September 21, 2009

     
    Greetings:  

    Our September rally had all the characteristics of an October rally.  We had the beautiful
    Indiana fall weather and the ambiance of October in the heart of Indiana Fall Festival country,
    without the crowds.  The campground was quiet, peaceful and very pleasant.  Bridgeton is located
    in Parke County, home of the covered bridges, and features Indiana’s most famous covered bridge
    and waterfall.  Park County also claims to be the covered bridge capitol of the world. The town of
    Bridgeton has a sign posted on the edge of town that states “Open 10:00 til- Tired”.  This really
    is how they run their businesses.  The different festivals they boast of having are the Bridgeton
    Milling Days, 1st weekend after Labor Day.  Then there is the “Beat the Festival Crowd” Festival,
    which is the weekend before the covered bridge festival.  There are no lines, no crowds, and no
    booths, but everyone is welcome.  Of course the covered bridge festival, which is the second
    Friday in October, and lasts for 10 days.  And finally the OMF festival, (Oops, Missed the
    Festival) Festival.  After the big event and Covered Bridge Festival there may still be some
    booths there, come and watch us clean up.  

    The September rally attendees were:  Bob & Jan Israelson, John & Ruth Serio, Larry & Jolly
    Whitener, Rick & Kathy Groves, Jerry & Carol Hardacre, Gale & Joan Scheller, Paul & Helen
    Schatz, Bob & Paula Young, Jim & Carolyn Shedenhelm, Joe & Tommie Nash, Jim & Nina Francis,
    Dan & Barbara Burns.  The Hardacres, Whiteners, and Youngs left our rally to travel to Urbanna,
    VA for the International Rally.  Thanks to everyone for the contributions for the club basket.   
     
    Bob and Jan Israelson hosted our wonderful weekend and were ably assisted by John and Ruth
    Serio as their co-hosts.  John Serio managed to take time away from his duties and played in a
    foursome with Gale Scheller, Rick Groves and Paul Schatz at a nearby course.  At the time of this
    writing, none of them have been ask to come back to play on the pro tour…more to come.  The
    ladies got together for a little girl talk and made bead bracelets with help from Ruth, Jan and
    Paula.  Thanks girls….it was very enjoyable !

    Many of the attendees were pleasantly impressed with the unspoiled countryside around Park
    County.  Top on most of the activity lists was a self-guided tour of the world famous covered
    bridges in the area.   Saturday we were treated to a personal presentation and demonstration by
    the owner of the Bridgeton Grist Mill, He gave us the history of the mill and demonstrated the
    function of the almost 200-year-old structure.  As we turned around once, a caravan of model T’s
    A’s and what ever else, closed in on this small little town for some adventure and just as they were
    leaving, a group of probably 100 or more motorcycles came roaring in.  We had the opportunity to
    see some neat old cars and some really cool motorcycles up close and personal.  

    It was a great weekend if for no other reason, we welcomed our latest new members, Dan and
    Barbara Burns.  We must have made a good impression on them or Jerry bribed them because
    they joined on the spot.  Even better, they are going to join us in October as well.  Also, Jerry
    received an application in the mail from Michael Leamy and Debra Young of Greenfield, IN.  We
    look forward to meeting them in the near future.  Welcome, we are happy you have joined us.  

    We had two member drop by visits this weekend,  Danny and Gail Leonard who spent most of the
    day with us on Friday, and Rich and Susan Conley who stopped by after dinner Friday night and
    spent time visiting.  It was great to see them.

                                                   RALLIES:

    October 15-18,  Double J Campground, 9683 Palm Road, Chatham, Ill. 888-483-9998 www.
    doublejcampground.com  $27 per night - Mention you are with the Bounder group.Hosts: Jean &
    Barbara Zielinski and Dick & Joan Clay

    Since this rally is right before Halloween, this rally is going to have a Halloween theme. So come
    ready to decorate your Bounder in all your Halloween decor because the best decorated Bounder
    is going to win a prize. I have really great prizes so come ready to decorate and play.

    **Please let us know if you are interested in participating in the tours.  Email: Jean at  
    jean1126@comcast.net or Dick at ARCY42@aol.com  ASAP**  

    Thursday, October 15, 2009
    5:00 pm - Welcome get together - bring a snack to share and a beverage of you choice.
    Campfire after get together.

    Friday, October 16, 2009
    8:00 am Breakfast - French Toast, Bacon & Sausage
    Bus will pick us up after breakfast, have to confirm time.
    10:35 am Tour Lincoln Home
    12:00 noon Tour Old State Capitol
    1:40 pm Tour Lincoln Tomb
    We will return to the campground after the tour of Lincoln’s Tomb.

    5:00 pm - Dinner at the Double J. I will be firing up the grill to do hamburgers, brats and
    hotdogs with all of the fixin’s. We will also have baked beans, potato and macaroni salad. If you
    would like please bring a dish to share, salad or desert.

    After dinner, we will have a book swap, so that everyone has something new to read for the winter
    ahead. So please bring any books that you would like to swap.
    Campfire

    Saturday, October 17, 2009
    8:00 am Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Toast

    Bus pick up ?

    10:15 am Tour Lincoln Presidential Museum. This tour will last anywhere from 2 ½ hours to 3
    hours and there is an additional cost to get into the museum of $5.50 per person. Please confirm
    that you want to go on this tour because we are a group, I will be billed in advance. Therefore, I
    will pay for entrance and get reimbursed from those who want to go on the tour.

    5:00 pm Dinner at the camp ground. We are going to have an Italian night dinner with Italian
    beef, spaghetti and meatballs, fettuccini Alfredo w/chicken and broccoli. Please bring a salad or
    desert to share.

    After dinner we are going to play Halloween bingo, I have some really great prizes, so we re going
    to try and raise some money for our charity. So bring a $1.00 to play bingo.
    Campfire

    Sunday, October 18, 2009
    8:00 am Continental breakfast.

    Table service will be provided for all meals.
           
                                           2010 RALLY REPORT:  

    Vice President Rick Groves gave a small report on 2010 rallies.  Please check the web site for
    some changes to next years rally schedule.  The Shedenhelms were scheduled to host the May rally
    but will graciously move there rally to June which will make way for the Executive Committee
    (Hardacre, Groves, & Whitener) to host the May rally somewhere in the Goshen/Elkhart area.  
    This rally will be in preparation for the Mid-America Bounders to host the 2011 BOA National
    Rally somewhere in the same area.  Your MAB officers have stepped up to the plate and are
    hosting a rally for everyone’s benefit.  We still need a host for October 2010, so when you are
    ready to stand up and take on a rally, drop a line to Rick Groves at rgroves@mabounders.org.

    May 20 - 23 - Executive Committee - Planning Rally for 2011 International            Rally at
    Goshen, IN / Elkhart County, IN
    June 17 - 20 - Shedenhelm - Clarksville, MO
    July 15 - 18   ???
    July 27 - 31 Branson, MO - International Rally
    August 26 - 29 - Joint with MOB
    September 21 - 26 - Whitener & Young – Kentuckiana
    October 21 - 24  - Open

                                         BYLAWS COMMITTEE REPORT:

    After much time and effort, Mid-America Bounders has its first set of Bylaws.  With a unanimous
    vote Friday night, a model set of Bylaws was put into place.  Some very informative discussion
    preceded the vote and it is anticipated that our Bylaws will require additional attention to make
    them as unique as our club.  President Hardacre appointed a standing Bylaws committee to serve
    during the initial stages to review and accept suggestions from the membership on how to refine
    them as needed.  Members of the Committee are Rick Groves, Paula Young and John Serio.  Please
    feel free to contact any of the committee members with your suggestions and input.  A copy of
    the Bylaws is posted on the web site.

                                                 NEWS & CONCERNS:

    Barb and Bob Werner are going through a very difficult time.  Please keep them in your thoughts
    and prayers.

    Our prayers go to John Barrett and his family on the passing of his wife, Ruth.  John and Ruth
    had been very active in our club in past years.  

    Just a reminder that Herb Feltner is going to reprint the MAB Recipe Book.  Please forward your
    recipes to him.

    Mark your calendar for Monday, December 7, 2009 for the annual December Luncheon held in
    Indianapolis.  More details to follow.

    We still need pictures from the June Rally in Effingham, IL.  Please send them to
    kgroves@mabounders.org.

                                           THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD

    This will be my last article to you as your North Central Region Vice President. As I sit here
    trying to decide what to write, I went back to my previous articles and decided there really
    wasn’t much more to say!

    One-on-one recruiting is still the most effective way of getting new members, so always carry
    applications for BOA and MAB with you. It is easy to sell something when you know what you are
    selling is a good product and well worth the money. Selling Bounder owners on joining BOA and
    MAB should be a piece of cake!

    Retention starts the day a new person is added to the roster. Why didn’t someone make it to the
    last rally? Why haven’t we seen that person very often? We must make sure that every member
    realizes how valuable they are to the club. We have added people and then dropped them without
    ever seeing their faces! There are members of this club I still haven’t met! So retention is an area
    that still needs a lot of work by every member of the chapter.

    OK, so where are we? We have certainly made a lot of new friends and truly enjoyed visiting and
    laughing with you. It has been an honor to represent you and your interests on the Executive
    Board. Thank you for allowing me to serve you. Welcome your new Region Vice President. Stan is
    great; Tina is just super!

                                                                   By Tom Robinson
                                                                   Executive Vice-President, BOA


                                           THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER       
                    
    This last meeting was very rewarding, in that we had a line-by-line second reading of the
    proposed Bylaws and they passed with a unanimous vote.  There were some discussions on a few
    points of verbiage that the Bylaws Committee will deal with at a later date.  The Bylaws
    Committee will monitor this document to make sure that it fits the needs of the MAB membership.  

    We were glad to welcome Danny & Barbara Burns into our membership at the Bridgeton rally. We
    hope to see much more of them in the future.

    We also voted to host the International Rally in May of 2011.   The plans are to hold this rally in
    our area.  

    Carol & I are presently at the Bounder International Rally at Urbanna, VA.  They are expecting
    +/- 180 coaches to attend. We are looking forward to having a good time.  We are also looking
    forward to seeing all of you in your BBB (Big Beautiful Bounders) at the October Rally at Double
    J Campground in Chatham, IL.

                                                                                        By Jerry L. Hardacre
                                                                                        MAB President
    Kathy Groves
    Newsletter Editor