WHAT’S HAPPENING?

Since my last article so much has happened in Arizona. Bike week came and went. It seemed like we had a lot of winter visitors on bikes. I know of one friend of mine that came from North Dakota to thaw out a little. No different for this bike week in Arizona as compared to Sturgis. Set up to trailer it to Arizona and wa la, your bike is at bike week and you didn’t have to ride it all that way. I don’t know about you, but isn’t part of the fun in riding the thing. Maybe not with the gas prices the way they are, maybe it is best to just ship it.

The due date for this article I will be on my way to Run For The Wall. I have written about this in the past, so most of you are up to speed on what this is about. There is a DVD on Run For The Wall, so if you have interest, you can contact me, and I can hook you up. I now have copies of 2004, and 2005. The 2006 should be ready by November 1, 2006. If you haven’t been able to go on this run, try a copy of the DVD to wet your appetite to all that goes on with this incredible journey across country. This run is not for those of you that need to trailer your bike to Sturgis, Daytona, Laughlin, or any of the other large Rallies. To get to DC, with Run For The Wall you gotta ride it. I will report on RFTW on my next writing. I will be asking some of you to get more involved next year. Of all of the places that RFTW travels, Phoenix is the stop that has the least amount of participation. I have tried to get our Governor and some or our dignitaries to come out and recognize the riders, but they are blind to the magnitude of it all. When they do discover it, they will want to be in the limelight.

Well, our bill as of this writing has been stalled in my own Senators Appropriation Committee. That would be Senator Robert Burns from District 9. If you have a chance to vote in District 9, vote for someone that returns calls to constituents. Certainly not Senator Robert Burns from District 9. I get more return calls from Senators and Representatives that are not my representative than I get from this Senator. So, if you are a voter, don’t forget how important the primary elections are in September. If your person does not get elected in the primary, they are done. By the way our bill is HB 2556, and it is dead because of Burns. This means that the lobbyists must run legislation again next session to get the Motorcycle Safety Fund bill into law. This really ticks me off because this legislation did not need to go to appropriations. Your money funds this not any of the state, county, city, or federal money. Your dollar for your own awareness campaign, so call Robert Burns at 602-926-5993 and let him know how you feel.

I took another experienced rider course a couple of weeks ago. Wow!!! Each time I take one of these classes, I feel a little better about my skills as a motorcyclist. Before the class the instructor gave some pointers about some adjustments on my bike. I made the adjustments and what a difference that this can make. The adjustments that I made were worth the price of the class. I will use these forever. This class was a one day class, and very similar to ones that I have taken in the past. The only difference; each time you get another instructor, you get new ideas. I only wish I could get my floor boards up higher. If any of you know of how to do this, let me know. There are many classes available and none of you are that good that you couldn’t use some help. In fact most of you are in this category.

The State Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Council has been flailing about a little more this year. We needed some stock items to give out at events, and they even failed at this. We are lucky we have a couple of good people that may change this thing around. Actually, I have confidence in three out of the five at this point. We will see soon. We might lose some of our money to the highway fund if they don’t get their act together. If you are a bright intelligent common sense person, there might be an opening soon. Get in touch with me about this. I am thinking that this council has finally figured out the people that can make things happen in this state. That would be the MRO’s.

Learn to be a better rider and ride safe……Ray Huston