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 334 Members Riding Strong as of August 1, 2008 |
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History of American Eagle HOG Chapter
Year Four (2005) narrative
by Jo Anne Mims
The American Eagle HOG chapter started the year 2005 with a new slate of officers. A few of them carried over in their same positions from the prior year and some carried over in new positions, but, overall, it was a new team of leaders for the chapter. The officer group was:
Don Riley Director Tony Madsen Assistant Director Dave Gan Treasurer Marybeth Linich Secretary Mike Schaneman Activities Officer Rebecca Lane Ladies of Harley Officer Glenn Coleman Editor Art Fleming Webmaster Kim Christopher Membership Officer Mike Howell Historian Mike Wylie Photographer David Barnes Head Road Captain Bill Bending Safety Officer Karen Riley Merchandise Officer
January 1st the third annual Brass Monkey Ride was held. The weather was cold but it didn’t stop 70 motorcycles from participating. The ride started from the AEHD dealership and headed to the first stop for lunch. Special thanks to Ted and Marybeth Linich and Kevin and Penny Diamond for inviting us into their homes. Not to forget some of the awards at 2004 Christmas party....Long Flyer Mileage Award winners: Women's Division: 1st place, Fran Waller, 19,364, 2nd place, Rebecca Lane, 16,672 and 3rd place, Therese Davenport, 16, 331. The Men's Division: 1st place, Glen Christopher, 42,169, 2nd place, Dave Gan, 35,008 and 3rd place, Don Pliler at 33, 800. Congrats! The combined mileage of the 42 members who reported their mileage for 2004 was 511,425 miles!
On January 8th the first chapter meeting of the year was followed by the chapter pool tournament on January 15th. We had 17 new members for January.
The chapter chili cook-off was held January 22nd with seven teams. Congrats goes to Big Tony and Ken Herring for winning the "Judges Award" and to Don Riley, Ted Linich and Bill Bending for winning the Peoples' Choice Award. They will be representing A. E. HOG in the regional chili cook-off February 26th at Duck Inn in Lake Dallas. A.E.HOG won that in 2005. The LOH hosted a bake sale during the Chapter Chili Cook off and raised $125 in donations.
On February 19th, LOH headed to Kingston, OK for a lunch ride and February 25th marked the 5th Annual Southwest Regional HOG Chili Bowl at Tierney's Duck Inn, which was hosted by our Chapter because we won the 2004 cookoff.
We had 11 new members join in February.
On March 5th we held our Chapter meeting and had a Spring Mystery Ride. We had 11 new members for March.
On March 12th we went to Archer City for a Saturday ride and through out the month our chapter participated in the Dallas HOG St. Patty's Day Run, Panther Creek HOG Easter Egg Run and some went to the Louisiana State HOG Rally.
Happy 3rd Birthday to our Chapter. The charter was officially issued on March 14th, 2002.
April 8th thru the 10th the AEHOG 3rd annual Wildflower Ride to the Texas Hill Country was a great success with almost 70 folks, we had a great time in Fredericksburg.
On April 30th, the AEHOG Pass the Pigs III benefiting the Scottish Rites Hospital was a huge success with beautiful weather and lots of bikers. We all met up at Thunderhorse Saloon in Lewisville for some bike games and at the end of the day, $2840 was raised for the hospital.
We start our month of May with a chapter meeting on May 7th and have 53 more new members. We are truly growing strong. We had a guest speaker, Valerie Ledterman, HOG Region 6 manager. Valerie oversees HOG chapter operations and state rallies in TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL and FL. The Texas and Arkansas State HOG Rallies are two of the biggest in the country based on attendance. The American Eagle dealership celebrated it's 3rd birthday and the LOH chapter ran a soda booth during the bike contest.
It was quite the ride to Corpus Christi for the Texas State HOG rally on May 12-14th. How about them Love Bugs. A few bikes needed a bath. AEHOG distinguished itself by running a highly successful bike games at the rally.
The Run to Ruidoso on the weekend of May 28th was a wonderful way to gather Lone Star Challenge points but the first day was met with 8 hours of rain. Who says they don't like a challenge.
June began with a great trip called the NOT ROT Ride for some LSC points, the group rode east toward Sabine National Forest leaving June 4th for a total of 760 miles in two days. We added 22 new members this month.
On June 18th, the riders took off on a ride called the Smokey Mountain Rendezvous. This was a 9 day ride from Texas to Memphis, TN for the first stop, then on to Lynchburg,TN for a stop at the Jack Daniel's Distillery. Hey, we know how to pick the places. Then they proceeded on to ride the Tail of the Dragon and home thru North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. I guess you could call that the scenic route home totaling over 2600 miles.
July 9th was our chapter meeting, we have added 10 more members. The 3rd annual AEHOG Summer Picnic was set for July 30th and the LOH enjoyed a day trip to Hillbilly Heaven on the Brazos on July 16th. On July 23rd, many Road Captains participated in a class and training ride. The goal was to sharpen skills, answer some questions, and figure out safer ways to lead all of the AE HOG members to the various events and rides.
On to August, for the Slider's Ride to Oklahoma City-Part Deaux. This ride is fast becoming one of the most favorite rides we do.
The AE HOG 2005 Bug Run was set for August 20th. We had a wonderful turn out and with the registrations, anonymous donations and the money from the 50/50, AE HOG was able to raise almost $1,000 for Scottish Rites Hospital. We had over 50 folks register and the big winner for the night was David Barnes for the Most Bug Splats, Rick Kasper for Biggest Bug Splat, Marvin Waller for Most Intact Bug and Jerri Barnes for Fewest Bug Splats...just like a girl to be neat and tidy...
The LOH had a wonderful Swim party hosted at Marybeth Linich's home on August 7th and spent time on August 13th volunteering at the North Texas Food Bank.
Time again for our September chapter meeting on September 10th. On September 15-17th a group attended the Arkansas State HOG Rally and on that Sunday, the LOH group rode to Kingston, OK for a Sunday lunch ride.
October is off to a great start with 88 new members. The LOH group rode over to Lake Murray for a weekend trip while others participated in the Dallas HOG Lone Star Run. October 6-8th, a group took off for the Oklahoma State HOG Rally but the best was yet to come.
The third Annual Fall Leaf ride followed a route that has become a tradition through parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas on October 28-30th. A wonderful time was had by all even if we missed some of the color. A new rocker came out of the ride, right Stitch? and at the end of the ride all were heard saying, "It's Bobby's Fault" but I'll never tell. Come with us next year and see for yourself.
November 5th was our chapter meeting and the beginning of the Toy Run season. Our chapter members participated in 4 toy runs during Novermber and December including the Teddy Bear Run on November 6th, Motor Cops for Kids Toy Run November 20th, Lewisville Toy Run December 3rd and ending with the Big Texas Toy Run which is by far the largest one of it's kind in the United States. The LOH chapter spent time on November 12th decorating the dealership tree and getting organized for wrapping gifts for donations.
The Holiday party was held at the Radisson in Denton and turned out to be a great success on December 10th. The band, Souldoubt, kept the dance floor full, the food, and the friendship was off the charts and even some odd door prizes of Moonshine were given out. We had 20 new members for December.
What an incredible year 2005 was with record growth and getting to see miles and miles of not only Texas but many other states. For 2005 we had a wonderful response to the Long Flyer participation. The top women riders were Rebecca Lane with 22, 545 miles, second place goes to Jerri Barnes with 17, 047 and Stephani Spruill came in with 16,162 to capture third place. The top men riders were Dave Gan with 43,225 miles, Glen Christopher with second place and 39,100 miles and Leroy Kotula with 31,422 in third place. It took a lot of work by a lot of AEHOG members to make all these and many other events a success, thank you and congratulation to all.