Under the Surface

We just got done celebrating Independence Day and the bravery of a few men putting their’s and other’s lives on the line by signing our Decoration of Freedom from British rule. Summer is finally here with the hot and humid days. The grass is growing along with the flowers and gardens keep us busy.

I do have to give a shout out to Paul for coming over and trimming the tall grass around my “Look for Motorcycles” signs. The grass was getting pretty tall up on the hill blocking the view. Thanks Paul!

With things caught up around the house, well ok kind of caught up, the “Little Flower” and I took a break from everything going on and hopped on the bike for a little “us” time. We set off with no real plan or time limits and just drove. Staying off the freeway, it was side streets and lesser traveled roads. We hugged the shores of Lake Michigan enjoying the sights and cooler breezes. Watching the clouds, we tried to miss the rain, but with our luck we were able to ride in the rain for just some short periods.

During this journey among other things, I was trying to think about writing this month’s Deputy Director report but couldn’t think of a topic. We happened to stop along the shores of Lake Michigan at a small park to stretch our legs and we sat in the grass watching sailboats using the wind to make their way across the water.

While watching the boats, I saw a mama duck sitting on a half-submerged log at the water’s edge keeping her eyes on her eight chicks bobbing along in the water. With the breeze coming, in the waves along the edge were rising up and down about 12-16 inches with some pretty good frequency. But these chicks were staying in a tight group easily. I then remembered Jay Jackson from ABATE of Indiana and his famous talk at one of the Meeting of the Minds. If you were there, he explained how if you watch a duck swimming, they look calm and easy just cruising along with little perceived effort. But as Jay explained in his way, under the water line those legs are flailing away at almost uncontrolled speed.

Right now, our organization is running along smooth and effortless on the water, but if you take a look under the water line all of us are working away at sometimes uncontrolled speed. At the regional level Regional Reps are getting back in the swing of things after the hiatus from the Corona virus. They are sharing what is going on legislatively, maybe making plans to reschedule that canceled fundraiser, or working on setting up something different. Members are getting out to those bike nights, wearing the ABATE of Wisconsin gear, handing out newsletters or tri-folds and talking about what the organization does to protect motorcyclist rights.

On the State level we are all busy also. We may not have had the Hummer, but if you made it up to the land, we did have the Non-Summer Hummer and Worm and the crew did a great job setting it up. Chubby often talks about that old school biker party and this was it. What a blast with great music, friends, and food. The Legislative Committee is busy with Steve and Hardtail taking a trip to DC to meet up with, as Hardtail calls them, congress critters.

Highway Safety has been busy, getting a letter out that was pretty well received to the riders of Wisconsin urging they ride within their skill levels. John has Junior Patriots starting to roll again, Betty has the paper getting printed and out. Obviously fundraising, marketing, and our Treasurer have all been busy too, coming up with creative ways to raise money, keep track of the money and market our organization. Along with all of this we have elections this fall with changes in the wind.

So, while like the ducks, we look smooth and easy tackling these projects, you all should know behind the scenes there are a lot of legs and feet along with our minds, feverishly working.

John