The past several weeks have been a flurry for me and now find myself I apologizing for having gotten so far behind... again. Several people who have been following this even emailed me to make sure I am okay and to see what was up. Here is a summary of what I have been up to in hopes of catching up.
After the meetings in Oregon, I headed south to California. Nick Haris with the AMA had made a gracious offer to stay at his house for a couple of days while I was in the area and I want to thank him for that. Nick is a great guy and it was good to spend time with him. It was even better that Nick was willing to come out to ride with me a while and show me around the area. That whole area up in northern CA is absolutely gorgeous. When the weather moved in, it was also helpful that Nick was there to get me over the now snow covered mountains to Carson City to the meeting Gary Lambert had set up for us in Nevada with groups from the area. Gary did a great job gathering representatives from several groups for us to talk with. In addition to Nick and Gary, there were folks from Pine Nuts, Dust Devils, Sierra Trail Stompers, Friends of the Black Rock, Nevada Motorcycle Rider's Assoc., Western States Racing Assoc., and from District 36 of the AMA.
From there, it was time for me to make a reset run to Las Vegas where in all the same week there was the SEMA show, the BRC Annual Board meetings, the BRC Annual Membership meeting, and the annual meeting of the North America Motorized Recreation Council (NAMRC). Whew! There was a lot going on there and lots of people and businesses to meet with at the end of October and the beginning of November. Did I mention that along the way to Vegas, I was able to stop by and meet with Del Albright, BRC Ambassador for lunch? The BRC board and membership meetings were incredible. I had the opportunity to share some of what I have been learning from you all with the board, who in turn had a long and positive session to strategize on how best to put that input to work. At the NAMRC meeting alone there were over 25 organizations represented and that is to say nothing of the SEMA show and all the contacts I had the chance to meet with there. Well worth the long ride over and near week and a half spent there. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for letting me stay at their place while I was there.
After the meetings in Vegas, I headed back on the road to finish my loop through California. On the way back into CA, I was able to have a last minute meeting with Robert Adams in Pahrump, NV and then up through the valley toward Sacramento I was able to have meetings including with leaders from the California Association of 4WD Clubs (CAL4WDC) hosted at the house of BRC board member, Todd Ockert, in Hanford (thanks for hosting Todd and thanks for feeding me and putting me up for the night). On the way further north, I stopped by to visit with Don Amador, BRC Western Regional Representative and the next day, I was able to have a meeting with some of the leadership of the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) hosted at Amy Granat's house near Sacramento (thanks Amy for putting that meeting together and hosting).
The weather started to move in again, but thankfully I was pointed back south in California for more meetings. I took the weekend to get here and rode the coast highway on a route recommended by Nick Haris (Thanks Nick! Awesome suggestion!). I have spent the past two days near Solvang, CA catching up on the business of my other role as Executive Director of the BRC. Tomorrow, I'll be setting up meetings down in Southern California and then looking to head east toward Arizona and hoping to meet with folks there.
As you can see, there really hasn't been any grass growing under my wheels these past several weeks, but I do apologize for having gotten behind on the blog. I will try harder so hopefully, that doesn't happen again.
