Turn One

A very brief newsletter this time. Very little local news to report. We had some interest in the December 31 Last Ride of the Year event, the Stagecoach 500, an ST Owners sponsored event I think, in Stockton, AL but rainy cold weather nixed that. Slidell member Larry Crow rode his planned route solo the following weekend to the Stockton area during better weather to put some miles on his new Suzuki SV1000. Only two members (myself and Tony) and one "prospect" (Tony's co-worker) attended the New Years Day breakfast and Members Meeting. Nice breakfast but not a lot of plans made with only three of us present. Later in the month Tony, Kevin and I got together for a spur-of-the-moment ride and brunch at Penny's Diner in Livonia. Great riding along both sides of Bayou Gros Tete between Plaquemine and Livonia and good chow at Penny's!

Looking ahead, we have 8 Lousiana members registered for Star 2010 in Taos, NM in June and I don't think that number includes Tony and Dave who plan to register later. So it looks like we will have our usual excellent representation at the premier MSTA annual event! Total registrations are at about 175 as of this week but that includes online registrations only. Paper registrations are just now beggining to be processed. Other than STAR10 not a lot of firm plans yet: Tim and maybe Drew are going to the revived for 2010 Ride The Rio event in west (Big Bend) Texas and Stacie and I are attending the FL Chapter's Fun In The Sun Event in Ocala in February. Tony plans to make a non club trip to Branson, AR in April or May to ride the great Arkansas roads and I am thinking about the Helen event in April. The Beemer Brothers (Dennis & Dave)have long term plans to again run the Colorado MotoMarathon in September. I expect many more trip plans will arise as riding season kicks in and with this issue I hope to start up our regular monthly lunch rides again as well. Our motto is always "the more, the merrier" so if you are interested in joining in on any of these trips or have ideas for a lunch ride of your own, don't hesitate to contact me.

UPCOMING RIDES and EVENTS

STATE AND REGIONAL

LOCAL

February Lunch Ride Saturday February 20 WHERE: EAST & WEST FELICIANA PARISHES and AMITE & WILKINSON COUNTIES MEET: McDONALDS HWY 61, ST FRANCISVILLE WHEN: 9:00 RIDE AT 9:30 LUNCH: QUE PASA MEXICAN RESTAURANT, ST FRANCISVILLE I have been exploring my local territory and have found a few new roads to ride. Nothing special but at least not the same old rut. The route below is about 175 miles without ever straying very far form the start. And of course it includes most of the best twisties. GDB or GPX file available on request.

That's all for now.