Hello all! To all of you who missed the campout and museum visit in Birmingham, too bad! We had a great time. Good turn out and we have pictures (that might even be in sidetracks this month). Kathy surprised us all big time, she was not on the Rebel Sidecar rig, but on the Electra Glide rig! Talk about a big jump. And yes, she did just fine, only scared me twice when she was riding in front me (and Art almost got run over by both if us when he forgot that sidecar rigs do not stop as fast as a Road King, so even experienced riders are not perfect). Very good Kathy, I am proud of you. Now if I could just get Theresa to learn how to ride… And I did not even blow out a brake light switch like I normally do! Now that is a good change!! Ok, back to the museum visit. As expected, there was where to much stuff to look at, but we tried (ok, I tried a little harder. Eddie hit is on the head when he said I was like a kid in a candy shop!). Noticed that every one else was outside, waiting on yours truly, except Frank, but he is old and impatient…he and Betty took an alternative way back. That and my cell phone kept ringing with reports in there whereabouts (we are in the foyer… now we are in the parking lot…I can take a hint, eventually). Had a great conversation with one of the museum docents, who was actually older than Frank! We looked and lusted over many of the bikes. Then as we were lusting over a Vincent, the docent dropped the bomb “wish I never sold my Black Shadow”, uh yep, this guy is/was a serious motorcyclist! Found out that when Mr. Barber wants to hear or ride one of these beasts, they have one hour to get it running or tell him why it is not operable! My kind of museum owner!!
They had a 1915 HD sidecar rig that he wanted to hear. Had not been started in years and is unrestored! After an oil change, plugs and points, it fired on the second kick. Said you could kill bugs with the smoke, but it ran fine and chugged around the parking lot nicely! Yeah, it was the rig in the museum with the pan underneath. Total loss oil systems do that (my Harleys don’t, thank you). I hope we go back again soon, in any event I will… The campground was packed! Apparently, there was some sort of school holiday going on, kids everywhere. A bunch of sidecars definitely got the attention of many of the campers. Art, Kathy, Katie and I took US 280 through Alabama to US 80 (and SR 96) and headed home. Yes, we had a big time! Some more of you all might really want to start thinking of attending these. Got a note from Bill that he did not know about it, we failed to put this on the web! Well, didn’t know folks were using the web page like that, so we will make every try to keep the ride schedule up on the web. Our next function will be the Christmas party. We are doing some things different this year, so please watch for details in this issue of Sidetracks. The campout the following weekend goes hand in hand with the Party and will be at Indian Springs State Park. They have lots of cabins, 2 good campgrounds and not to far from where most of you all live (almost in my back yard!). On top of that some of the best bar-b-que in the state is right up the road from the campground. Please peruse Sidetracks for further details! If you come down to the campout, don’t forget your ceramic heaters, they work really well!
What, you say it is getting too cold to ride! Shoot, most of us have fully dressed bikes with sidecars. Just hide behind the fairing, bundle up and go riding, that is what I do. Ok, I cheat, Gerbing is my friend. I plug in too! As you all know, this is my favorite time of year to ride. Not too hot, I can get warm and air-cooled bikes run sooo good, I get excited just thinking about it. Red loves it! The “new” dresser and the Beemer appear to care less, but they do have the hot alternators, so they will get ridden a lot this season. If you do decide to go for a ride, remember that cold is as devastating to your abilities as heat, you just don’t realize it as fast, so as always, be careful! And also remember, the colder the better to be seen because the folks in the cars will say “look at that fool on the motorcycle, he must be freezing his
That is really all I have for this issue. Just remember too look for details on the Christmas Party and Campout elsewhere in sidetracks. Would love to see everybody at both events! Read on and you’ll soon see why! Besides the fact that we really like seeing everybody more than once or twice a year! (hint, hint).
Well that is all I have, and that is probably a good thing as my Internet connection at home is down and I am having to send this from work. They prefer I do my job there for some reason. See you all soon.
James
A big thanks to all who showed up for the weekend at the Fitzpatrick Hotel in Washington, GA. The weather was wonderful, the locals were friendly, helpful and glad to see us, and everyone had a great time. We toured the town, toured the Callaway Plantation, and toured the Second Time Around farm operated by Vicki Moses. She raises show Llamas among many other animals. The next campout will be at Indian Springs State Park between Atlanta and Macon in Flovilla, GA. It will be the weekend of Dec. 17-19. That is the weekend after our Christmas Party.
Eddie
As I begin to put together this issue of Sidetracks I believe that it is going be a rather portly edition. We have some great input form our members and friends. Thanks to all that took the time to submit something. Be sure to check out the information on the Georgia Sidecar Club 2004 Christmas party and Eddie’s Middle Friday Campout that falls on the following weekend.
Kathy, Katie and I attended both the Weekend Getaway in September and Eddie’s Middle Friday Campout in October. We had a great time at both. The October Campout featured a ride to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum In Birmingham. If you enjoy motorcycles, then it is a must see! There are close to 900 machines in the collection, with over 500 on display. 99% of all bikes in the museum can be run within one hour. There are only a few machines in which mechanical components have not been located or fabricated. We got to relive our youth as we found machines that marked the milestones of our past. I even found a pristine example of the first bike that I owned. Ahhh, the memories… I guess we all walked through the displays gazing with child-like wonder, but I thought we might have to drag James out by the heels! The weather was a bit cool on Friday night, but overall it was great. And of course, being sidecarists, there were the restaurants… There were 11 people, 8 Sidecar rigs, and one solo bike in attendance. In addition to the Rhoades family we had Georgia Sidecar Club members Frank and Betty Cabeza, Carl, Eddie, James, Kevin Klages (from West Virginia!), Bob Heilman, and perspective member Udo Reif from Blairsville, GA.
Ride safe, Art
Editor’s note: The following report on the Canadian Sidecar Club’s 2004 Rally was “borrowed” from the August 2004 issue of the Northeast 3 Wheelers Newsletter. It is by Dale Cochran. Dale is not only the Event Coordinator for the Northeast 3 Wheelers & USCA MA Rep, but also a member, albeit long distance, in good standing of the Georgia Sidecar Club.
Ten of our members managed to travel up to the scenic Thousand Islands region of Ontario, where we joined over one hundred other sidecar enthusiasts at the Canadian National Sidecar Rally. Ron and Millie, Butch and Mae, Don Nolin and myself traveled together, while Barry Stafford, Mike Thompson and Wayne and Bev Riedel joined us at the Rally. Once on our way, we spent our first night in Ravena, NY, at the home of Butch’s brother, where we were treated to a delicious chicken barbecue with all the fixings. Our second night was spent in Lowville, NY in an inexpensive, [but clean] $25.00-a-night motel, which was located in the middle of Amish farm country. Each room had only one channel on the TV & no air conditioning, [Sorry, Butch] but the scenery was fantastic. Day 3 finally got us to the Rally, but not before we went through Customs twice. After a 20 minute wait to clear Customs into Canada, it seems we turned into the wrong duty-free store and the only exit put us back on the U.S. side of Customs, so we had to do it all over again. After arriving at the Rally, we no sooner set up camp before the rains came. The thunderstorms were severe Friday night into Saturday morning and the rain continued most of the day. Finally, the rain ended late Saturday afternoon, which enabled us to enjoy our dinner in downtown Kingston. Later that evening, we had a chance to renew old Friendships around the campfire. Sunday turned out to be a great day! We had a chance to look at all the Neat rigs, kick some tires and meet some interesting people. In the afternoon, we were treated to a great boat cruise of the Thousand Islands area, followed by a delicious buffet on the docks. Sunday night, we enjoyed another great campfire as well as the awards presentations & closing ceremonies. Monday morning, we said our farewells, broke camp and headed for home via Wolf’s Island and the ferry to Cape Vincent, NY. Barry and Mike decided to take it easy and arrived home on Tuesday. I enjoyed this Rally very much, but then again, anytime I can check out that many sidecar outfits in one place, it makes me happy!
Keep the third wheel down… Dale
Believe we have solved the "Mystery" surrounding the above questionable Eddie George. Our scenario goes something like this, Eddie bought an advance ticket for the rally, upon discovering he would be unable to attend and being the grand person that he is offer the ticket to that known "Low life-scoundrel-cheap skate" Carl Schantz!!!! Who then proceeded to impersonate "EDDY GEORGE" apparently to the detriment of his "Eddy’s" good name and character. NUFF SAID!!
"WAKE" & Candy (via Email)
ps; We refrained from calling the State Police but will leave it up to the GSC to decide if any action should be taken? Or MR. George himself?
The Christmas Party will be held at the Kennesaw Diner on December 11th beginning at 6:00pm. There will be a party menu with several choices of entrees. The Georgia Sidecar Club will once again pick up the tab! As we all know, we have thousands of men in women of the Armed Forces serving in Iraq. With that in mind, Eddie George proposed that this year instead of exchanging gifts, that each person bring a gift for a child. All of those in attendance at the Weekend Getaway and at the Birmingham Campout were in agreement. It is a fine way to show our appreciation, to at least one family for their sacrifice. A family of 3 children, in Perry, GA, along with their cousins, has been chosen as our “extended family”. They are under the care of their grandmother while their mother serves our country in Iraq. On Saturday of the December Middle Friday Campout (December 18, 2004), the Georgia Sidecar Club will take the kids and their grandmother out to lunch and give them the gifts. If you are unable to attend the Christmas party but would like to contribute a gift, then send it to Eddie, as he will carry the gifts from the party. If you wrap your gift be sure to mark it with the appropriate age. Not sure what to get? Gift cards to Wal-Mart, Sears, Old Navy etc. would work great. Lunch will be at Cheddar’s Restaurant in Warner Robins, GA @ 2:00pm. If you can attend, be sure to bring along extra helmets in case that some of our guests might like a sidecar ride. Kids ages:
Well I can’t believe it but I did it, I got my motorcycle license. I’ve wanted to try to ride for quite some time. A few years ago I took the riders course in Macon, GA. I was really enthusiastic about learning how to ride as through the years I had met so many women who ride and I figured if they can do it so can I. The class was going to be 3 days. The first night we went over the manual front to back. The next day we would practice in the parking lot learning maneuvers.
Well that day was not one of my best days as I left the class in the afternoon. I had dropped the bike twice and the instructor had asked me if I had had enough. I left with my head down and my pride hurt. After that I was convinced that I wasn’t one of those women who ride. Well about a year and a half ago my husband started looking at small bikes. He was thinking that maybe I could try again. I was all for it and we found a 2001 Honda Rebel in very good condition with only a little over 3,000 miles on it. The woman who owned it had bought it for the very same reason, to learn how to ride. The bike was just my size so we bought it. Riding solo is harder than it looks. Between the clutch and the throttle and the brake and trying to keep the bike up and ride straight there is so much you have to think about. I practiced a few times around our neighborhood and I was doing all right when I tried to get up my driveway and I lost my balance and dropped the bike. Well here I go again as I lost my nerve to learn and it the process hurt my left wrist. I did not get back on the bike. It was approaching a year and I was just going to have my husband sell the bike when he came up with a great plan. He had been looking on the Internet at different sidecars that might be appropriate for my bike as it is small. My husband found a sidecar called a Cozy that is made in India. It’s a cute sidecar that looks kind of like a bullet. Before he bought it he asked me that if he were to put one on would I ride it. Well it didn’t take me long to answer his question as I knew I would ride my bike with the sidecar. I knew I would feel more confident as I wouldn’t have to worry about putting my feet down or having to lean on turns. So my husband went and ordered the sidecar. He had found a company in Texas that ships the sidecars out of a warehouse. There were some shipping problems and it didn’t get here when it was suppose to but it did finally get here. The sidecar came in a wooden crate that my husband had to take apart board by board. My husband had to fabricate mounts to put the sidecar on the Honda as the hardware that came with the sidecar was designed for a Vespa scooter. Well it took him a while to perfect how he wanted it done but the final results were fantastic. He did a great job and I couldn’t wait to take it for a test drive. I practiced around our subdivision for a while before I went on the main roads. The first time I went on a main road I went to a friend’s house with my husband following behind me on the Road King. With him watching my back I felt confident. My first run out was a success and after I read the motorcycle manual 3 times I went for my learners permit. I didn’t tell my husband I was going because I wanted to do this on my own and I wanted it to be a surprise. I was very nervous taking the test but I prevailed and passed. I was so excited now I was legal to ride on the roads. We trailered the Honda to the Howdy Summer Rally so we could show it off and I could ride some of those twisty roads to get some practice. Still being a newbie I was very cautious and careful. Everyone at the rally got a kick out of my rig. Gary even used it for his tech talk. He told Art that he had done a great job setting it up. I won my first award getting 2nd place at the bike show. Well during the summer I rode my bike quite a bit to practice for my road test.
I work at an elementary school and when school started I would ride the rig to work. People get such a kick out of it especially the kids. They can’t believe that I ride and they think it’s so cool.
The reason my husband wanted me to learn to ride so that when we go on trips I would ride our Harley with a California Friendship III sidecar (Old Blue is what we call her) and he would ride solo on the Road King. Old Blue is a lot bigger than my Honda rig and a lot heavier. Eddie George arranged a weekend at a hotel in Washington, GA for our club to go and stay for the weekend. This trip was going to be my longest ride, plus doing it on Old Blue. Before going on the trip I did practice on Old Blue, which was such a big difference than riding my Honda. I guess now I was ready. I was so nervous that my stomach was doing triple flip-flops. We left our house around 4:30 and headed to Macon via the Interstate, which I had only rode on twice before. We exited off Interstate 16 and headed into 5:00 traffic. I say that I did pretty good for all the traffic there was. Old Blue is pretty big but it’s not that bad to ride once I got the hang of it. The ride to the hotel was a beautiful one as it was a pleasant night weather-wise and the scenery was nice. We arrived at our destination Washington, GA around 7:30 only to find that our friends from the club had gone on a ride to supper. The hotel we were staying at was the Fitzpatrick and let me tell you it is a beautiful hotel. It is a old hotel that was first built in the late 1890’s that was run down and a bunch of people got together and restored it to it’s original luster. It was a wonderful place to stay. The managers of the hotel were friendly and hospitable. After we checked in the hotel we walked across the street to have supper. We finally met up with Eddie, Cindy, Frank and Betty as they came back from supper. Carl and Carol were staying at a B&B not too far away and had gone there instead of coming to the hotel. The six of us and our daughter Katie ended up playing a fun domino game called the Mexican Train Game. Eddie thought he could cheat at this game but our daughter showed him as she won every game we played.
Saturday morning we all met down in the lobby and headed to a local restaurant for breakfast. The women decided that after breakfast we would go back to the hotel to do some shopping in town. The town of Washington is a small but quaint town and had some neat shops to look in. After shopping we all had lunch and then headed to the Callaway Plantation. After the plantation we headed to this bar that is owned by a lady that (Eddie found out from his friend Joe) liked sidecars so we stopped for a soda and to talk sidecars.
Georgia Sidecar Club members Mike and Brenda Wilkinson from Tennessee had arrived a day early, and unfortunately had to leave Saturday morning due to a family function. Members John and Audrey Klimbach from Conyers stopped in on Saturday afternoon on their beautifully restored 1976 BMW/Velorex rig. They went to lunch while we went to the plantation however, due to some miscommunication we did not see them again before they headed home that afternoon.
After the plantation we had an appointment to tour the small farm called Second Time Around that Carl and Carol were staying at. The owner, Vicki owns and shows llamas. She also has on her farm goats, pigmy sheep, donkeys, a miniature horse, pot bellied pigs, cats, dogs and a macaw. Our daughter loved it as she got to get up close to most of the animals. Vicki was a great hostess and all of us had a wonderful time.
After that it was time to head back to the hotel for our 7:00 reservation at the restaurant in the hotel. Dinner was fantastic and it was a great way to end a good day. The weather was perfect and so was the company. After Carl and Carol left we all ended up playing the Train game for the rest of the evening. Eddie still couldn’t find a way to cheat so unknown to all us adults our daughter kicked butt again. All weekend we were watching the weather and Sunday morning looked like hurricane Jeanne was going to head our way so we headed back home fairly early. The ride was a little cool but it was a nice ride. Overall the weekend was awesome and we all had a terrific time. The club will have to make this an annual thing as we really enjoyed ourselves. I really enjoyed it myself because riding on my own is something I always wanted to do and now I did. The total miles for the weekend were 276 miles. I might ride to Eddie’s campout to the Barber museum in Alabama, which will be a lot longer trip. I really love riding and I am so glad that now I can ride on my own. Even though I can ride Old Blue I still ride the Honda quite a bit. I ride it whenever I can. If you are reading this and you’ve always wanted to learn how to ride my advice is do it because it is a lot of fun.
Kathy Rhoades