Nine of us were able to meet for this month's meeting, not bad for being in the midst of vacation time.

After viewing and briefly discussing Ken Klaus's latest Baloney Shop we homed in on setting a ride schedule for July and August. We decided to schedule the Wayah Road-Cherohala ride, that was scrubbed earlier because of weather, for July 13th starting at 7 a.m.

August 9th and 10th were set aside for a retry of the overnight trip to Maggie Valley.

There will be more information on these rides as their respective dates approach.

We viewed three short videos that led to a discussion about "target fixation". All the situations seemed to be recoverable but the riders headed straight into trouble with no apparent attempt to avoid the obstructions (a Corvette, a guard rail and bicyclists)

We had some fun with an old Archie Bunker episode, a scooter rider having a bad day and Halfthrottle's "walk around" his well worn BMW GS.

Robert L. gave us a recap of his excitement filled ride to Tennessee including his deer encounter and visor fogging on the Interstate.

Dan gave us a preview of the video he directed and co-starred in that is entered in a contest. Good luck Dan.

After the meeting Larry and Bob (the elder) rode over to Doug's Place in Emerson for lunch and a ride around that area of Bartow County.

Our July meeting will be on July 27th (Korean War Armistice Day)

Nine members met on a rainy Saturday morning for the monthly meeting. Larry won  the hardcore rider award as he rode in on his KLR. The rest came in cages or trucks.

After viewing the latest edition of LHM's Baloney Shop the group got down to laying out details of the upcoming May and June rides. After a lot of discussion they agreed to an earlier than usual start time for the Wayah-Cherohala ride scheduled
for May 18th. The ride will begin at the Chevron station at exit 27 of I-575 at 7 a.m.
This start time for the 320 mile ride should allow plenty of time for sightseeing on the Nantahala and, for those choosing to, exploring the forest road up to Wayah Bald and still allow a return to Ball Ground around 5 p.m.

The June 14-15th ride to Maggie Valley (Wheels Through Time) will kick off Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., again from the Chevron at exit 27. This will allow the group to have dinner at the Riverside Restaurant  on the Toccoa at 6 p.m. and then move on to Dan's cabin outside Morganton before dark.The next morning (early) they'll continue on to Maggie Valley and still be able to return to Ball Ground at a reasonable hour.

The group watched a short video from Captain Crash that talked about thinking through the items that a rider should carry on their person, so that they'll be handy should the rider be separated from his bike in a "get off" or other circumstance. Bob (the elder) passed around an identification bracelet that carries vital information that can help first responders. The bracelet, and other forms of ID are available from  http://www.roadid.com/c/RoadID

The group went through a training exercise that tested their recognition of road hazards and traffic signs. The link to this can be found in Weblinks under Training.

Before adjourning the group watched a few non motorcycle videos that brought a lot of laughs and some amazement about what some folks are daring enough to do ( see Batman Returns in the Not Motorcycle section of Weblinks).

REMEMBER there will not be a monthly meeting in May because it would fall on Memorial Day weekend.

A half dozen of us made it, in the rain, to our first meeting at the new, non-winter, time of 9 a.m. We had a look at one of the last of the series What You Didn't Learn In Sunday School. There has not been a Baloney Shop posted since February so we may have to start something new in a couple months.

The first order of business was setting out a ride schedule for April and May (June was already set as the time for the overnight to Maggie Valley). We decided April 13th would be a good time to ride The Long Loop that we had to defer earlier because of road conditions up in the mountains, and May18th for a ride up Wayah Road with a return via the Cherohala Skyway (those wishing to take a side adventure up the Forest Road to Wayah Bald and the tower will have an opportunity too).

Since the last Saturday of May is on the Memorial Day weekend, and we have a ride scheduled for the prior Saturday, we decided to cancel the May monthly meeting

We watched, and discussed, two videos that highlighted the danger in navigating surfaces that are slick from oil and/or algae, one from Dakar 2013, the other TravellingStroms helmet cam on his ride into Cambodia.

Another dramatic real-life video, taken on the TAT in Utah, showed the value of SPOT out in the boondocks. You can see this in our Weblinks under Face Plants titled  Off Road Gone Bad.

Another video, professionally done, highlighted the dangers on the Dragon. You can see this, again in Weblinks under Roads To Remember titled Dragon Dangers.

We had some laughs with other videos, and discussion about them, but still were able to adjourn by noon (more or less)

Seven of us met this rainy Saturday for our monthly meeting. After taking a look at the latest Baloney Shop (it's back!) we discussed and agreed to some changes in our schedule. In order to take advantage of the warmer months ahead that would allow some rides to new, and more distant lunch stops followed by local touring, we decided to begin meetings at 9 a.m. rather than 10 a.m.When winter return we can go back to the later start if we want to.

In light of Holy Week coming the end of March we decided to pull next month's meeting forward a week to March 23rd (at 9 a.m.). Additionally we'll start the March 9th ride at 9 a.m.