First Official KSGMC Tour of 2009...

[Stan Trekell]

Dear Fellow Motorcycle Enthusiast:

Sunday May 17, 2009 marks the beginning of the second riding season for the newly reorganized Kansas Short Grass Motorcycle Club. If you have not yet taken the opportunity to ride with us, please be sure to join us for our best planned tour ever! Our scenic route will take us up through the glacial region of northeast Kansas and along the Missouri River to St. Joseph, Missouri. Upon our arrival, our hosts will be Dave and Barbara, who will take us on a private tour of some of St. Joseph's finest Victorian homes. They, along with a close group of their social friends, are responsible for restoring many historic homes in the area. During our home tour, you will see some "before, during and after" restoration projects. It should be very interesting, so be sure to bring your camera along. After the home tour, we will end up at Dave and Barbara's recently restored bed and breakfast for beverages and dessert. You are responsible for your own guest check ($6.00 plus gratuity).

Please be reminded that Missouri is a helmet-law state, so be sure to wear your helmet. On the subject of safety, you should take the time to run over your pre-season motorcycle safety list and check the following items: tires, tire pressure, lights, horn, chains, drive belts, drive shafts, axle nuts, cables, brakes, oil and lubricants, etc. Because the club does not currently have a chase vehicle and trailer to follow behind us while on tour, you will need to have your own personal contingency plan for roadside assistance in the event of a mechanical failure or breakdown. Members of the club will do what we can to assist you, but please have an alternative plan for getting you and your motorcycle back home. In the future, if someone is willing to take the lead on coordinating a chase vehicle for the club, I am sure our members would be willing to help defray the driver's road expense. This issue will become more and more important as our membership numbers grow. Any helpful suggestions are always welcomed!

Be sure to monitor our club's website, http://www.ksgmc.org along with your personal email regarding the status of our first motorcycle tour of 2009. It has been our past practice to roll out on the tour if the weather is dry and the temperature is above 40 degrees at 10:00 a.m. the day of the tour. Be sure to monitor riding conditions Saturday evening and early Sunday morning the weekend of a scheduled tour at the official KSGMC website for weather at http://www.noaa.gov The club can be reached early Sunday morning by telephone at 785-766-6969, cell. Rain or shine, Stan Trekell will be at the parking lot from 9 a.m. on to inform drop-in riders of the tour's status. In the event of a postponement, our rain date is always for the following Sunday. If you have any questions, please feel free to call. It is suggested that you dress light and in layers so that if during the tour, the temperature heats up, you can take off several layers of clothing. This time of year, it would be better to be overdressed than to need an extra layer of protective clothing left at home. If you have rain gear, bring it along in the advent of a light sprinkle. On Sunday morning if the weather radar indicates a wall of showers heading our direction from the west, we will postpone the event until the following Sunday. Hopefully, we will be able to enjoy the day and not encounter inclement weather during the tour.

We will stop in Atchison at Flyers Grill and Bar which is nestled near the Missouri River for lunch. Insider's Tip: Sweet potato French fries. If the weather is warm enough, we can sit outside on their patio and watch the lazy Missouri River roll by. This is really nice setting and will allow new members the opportunity to get to know the rest of the club. Note to members: Please take the initiative to dine with any of the new riders and to welcome them into our club. No alcohol consumption is allowed on any KSGMC tour.

Our organization is open to every rider over the age of 18. All makes and models of motorcycles are welcome. Membership dues are $50/yr for singles and $75/yr for families. We invite interested parties to ride on a trial daylong tour with the KSGMC to determine if our club fits your needs. Single-day tour rates for non-members are $20/singles and $25/two-up couples. These fees can be applied towards your new membership dues should you decide to join on the same day of your first tour. Otherwise, you are welcome to join us on any of our monthly daylong tours by paying the single-day rate. Members of the KSGMC always ride on the tours for FREE. Our annual single membership dues equates to just $4.17/mo. and for couple members, it is just $3.13/mo .

Please forward this email newsletter along to your motorcycling friends so they can plan on joining us Sunday!

KSGMC tee shirts will be available before and after the ride for $12 to non-members and $10 for members. Please add $2.00 extra for XXL. The logo at the top of this email is also the design for the front of our club tee shirts. The back panel is even more interesting. Be sure to pick one up at the parking lot so we can create our next new design.


The KSGMC

P.S. If you are a current member of the club or a new rider willing to help out, please report to the Checkers Food parking lot, 23rd and Louisiana Street; Lawrence, Kansas shortly before 9 a.m. on May 17th to assist with rider check-in. We have a full-day schedule planned and we need to leave Lawrence promptly at 10 a.m. Your help is greatly appreciated.

[Klem]

Stan:

Sounds like you have a good day planned. Old houses are always interesting as long as I'm not the one working on them.

Thanks for using our website. One of our goals is to make this the go to place for riders in this area. Always good to see riding promoted.

Don