ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS FLASH
F r i e n d s f o r F u n , S a f e t y,
a n d K n o w l e d g e
August 2020
ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS August 2020
Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge
ARIZONA CHAPTERS BREAKFAST DATES / PLACES / CONTACTS
CHAP AREA WHEN LOCATION CHAPTER DIRECTOR, EMAIL, PHONE
AZ-A TUCSON 3rd Saturday, 8:15 AM
Golden Corral
4380 E 22nd St., Tucson
Randy Wasser/ Judy Schneider randywasser@msn.com 520.256.5045
AZ-D MESA East Valley
2nd Saturday, 8:00 AM
Golden Corral 1318 N Cooper Rd, Gilbert
Patty Trapp directorazd@cox.net
623-707-6402
AZ-E SIERRA VISTA
1st Saturday, 9:30 AM
Golden Corral
798 South Highway 92, Sierra Vista
Larry & Gale Howard E-Mail l.howard@q.com
520-459-0079
AZ-G GREEN VALLEY
3rd Saturday,
8:15AM Summer Break
Chuck Liberty
Charles_Liberty@msn.com 520-235-0022
AZ-O OATMAN 1st Saturday
8:00 AM Summer Break
Greg Brown 760-500-3084 E-Mail gregory-
brown@sbcglobal.net
AZ-P PRESCOTT 4th Saturday, 8:00 AM
Golden Corral
Frontier Village, Prescott
Garrett (Gary) Bowers 661-435-6526
Gd.bowers@verizon.net
AZ-R PHOENIX West Valley
3rd Saturday 8:00 AM
Haymaker
101 and Thunderbird
Bill Rodgers 703-731-7944 E-Mail
bill.rodgers.email@gmail.com
AZ-S SCOTTSDALE 1st Saturday, 7:30 AM
Deer Valley Airport Deer Valley and 7th Ave., Phoenix
John Read, 480-406-5871
E-Mail: john.read79@gmail.com
AZ-X CASA GRANDE 3rd Saturday
11 AM Summer Break
Chuck & Sharon Briner
gwrra.chapterxdirector@gmail.com 480.868.7554
ZOOM MEETINGS
CHECK FB &
CALENDAR
CHECK FB &
CALENDAR
CHECK FB &
CALENDAR FALL KICK- OFF 9/26!!
CHECK FB &
CALENDAR
Arizona District Director Susan Rodgers
2020 and What Could Possibly Happen Next ???
I certainly never expected the challenges of COVID when I became the AZ District Director on March 1 of this year. WOW. We are 6 months into it and it has not been an easy road to navigate.
As numbers of cases fluctuated all over the country, both efforts to hold a Rally were cancelled. Chapter Gatherings shut down and
we learned to communicate by ZOOM Calls. Never knew the Brady Bunch on TV was an actual zoom call photo—did you? Now it looks like school classrooms, including the GW University are ZOOM! (Which has been awesome btw and I hope you have taken at least 1 class from them.)
I can barely walk down the “paper good” aisle in a grocery store without mentally thinking, ”Do we really have enough TP to last the next 6 months?” And then in July, I
met covid face to face. I know exactly who “gave” it to me and it was the spouse of a VA hospital staff member. So after 3 weeks of fever, headaches and asthma- like symptoms, I recovered, as did my husband—(because I of course, shared covid with him.) I use asthma as a word picture because I have had asthma all my life and it is very similar to the covid sensation of not getting deep enough breaths.
But now…. AZ is showing signs of getting back to activity levels we can safely enjoy and there are so many recovered people that have antibodies; I think, I hope, the numbers will eventually balance out. The key is to YOU DO YOU...Whatever your health concerns are, you make those decisions.
Some Chapters have held OUTDOOR gatherings where they are free to move around and social distance the way they want. Some have found restau- rants willing to help them with spacing of tables, and some do ZOOM. Some Dis- tricts are even having rallies again.
Options make the world go round. Please check out the activities opening up in AZ this fall. Two events are outside and the Holiday Dinner/Christmas Party is still 90 plus days away.
Our District COY Competition was a ZOOM Event. Meet the couples and see the outcome by scrolling a few pages down…
In the meantime, learn all you can, ZOOM with us, stay healthy and hope- fully—come celebrate the holidays with the District in December!
Susan Rodgers
GWRRA AZ District Director
ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS August 2020
Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge
DISTRICT COY/IOY COMPETITION
Welcome your new District COY page 10
ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS August 2020
Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge
ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS August 2020
Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge
Learning is FUN!
I want to congratulate the 49 Members from Arizona who have taken some of the online University classes. What a great way for GWRRA University to bring education and learning to us.
So this month I have an idea to share the fun of learning in a group. Since we can now get together in small groups, I’d love to see the Chapters have group seminars. So get a small group, about 10, together and join into a live Zoom seminar.
Here’s what you need to do:
Everyone who is taking the class must sign up for the class online
Then a spokesperson for the group should quickly contact Clara Boldt, toledotriker@gmail.com and me,
amalkire85@gmail.com and let us knowthat the following people have signed up for class name, day, time and list
of Members names. This step is critical so Clara can plan for the seminaras they limit the number of screen sign ins.
Let her know that all will be signing in with 1 sign in into the class.
Once you get the response and go ahead from Clara, you’re good to go.
Just remember, classes are filling up fast so look at the calendar, https://gwrradot.com/
online-class-calendar/, choose the classes that you want to sign up for, put it out to
those with an interest and tell them to sign up quickly. Once that is done, and you get confirmation from Clara, you’re all set. Please just keep me in the loop so I can help as needed. Or if you have questions, please ask me. Remember, all times listed are Central time which is 2 hours ahead of us, i.e. 3 Central is 1 Phoenix.
Now plan some fun around the event and then make it a regular thing. It’s always fun to share time together and then share ideas from what you just learned.
Stay well all, get some riding is and relax and learn.
Anita Alkire
GWRRA Arizona DUC
GWRRA Arizona DUC
Anita Alkire
ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS August 2020
Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge Arizona District Couple of the Year
Marsha and Mel Tillet, Arizona A
We obtained our first motorcycle (BSA) the year we were married. We have been riding as a couple for 51+ years.
We improved our taste in bikes over the years, owning our first Honda in 1973. We were summer riders in OH, and were limited by child care constraints. We obtained our first “Wing” in 1978.
We joined GWRRA in 1994 and were active participants in Chapter A, becoming Assistant Chapter Directors for Joh & Penny Haxton.
We enrolled in the Rider Education Program moving up the ranks to Master by April, 1997. Currently we hold Senior Masters Level and are Life Members in GWRRA.
We have had the opportunity to attend 3 Wing Dings, traveling to Billings, MT (’97), Huntsville, AL (2016) and
Grapevine, TX (2017). Over the years we have traveled to many locations across the country, from the west coast to the east coast, Key West and Hawaii.
Since retirement, it has become much easier to participate and have more FUN with our motorcy- cle and with members of GWRRA. We have a deep red 2006 1800 Goldwing that we triked in 2016.
We have attended numerous fund raisers, socials, cook offs, region & district rallies over the years. We have assisted at many rallies with registration, fun activities, attended educational pro- grams, GWRRA Store and more!!
Becoming more active, Mel held the positions of Assistant Rider Educator until it was eliminated.
As a couple, we have held the position of Ride Coordinators since it started. We are also currently Assistant Chapter Directors for Chapter AZ-A (since 2017).
Marsha is also the Sunshine Person, on the Phone tree, distributes our weekly or biweekly blasts, and writes articles for our newsletters.
We were awarded the Chapter Couple of the Year for 2018 & 2020.
MOTORIST AWARENESS
RON CARROLL
Gold Wing Road Riders Association Motorist Awareness Program
Motorist Awareness
What do you see in a LOGO?
Do you even notice logos? What does that logo make you think about? Does it make you think about the person who designed it or the person who had it printed?
Take this logo for Gold Wing Road Riders Association for Motorist Awareness Program did you even notice it and if you did what did you think about it.?
Still thinking about it? What came to your mind once you noticed that it was Backwards and Up- side down or did you even notice it? (That’s ok because no one died). The first time I see a logo on a Billboard, Letterhead or posted in an add. I notice because I was Looking because it was a new logo that I have never seen before. What does a logo have to do with Motorist Awareness?
This logo is a lot like people driving down the road, they are not Noticing anyone else on the road because they have not been looking.
What were They supposed to be looking for? How about a motorcycle or anyone else driving
“sharing the road with them”? In today’s driving world there are so many accidents that could maybe be avoided if only there were no distractions and the drivers were concentrating on driving instead of constantly being distracted with talking on phones, texting, reading news on smart phones, talking to passengers while looking at them, applying makeup, shaving, drinking (anything), reading newspapers, books or anything else other than driving while concentrating on the road.
If there is an accident involving two cars, trucks or busses the likelihood that you will walk away from the accident. But if you are on a Motorcycle, bicycle or a pedestrian then your chances of sur- viving are greatly reduced.
We as individual drivers of motorized vehicles on the roads, we must do better with our driving habits, yes, I said habits because every time we do something repeatedly then it becomes a habit, if it improves ourselves that is good but if it endangers you and others around you it can be deadly.
Please concentrate on your driving and start looking where you are going so you will start noticing others you are sharing the roads with. Please start
looking for and noticing motorcycles and while you are at it please notice everyone else on the road too.
Ron Carroll GWRRA #285519 AZ-District
Motorist Awareness Coordinator Medic First/Aid Instructor #2293154
ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS August 2020
Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge
“Life is not about waiting for storms to pass. It’s about learning to ride in the rain.”
- unknown
As noted by the AZ Governor, masks are encour- aged whenever we engage with others. And the CDC has indicated that if you are sick, you should definitely be wearing a mask.
GWRRA will not function as the mask police, but as the District, we will have masks available at all District events, should you need one.
These are handmade cotton masks that can be washed and have a filter pocket. These have been donated to the District and as such will distributed for FREE to members attending District events. If masks work—we have plenty of them to help you stay safe. No matter what, you need to do you, for your health concerns. Stay on top of the numbers and make decisions for your family. In addition, the next 2 open events for Chapters to support are being held outdoors in large parks for social dis- tancing comfort.
The beautiful lady pictured here, Kathryn Segress, has worked with our District Director, and a small group of women, to make and distribute over 2,700 masks to various nursing homes, emer- gency room staff, classrooms, the Navajo Nation and the Arizona National Guard. The Guard were issued 1 mask each, but at their request, we made sure they each had 2 more available to be able to wash them and have an extra one on hand. To the right, they shared a photo of them wearing our masks.
We are hopeful, that as the curve flattens and our numbers improve, our chapters will be able to once again get together for gatherings, building friendships and attending in-person events and classes.
In the meantime, stay safe.
ARIZONA DISTRICT NEWS August 2020
Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge
From Your Newsletter Editor
Looking for someone in the District who would like to
become the District Newsletter Director.
If interested please email me:
azdistrictnewsletter@gmail.com
Susan
Knowledge, is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.