From:Hodge e-mail:hodge@engineeredmaintenance.com
Subject:March Highlands of Virginia Chapter Monthly Meeting Date:Wed Mar 30 20:02:16 2011

Highlands Chapter Meeting Minutes
March 20, 2011

Location: 29 North Restaurant

When: March 20, 2011 @ 10 AM

Attendees: Hodge, King, Rollo, Mike, Tim, Bob, Dave, Long Shanks, Chip,
and Tim


Gents,

Here are the meeting minutes from last Sunday’s meeting:


Pre Meeting Breakfast:

We met for breakfast at the newly re-named 29 North Restaurant in Warrenton, VA. (It used to be the Town and Country Restaurant). There were a few real-men riders that braved the early morning chill. King, Hodge, Chip and Dave (Long Shanks) arrived on their bikes. It’s nice to see the motorcycles out this early in the spring.

I, for one, enjoyed my breakfast and hope the other club members did, as well. The conversations before and after the meal centered on numerous subjects (Bike Riding, Beer Making and Bee Keeping among other subjects).

The Meeting:

Hodge called the meeting to order at 11:30 AM, indicating the need to get down to business.

Chapter Name and Location

He had heard a few rumors that the Highlands Chapter might be moving back to our original location in the Roanoke Virginia area. He told us that the rumors were not malicious, nor were they based upon any ill will from any person or group. He agreed that our chapter has experienced some difficulties, as all clubs eventually do. That being said, Hodge was convinced that the Highlands Chapter needed to stay intact and in our current location. He did say that all decisions regarding the chapter needed to be decided by the members and he called for a vote. The vote was unanimous regarding that our chapter needs to remain in the northern part of Virginia.




Rollo said that the Highlands Chapter is currently listed on the AMCA website and in the magazine, as being located in southwest Virginia. He believed that these listings might have precluded potential members from joining the group. Tim said that he had been a member of the AMCA for 10 years before realizing that our meetings were held in the Warrenton / Northern Virginia area. He might have joined the Highlands Chapter sooner if he’d know that we were not located in southwest Virginia.

Rollo suggested that we needed to contact Fred Davis at National to let him know that we would like to change the location description to reflect the actual location where our chapter members live.


Post Meeting Note: I contacted Fred on March 24, 2011 to see what the procedure was to make the location description change. He asked us to call Bill Wood in order to complete this revision. I was unable to reach Bill this evening. Hodge will contact Bill Wood to get the description of our location changed.


Mike asked if we should consider re-naming the chapter to reflect our location in the northern part of Virginia. Obviously, we are not located in the Virginia Highlands. Mike thought that we could come up with a chapter name that was more in tune with our location.

Hodge suggested that there was a history with the Highlands Chapter that should be remembered. Early members of the Chapter would want to keep the name, as is. He called for a vote regarding the Highlands Chapter name. The attending members voted to keep the original name.

We did agree that National needed to know about the physical location description. We voted unanimously that the description should be Piedmont Virginia / Northern Virginia.

Patriot Event – July 2, 2011

Rollo confirmed that we are all set for the Patriot H-D event on July 2, 2011. He asked for a count of bikes, so we can make sure we have the right amount of space set aside for the Highlands Chapter. Members attending the Sunday’s meeting agreed to bring approximately 11 bikes:
Rollo (1 or 2), Chip (1), Hodge (1), Long Shanks (1), Dave (1), Mike (2), Bob (2)

Please let Rollo know if you plan on attending the event at Patriot and how many bikes you plan on bringing. Give him a call or send him an e-mail. We hope to increase the number of antique bikes. The more, the better.

I volunteered to bring a small pop-up gazebo tent. We’ll probably need a folding table, if someone has one. (Please let us know). Tim provided us with an updated Chapter banner that we’ll display at the table.

Rollo reminded us that we need to get our bike information to Dave Hennessey so he can make up the placards. (Thanks again, Dave for helping us with the placards).

Rollo offered parking space near his house for trailers for those who are not riding to Patriot. He also reminded us that George Ogden is hosting a pool party at his house after the Patriot event. We’ll try to get additional details before the next meeting.

Waugh H-D Show on June 18, 2011

Rollo suggested we have an informal ride to Waugh H-D for their bike show on Saturday June 18th. He did note that Sunday June 19th is Father’s Day and that some members might be tied up that weekend. I asked if the ride would be open to modern bikes as well as antiques. Rollo suggested that this should be an antique ride, but that he was not totally opposed to members riding newer iron. We’ll have to discuss this matter at the next meeting.

Highlands Chapter 2011 Road Run

Mike, Rollo and I have been working on this year’s Road Run for the last month or so. We had decided that returning to Smoke Hole Caverns Resort this year might be a good idea. Mike contacted the resorts’ owners and told them that we would need around 15 cabins and 4-8 hotel rooms. We had picked Thursday October 6th through Saturday October 8th. We told them that we might want a few meals catered again this year. Everything looked great until a couple of days before last Sunday’s meeting. The folks at Smoke Hole called Mike and told him they had made a mistake and that those days were already booked for a wedding party. They offered up another weekend (which we presented to the club members).

The chapter decided that it might be better to find another place for this year’s Road Run. We are working on this now. Mike asked for some parameters for the event location. This is what was suggested:

• Maximum Room Price: $125.00 / Night
• Cabins, Rooms and Tent camping options.
• Grilling area for those who want to cookout. (Note: We are not planning a club-organized cookout).
• Parking areas where we can keep an eye on our bikes.
• Dates: Sometime between September 15th and October 15th.

The Road Run committee agreed to look at additional areas including:

• Canaan Valley Resort
• Deep Creek Lake Area
• Harpers Ferry
• Gettysburg






Post Meeting Note: We’ve already checked out these areas and didn’t come up with anything that met our requirements. However we’ve come up with a few potential places near Seneca Rock (About 15 miles from Smoke Hole) and Cacapon Resort Park near Berkley Springs, WV. We also looked at places near Luray, VA. Mike, Rollo and I will be making a reconnaissance trip this weekend to review the candidates near Seneca Rocks and Berkley Springs. We hope to have news before the next official club meeting.

Several of the resorts we’re reviewing have multiple bedrooms units allowing the sharing of the spaces and costs. The place we end up with should have several choices of comfort, amenities and costs.


Rollo reminded us that we have lost our chase truck driver last year. We’ll need to come up with a replacement.


Post Meeting Note: Mike, Rollo and I held another planning meeting on Wednesday and discussed this matter. We may have come up with a volunteer. More to follow at the next meeting. However, it wouldn’t hurt to have a second chase truck. Let us know if you have someone that might have an interest.

Mike brought a sampling of Safety Vests and Lighting Batons that he is willing to share with the Chapter for the Road Run. They should come in handy if we need to direct traffic during one of our stops.


Oley Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet

We were reminded that Oley is May 28th, 29th and 30th this year. Make sure it’s on your calendar. I’m sure there will be a bunch of us heading up to PA this year.

Next Meeting

The next official Chapter Meeting is on Sunday April 17, 2011 at 10 AM. We’ll be meeting at the 29 North Restaurant in Warrenton.










Meeting Adjourned at 12:30 PM

We think this month’s meeting was very productive. Thanks to everybody that attended. Looking forward to seeing you all next month. We hope to have good news regarding the upcoming events. Stay tuned.

Best Regards,


Bob Nicholas, Secretary – Highlands Chapter, AMCA

March 24, 2011