Comin’ in Hot

Executive Report by John Reblin

Ok, so 2023 is coming in hotter than I thought it would. No, I am not talking about the outside temperature, though I am loving the warmer winter, but I mean hitting the ground running. It seems that between work, things going on at home, and this ABATE of Wisconsin thing, I am going full tilt trying to fit in all the fun stuff and save room for work.

Looking in the rear-view mirror of life, I should have spent some of the off time around the holidays doing other things, but you gotta get the family time in also. It is that important.

So, we wrapped up Officer’s Training a few weekends ago and hopefully you were there and enjoyed it. I think from my point of view it went well, good content, good questions, and feedback. It was a weekend of talking about commitment, working together, and what it is going to take to keep our freedoms.  So, I will take that as a win. I would like to thank Mike Hupy and the law firm of Hupy and Abraham for their generous donation to Officer’s Training to offset the food costs. Mike and his “crew” have been helping us for many years and we greatly appreciate it. We all learned a lot and we will use this information to improve our meetings, increase membership, and work towards being able to continue riding motorcycles as we are able to now. That means we are able to go where we want to go, when we want to go, how we want to go, and who we want to go with. And that includes being on a motorcycle with an internal combustion motor.

I would also like to thank Rocky Fox for flying in again to attend this meeting. He came in last year and I thought when he felt Wisconsin cold with the negative temps, we would never get him back here during the winter season. The membership enjoys his company, his ability to share what is happening in DC, and the time afterward for socializing and telling stories.

Of course, we had fun this year presenting Rocky with a gag gift of Carhart coveralls from some of the  members, Mike Mueller and Shawn Klinker presenting. Hopefully, this will help him stay warm when the Wisconsin temps dip a little lower.  We did take some time for “networking” (socializing throughout the weekend making new friends and seeing old friends.)

Following this event, we will have a discussion about what to do differently next year. What to keep, what to expand on, what to put on the shelf for a bit and what to bring out, that’s something new. So, make sure you offer your suggestions on what would be good for us to offer at this training.

On a sad note, Shannon Kayhart stepped down from Products due to his work schedule. But congratulations go out to Bob Christopherson and Rich Moulding for stepping up to take on this task. We are looking forward to seeing the work these two will bring to the products division.

Also, thank you to Krissy Bowe for taking over Marketing. She has been helping out for a while to see if Marketing would fit into her new work schedule and luckily for us, she officially took the position on.

As we lean into the 49th year of ABATE of Wisconsin we have our Lobby Day set for March 21st in Madison. The buses are set, and the schedule is listed in the newsletter. The CC Riders have generously opened their club house again by having some food and beverages available. There will also be a shuttle running between the club house and the Capitol, so parking a distance away won’t be a problem while visiting your representatives and talking about our legislative agenda.

The handouts are being proofed as I write this, but our issues this year are our concerns with the self-driving features that some vehicles have and the lack of proof that they recognize motorcycles. Hopefully, we can get the ball rolling on getting those safeguards in place so we can ride down the road without the worry that the vehicle next to you with the driver not paying attention to the road because he is in a “self-driving” mode will not run you over.

Our other concern is making sure that we have E-10 or lower fuel available for all those vehicles, motorcycles, and other off-road vehicles that legally cannot use anything higher in ethanol. With the push for higher rated fuels and electric vehicles we have some serious concerns to correct.

What else is coming up? Well STEAM is around the corner. Being held this year out in North Dakota, it should be a great time with some nice travel areas. The midwestern STEAM states get together once a year to discuss what is going on in their states, what they are doing about it, and how that information can help other states out by trying to prevent the same things from happening to them. It is also a great fundraising event for the MRF and helps them keep doing what they have been able to do.

And finally land warming weekend is coming up May 19-21st. I am sure everyone will want to be there to help get the land ready for the upcoming camping season. And I am also sure that there will be many people curious to see the new band shelter that was built over the end of December, beginning of January. From the pictures I saw the building looks great! But I bet that it looks better and more impressive in person.  All membership should be proud that this project is up and ready to provide us with the opportunity to save on tent rentals each year, not to mention the added value to our land.

Ride Your Own Ride,

John