springhetti

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Hey Rally Rats!

I'm looking forward to the Pemi River Rally coming up June 9th. Duncan Cooper, Eric Keugler and John Shields are working hard to get ready for you all. We’ve got a giant pig, twisty roads, and sunny weather on deck for all you campers. Rally Season is in full swing.

It's been a heck of a week on the road. Great to see so many YB’s at the Mountaineer BMW Club Cass Rally in West Virginia. Riley, Todd, Ken Struble and myself enjoyed a great back road ride thru PA, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia Allegheny Mountains, Shenendoah Mountains and Pocahontas County. If you haven't been to this rally, it’s a great opportunity to work on your cornering. There were 15 YB’s in attendance and we were once again the best represented local club at the rally. Ned Phelps led rides on little known back roads, Scott Clark, Bill Cusack, Kurt Schmucki, Todd Truex, Riley Bush, Ken Struble, Jack Phelps, Duncan Cooper, Dan Walton, Ray McKenna, Jimmy, myself, and many others were treat-ed to a great, albeit a little damp, weekend rally with a great group of folks.

Prez Sez

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Also looking forward to the Damn Yankees Rally the first week-end August. I hope all of you will again come out to ride, eat, sing and dance with us at the Heath Fairgrounds. We’ve been doing this for 20 something years now and every year it's different. We will run a Moto Gymkhana, have a fireman's BBQ dinner, live mu-sic, church lady pies, and a whole lot more. I’d like to thank all the folks on the Heath Fire Department and the Agricultural Society for treating us so well year after year.

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The YB’s are a big club with a diverse set of interests and mem-bers. Some of us love to ride the track, and we will be headed to Palmer for a “non-sportbike” track day on August 21. If you want to have a great learning experience, get better at riding your bike in a controlled environment, and really focus on skills like corner-ing, body position, braking, apexing and other technical skills, this is the event for you. Ken Condon and Tony run a fun and educational event at a track that is like no other. More of than a road course because it's cut into a mountain. Special thanks to Vanson Leathers for having us at their open house. Max BMW, Wagners, and Dunbar Euro sports as well have welcomed us,fed us, and run demo events for us all spring.

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John Van Hook ran a very well attended Tech Day in Dighton Mass last week. YB’s were treated to great food and a lot of work actually got done. Mark Grabowski and John reworked the shift linkage on a Ural Side car. There were K bikes and R bikes and new member Andre showed off his vintage R65 handed down to him by his grandmother. Even if you have nothing to take apart it’s fun to watch and hang out with the YB’s in the garage. Thanks John!

Special thanks to Dan Walton, Roy Bertalotto, Todd Truex, John Van Hook, Bill Cu-sack and the rest of the YB Toy-Box team. I’ll be

picking it up and bringing it to Pemi, and everyone who has helped store, move and get it ready for Pemi! See you there. Ride Safe everyone, summer is here! -Ken

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Secretary’s Notations

Karl Renneker

@yankeebeemers

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Editors View

Dwight Nevins Y’all ain’t from ‘round here, ere ya?

I would love

to tour the

Southland, in

a travelling

minstrel

show!

Well, I’m not sure my little Clown Car would fully qualify as a

Minstrel Show, but we sure had fun towing our Vstrom behind it

and seeing some of the best that the Southland had to offer.

Two weeks on the road gave us a broad sample of the going

ons below the Mason Dixon line: The Skyline Drive, Bristol,

Maggie Valley, Rock City , Chattanooga, Nashville, Bowling

Green and the Lexingtons ( Ky and Va ). 3,000 miles on the car

and 700 exploring locally on the trusty DL650.

Plan A was to take the recently resurrected Airhead , But

some comfort issue for the passenger, changed “our” minds pri-

or to the start. Also our old companion the Mulch Trailer , was

upgraded to a loaner KENDON single place, Trouble free towing

and a 300 lb weight savings resulted. Our First night’s stop was

at an old friends place near DC

We watched the Kentucky Derby

there and saw her daughter pre-

pare for her prom that evening

We had been also been here 18

years ago, when they brought this

tiny little 4lb premie home for the

first time, Tempus Fugit.

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Next day was a hiway 81 sprint south for a few hours, then

jumped onto US11 near Natural Bridge , Half hour south of

there I jammed on the brakes ! Stopped by the sight of

HUNDREDS of VW Vanagons sitting in the Rural Virginia

countryside , arranged by Color they made my Jaw drop,

20 minutes later the Scion’s horn seemed stuck on, Babs

was ready to travel on … http://www.vuhvanagon.com/

Shortly after that we crossed the state line into Tennessee

We found a cheap motel

(NEVER stay at the SKY-

LAND Motel in Bristol )

We unloaded and rode out

towards Mountain City on

US421, A fast flat 2 lane for

12 miles till it ASCENDS like

an elevator , morphing into

the SNAKE ! Quite a ride,

but darkness was falling be-

fore we reached Mountain City , so we backtracked to

Bristol for Dinner at ‘Cootie Browns’, the creepiest name

EVER for a restaurant, but the BBQ was OK. Then back to

THE CREEPIEST motel EVER, ew. Locked the doors and

the bike, and hid in the room till dawn , woke up chased

away the Crackhead, and headed south for Maggie Valley

>>>

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After our hasty retreat from Bristol, we passed through

Johnson City to revisit some of my favorite spots from the

2009 MOA rally. The oldest town in Tennessee is Jones-

borough, Nice little town

where we interfaced with

some locals

“Yer not from ‘round

here, ere ya ?” was

heard severla times, but

all were real friendly like ,

I had noticed a staircase

to nowhere that I remem-

bered from 2009 with

Ken and Annie and

Fuzzy , So I bought a

copy of Call of the Wild,

and believed that me and

Buck shared bloodlines ,

AwHOOOOO!

On down 11e past Asheville to the recently revamped

Wheels Thru Time. Dale was the consummate host as usu-

al , though

Babs didn’t

get a ride on

the Jack Piner

sidehack rig

like she did on

our last visit.

On to

Chattanooga

>>>>>>>>>>

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Our H-D Buddy “Mike the Bike”

Bowen, passed on the trailer

queen approach, choosing to

ride his 1997 Heriatage Springer

the whole way. Off to a delayed

start due to inclement weather,

he finally caught up to us in

Chatanooga - still slightly damp

and now only shivering slightly.

OK—Let’s ROCK !

As evidenced by my extensive collection of Wall Drug and

South of the Border SWAG , Clearly :

I LOVE CHEESEY TOURIST TRAPS. So HOW could I pos-

sibly avoid one advertised on 900 Barn Roofs since 1935 ?

The ride up Lookout

Mountain alone is worth

the price of admission

( 25$ ) and once you ar-

rive at Rock City , actually

in Georgia , you’ll be look-

ing down at the city of

Chattanooga 1000 feet

below . Rock City features a long,

convoluted rock trail lined with gar-

dens containing hundreds of labelled

local trees and plants. The trail also

leads through a variety of unique and

bizarre rock formations, including the

1,000 ton “Balanced Rock” and the

tortuous for some, “Fat Man's

Squeeze” …..

Where I met a NEW FRIEND .>>>

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NASHVILLE !

Our primary destination on this trip was Music City USA

Mike’s wife Teresa was flying in on Thursday till Tuesday , So

we took Highway 41 north for a couple of hours to our destina-

tion. Mike had avoided interstates most of his journey, now his

HD needed some attention , so he booked service at Nashville

HD for a new Battery and speedo sensor , We would meet up

later that day. We checked into our Airbnb , hosted by Chelsea

and Remi

a nice young Hip-

pie couple on the

south side of

town, They were

great hosts with

good suggestions

on what to see do

and eat . It was

nice being in a

neighborhood in-

stead of a motel

on an exit ramp. On their suggestion , We lucked into finding

the Iriquois Steeple Chase , 40,000 Southerners drinking up a

storm and betting on which horse would throw it’s rider off first !

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NIGHT and DAY Nashville is Two different cities

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Southern Culture -

On the Skids !

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Von Dutch VW bike at Antique Archeology

Nudies Honky Tonk, his fashionable car and clothes

Jack Whites THIRD MAN Recording Studio

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Catfish Luckily avoids disaster on I81 in PottsHoleVania

It MUST have been his Guardian ATGATT Astronaut

TW TWO TOO

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Upcoming YB Events Summer 2017

June 8—11 2017

PEMI RIVER RALLY

Pemi River Campground Thornton, NH

Ride the beautiful White Mountains for the first weekend of Bike Week

Your Rally Chairs: Erik Kuegler John Shields and Duncan Cooper

Saturday Nite Pig Roast Thursday Arrivals OK

July 6,7,8 2017

BMWRA National RALLY

Petoskey, Michigan,

on the shores of Lake Michigan for 3 days of camping, vendor shopping,

seminars and door prizes. Cool nights, great riding, plenty of other lodging in

the area and many great roads to explore. You’ll be less than an hour away

from the Great Mackinac Bridge.

July 13—16 2017

MOA National RALLY

Salt Lake City , Utah

http://www.bmwmoa.org/page/rally2017

Crossroads of the West

See the events section of the webpage for latest updates

August 3—6 2017

Danm Yankee Rally

Heath Mass

Join us for our annual flagship event, where all proceeds are donated to local

charities. Located in beautiful Heath Ma, the Damn Yankees Rally is rustic

camping at one of New England’s oldest operating fairgrounds, The Heath

Fairground. Rustic, outdoor showers. Saturday evening chicken BBQ by the

Heath Volunteer Fire Department is included, Legendary Church Ladies

home made Pies and baked goods. (Free Coffee if you bring your own mug)

Saturday night “burn it all” bonfire is always a good time. .

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