There is additional insurance available through GWTA for activities put on by chapters. An obvious example of the need for additional insurance is mall shows. The National Office of GWTA has arranged with a company to make $1,000,000 of insurance available for a limited number of participates at a cost of $200. More information can be found on the National Web Site.

Kelly Felix, Director of Chapter A, KS, found that the mall where they were having their mall show would not accept the $1 million policy, but required $2 million. Kelly's search found another company that provided the needed coverage for a 16 day period and had no restrictions on participation. It is a carrier that specializes in event insurance. The best part is, for her chapter, the policy cost them only $75.

The contact information I was given is:

ARIZONA CENTRAL INSURANCE, INC.

6700 N. ORACLE RD. SUITE #323

TUCSON, ARIZONA 85704-7739

520-742-9200

Toll Free 800-678-0062

FAX 520-575-1528

GWTA Regional Directors and Operations Meeting, Sheraton Hotel, Sioux Falls, SD

October 27 and 28, 2006

As Reported by Wiliferd and Charlotte Lair, Region E Directors, GWTA

This meeting is an annual meeting held on the site of next year's Gold Rush,

The meeting opened at 9:00 a.m. with the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau providing a presentation of what the area has to offer. There were some beautiful sites shown in the slide presentation. Many of the historic buildings in and around Sioux Falls are made of rose quartz and are a natural pink in color. The quartz was mined primarily from the Big Sioux River at a site now listed as Sioux Falls Park. Mining the quartz which is second only to a diamond in level of hardness became cost prohibitive as new building materials were developed. The quartz is still mined but primarily ground for road surface material. An interesting history of this was found at the Sioux Falls Park.

Other interesting sites in the area that were pointed out were the Butterfly House, 2 Wal Marts, Dairy Queens, Sioux Falls Free Trollies in the historic downtown area, and a Wednesday Night Street Fair during our visit there in July. The street fair will include a major Corvette Show, a Harley Show, and GWTA will have a block in town to have the drill team performance. There is also a Wild Water West Waterpark with numerous activities. The regular admission is $24. GWTA members will get an all day admission including a meal for the price of $20. The GWTA living logo will be performed just behind the waterpark on their property.

The events at Gold Rush XX will be very similar to what they were at Gold Rush XIX with a great deal of refinement in the scheduling. Region E has been assigned the on bike games and the Chapter Pride Competition.

This year there is a special for registration at Gold Rush. Registration to the Rally will be a buy one for $40, get one free, until March 1, 2007. This offer is available to paid GWTA members. (Good way to sign up a new person?) Members will pay $45 from 3/1/07-7/1/07. Non-members will pay $50 'till 7/1/07, then the cost will go to $55 for everyone. All members registering must show their membership card or stand in line for their membership to be checked.

The Sheraton is a nice motel. It adjoins the convention center with an air conditioned hallway. With many of the activities for Gold Rush planned to take place inside this should help us to escape the weather if it should again be overly warm outside. There are several large parking lots around the facility but it is also the center of many activities for the community. There is a baseball stadium right next door. On Tuesday night GWTA members will have the opportunity to attend a ball game for $5. Those that desire can also ride their motorcycles around the field as a part of the opening of the game. At 9:00 p.m. we will leave the ball game to have our light parade downtown to be followed by the light show.

Lodging for Gold Rush was discussed. The block of rooms reserved by GWTA at the Sheraton were booked before the end of last year's Gold Rush. There are still about 10 rooms available but at the rate of $120 rather than the $79 rate of those reserved. The Sheraton is suggesting their sister hotel, the Holiday Inn. It is close by and will rent rooms at the $79 rate. Charlotte and I toured the Ramkota-Best Western with the operations staff but did not tour the Holiday Inn. Those that did came to a consensus that the motel was showing its age. It does not come recommended by us. We have no problem in recommending the Ramkota-Best Western. It is very close to the Sheraton and the rooms that we viewed were outstanding. These rooms are also available for the $79 rate. The Ramkota also has an indoor water park that is best defined as spectacular. It looked like fun to me. Especially if you have children coming with you, I would highly recommend it. There are many other choices close by.

We attempted to view some of the campgrounds before we left. Of course it was October in South Dakota so most were closed for the season and those that were open--except for the dog show at the fairgrounds--did not have many campers. The following has been sent to some of the members asking for this type of information. Charlotte has gathered the information, so you are welcome to call her if she can be of further assistance.

One campground recommended was the fairgrounds. They are advertised as having over 200 sites. We went by there on our way home. They may have 200 sites but it is a typical fairground. It would probably work well for those with RVs but not for tent or tent trailer camping. We sighted one restroom area with one shower. There is another campground on hiway 42 just a short distance from Sheraton. It looked pretty good but at this time of year it was all RVs that we saw.

Tower Campground has about 40 sites, but no tents are allowed since they are in the city limits. Motorcycle pop-ups and RV's are $25.75 for two per site or $30.11 for four people, taxes are included. They also charge a one time $5 pad fee. Restooms, showers, and laundry facilities available. Tower is located just west of I-29 at exit 79. Address is 4609 W 12th Street. He said July is busy for them so call several months ahead for reservations at 605-336-7110.

Tower Campground suggested Westwick Motel and Campground about a mile away(?), but outside the city limits so they have tent sites as well as RV's. He said relatives run it and prices are similar. Their address is 5801 W 12th Street. Call at 605-336-2390. I had called Westwick earlier and was told they are small and have many full timers so would not likely have space, but I was asking about info for the region. Maybe a few sites would be open.

We discovered 12th Street is also Highway 42 on the west side of Sioux Falls.

The "It's all up to you," program was discussed. This program provides that a member recruiting one new member will receive a recruiting T shirt. If the membership is for three years, the recruiter will get the T shirt plus $5 in TA bucks. The next new membership recruited will bring you $2 in TA bucks if a one year membership, $3 in TA bucks if a 2 year membership, and $10 in TA bucks if it is a three year membership. Every 5 memberships recruited will get an additional $20 in TA bucks. The top recruiter between August 1st 2006 and June 1st 2007 with a minimum of 20 new members recruited will receive a full Gold Rush registration for 2, paid hotel room for 5 nights and $200 in cash. The TA bucks may be used towards membership dues, rally registration fees, and items from the GWTA store.

One item the TA bucks can be used for is toward the purchase of the 20th anniversary GWTA coat. The coat is a fleece lined jacket with the 20th anniversary logo embroideried on the back. An outer coat with hood fits over the inner coat. The outer coat also has the logo embroideried on the back. There are plenty of pockets, draw strings, and other features to make the coat very usable. The new coat is priced at $169 and for that you are getting the outer and inner coat. Either can be worn alone or the inner can be zippered into the outer to make a good cold weather coat.

I brought up the need for the Blue Book to be brought back to our membership. This was discussed at length. For those who haven't been around for several years, the Blue Book was a book of member contact information suitable for carrying on your motorcycle. It was replaced a few years ago with the Blue Line. The blue line allows computer or telephone access to the same information and the Blue Book was no longer published. There have been several comments about this due to the fact that the Blue Book was so convenient in an emergency. Most motorcycle enthusiasts are pleased to help another rider when there is a breakdown on the road or any other emergency. Examples abound of this act of kindness really helping a stranded biker. My own family was the recipient of a great act of kindness many years ago when our bike broke down coming home from Gold Rush. The final drive went out on a GL1200 with a sidecar and cargo trailer with my wife, two children, and myself aboard. The towing service called by the highway patrol was a bad joke when it came to hauling a motorcycle. I used the blue book to locate another member who came to the rescue. It was a big, big, help to us.

The book was dropped due to the financial strain it placed on the organization. The discussion ended in trying it again but with some changes. The book will include information about favored roads and eating places from the chapters as well as the contact information. It will be sold at cost to members that desire one. Estimated cost will be around the $12 level. It may need to be ordered in advance of printing. More information is to come on this.

The bike raffle ticket sales commission money should be sent to the regional directors about March. The amount per ticket is less than last year due to total sales being down. The commission amount is 1/3 of the profit on the ticket sales. Much of the cost involved is fixed. Sales were down, costs were pretty much the same, therefore profit per ticket was less. The actual figures have not been computed at this time.

There are some problems with TA Way not reflecting accurately the policies being followed due to a lack of updating over the years. The TA Way is being revised.

The organization has an education component which is designed to help members better know the organization and to help officers better understand their responsibilities and best practices. Most of us have never attended such a session within our region. We want to bring this component to our region. I reported that we would have our education meeting on Sunday April 29 in combination with our regional rally. I am seeking someone who will serve the region as the education director. Our Education and Retention Directors, Mike and Carol Brush, indicated that they would make every effort to attend and conduct the meeting. It can only help us all and will be a great benefit to our new chapter and state directors. Charlotte and I certainly plan to learn from it.

We have also been asked to appoint a rider safety educator for each state as well as the region. Charlotte and I are working on that. The new appointees will work as direct consults with the Rider Education Directors, Kathe and Ronnie Vaughn. Their responsibilities will be to get information out to our chapters and thereby the members on rider safety. I consider this very important for all of us.

While at the meeting we did visit the Honda dealer and the Harley dealer. Both have very nice establishments. They are anxious for our group to roll into town.

The meeting concluded with a Halloween celebration by those attending.

The overall emphasis that we came away with was something we all know very well. Negativity kills. Regardless of what may be happening at home or in our beloved organization, it is always balanced by the positive things that are also taking place. My son has made my hair turn grey with his "10 foot tall and bullet proof" outlook on life. On the other hand, he is a fine young man that I am pleased to call my son. Sometimes we just need to back away from a problem a bit to see the positive. Others react better to us, and we react better to ourselves, if we vocalize the positive while dealing with the negative. We have a lot to be proud of with our organization, let's not let the petty stuff become our focus.

Sheraton, Host Hotel for Gold Rush 2007	Gold Rush XX, A Birthday Celebration
Falls Park	Region C Director, Charlotte Lair still trying to find her way.
The National Operations Staff	Our surprise guests: BOD Chairman of the Board, Dave and Bump Willenborg

 

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