Return to front page

The Founder's Feast started as an invitation to members to meet at Alan's home and was originally called the Indiana Cookout. Members camped in the backyard, took turns on a shower schedule in the morning or just went home smelly, and utilized the porta-pot brought in to help with the overflow. My family and I have terrific memories of those early events. My son who has not interest in Motorcycles, always made it a point to visit during the event. My neighbors who were very cooperative, were always amazed at the motorcycles lining the street.

The last two years we felt we had outgrown the backyard and were anxious about trying to get everybody undercover in the event of rain and decided to rent the Knights of Pythias Lodge in downtown New Castle, Indiana. With the move came a new name which was suggested by UJ - The Founders Feast. I don't think anybody that attended the event will forget the three flights of stairs or our visitors in the orange jump suits. The new name also brought a new twist. Recognizing that at some point the event might outgrow New Castle, Indiana, we wanted to establish a signature for the Founder's Feast. That signature was two fold. 1) the announcement of annual awards and recognition of the Charter and Gold Members and volunteers, and 2) a mini-rally.

For 2006 the MTF Event Schedule was very full. It was decided that this would be as good as time as any to move the Founder's feast and combine it with another event. The decision was to combine the Founder's Feast with the RAT. The RAT which had been cancelled in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina, would be moved to Texarkana, Arkansas, or is that Texas?

The move provided a new challenge, gathering bonus locations 900 miles from my home. In true MTF fashion, Gerald Roberts, Don Braziel, Barb Smith, Grumpy and Lil Knight, and Jason and Agnes Arnold volunteered to meet in Texarkana and put in a few days of bonus hunting. Yet another opportunity to get to know some of our members a little better and enjoy some fellowship. Our goal was to cover a 100 mile radius of Texarkana, so as you can imagine, we covered a few miles.

We were able to book the whole Best Western Hotel in Texarkana and this looks to be a terrific event. Make your reservation early.

The Ride Around Texas, better known as the RAT, is the brainchild of Doug Woodall. Doug mentioned this ride a couple of times on the forum and the MTF contacted him to see if he would agree to allow this ride to become the cornerstone of the 2005 Poker Run from Hell. Doug agreed and the planning began.

The first step was that we had to contact the IBA to see if they would be willing to certify such a ride, The Great Lakes Challenge of the southwest of sorts. Jason Jonas, our IBA Liason, contacted Mike Kneebone, President of the IBA and obtained a commitment that the IBA would certify the RAT and that the MTF RAT would be the inaugural event for the ride.

We still had to work out levels and time constraints for the RAT. Doug, Jason, and Alan agreed that they would join together and do the ride based upon some preliminary guidelines. This would give us an opportunity to better understand any issues that might be connected with the ride and to scout issues regarding documentation of the Texas outline in remote locations. Doug retired but couldn't stand it and got another job. Jason decided that a few years without work was enough and got a job. So Alan was left to do the ride on his own.

Yep, there are some remote places around the outline of Texas. Yep, there are going to be some problems in getting documentation. Jason, Doug, and Alan beat through the issues and received approval from the IBA to provide the RAT at two levels: RAT Insanity (85 hours or less) and RAT Insanity Gold (70 hours or less). The ride is scheduled for May in conjunction with the founders feast.

It looks like this is going to be a popular event. You can check out the details at http://www.mctourer.com/rides/2006FFRAT/index.html

If you are just looking for some great food and fellowship, be sure to join us for the banquet. If your a Flower Sniffer's there are some terrific roads in this area. If you have an adventure bike, you will be able to find some roads that will provide you with a challenge. If you are wondering what this rally stuff is about or just want to have a terrific time visiting some sites that the locals don't know exist, join us for the mini-rally. If you are long distance rider, you won't want to miss the inaugural RAT.

Ride safe until I meet you on the road,

Alan Leduc

Return to front page