Weather: Mild and 30% chance of rain
Trail Conditions: Nice week for a ride
Not much to talk about today and I can’t find a good joke to post. So I am posting an email From Skip Shultz instead.
TO: Upper Peninsula ORV
Trail Development Association Members, Associates, Friends
FR: Skip Schulz, UP ORV
TDA President
RE: Association Annual ORV
Ride, UP ORV TDA/WUPTA Veterans Outdoor World Vets Ride, Association Update
DT: Monday, July 28th,
2014
UP ORV TDA 3rd Annual ORV Ride,
THIS Saturday, August
2nd:
Attached is the information
on our Association’s 3rd Annual Summer ORV Ride. This years ride is being hosted by
SORVA-Chippewa County. We invite ALL ORV Riders to participate in the ride. It
will not only be a lot of fun, but is taking place in a very scenic area. They
will have both a short ride and a long 100 mile ride for you to choose. The ride
starts at 9:30 am ET, with the Tahquamenon Motel having a
Hot Dog Roast after the ride. Please contact our Association VP, Grant Dewitt of
the Tahquamenon Motel for more information: 906-876-2388.
UP ORV TDA-Western UP Trails
Association Veterans Outdoor World “Run for the Colors”Vets ORV Ride,
Sept 27th-28th:
Veterans Outdoor World is
an organization that hosts events in the outdoors for ALL Veterans. While Veterans
Outdoor World has hosted many Fishing and Hunting events, this fall, the UP ORV TDA
and WUPTA invited this organization to help us get the word out on the “Run for the
Colors” ORV Ride. The ride is going to depart from Wakefield on
Saturday Morning, Sept 27th, and ride
to Lac Vieux Desert Resort/Casino in Watersmeet. Those that want to will then take
a ride down to Land O Lakes, Wisconsin. That night we’re going to have an outdoor
style dinner. At the dinner we’re going to be giving away prizes, hear from
speakers, and have a lot of fun! Later that night, we’re going to take a ride to
see the mysterious Paulding Light for those that want to see this. Then on
Sunday Morning, Sept 28th, we will
ride back to Wakefield.
Lac Vieux Desert only has a
limited amount of rooms. Those with Veterans credentials will be able to reserve
one of the 30 rooms we have booked for only $39.99/night. However you will have to
call and tell them that you are with the UP ORV TDA Veterans Outdoor World Vets Ride
to reserve your room, and tell them if you are a Veteran. Lac Vieux Desert also has
a limited amount of Camping spots. Camping is also available in Marenisco.
The ride is FREE for
EVERYONE, Veteran or not. Food on Saturday Night is
FREE for the Veterans, provided by Lac Vieux Desert Resort Casino. Prizes will be
furnished by different sponsors, including our major sponsor, Lake States Resource
Alliance. We are working on getting Side by Sides for the Veterans tor ride in.
While any sponsorship of the event and to get prizes is greatly appreciated, your
help in getting the word out and PARTICIPATING in the ride is appreciated and very
important.
Our goal is to show our
Veterans, current and past, how much we appreciate their service. With the hope of
a successful turnout this year, we hope to make this an annual ride. This ride is
taking place on Michigan’s Fall No ORV Trail Sticker required weekend, so everyone
does not need an ORV Trail Sticker to participate in this ride.
We want to thank our
member-club, Western UP Trails Association, Michigan DNR, Michigan Department of
Veterans Affairs, Ottawa National Forest, Lac Vieux Desert Tribal Community, David
and Nicole Kohn of Veterans Outdoor World, and Lake States Resource Alliance for all
their help!
UP ORV TDA
News/Issues/Update:
This summer our clubs have
been busy working and maintaining trails from one end of the Upper Peninsula to the
other. It is the UP ORV TDA officers, board members, and clubs that have attended
MANY meetings throughout the State of Michigan and the entire Midwest. After taking
a leadership role in getting legislation passed to allow for specific sections of
State Highway Right of Ways, Bridges, and Shoulders being opened up, we have seen
our clubs, and even those that are not members of the Association take advantage of
this new legislation. We are also seeing progress in getting Michigan County
Forests opened to ORV Trails, due to legislation our Association got passed. While
our Association did not support the increase in the ORV Trail Sticker Fee’s, we are
now monitoring to see where those dollars are going, and currently are working on
getting some of those dollars put into new trails, maintained by new clubs. While
the Association did get the DNR to agree to an ORV Trail Signing Program using 1-3
alphabetical letters, that signing program is voluntary. Now we are meeting with
the DNR and the ORV Advisory Workgroup as to establishing the naming/identification
of those trails and ORV Trail Signing. Our Association members continue to work
with the US Forest Service in getting Hiawatha and Ottawa to open up forest roads to
ORV’s.
This December, the UP ORV
TDA will host the Winter meeting with the Wisconsin ATV Association and the ATV
Association of Minnesota. That meeting will take place on December
4th in Ironwood, hosted by WUPTA. The UP ORV TDA is proud to
have attended the meeting of the 3 Associations in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and are
proud to host the next meeting. It is at these meetings that the 3 Associations
discuss regional (MIdwest), along with Naional issues. We are discuss ways to
develop inter-connecting trails. One of the ideas that we have is to have an ORV
Ride from Northern Minnesota all the way to (and possibly over) the Mackinaw
Bridge.
However we just learned of
a set-back on the work that the Lower Peninsula ORV Association had been working on
and that is to organize an ORV Ride this fall over the Mackinaw Bridge. The setback
happened this past week when one of the volunteers working so hard on this, John
Chad, passed away from Pnemonia.
All these issues were built
on the very same premise that many people talked about years ago, that was to UNITE
our sport and bring people TOGETHER. “Together we’re better AND STRONGER.” That is
why the UP ORV TDA was formed years ago, and that is why we NEED YOUR membership.
Whether it is as a family, a business, a chamber, tourism association, or a club…our
only source of doing all this work and putting on these events is through
membership. From a donation of $25.00 for an individual or family, to $50.00 for a
business, $100 for a chamber or club…every little bit helps.
Please send your membership
too:
U.P. ORV TDA
P.O. Box 114
Hulbert, MI 49748
Kindly
ask the club you are a member of whether they are a member of the UP ORV TDA or
not. If they are not, please ask them to join the Association.
Thank-you!
Skip
Schulz
UP ORV
TDA President
610
Greenland Road
Ontonagon, MI 49953