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PAUL AND VONI GLAVES "BIG BEND", TEXAS - U.S.A. |
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PAUL AND VONI GLAVES "BIG BEND", TEXAS - U.S.A. |
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We have been called motorcycle "Enthusiasts" but that might be a bit of an understatement. There are lots of things about riding BMW motorcycles which we enjoy. We're glad to share some of our enthusiasm with you. |  |
| Voni's Page | Long
Distance Riding |
Bench Wrenching | BMW MOA |
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| So
she
celebrated, in the snow. Again!!! |
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Voni
received her BMW Motorrad 800,000 Mile Award from Norman Jones, owner
of Engle Motors, the BMW dealership in Kansas City, at the dealership's
annual
open house on October 21, 2006. |
| From October 10
through
October 15 we attended the big motorcycle and scooter show,
Intermot, in Cologne, Germany. Intermot 2006 was held at Koelnmesse,
the Cologne Exhibition Center, which is an eleven building
center not far from the banks of the Rhine River. This is the
major European motorcycle trade show held once every two years. |
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The show was
attended
by more than 187,000 visitors and over 1,300 exhibitors from all over
the world. Here Voni catches her first glimpse of the many
motorcycles featured by manufacturers at Intermot Cologne. |
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| Voni
couldn't
wait to hop on the new BMW G650Xmoto. This is one of five
new models introduced by BMW. |
Paul
found
Chris Pfeiffer's F800 easy to do a stoppie with, at the BMW exhibit. |
| You just never
know
what you will find if you look hard enough at a major motorcycle trade
show!!!!! This is very interesting! |
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The Cologne
Cathedral is a magnificent landmark. It dominates the
skyline, day
or night. |
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house is on 12 acres located in Texas' Big Bend Country, about
25 miles north of Big Bend National Park. Both Voni and Sarge are adapting well to the challenges of living in a remote location. They're ready for anything! |
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Texas Winter
2005-2006
We ran away from home, to spend the latter half of winter in Texas. We had a great adventure, exploring a part of the country we've scarcely seen. To learn more about out Texas travels this
winter:
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Voni Got
ANOTHER Great Bike!
Voni picked up her "new" 2000 BMW R1100SA on October 17 in Chandler, Arizona. We had a good two-up ride out to Arizona and an even better ride back home with the R1100S. Now the fun begins for Paul - readying the bike for normal use including a GPS mount, wiring for the GPS, and installing Motolights and other touring necessities! |
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We
rode our "48+" ride, which is riding through all of the contiguous 48
states and then to Alaska, starting on May 16 in Baker, Montana. It turned into a 40 States in 7 Days ride when Paul was involved in an accident on I-40 in New Mexico. He's OK - the K75 is a total loss. But, before this abrupt ending we had a lot of adventure and a lot of fun. |
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In 2004 we spent almost
two
months motorcycle touring in southern Africa with Ayres Adventures.
We
rode in 5 countries - South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, and
Zimbabwe. A few of the highlights included visits to the Blyde
River Canyon, Kruger National Park, Cape Aghulas (Africa's southernmost
point), the Capetown waterfront, and Soweto,
in South Africa; Fish River Canyon, the huge red dunes at
Sossusvlei in the Nabib Nakluft National Park, the seal colony at Cape
Cross, and Etosha
National Park in Namibia; Chobe National Park in Botswana; and Victoria
Falls
in Zimbabwe. Wildlife viewing was spectacular. We took
nearly
3,000 pictures - many of wildlife up close, including lions, zebras,
elephants,
giraffe, rhinos, hippos, and a variety of other animals. |
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On August 22, 2003 Voni and Paul both completed the 2003 IRON BUTT RALLY sponsored by the Iron Butt Association. Paul rode "Old Smokey", his 1986 BMW K75T, which he has ridden over 340,000 miles, and Voni rode "Big Red", her original 1994 BMW R1100RS. which turned the odometer past 300,000 miles during the Iron Butt Rally. |
| This 11-day long-distance rally started in Missoula, Montana on August 11, and ended back in Missoula on August 22, by way of checkpoints at Primm, Nevada, Lake City, Florida, and Buxton, Maine. There were numerous and varied bonus locations to ride to between the timed, mandatory checkpoints. |  |
We rode the entire rally together, and had a great time at bonus locations including the Black Rock Desert at Gerlach, Nevada; Highway 5 to the top of Mount Evans in Colorado, U.S. 129 at Deals Gap on the Tennessee-North Carolina border ("the Dragon - 318 curves in 11 miles"), the Blue Ridge Parkway, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and Cooke City, Montana at the base of Bear Tooth Pass and Yellowstone Park. This was not just an interstate highway dash around the United States.
We both finished - earned enough points for Bronze Medals - and, had a great time. "Old Smokey" ran flawlessly and we had only a couple of minor glitches with "Big Red" (headlight adjuster and speedometer drive) neither of which threatened the completion of the rally. Not bad for a couple of "old" bikes with well in excess of 600,000 combined miles. If Voni had not made a technical error on her fuel log, (she had to write in the name of the City, but didn't also write down the station's phone number) our point totals would have been identical.
Paul previously completed the 1999 Iron Butt Rally and had so much fun then, he did it again in 2003 - this time with Voni for a riding partner.
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For
more about our Iron
Butt Rally ride
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For information
about the Iron Butt
Association
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Voni and four friends completed a "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" scouting tour, through British Columbia to Hyder, Alaska in 2003. For a quick
review of the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun Tour"
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It all started innocently enough at age 14, back in Grand Forks, North Dakota! The 49cc Allstate Moped, from Puch in Austria, was available in any Sears and Roebuck store. It got more interesting later on the Yamaha RD250 with my dog Sam. |  |
The Fall 2001 issue of Woman Rider magazine contains a feature article entitled "Going the Distance Alone", highlighting Voni and a number of other women motorcyclists who travel long distances on their motorcycles by themselves. Voni's picture, taken by noted photographer Michael Lichter, appeared on the cover of the magazine.
To read the article from the magazine's web page, click above.
The "Woman and Motorcycling"
exhibit at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at Pickerington, Ohio
includes an exhibit about Voni. Click Here
for more information.
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Voni was
the 1st Place Finisher in the 1999 BMW Motorcycle Owners of America
annual mileage contest. She rode her R1100RS, K75, and R80ST a
total of 73,660 sMiles between April 10 and October 11, 1999, a Personal Best . This surpassed the
Women's Division record of 50,089 miles set in 1990 by Ardys Kellerman,
and was the 3rd highest total - men's or women's - in the history of
the
contest. In 2006 Ardys rode just over 80,000 miles in the 6 month contest - and rode more than 100,000 miles in 12 months! Go Ardys!! Voni on her favorite Red 1994 R1100RS
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Visit Voni's pages here!
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Paul is a Past-President of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (BMW MOA). With nearly 40,000 members, BMW MOA is one of the largest recreational membership associations in the United States, and one of the world's premier marque motorcycle organizations. |
To access the BMW MOA Web
Site:
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Paul is the Technical Editor of the BMW Owners News, the monthly magazine of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America. |
ENDURANCE RIDING
| Saddle
Sore 1000 Bun Burner 1500 1998 Minnesota 1000 1999 Minnesota 1000 1999 Iron Butt Rally Bronze Medal 2003 Iron Butt Rally Bronze Medal |
 "Old Smokey |
IBMWR
We are both members of
the Internet BMW Riders.
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Not any more! When not busy with motorcycles, Paul
did work for the City of Merriam, Kansas. He WAS Merriam's
Community Development Director from 1993 until 2004. He
retired on March 31, 2004.
Voni retired May 27, 2004
after teaching for 31 years, 21 of them at the Shawnee Heights district
near Topeka. |
Send email to: glaves@bigbend.net