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BMW Club Newsletter - April 2026

Joel Howard | Published on 4/8/2026
Hello BMW Minnesota members, here is your club newsletter for April 2026:
  • March 12 Club Meeting
  • April 9 Club Meeting
  • Mileage Contest
  • April 11 Flat Tire Seminar - Reserve Your Spot
  • Hiawatha Rally
  • Picnic and Grand Marais Campout
  • MOA and RA National Rallies
  • Congratulations, Beth!
  • It's Road Construction Season
March 12 Club Meeting

Thanks toBMW of Richfieldfor hosting our March 12 monthly meeting.Dan Reesemade a presentation about his 2017 ride to Alaska with his dadSteve.
The Richfield staff also provided a dealership status. Jake, the service manager, said they are willing to work on older BMWs to do regular maintenance work. This is good news: a previous service manager had told us that they preferred not to work on bikes more than 10 years old.

April 9 Club Meeting

Our April 9 club meeting is at Leo's South in Lakeville. The dealership will provide pizza and beverages. We appreciate their support!

Our intrepid South American travelers will share a presentation on their epic trips through Chile and Argentina. Each trip covered 2300+ miles.

Here are a few pictures from PresidentJeff Ricker:
A winding road in Argentina.
Jeff, Dan Maki, and Rod Schmidt riding with their tour in Chile.
Moreno glacier near El Calafate, Argentina.
Mileage Contest

Thanks toSteve HandelandandDan Elaskyfor running our annual mileage contest. Steve hosted a mileage contest luncheon on March 28 in Coon Rapids:
This event marked:
  • The end of the national MOA mileage contest, which ran from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026.
  • The start of our club's mileage contest, which runs from April 1, 2026 to the end of October.
  • The start of the national MOA mileage contest, which runs from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027.
April 11 - Tire Plugging Seminar

Terry Stirewalt, our vice president, is hosting a flat tire repair seminar on Saturday April 11 at his home in Maple Grove. The event is 9 a.m. to noon.Space is limited to 8 people, so you need to reserve your spot:
Sign up for tire repair seminar

The link includes Terry's address and the details.

Hiawatha Rally

It's less than two months until our 49th annual Hiawatha Rally: May 29-31 in Money Creek.

Pre-registration:

Registerhereby May 9 to be eligible towin a free set of tires. You will also save $10 over the onsite registration fee.

Spook Cave Ride:

Robin Hydeis hosting a group ride to the Spook Cave in McGregor, Iowa. The ride is Saturday morning May 30 and departs from the Houston Community Center at 8:30 a.m. The ride islimited to 10 people(riders and passengers), so make sure to reserve your spot:

Sign Up for the Spook Cave Ride

Rally Volunteers:

We still need volunteers, particularly for Saturday shifts for coffee, registration, and field events. Remember our August 2025 club picnic, where almost every person raised their hand and promised to attend and volunteer at the rally? We need your support:

Sign Up to Volunteer
Our dedicated coffee cleanup volunteers at the 2025 rally.
SkyMed Luncheon:

SkyMed is sponsoring a free lunch at noon Saturday May 30. We need you to RSVP so Len Carlson knows how much food to order.

Sign Up for the SkyMed Lunch
Picnic and Grand Marais Campout
It turns out we have a schedule conflict between the annual club picnic (Sunday August 16 in Afton) and the Grand Marais campout (August 14-16).

Steve Reese, who hosts the campout every year, was unable to get our desired weekend (August 21-23). Steve called as soon as they opened reservations, but someone else had already booked that weekend. So he reserved the weekend of the 14-16th. Steve, we appreciate your hard work every year to host this successful campout.

We are checking with the city of Afton to see if another Sunday in August is open for the picnic. We will let you know.

MOA and RA National Rallies
The national MOA and RA rallies are both in June:
  • TheMOA Rallyis June 11-13 in Vermont. We reserved a chartered club campsite for 25 campers. We are renting a tent, table, and chairs.
  • TheRA Rallyis June 18-21 in Chippewa Falls, WI. We are checking to see if we can reserve a chartered club site.
Congratulations, Beth!

Beth Forristall, our past vice president, has retired after a rewarding career in nursing We appreciateeverything Beth has done to help our club succeed, and we wish her the best.
TheGrand Coddiwomplechallenge started April 1, so Beth will no doubt be off and running to collect Coddiwomple points.
Make sure to wave to Beth as she zooms by on one of her adventures.
It's Road Construction Season
It has been said that Minnesota has two seasons: winter and road construction. You might want to check out the following article from the Star Tribune:
Thanks toLarry Fraserfor providing the picture that leads off this newsletter.
I look forward to seeing you at upcoming meetings and club events. Also, stay tuned for group ride announcements.
Thanks,
Joel Howard
BMW Minnesota Club Recorder

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