Virginia District Wingless Weekend '99

And what better way to start off a 10th Anniversary PARTY than with a cake. This one was provided by the Ramada Inn Williamsburg. Their staff has really been tremendous in helping us for the last ten years. Thanks Gals and Guys!!!
	And, they even hung up a banner proclaiming our Anniversary.
Well, we were all set. Looks kind of lonesome, doesn't it.
	But when registration opened, it was a mad rush to get everyone signed in and on their way for a fun weekend.
Then, it was on to the Bubble Gum Blowing Contest. Here we have Linda Thompson (VA-W) giving her all. Boy, her eyes are almost as big as the bubble.

Johnny Stancill (CD of VA-W, Williamsburg) rides across the stage on his Hoss. Don't know, maybe he's a chicken thief trying to get away. Johnny ultimately won the "Wildest Guy" competition.
	In the Wildest Gal competition, Wanda Stancill rides her "Hoss" across the stage looking for that chicken thief above. I think both of these characters are the ancestors of the "Butt Sisters" from last year's Jammin' Jammie competition.

Why even the School Marm got into the act. She's trying to tell the judges the proper way to record the scores. Maybe she's telling them that she won't give them an "A" unless they vote for her.
	Jo Ann Mead, Virginia District COY, shows how, that even in the old west, some people had an "attitude." Well, her attitude won her a first place in the "Wildest Gal" competition.




Now, Cundiff Simmons (VA-C, and Virginia Educator of the Year) certainly knows about wearing the proper protective clothing when riding a Goldwing. But, we're not sure what he is protecting against in the above photo.	The ultimate winner of the Wildest Chapter competition was, as we said above, Chapter VA-M (Martinsville). Let me tell you, when it comes to Wingless Weekend, VA-M goes all out. Here their lovely ladies sit around the stage waiting - for a stage maybe.
With a fully scripted act, VA-M really woo-ed the crowd. Especially when "Pancho" came dragging his ASS onto the stage. When asked what was wrong, he was heard to say, "My ass is really tired today!!! I just can't seem to get my ass moving!!!"
	And, here we have the whole crew of VA-M. The WINNERS. Their chapter really turns out for Wingless Weekend, and they have a blast. Fun is infectious, and when a whole chapter gets involved, there's no telling what will occur.

Linda is taking lessons from the real CPR dummy. Now, Linda has some experience with dummies. Her husband Steve wears a name plate that reads "Big Dummy."

Fred Shiles, (VA-W COY) is confused over which is the dummy he needs to practice on, but having taken a dose of Viagra the night before, he chooses Linda.

Unfortunately, though, the experience was too much for Fred, so Emily Shiles, had to perform her own version of CPR on her husband.

The Hospitality Room was opened again for lunch, and here a hungry group attacks the great selection of cold cuts and sloppy joes that had been provided. Thanks to Betty Needham and Mary O'Connor (VA-A) for organizing and manning the Hospitality Room. That's definitely one area that sets our Wingless Weekend apart from any others.
	After lunch, it was time for the games. The People Games ran from 1:00-2:30pm, and then the Chapter Competition began at 3:00pm. This year, District Gamesmaster - Lewis Crockett, had a whole slew of fun games to challenge the chapters. And - he wasn't disappointed in the turnout. We had 12 teams of ten for a total of 120 participants. If you haven't played Lewis' games, you just haven't lived. This year, we even had a District Staff team headed by Asst. District Trainer Don Meyers, and a Chapter COY Team, headed by Steve and Jo Ann Mead, District COY. Here we see the Chapter VA-E (Fredericksburg) team trying to negotiate their washer from one toothpick to the other.
Chapter VA-D (Richmond) COY, Eric Albert, tries to get his hanging ball into all six of the egg carton indentions.
	Have you ever tried lacing and tying your shoes and then unlacing them under pressure, while a few hundred people watch you and yell encouragement. Well, some people have trouble doing it without any pressure at all. It might have been easier if they had used size 13 shoes -- or some slip-on sandals. Ultimately Chapter VA-W (Chester) was the winner of the Chapter competition, and they won two registrations for Rally in the Valley to do with as the Chapter sees fit. Congratulation VA-W. VA-D was heard to exclaim - "Wait till next year, we'll get it back."

Boy, Melissa Timbs (VA District Director) and her crew of decorators really know how to throw a party. When you walked into that ballroom and saw all of those decorations and balloons, you just knew that you were in for some fun.
	Following a truly fantastic buffet dinner served by the efficient staff of the Ramada Inn, it was time to start the festivities. The first order of business was a presentation to the Ramada Inn Conference Center by Dave Timbs. Here Mary accepts the plaque, while Earl and Kathy Banton (Former Virginia State Directors) look on. Earl and Kathy started Wingless Weekend ten years ago, and we don't know if they ever thought it would evolve into the event it is today, but we sure thank them for getting us off to a good start.
With the formality out of the way, it was time to start the entertainment. The opening ceremonies, choreographed by Angie Mitchell (SR. CD - VA-U), was both fun and moving. It had a little bit of something for everyone - patriotism, membership awareness, dancing. Here we have the flag ceremony which included some thoughts for everyone to consider.
	Then, the "GWRRA Dancers" provided a lively routine that set the stage for the evening to come.
Following opening ceremonies we had the usual introductions of the GWRRA Virginia District Staff, and other dignitaries in attendance from Region and National GWRRA. But - these were done with considerably more flair than is usual. Angie and her helpers really made it an event to remember. Here we have all 20 of the GWRRA Virginia District Chapter COYs along with District COY Steve and Jo Ann Mead. Not bad, 20 couples of the Year from 21 Chapters. Thanks to the efforts of all of our previous District COYs and COY Coordinators Jim & Evelyn Hicks the Virginia COY program is growing each year.

After the announcements and awards, we had some really sparkling entertainment. Now, who says we bikers don't have class. There was ballet and singing and dancing - a little something for everyone. Then after a some more dancing and some more music, the highlight of the whole weekend occurred. It seems that at Maryland's Winterthing there was this happening with a PIE, and Dave Timbs ended up with it in his face. Well, to make a long story short, Dave and Tommy Ray (Asst. Maryland DD) decided that we could do it again here for Wingless, but that all of the proceeds would be given to a local Williamsburg charity. So, cream pies were acquired, and tickets were sold during the weekend.

We had five pies and five faces. Patti, from Maryland, had sold $235 in tickets. So, we set about finding out who the pie-throwers would be. Five tickets were drawn, but we made the announcement that we would auction off any of the chances if the winners wanted to donate the money to our charity. Initially three winners stated that they would auction their chances, but one, Roxie Chapman (Former CD - VA-P) saw how much fun it was to throw the pie, and decided that SHE wanted to cream Kent Goodrich herself. Well, the first recipient of a pie was Dave Timbs, and Wade Farmer (Asst. Virginia DD) won the honors to cream him. See below.

After a countdown from five - Wade lets loose on Dave. Fortunately we had spread some tablecloths on the floor, and those of us who were in the line of fire, ducked down. Mrs. Smith makes some pretty good pies, but you're not supposed to eat them like this, Dave.
	The aftermath - Dave is getting used to this.

That brought us to the two remaining victims. The winners of the drawing had agreed to auction off their tickets. Fred Shiles (COY VA-W) is a professional auctioneer, and agreed to conduct our auction for us. On the first pie, he got the price up to $40. Not too shabby. So that pie was tossed.
Then it came down to our last recipient, Steve Mead (VA District COY). Now, we saw the gleam in Jo Ann Mead's eyes, and knew she wanted to have a shot at Steve. Well, pretty soon, the figure was up to $100 and climbing. Jo Ann was on the right, and a consortium of others was on the left bidding against her. Then it was up to $150, and Jo Ann was running short, so people started coming to her and giving her $20 bills. Steve just didn't know how many friends he had, did he. Well, finally, Jo Ann got the top bid at somewhere around $250 dollars. (I even gave her $20). And, because it was all for charity, the consortium that was bidding against Jo Ann gave all of their raised money for the Charity also. Way to go GWRRA. Well now, we raised over $775 for our charity, the Avalon Outreach Battered Women's Shelter of Williamsburg.
Oh, I forgot to mention, Jo Ann did a fine job of pieing Steve in the face. Unfortunately I had run out of disk space on my camera, so my asst. camera person Kathy wasn't able to get a shot of the ultimate pie. If anyone does have a picture, please get it to me, so we can share it with the world.
So, now that the excitement was all over, a whole crowd stayed around till the end just listening to the music and visiting with friends. Somewhere around 1:00am, we trundled off to our beds to get ready for the morning.

In the end, this picture of Gene Miller, Steve Mead, and Dave Timbs says it all.
Sunday morning at 9:00am brought the Shiloh Gospel Band with Earl and KAthy Banton and their fine group. Let me tell you this is one great sounding gospel band. If they are ever playing in your neck of the woods, you need to get out and hear them. They were followed by a brief CMA service, led by our ever faithful Browny.
Then it was time to pack up and head for home. We were all tired little Indians (pun intended). It will be hard to top this Wingless Weekend in the future, but your District Staff is already thinking of next years event. It would be difficult to name everyone that made this such a great event, so I'm not going to even try. Let's just say thanks to everyone - especially those of you who came out to party with us. If this hasn't convinced you to put Wingless Weekend on your schedule for next year, then you are hopeless. GWRRA is about FUN - and this was 2 days of non-stop fun. See you next year - The Millenium Wingless, catchy title, huh.

Chris Hooper - GWRRA Virginia District MED Coordinator

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	1999 Virginia District Wingless Weekend
	February 12-14, Williamsburg, Virginia

Linda is taking lessons from the real CPR dummy. Now, Linda has some experience with dummies. Her husband Steve wears a name plate that reads "Big Dummy."
	Fred Shiles, (VA-W COY) is confused over which is the dummy he needs to practice on, but having taken a dose of Viagra the night before, he chooses Linda.
Unfortunately, though, the experience was too much for Fred, so Emily Shiles, had to perform her own version of CPR on her husband.