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ROMEO CLUB .orgof Alpena, MI
The town
of Alpena is a thriving, Lake front community with an abundance of cultural
and recreational opportunities. Alpena also enjoys economic development
opportunities such as the designation of five Renaissance Zones for commercial
and residential development, and the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and
Underwater Preserve - the world's only freshwater underwater sanctuary &
preserve. In this town is a chapter of the ROMEO club. Since
1997 this group of virile men have been riding the back roads and streets of
Alpena, seeing the sights, enjoying the comradely, burning some calories, and
tasting the cuisine of local restaurants. In late spring, as soon as some of the snowbirds of the group get back from their winter homes, the group starts assembling at Bill Ortlieb’s house every Tuesday, 9 am, weather permitting. Bill has the coffee perked and the others take their turns bringing the donuts. After the usual chitchat, begins the planning of the day’s route and then the group is off on their 12 to 20 mile ride. Around lunchtime the ROMEO’s can be found at one of Alpena’s local haunts, enjoying refreshments and refueling for the ride back to Bill’s house.
Members
of the Alpena chapter of the ROMEO’s are Bill Ortlieb, Don Benac, Duane
“Bud” Huiting, Ralph Kalish, Wendall Boyd, Bill Soper, Ron Pahlkotter, and
John Kreft. Recently the group had guest riders; Tom and Otis, from Harrisville,
MI join them. Otis, who doesn’t look his age of 83, has been the oldest rider
of the group. “The
wives like to have a day to themselves. It is also a day for them (the ROMEO’s).
we get a little exercise and get to meet a lot of people. Since Bill’s son
gave him the T-shirts, people stop to look and say ‘well. What is that?’”
Huiting said. Ortlieb’s
son owns a graphic design, painting and sign shop in Southern Michigan. When he
heard of the ROMEO club, he made T-shirts for the men to wear when they are out
on their excursions. He surprised Ortlieb with the shirts on his birthday. “It’s
something different. It gets you off the beaten path. It sure makes retirement a
lot more fun,” Benac said. The preceding was taken from an article in the
Alpena News titled “Look out! The ROMEOs are riding again” by Mary Beth
Kline To spice up the rides and
make them more than just a bike ride the group has introduced the treasure hunt
to the ride. It goes like this:
“TREASURE
HUNT” Hello
ROMEO’s. are you ready to ride? Are you
ready for something on the lighter side? Have we
got some fun for you! A unique
and challenging game to do! Put on
your saber and eye patch, too. A
treasure hunt is what you’ll do. Listen up
as you read Clue One. Then hop
on your bikes and make a run. As you can imagine a series
of clues takes the ROMEO’s all over town looking for where “the wild goose
went” and ends at a place to rest and enjoy refreshments. The pictures below will enlarge when you mouse click on them (use the back button to return to this page).
THE GROUP JUNE 2005 & JUNE 2006
THE GROUP 2007 For contact info: Bill Ortlieb 989-354-2736 or Rudy - Rudybauer@hotmail.com You may also download a registration form for our club with this link: REGISTRATION FORM
Revised 1/08/08
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