MRF Rep Report

I hope you enjoyed Becky’s article last month about Epic Adventures. Becky is one of our rockstar Assistant State Reps. If you want to have epic adventures like we do, consider joining our team! There are so many cool places to go and events to participate in. In fact, September alone has two of my favorite events back-to-back.

Tonight, I took a short break from packing my Harley for the Tomahawk Fall Ride to write this article, seeing as how the deadline falls before the event is over. If you attend Tomahawk, you will see ABATE and MRF signage at various places throughout town and in the campgrounds. There are several crews that camp at Holly’s and at Bubba’s so we shouldn’t be hard to find. Our goal is to promote awareness about both organizations while still being able to enjoy the lifestyle and put on many miles in beautiful northern Wisconsin.

Several of us are home for just a few short days, and then we’re off to Meeting of the Minds. This year, ABATE of Pennsylvania is hosting us. Some of us are riding, some driving, some flying. A lot of that is based on our work schedules and how much time we can sneak away. I’d like to remind you that our Assistant State Reps and I are completely volunteer. We do not get compensated for any of these adventures. ABATE of WI is generous enough to offer reimbursement scholarships for some of our expenses (registration, hotel, and fuel) for some of the events. But we truly do this because we are passionate about freedom and feel the need to spread the word and hopefully get more people involved.

Please take the time to read Mark Buckner’s article, titled The Price of Apathy, in this newsletter. It is so imperative that we get more people involved and join our fight. It’s frustrating that less than 1% of all motorcyclists care enough about this lifestyle and our freedoms to become a member of a freedom fighting organization. If each member recruited just one friend to join, we would double our membership and double our voice. I challenge you to get at least one new member!

Next month, we’ll be able to give you the rundown on what we learned at Meeting of the Minds. It’s definitely gearing up to be another epic conference! There are no less than five ABATE of WI members who will be presenting different topics at the event. Watch the next couple months for articles detailing our experiences.

Shout out to Dave Dwyer, Tom Babbit, John Reblin, Laurie Thompson, Jay Goecks, and Krissy Bowe and Region 2E for the donations to our ABATE of WI raffle baskets for Meeting of the Minds. Those raffle baskets are a fun way for us to offset some of the costs of the conference by getting something tangible to bring back home. We’ll be sure to have plenty of Wisconsin goodies, like cheese and beer, in our baskets to share with other states.

The wealth of knowledge and ideas that come out of conferences like Meeting of the Minds and Heartland S.T.E.A.M. are almost indescribable. I encourage anyone who has the passion to learn more and get more involved to reach out to me and ask about these conferences and how you can attend. We’d love to have you!

It’s time to finish packing my bike and get a good night’s sleep for an early ride tomorrow.

‘Til next time, stay vigilant, my friends!

Jen

Jen Abraham

ABATE of WI

Board of Directors

MRF State Rep