Romeo Leaders Meeting - May 7, 2010

[JerryM100]

As you have seen by now Bob Lee is turning over the ride coordinator lead on June 1st to Roger Smith for the South Central Romeo group (with John Kuhn assisting). You also know that Roger Shores has accepted the responsibility for coordinating the rides for the Kansas City Romeo group. With these changes Don thought it would be a good idea to get the old and new ride coordinators together for a joint meeting. We managed to get the leaders of all 4 groups together yesterday in Americus, KS.

Americus is about 10 miles north of Emporia, which is about the closest we could get to a central meeting between the 4 Romeo areas. As it was it was about 100 mile ride for all of us to get there. It was a nice day but windy as hell! We met for lunch at the New Breck Café in Americus.

At the lunch were Richard Kurtz from the Central group, Don Duncan from the Eastern Kansas group, Bob Lee and Roger Smith and John Kuhn from the South Central group, and Roger Shores and myself (Jerry) from the Kansas City group.

This was an historic meeting as it is the first time that all of the Romeo area leaders got together in a single location. It was an honor to finally meet Richard who started this whole Romeo thing about 10 years ago (along with some others to be fair – Bucky and Jack!). I am sure he was proud to see his long efforts at coordinating the rides every single week turn into the popular concept that it is becoming with many hundreds of riders on the web site and riding to lunch every week.

We had a great time sharing stories around the lunch table, talking about places to go and people we have met. It was a great thing for Bob and I to be part of as we give up our weekly routine, and equally as inspiring for Roger Smith (and John) and Roger Shores as they take over the responsibilities.

I wanted to describe this meeting and make it somewhat of a historical event, but at the same time it isn’t such a big deal since we don’t really have any organization or structure or dues or anything. That is what makes the Romeos such a great thing is its simplicity – someone just picks a place to go for lunch and people ride there from wherever they are. Anyone could do that anywhere in the US or any other country for that matter.

But the concept is growing and more and more people are learning about it, and I’m sure others will adopt the name and start other groups in other areas. So when people step forward to coordinate the rides every week, it’s not a big thing, but it brings enjoyment to a lot of people who like to ride their motorcycles, and it pays to express appreciation once in a while for those efforts.

I hope this leaders meeting continues in the future as a way to recognize and thank these guys who step forward, and maybe inspire some others to do the same.

Thank you Richard and Don for doing this for so long, and thanks to Roger (and John) and Roger for stepping up. Your chapter in the history of the Romeos is starting.


Humbly,

Jerry in KC
http://www.romeoriders.com
"Retired Old Motorcyclists Eating Out"

PS. Here are some pics of the lunch meeting in Americus, KS. Don't forget you can click on the pictures to view them in a larger size.

This is the crew that brings you the rides every week!

[Klem]

It was nice to meet with the group in Americus and meet Roger. I will say at the top that I don't consider myself a leader of anything or anyone. Anyone that has ever followed me to a pie stop will testify that my nickname should be changed from Klem to Wrong Way. It should also be explained that this was not a meeting to take the Romeos off in a whole new direction. There is a little more interaction between groups than is normally recognized. We just decided that it would be helpful to get together so we knew who we were talking or emailing with.

Some of you think the Romeos is about bikes but it's not, it's about people. Granted the people are interested in and love to ride bikes. But if all we were interested in was riding to lunch it would be a quick trip to Micky D's. What the Romeo rides provide is a chance to meet, talk with and ride with people you other wise might not have the chance. Those of us that coordinate the rides put some thought into taking you in different directions, to different places and hopefully different roads. Sometimes we have a real zinger when things don't work right, mostly we have good meals and a lot of good conversation. Two things to remember are we can't make everyone happy every time. We can't do what you want if you don't tell us. Suggestions on places or things to do are always welcome. If for some reason we don't think it will work, I am sure the others like myself will explain why.

I was working on starting the Romeo website and was in the process of going to one of the web companies that do that sort of thing when Jerry volunteered. I thank him often for that. He has done a fine job. I will say for myself and probably Richard that there is a bit of discomfort with the web. I know that I wanted it, and I use it, and for the most part I like it. But it takes things out of my grasp. Makes it a little less personal. But that said, it also spreads our idea of an unorganized riding group that can be and is very successful. Some things just seem to work easier without going through a committee.

Harry ran into a group in the Ozarks that saw our website and formed their own group in Amarillo. Different name but the same idea. We have had inquiries from a few states and and heard stories of other areas forming a similar group. The latest was sent to us by Capt. Jack. He had forwarded pictures of a ride to a friend. It was then forwarded to a relative in Australia and they are forming a group. We are trying to make contact with the Aussies to ask them to use our website. How cool would it be to share stories and pictures with Australian Romeos?

I will get off my soap box now by saying that I don't think any of the new things will change the old. Our groups should stay the same unless they grow to the point that we just can't fit. We will continue to hunt for the small out of the way places because they want our business, and that makes it more fun. We will continue to have better rides each week than most of the "organized" groups have a month, and do it times 4. We will do all these things because we are a bunch of old farts that like to ride bikes, don't need to hold hands to go down the road, and are to tight to belong to an "organized" group.

Thanks to all for being a part of this.

Don

[shfls]

[quote jerry in kc]I hope this leaders meeting continues in the future as a way to recognize and thank these guys who step forward, and maybe inspire some others to do the same.[quote jerry in kc]

I just wanted to say I think the leaders meeting is a good idea, and should be held periodically.

The other thing is I think the individual leaders, or rather ride coordinators, should be recognized, or honored, in some small way for all the work they do. I'm sure it isn't all fun and games for those guys. After all, they have to go to the trouble of finding a place for us to go, hope the weather works out, hope that most people are pleased. There is some effort that has to be made to get these rides put together.

I think maybe someone could buy the coordinators lunch once in a while. Ideally, if a different person bought lunch every week, nobody would be out that much, and the coordinators would seldom have to buy their own lunch. Just my humble opinion, guys. We all know about opinions, right? Everybody has one!

[shoresr]

One comment from this meeting that really stuck with me was when Richard said that when he started out, he took a Kansas map and highlighted all the towns that had populations of less than 1000 people and then he went looking for the "Homemade" cooking. Well I knew that list had to be available on the internet somewhere and I finally found it. http://www.city-data.com/city/Kansas3.html . This site lists all the towns in Kansas, alphabetically with populations less than 1000 and shows them on a map As you know I already maintain a map showing all the places the Romeo's have gone to eat. http://tinyurl.com/lxldjr

Wouldn't it be fun if the ROMEO's could claim that they had eaten in every town in Kansas with a population of less than 1000 that had a restaurant ? Of course, if this is something someone other than myself would be interested in attempting, we would have to establish some rules/guidelines as to what constitutes an official ROMEO rendezvous. I guess some of us that are retired really don't have much to do, but if this sparks any interest with anyone else let me know and we will see where it goes.
Roger
twowheels2eat@gmail.com
913-549-3371

[Klem]

I bet we have been to well over half the ones that have places to eat on the list. This falls into the extra rides I wanted to try this season and just haven't gotten time and direction to do it. It would be hard to say anything constitutes an official Romeo ride when there is nothing official about the Romeos. There are quite a few places we have been to that are not on the google map. Some have had the restaurants close and some just didn't make the list. Most of the ones we haven't been to are out of range for most of the riders, too small a restaurant to hold a group, or the place just hasn't gotten good enough revues from the scouts to want to return. The places out west are the ones that would be a challenge to go to. Even places we know have a good restaurant is often overlooked if it is "just" out of our normal range.

Don