Congratulations to Kay Arnold for winning the Attendance Jackpot at our April meeting. The winner of the 50/50, which was $57.00, was Jimmy Stephens. Don't forget our May 20th meeting this month. We will be serving dinner again so everyone come hungry.

Rene' Durham
Secretary/Treasurer,
Atlanta Chapter, H.O.G.

LADIES OF HARLEY'S REPORT

New Hot-line Number!  770-908-3435

JUNE 12-13th

Join us for an Old Fashioned Ball Game watching the Macon Braves play the Charleston River Dogs. You don't have to take out a loan to see a Baseball game (Only $5).

Game starts at 7:00 PM. We have reserved rooms at the Quality Inn just north of the Ballpark behind Hooters for $43. Be sure to call and make your reservations before May 15th and be sure to mention Atlanta Chapter H.O.G. Chapter to get this rate. Quality Inn 912-474-4000.

You may return to Atlanta that evening after the game for those not able to stay the night, but the game is not over until approximately 10:30 or 11 PM.

Ride Safe and Have Fun
Ginger Gardiner
Ladies of Harley Safety Officer,
Atlanta Chapter, H.O.G.

SAFETY OFFICER'S REPORT

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that took part in the Andersonville Ride. It was a great ride but "man", it was sure cold. We had lunch at Yoder's Deitsch Haus in Montezurna. It was great homemade food at a very reasonable price. After complaining about eating too much, we rode the remaining fifteen miles to Andersonville. I was proud of the way everyone held formation and look forward to leading the Poole BBQ Run this summer.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports the number of fatalities for motorcycle accidents has declined, making it the ninth year in a decade to see fewer accidents than ever before. Forty-one percent of the accidents were said to be speeding.

That brings us to the issue of wearing helmets. A helmet is your best protection in an accident. Always make sure yours is DOT approved. Some of us wear non DOT approved headgear. They look cool, but provide very little or no protection. I know this is a sensitive subject by HEY! I'm the Safety Officer and I've got to point out these things. So wear a DOT approved lid and ride safe.

Jimmy H. Stephens
Safety Officer,
Atlanta Chapter, H.O.G.

Ride Reports

Laprade's Success!

The Laprades ride was a great success. We had 43 folks and 32 bikes along for the trip which started out under heavy clouds. After having to stop almost right away to put on rain gear, the weather lifted not more than 5 miles up the road and the day got progressively better, eventually becoming nothing less than beautiful. GA 197 was spectacular, offering up the Soque River with its scenic falls at the Mark of the Potter, and of course Lake Burton. Our day featured probably 150+ curves of varying degrees offering some good experience for all. Laprade's was delicious (Paul, you missed it!!) and plentiful as well. The trip home along US 76 and GA 17/75 into Helen continued the curve practice (good warm up for Gatlinburg) and GA 400 was routine until exit 16 where we were detoured off of the road due to a 5 acre grass fire. Eventually traffic got so backed up, that several of us went back north to GA 369 and went over to I-575 to access I-75, so we're changing the name of this ride from the Laprade's Lunch Ride to the North GA Tour!!!

I would like to compliment all of the riders on this ride from my vantage point it seemed that everyone maintained the correct interval all of the time and safety was never an issue. We looked as if we all had been riding together for a long time...good job everyone!!!! And, thanks too, for making my job easy!

Doing The Charleston!

The Charleston trip was a blast. My only regret was that it was to short to see or do a lot of things that the city has to offer. I guess we have a good reason to go back, which I hope we will. So to Eddie and Chris, again a big thanks for setting up this trip. Our accommodations were great! Especially the underground parking that the Springhill Suites had to offer. I think everyone enjoyed the security that they felt with the bikes being out of site and covered. A great big thank you goes to Alison Mull for her usual sparkling job of arranging all that. I know rooms were a big worry and Alison, you were able to minimize that for all of us. Not only did we all have rooms, we had dam nice ones!

About half of the group ate at California Dreaming on Friday night which was excellent, and the crowd was an interesting mix of bikers and college kids all dressed up for a formal. Another large group! led by Chris went over toward Mt. Pleasant and ate at the Charleston Crab House which was also excellent. Saturday we had cool overcast weather for our two rides, which were good, One along the beaches and the other through the low country. Following that, several folks went over to Patriot's Point to visit the USS Yorktown and were treated to a walking tour of that ship by our own Frank Regan, former Navy Pilot and history buff which I understand lent an atmosphere to the tour that money can't buy. Later in the day, the weather finally got sunny and warm for the dinner ride to Gilligan's over near the Isle of Palms. We gave away some goodies (with Mattson Houghton assisting with the number drawing. Thanks bud!) Including a dinner, two rooms and a couple of T-shirts while we all stuffed ourselves on seafood. I really enjoyed the fried shrimp. After taking the group back to the hotel several of us returned to town to walk around a bit and try the Ghost Walk. The stories were very interesting, but the tour was not quite what I had anticipated based on what friends had told me what their experience had been. Maybe I chose the wrong tour company or perhaps was a bit too tried to get into it, but something seemed missing.

The ride down and back was extremely fast and I am guessing everyone arrived safely back in Atlanta, but perhaps really tired. The other thing of note is that everyone's bike made the trip without any brake downs that I know of, a friend of mine has a T-Shirt that asks, "if HD made airplanes, would you fly in one? Of recent years, I think I could say yes to that one, (it should be noted this guy's BMW spent three weeks in the shop when his tranny went out at 23,000 miles-so much for flight safety!! eh? All in all, a great trip and a lot of fun!!

Chapter Ride To Mentone, Alabama June 19^th

On Saturday, June 19, there will be a Chapter "day ride" to Mentone Alabama which will include a buffet lunch at the Mentone Springs Hotel (food is good!). Our ride will take us through northwest Georgia and into the beautiful hills of northeast Alabama. Mentone is situated on the "west brow" of the Southern Appalachian mountain range and is a very small, old historic, get away locale where the wealthy went for a respite from the summer heat of lower Alabama. A large portion of our ride will take us through Cave Springs, Summerville, and Cloudland via GA Hwy. 100 which is very scenic and provides some nice curving roads.

Following lunch at the hotel ($7.95 per person), we will travel south and will stop (almost right after leaving the hotel) at DeSoto Falls for a look at the spectacular waterfall and give everyone a few moments to take some pictures. Depending on our time, we might also do a small side detour to Little River Canyon. Then we'll continue south through Ft. Payne and across Lake Weiss to Centre, Al and proceed home through Piedmont and Cedartown. The day consists of some 260 miles, so plan on a full day, returning to the dealership around 6:00 PM.

Meeting Place/Time: HD Atlanta at 9:00 AM, sign in, safety briefing, route coverage. Please arrive with a full tank of fuel. Departure: 9:30 AM, Return: 6:00 PM.

SPECIAL NOTES:

1. The parking lot at the Mentone Springs Hotel is packed gravel, you may want to bring a firm "footer" to go under your jiffy stand.

2. Don't forget to bring a camera.

Lunch Ride To Helen Sunday, June 27^th

On Sunday, June 27^th we will have a chapter lunch ride to the Bravarian Village in Helen, GA, which is nestled in the north Georgia mountains. Lunch will be at Cafe' International which features a large deck sitting area right on the Chattahoochee River, providing a very scenic backdrop for lunch. Typical prices for lunch entrees are around $7.00.

The particular route for this outing demands and bit of riding experience and will take us from Dahlonega through Suches (home of the Two Wheels Only motel) and cross GA Hwy 180, put Lake Winfield Scott and through the area known as Wolf Pen Gap. You must be ready to handle quite a few curves, many of them of a decreasing radius nature (hairpins). This 25 mile long portion of the ride, along Hwy 180, will bring us out at GA Hwy 17/75, which will take us into Helen. There are several curves on this route as well.

Our return trip will take us out via the Richard Russell scenic highway (GA Hwy 348) and then down US 19/129 into Dahlonega. and down GA 400 to out start point. We should have a great time and a lot of fun.

Again, this is not a ride for the inexperienced rider or one who is still adapting to a new bike. Come rested and mentally ready to ride!

Meeting Place/Time 10:00 AM, Parking Lot of JC Penny at Perimeter Mall (I-285 at Ashford Dunwoody Road). Arrive with a full tank of gas...there is an Exxon AT the mall.

Safety Briefing/Route: 10:00 AM TO 10 30 AM- Departure: 10:30 AM.

Ride Leader: Tom Sigerfoos 770-971-4467

See April HOGWASH for 1999 MRCRSS and ERC Schedule

See April HOGWASH for Kiss-A-Pig Registration Form

1999 Tentative Events Schedule
Atlanta Chapter, H.O.G.

March 1999

April 1999

May 1999

June 1999

July 1999

August 1999

September 1999

October 1999