October 2012 Newsletter

October Club Meeting 

The October club meeting will be held on Monday, October 8th, 6:30 p.m., at PTs Olde Fashion Grille, 1437 Military Cutoff Road, in Wilmington, NC 28401.  The GPS coordinates for PTs Grille are N34.22530 W77.82960.



View Larger Map

Let's take advantage of the beautiful Fall weather and enjoy dinner outside on the patio at PT's Grill.  Be sure to bring your jacket or sweater!

September Meeting

We enjoyed a welcome break from the summer heat and had a great turnout for our September 10th club meeting at Fishy Fishy Cafe.  Here are a couple of photos from the meeting.

Oktoberfest Party

Speaking of October, club member Becky Hucks is inviting all club members to an Oktoberfest party at her home near Supply, NC.  The party will be on Saturday, October 20th (rain date Sunday, October 21st), from 12 Noon until approximately 4 p.m..

Becky Hucks has a beautiful back yard that overlooks the Lockwood Folly River.  She is planning a cookout, and club members Tony Barcia and Jerry Dockery have offered to be the Grillmeisters for us.  Paul Winter is planning to have bratwurst shipped in for the event, from an "undisclosed midwest location."  Iced tea will be available, and everyone is welcome to bring a supply of their own favorite "Oktoberfest beverage."

All club members are invited, and everyone will receive another invitation via email.  RSVPs are being requested, well in advance, to allow Becky and Paul to gauge how much food to prepare.  If you are planning on attending, please send your RSVP to ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com no later than Sunday, October 7th.

Becky lives in a gated community, and everyone coming to the Oktoberfest Party will be sent another email, in advance of the party, with the gate access code.

This will be a great event, and we hope you will be able to come!

Club Member Passes

Club member George Martin passed away on September 11, 2012, in an RV accident near Sedalia, Missouri.  Britt Motorsports held a memorial service for George on Saturday, September 22nd.  Their announcement photo includes a great photo of George "Doc Wobblin" Martin with his dog.

Al Curtner, a member of the Christan Motorcyclists Association shared some great photos from George's memorial service.  You can view the pictures at Al's Flickr site.

Progressive International Motorcycle Shows 

Last month we told you about the 2012-2013 Progressive International Motorcycle Shows.  Since then, BMW is offering a discount on show tickets if you are purchasing online.  Use the promo code BMWRIDERS when you buy your ticket to receive a $3 discount on the single day price ($10 versus $13). Remember, the Atlanta show is coming on November 2-4, 2012.

2012 BMW MOA Mileage Contest 

This year's BMW MOA Mileage Contest will be coming to a close at midnight on October 14th, 2012.  The 2012 Mileage Ending Form has not yet been posted online, but will be linked to this article once it becomes available.  If you are a BMW MOA member and participating in this year's contest, bring your mileage form to the Oktoberfest Party on October 21st, or to our November club meeting for signing.  (The form must be signed by two active BMW MOA members, of by our club officer.)

BMW MOA Anonymous Book Updates 

The BMW MOA is working on their update for the 2012 BMW Owners Anonymous Book.  They are asking for all BMW MOA owners to review and provide changes to their contact information.  You can do this by sending the changes to them via email, as anonymous@bmwmoa.org.  Updates must be submitted by November 1st.

GPS Updates (aka Tip-of-the-Month) 

Last month, we mentioned two new firmware updates for the Garmin Montana GPS.  Unfortunately, both updates turned out to be beggy.  The good news is that Garmin has released another firmware update, and this one seems to have fixed the previous bugs while not introducing any significant new ones.  You can obtain the latest firmware by using the Garmin WebUpdater program.

Garmin has also released an update of their POI Loader program.  If you are not familiar with POIs (Points of Interest), these are collections of locations, like Waypoints, that you can store on your GPS and which do not count against the number of Waypoints that can be stored on your GPS.  POI Loader is Garmin's software for loading POIs on your GPS.  You can download the free POI Loader software from the Garmin web site.

Montana GPS Owners -- Garmin's firmware v4.60 is now available.  Unlike versions 4.20 and 4.40, this one appears to be pretty stable.  Use the WebUpdater program to install this version to your Montana GPS.

BMW Sales Figures 

According to an article on the BMW MOA web site, BMW sold more motorcycles during the month of August than ever in a month, and is on track for a record motorcycle sales year.  You may be interested in reading this short online article.

Water-Cooled Boxer 

According to the BMW MOA, BMW Motorrad is scheduled to unveil the new water-cooled R1200GS on October 2nd.  Check the BMW MOA web site after the announcement, to get the details.  The November BMW Owners News will reported provide further details, as well.

Until next month, ride safely and ride far!