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75th Anniversary Motor Maid Convention
December Advisory Article by Catherine Lawrence and Janet Gallagher Your friends in Atlantic Canada are so looking forward to hosting you as we all celebrate the 75th anniversary of our fabulous Motor Maid organization. The ladies have been very busy over the past several months planning, scheming, recruiting, organizing and finalizing details to ensure your enjoyment is maximized while you are in our neck of the woods next summer. Below is some information to help you prepare for the upcoming convention and road trip. To-do list for convention 2015 participants:
Registration In addition to the registration form included in this edition of The Advisory, an electronic copy will be on the Motor Maid Inc. website http://www.motormaids.org. A link to the electronic copy will be on the ACMM website noted above. In celebration of this 75th anniversary a special collectors item is being offered this year-a pewter commemorative sun catcher designed by ACMM (soon to be Silver Life member) Gail Neilson. We are also pleased to offer two clothing items– a golf shirt and a jacket as well as patches and pins. Pictures of the items for purchase as well as the shirt/jacket sizing charts, are available on the ACMM website. Convention Raffle Tickets – Win your convention stay Atlantic Canada has 2015 Convention raffle tickets available if you would like to win the convention package – a $660 value including 1 registration, 4 nights accommodation at the Delta Beausejour in Moncton, 1 charm, 1 convention shirt and 1 convention photo. For district directors who do not have raffle tickets to offer their members, please contact us at [email protected]. For the districts that have already sold convention raffle tickets, please mail the stubs and funds to the address noted on the tickets. Individuals can also purchase raffle ticket(s) through the registration form process. Convention Hotel Host Hotel – Delta Beausejour 750 Main Street, Moncton, New Brunswick, E1C 1E6, Canada Phone 506-854-4344, Fax 506-858-0957, Reservations 888-890-3222 Check-in 4:00 PM, Checkout 12:00 PM Be sure to use the booking name- Motor Maids. Rates are $129 for 1-2 people or $139 for 3-4 people. All rooms are the same size and all have a coffee maker, fridge and free wi-fi. Use the link below to book your room. https://www.deltahotels.com/Groups/Delta-Beausejour-Groups/Motor-Maids **Please note** with 225 rooms blocked for our convention, there will be enough rooms for the attendees. We greatly appreciate it if members would book respectfully. Bookings are limited to no more than 2 rooms. If the block is full, ask to be placed on the waiting list. This will be monitored and matched to registrations as we get closer to convention, so we can ensure everyone has a room. Recap of how you can obtain information about Convention 2015:
Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information at [email protected] Thank you for your support and we can’t wait to see you all in Moncton in 2015!
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Atlantic Canada Motor Maids Advisory Article by Elizabeth Pass It’s a bittersweet time in Atlantic Canada for Motor Maids. During the long, and at times, bitter winter, our bikes hibernate and Parked Motorcycle Syndrome ravages our restless spirits. The bulk of our gatherings and riding adventures for the past year are still providing some sweetness, as we enjoy them again through chats with our sisters, occasional meetings and pictures. We’ve grown from 55 members in October, 2013, to 80 members in October, 2014 – sweet! The last monthly meeting of 2014 was a two day extravaganza in Prince Edward Island. We crossed the Confederation Bridge to fly kites, attend a BBQ, have a lobster dinner and be scared or amused at the Kool Breeze Farms Scarecrow Festival. The winds became too strong for kites, so they stayed tethered to our bikes in their wrappers. We missed Joyce’s four newest kites she brought back from China (she has a collection of about 45), but there is always next year. Joyce provided an impressive spread for the BBQ at her house, with tastes enhanced by her special spices from Quebec. Rides to The Bottle Houses and Kool Breeze Farms provided us with unique photo ops, gasps and laughs. A lobster dinner at the hotel was the culmination of the weekend event and filled us with Northumberland lobster and chowder. We gained two new members from PEI, now boasting three. We are hoping for an Island membership explosion during 2015. Meet and Greets in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were very popular and well attended. Visitors came to check us out and must have liked what they saw. We have new members from each of those provinces as a result. The year end meeting in Moncton was nothing short of FUN. Reports from all committees for Convention 2015 verified how much we have already accomplished and pinpointed how much we still have to do. The excitement ran high as we met at the convention hotel, the Delta Beausejour. The awards committee did a first-rate job of identifying appropriate and functional awards to honour the accomplishments of members this year. Who would have guessed toilet paper comes in Motor Maid blue and is such a prestigious award? Congratulations to Jo Miller and Peggy Dingle, our highest rollers this year. Cheryl MacLaggan, was the winner of the Gail Neilson Atlantic Canada Motor Maid of the Year Award, for her exceptional contributions to ACMM over the past year. Numerous other awards were bestowed upon members for fun and serious accomplishments. An evening dinner at the Old Triangle Irish Pub and the ever popular after hours suite party with games, stories and merriment, brought to a close another extraordinary year for Atlantic Canada Motor Maids.  Red Ribbon thoughts - Advisory Article
by Janet Gallagher The journey to and from Kerrville was my first long trip on a motorcycle and my first Motor Maid convention. I have so many things to say about the trip, sights, experience, fellow travelers, convention, sister Motor Maids, friendly people along the way...that I am having trouble condensing it for an entry in The Advisory. Last summer was my first full season with my license and motorcycle, and the year I joined this unique organization. Since we will be hosting next year and many of us in Atlantic Canada are new members, I wanted to learn all I could about being a host and experience a MM convention first hand. I was encouraged by our wonderful District Director and others to attend the 2014 convention. Three of our experienced members allowed me to tag along with them on the journey to Kerrville, as well as my fellow “Red Ribboner” Kathy Gallant and her husband. The six of us teamed up in Bangor, Maine and stayed together all the way to the convention and part way back. Lynne Campbell and Elizabeth Pass had spent time in advance to propose some very interesting routes for us to follow that included some interstate travel for speed but also lots of interesting twists, sights, parkways and routes to make the journey memorable. Travel highlights that stick in my mind would be: the Mohawk Trail; Route 50; Route 219 through West Virginia; Natchez Trace Parkway; rural routes around ranches in Marble Falls; and Taconic State Parkway. Living in a small city like Fredericton and growing up in the woods, I was in awe and loved the challenge of major interstate traffic and lanes going through/near big cities. Keeping all six of us together and alive was no small feat! I have so many happy thoughts and memories as I think about the convention itself, that I cannot list them all. From: the moment we arrived at the hotel and saw so many bikes; felt the buzz in the air; were warmly greeted at the front door by the smiling and friendly Trish from Florida to: the opportunity to meet and socialize with amazing female riders from all over North America; the red ribbon meet and greet and lunch; the challenge and excitement of my first Dot Robinson Road Run; and the emotional feeling of participating in the traditional and formal parade with the official uniform and visit with the veterans....it was all so very exciting, moving and memorable for me. Wearing the red ribbon meant that more experienced members were very welcoming, helpful and informative. We really got the red carpet treatment. I smiled when we received a nice little diary/book as a gift so we could document trip details. My fellow travelers had been teasing me about the level of detail I was keeping about locations, travel times, start times, rest times, dollars spent, etc. I love detail so the trip diary will come in handy. I was impressed with the job done by the gals from Texas and was very pleased at how willingly they offered advice even in the midst of their own hosting demands. Volunteering in the Hospitality Room gave me an opportunity to meet lots of people and spend time with them in a more relaxed atmosphere. Meeting the MM executives was a highlight for me, allowing me to put names with faces. Having spent years volunteering myself, I know and appreciate the time, effort and talent these ladies graciously provide to the rest of us so we can sit back and enjoy the benefits of a well-run organization. I found the election a challenge as I was impressed by the quality of candidates and I had a really hard time choosing between them for various positions. I loved to listen to other Motor Maids and hear the stories of where they came from and how long they had been riding, etc., but highlights for me were the stories of our longtime members. They really inspire me, just as our very own Gail Neilson does. What an opportunity for me - to share breakfast and conversation with Gloria Struck on her birthday and hear her stories of riding in decades gone by. Life was so different for them than it is now. They have really paved the way for us. Being able to share the convention experience with 4 sister Motor Maids from Atlantic Canada who traveled with me and two others who flew (due to work commitments) to the convention provided a great opportunity for us to make plans/notes and discuss lessons learned in preparation for a super convention in Moncton to celebrate 75 years strong for Motor Maids. I am so glad I made the trip to Texas (9,882 km / 6,142 miles) and I look forward to many more conventions in my future, including celebrations in Moncton next summer and then on to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2016. I really look forward to seeing a few hundred familiar faces in Moncton. Thanks to all of you who helped make my first convention and trip an awesome experience for me. Atlantic Canada Motor Maids Advisory Article
by Lynne Campbell Atlantic Canada Motor Maids are taking full advantage of the summer weather and doing lots of riding. Every Wednesday a group of New Brunswick members get together for "Wicked Women Wednesday" and head off exploring; coastlines, farmlands, riversides, you never know for sure where they will end up. Recently several MMs spent the weekend touring the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. They were able to meet and ride with some women from another motorcycle group, the Saddlebags. Lots of good times! Five MMs and one guest were fortunate enough to ride to Texas for Convention, and two others were able to join us there as guests. What a great trip it turned out to be, despite some bike troubles and more heat than we are used to riding in. We found that stuffing our jackets with ice at every gas stop made it possible to keep going. It was another great Convention and we tried to learn everything we could in preparation for hosting next year's 75th Convention in Moncton. In June we participated in the Ride for Dad in New Brunswick and one of our members, Catherine Lawrence, was the third highest fund raiser! Some of our members also made it to Atlanticade in Prince Edward Island, always a lot of fun. Coming up in Aug is the annual meet with Eastern Canada Motor Maids, this year in Chicoutimi, Quebec-always a wonderful time with a fun group of ladies. There is a bike rally in Cape Breton the first weekend in August, another bike event in Moncton mid-August and at the end of the month is the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby, NS, one of the biggest in this area. There will be white vests to be seen at every event. In the meantime we are getting into gear for the 75th Convention next summer. It is going to be a busy winter but we are looking forward to the challenge. by Vicki Gesner
Most Motor Maids here in Atlantic Canada are suffering from PMS these days -- Parked Motorcycle Syndrome. Symptoms include staring wistfully at the parked bike in the garage, trying on gear, going to motorcycle shows, planning upcoming trips, and generally trying to keep oneself occupied until warmer temperatures come this way and our rides can come out of hibernation. This winter, in particular, has been cold and snowy. Thankfully, former DD Anne Colton-Weeden helps keep our spirits up with her Countdown to Spring Face Book posts. It's less than fifty days now (!) There are a couple of upcoming motorcycle shows in the area that ACMMs will be attending. We'll have booths set up in Moncton February 14th - 16th and in Halifax from March 21st - 23rd. Another annual upcoming event will take place in May and, while it's not an official Motor Maid event, we always represent the bulk of women motorcyclists at International Female Ride Day. Last year the event was well-covered in local media and we welcomed several new members following the event. Ann Savoy-MacKelvie organized an amazing weekend last year that encompassed three provinces in one day and this year promises to be a truly international experience. Current DD Denise Pelrine braved flight delays and stormy weather in January to attend her first Motor Maid Executive meeting in Daytona and came back brimming with even more enthusiasm than usual. In fact, several of our Motor Maid sisters are enjoying warmer climes this time of year, but we're confident they'll return to the Great White North too. In fact, we're all very excited about hosting the 75th Annual MM Convention in 2015 and have begun fundraising efforts in earnest. One such effort has already been a success; every purchase of Dizolve laundry sheets sees a few dollars come our way. They were a great choice for holiday gift-giving this year and, because they are dry and portable, are an excellent choice for distance riders. Please do check out the product: USA: http://mydizolve.com/us/campaign/atlantic-canada-motor-maids/ Canada: http://mydizolve.com/us/campaign/atlantic-canada-motor-maids/ These little laundry sheets work great and, with each purchase, you know you are supporting a worthy cause. |