Chapter AB-A (Calgary) NewsletterText by: Kim Coubrough T his story is not for the faint of heart and it certainly isn’t a feel good story. It’s however, a true story that needs

Coming Events

Sep 15 Monthly Meeting Oct 14 Monthly Meeting

(Tuesday due to Thanksgiving)

Text by: Kim Coubrough

T his story is not for the faint of heart and it certainly isn’t a feel good story. It’s however, a true story that needs to be told. So if you don’t think you

are up to the task, turn the page. This story takes place in 1980 in a small north-ern B.C. town called Vanderhoof, a logging town on the banks of the Nechako River, some 60 miles west of Prince George. It’s the story of a young man who was taken from us in the sunrise of his life. His name was Darwin Chomas. Darwin and I grew up together as child hood friends, and as child hood friends we would wonder about the future and what lies in store

for us down the road. During those times we could never have imaged the horror that was to be his fate. Darwin like all kids I suppose, had his share of troubles, unfortunately it was made worse by the abusive nature of his father. So when Dar-win turned 13 he left school and Vanderhoof and headed to northern Alberta to live with distant relatives. He tried to get back into some kind of normal life, but that was not to be. Darwin and school were like oil and water. Not a good mix. So when he was 16 he dropped out of school and did what I suspect a lot of young people did back then. He went to work on the oil rigs. The world of big bucks and easy money is a

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Gold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders AssociationGold Wing Road Riders Association Chapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter ABChapter AB------------A (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) NewsletterA (Calgary) Newsletter

September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008September, 2008

Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing Wing MMMTTT L L LASSENASSENASSEN V V VOLCANICOLCANICOLCANIC N N NATATAT’’’LLL P P PARKARKARK INININ C C CALIFORNIAALIFORNIAALIFORNIA www.goldwingcalgary.comwww.goldwingcalgary.comwww.goldwingcalgary.com

What’s Inside Camera Bugs & Wander Lust ...........2 Semi Truck Demonstration...............4 Travel Pics...................................................6 Safety First..................................................8 News & Notices........................................9 Classifieds ...............................................10 Calgary Area Staff Listing ..............10

Wing Wag September, 2008 Page 2

Text by Lisa Miller Every extended family has at least one camera bug in their midst. These are the people who chart their family’s progress through the years. They record the people, places, and things of life. In my family that person was my grandfa-ther, to a lesser extent my father, and for the last 25 years my husband Colin. Growing up, one of the rituals of our family gath-erings was watching the travel photos of my grandparents. Within the first day or two of a visit out would come the projectors, both for the still slides and for the Super 8 movies and the big shiny screen. Then hours would be spent going through both with a running commentary provided by my grandfather, and the occasional shadow puppet show between slides. A similar situation is still in play within our family to this day but mostly with Colin’s parents. Each visit involves photos from each others most recent trips with the obligatory, “Oh you missed that—too bad—that really was the highlight of the trip” form of one-up-manship bantered back and forth. About now you are probably wondering what I am babbling on about but if you bear with me I think you will understand. An interesting thing has been happening at the last few chapter meetings. Chapter members have been standing up and sharing stories about their recent trips, most on their motorcycles, but we have also heard from two members who had taken a trip to Antarctica. Sometimes the mem-bers have just talked about their trip weaving a verbal picture for the listener to translate in their mind much like listening to a radio play. Others have shared photos, occasionally numbering in the hundreds, and every one of them a story in itself. I have to tell you that I have loved these meet-ings, listening and watching, remembering past road-trips or dreaming about future ones, but always inspired. In me it stimulates a deep wan-der lust and a fabulous sense of memory. Lis-tening to Alex and Shaun Middleton and Brian

and Rose Perrin talking about their respective trips to Arizona this summer and their refer-ences to the town of Gerome made me remem-ber my first trip there in 1984 and I started to think maybe it is time to go back. Hearing Jim and Dorothy Baker talking, and watching the pic-tures from their trip down to New Mexico and the Four Corners area had me thinking about our trip there three years ago and confirmed my de-sire to travel more extensively around Colorado. Bob Van nes’s description of his trip to the east-ern states and tour of the Honda Motorcycle plant reminded me how much I want to travel to the eastern parts of Canada and the United States. Seeing the fabulous photos of Eric Rob-erts and Gilles Fournier’s trip to Antarctica made we wish I felt adventurous enough to follow in their footsteps—maybe some day. As I think about it these people are also chroni-cling our GWRRA family’s travels and sharing them with us is much like those hours spent in front of my grandfather’s projection screen and with just as much enjoyment and yes—envy. The one-up-manship is still present although a little more subdued but with a lot more people partici-pating. A big advantage now it that sometimes I have been there, and for those places I haven’t seen yet I know that given enough time—and money—I will get there. The older I get the greater is my wander lust but also the greater the means and ability to follow in others foot-steps or tire tracks. As GWRRA family members we also have more people to rely on to tell us what we shouldn’t miss and what we should, and then to share our adventures with when we re-turn. A trip to the Chapter website provides a great opportunity to view the photos from other GWRRA camera bugs and with this edition I hope to expand that sharing with the “Travel Pics” sec-tion on page 6. Please send me a photo or two with interpretive captions to wingwag @ te-

lus.net. It doesn’t matter when you took the trip just that you did and that you have captured something you think is worth sharing with the group. WW WW WW WW WW WW WW WW


hard demon to fight when you are 16 years old. It didn’t take Darwin long to figure out that this is where he wanted to be. Unfortu-nately, this is also when fate kicked into over-drive. Large sums of money every two weeks, no real financial responsibilities, and the ea-gerness of youth to live hard, became a deadly combination for him. This is where I enter the story again. It was the last weekend in August in 1980 and the annual fall fair in Vanderhoof was in full swing. The youth group that I belong to at the time was busy volunteering at a food booth, flip-ping burgers and shuckin’ corn. A young stranger approached the booth and asked for me by name, he was lead around behind the booth to the grills where I was busy doing my best to impress the girls with my burger flip-ping techniques. It didn’t really have the ef-fect I wanted. But the stranger seamed to think it was pretty cool. “Hey Kim!” he called out to me; “Hey!” was my witty answer. “You don’t remember me do ya?” he said with a grin. “Holy shit—Darwin what are you doing here?” Before me was not the same physical profile of Darwin that I had remembered from days gone bye. This was a much larger and more rugged young man. Obviously the time spent on the rigs had turned a baby face kid into a more harden version of himself. Well, we took a couple of minutes and recount the highlights of our young lives. This is when I found out he was working on the rigs shovel-ling sludge (I had no idea at the time what sludge was) and he had bought a motorcycle. We didn’t get into great details, as my burgers were burning. We agreed that he should re-turn in a couple of hours when my shift was done and he and I would go for a ride on his motorcycle and catch-up on the past. That was the last time I ever saw Darwin. By late afternoon on that day, Darwin had not return to the fairground to pick me up. So I continued to work for the rest of the day sight-ing that he probable got tied up with his es-tranged family or something. Night time came, the fair shut down for the evening and I returned home with my parents. It wasn’t until the next day that I heard the horrible news.

Vanderhoof is located in a valley, and to the north and south the highways climb a hill to leave. From what we can figure out after he left the fairgrounds, which were located a dis-tance from the town; he decided to do a bit of sightseeing of the old world he used to call home. He was heading back into the valley when he came up on a second bike. On that Harley was a father and his young son. The two bikes rode side by side down the highway into the valley. From all accounts they were chatting back and forth, as best you can on bikes, when disaster stuck. The handle bars of the two bikes touched each other, and in a split second Darwin, the father and son combo, and the bikes were going down. At 60 or so kilometres an hour, the road comes to meet you very fast—as was the case here. As the bikes hit the ground, a gas tank ruptured throwing gasoline all over the road. The father and son were thrown into the ditch. Darwin was thrown onto the gas covered highway. Within a split second the fuel ignited and Dar-win was engulfed in flames. I won’t describe how it was told to me by the witnesses, but Darwin died there that day—and he didn’t die quickly. So why, after all this time have I decided to write this story. Well, that easy, I would like to think that Darwin did not die in vain, and that perhaps there is something we can learn from his death. As a Gold Winger, we ride in stag-gered formation; this story is a prime example of why that is so important. Every time I see two motorcycles traveling side by side—I just cringe—I know what can happen in a blink of an eye. Safety is everything, and on occasion we might think that it gets in the way of our having fun, but believe me, one moment of un-safe riding can change your life forever. So when you are out riding, let’s always put safety first. We all want to go home at the end of the day. WW WW WW WW WW WW WW WW

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Have you ever wondered why a large truck will turn into your lane causing you to hit the brakes? Come out to the truck demonstration and sit in the cab of a semi trailer unit and see what the drivers can see. Maybe you will change your driving habits when approaching a semi trailer. We have secured a semi truck and a location for the demonstration with the bikes and for that we extend a special Thank You to Kim Coubrough for setting up this demonstration. Here is what we have: Date: Saturday, September 6, 2008 Place: Calgary Co-op Parking lot. Monterey 700, 2220 - 68th Street NE (Corner of #1 and 68th street). Time: 10 am till noon and the Truck will be there at 9 am The Co-Op manager is behind us all the way. There is an A&W there and they have been informed that we are coming. They will be doing some advertising about this, as all of these bikes and a semi truck will attract some attention. We have sent an email to GWRRA head office to ask if there is a plan lay out for this dem-onstration, or do we just wing it (no pun intended). See you all there.



On the pier at Sayward on Vancouver Island, BC

Buffalo in the Black Hills of South Dakota.. A little too close

for comfort!

Photos by: Lisa Miller



Writers Wanted If you have a story about your recent mo-torcycle adventures we would love to share it with the other GWRRA members by publishing your story in the Wing Wag. Please email your stories to Lisa Miller at editor @ goldwing calgary.com 1020 Meridian Rd. N.E.

Calgary, AB T2A 2N8

If you are interested in attending any courses please contact Alex Middleton at rider education @ goldwing calgary.com to express your interest or for additional informa-tion. Scheduled Courses: ♦ None at this time.

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1. We all like to travel on our Gold Wings and one of the special things about travel is the memories we capture with our cameras. Why not share some of your favor-ite photos with other GWRRA members. Please send some of your favorite travel photos with a brief caption for the new section Travel Pics on page 6, please be sure to tell me who took the picture so credit can be given. Send your pictures to to wingwag @ telus.net in either .jpg or .gif format.

2.

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CALGARY AREA STAFF Chapter Directors Jim & Dorothy Baker (403) 285-0063 chapter director @ goldwing calgary.com

Assistant Gary & Susan Premech (403) 238-8478 Chapter Director assistant chapter director @ goldwing calgary.com

Quartermaster Brian Perrin (403) 241-7955 quartermaster @ goldwing calgary.com

Newsletter Editor Lisa Miller (403) 288-0845 editor @ goldwing calgary.com

Treasurer Darryl Snyder (403) 284-8425 treasurer @ goldwing calgary.com

Ride Coordinator Rod Banman (403) 208-8142 ride coordinator @ goldwing calgary.com

Rider Training Don Martin (403) 281-4687 rider training @ goldwing calgary.com

Rider Education Alex Middleton (403) 274-4223 rider education @ goldwing calgary.com

Rider Course Terry Burrell (403) 333-9914 Instructor rci @ goldwing calgary.com

Social Coordinators Carol Myers (403) 254-1649 social 1 @ goldwing calgary.com &

Susan Premech (403) 238-8478 social 2 @ goldwing calgary.com

Social Coordinator & Vi Banman (403) 208-8142 Membership social 4 @ goldwing calgary.com Enhancement Assistant

Membership Darryl Minsky (403) 286-9711 Enhancement webmaster @ goldwing calgary.com Coordinator & Webmaster

Classified AdsClassified AdsClassified AdsClassified Ads The Classified ads are free to all members and associates of the GWRRA. While advertised items do not have to be Gold Wing related, we do insist that all ads pertain to motorcy-cling. Ads will appear on a space available basis for one month. Should you wish to continue to run your ad for a sec-ond or succeeding month, you must resubmit or renew your ad. Deadline for submission is the 25th of the month pre-ceding publication. To post an ad or if the item is sold or the offer withdrawn, please contact Lisa Miller at: editor @ gold-wing calgary.com

CLASSIFIED ADS

AugustAugustAugustAugust 50/50 Winner50/50 Winner50/50 Winner50/50 Winner

Dorothy BakerDorothy BakerDorothy BakerDorothy Baker

GWRRA TOLL FREE NUMBER (CANADA & US) 1-800-843-9460

NATIONAL LEADERS Executive Director Melissa Nordeoff (623) 581-2500

Natl Dirs for Cdn Ops Ron & Carol Hodgson (403) 309-5001

Natl Rider Ed Director Dave Hay (205) 923-8664

Region J Directors Phil & Margaret Craven (250) 353-7108

District Directors Ross & Audrey Woolsey (780) 922-2670

NOTE: Email addresses in this publication are displayed in a manner that will deter automatic address harvesting programs. This step is taken to reduce unsolicited email to any email ad-dresses we post. We regret any inconvenience caused for our legitimate visitors. REMOVE ALL THE SPACES IN THE EMAIL ADDRESS TO MAKE IT WORK.


Monthly Meetings Monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Monday of each month. This is a time to share informa-tion and to meet old and new friends who like to ride together for FUN, Safety and Knowledge. See you at the next meeting at the Fox Hollow Golf Club, 9th Street and 32nd Avenue N.E. Dinner @ 6:30; Meeting at 7:00 PM.

Rain, snow or shine, we meet for breakfast every Sunday morning about 9 AM. This is a great year round way to stay in touch with your GWRRA friends. So, if you have missed the op-portunity to join us for breakfast recently, why don’t you come on over to the Fox Hollow Golf Club, 9th Street and 32nd Avenue N.E.

EVENT SCHEDULE

DAY/DATE EVENT AB-A SPONSOR

Sep 15 September Monthly Meeting Oct 14 October Monthly Meeting (Tuesday due to

Thanksgiving)

“Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge”

Come ride with us.…

…..Everyone Welcome! For the latest updates on what we are

doing and where we’re going, check out our website:

www.goldwingcalgary.com


Documents

Chapter AB-A (Calgary) NewsletterText by: Kim Coubrough T his story is not for the faint of heart and it certainly isn’t a feel good story. It’s however, a true story that needs