Terlingua motorcyclist Voni Glaves logs in over a million miles in the ...

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Not Like Other Girls: Terlingua biker is one of two North American women to ride 1 million miles on bike by Andy byrnes In the corner of an outbuilding on the Glaves property on FM 118 north of Terlingua sits a particular motorcycle. It is only one of several currently owned by Voni and Paul Glaves, but this one is special. It is unremarkable at first glance; purposeful, in the manner of two-wheeled Bavarian machinery, maybe even a little sleek. And red, of course—Voni’s color. But it isn’t until you look more closely—at the odometer, specifically—that you realize you’ve found something unique: a bike that has been ridden 349,353 miles. Now, that’s remarkable, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. “When I was riding in the 2003 Iron Butt [not a misprint] rally, my speedometer cable broke,” said Voni. “So I actually rode an additional 8,305 miles before I could get it fixed which brings the total for Big Red up to 357,658 miles.” Big Red? “Well, Paul has always called the bike ‘Big Red,’ but I call her ‘Ruby B. Gone Y’all.’ She’s a 1994 BMW R1100RS.” And Iron Butt? “The IBA. The Iron Butt Association. That’s our official distance riding association. Their rally covers 11,000 miles in eleven days. That year we started in Montana, traveled to Nevada, Maine, Florida and back to Montana.” Voni Glaves is not like other girls. Consider as evidence that since 1977 Voni has ridden Big Red (or Ruby, if you prefer) and 14 other BMW motorcycles a total of one million miles, one of only two women in North America to have done so. On August 30, as they each reached the one million-mile mark, she and Ardys Kellerman of Lexington, Texas met in Ouray, Colorado on US Highway 550, the ‘Million Dollar Highway,’ to celebrate an achievement that has yet to be completely appreciated. They may very well be the only two women in the world to have ridden a million miles on motorcycles. “Well, all the miles are documented,” says Voni. “BMW of North America has recognized our ride, and the Iron Butt Association has recognized our ride. We don’t know about the rest of the world, but we’re the only women in North, Central and South America with a million miles under our butts and we just got a call from a BMW rep. in England indicating that there’s apparently no record of any female in Europe who has done it.” So far, so good. Not bad for a girl who got her two-wheeled start in an alfalfa field. “That was back in 1975,” said Voni. “All the kids had been riding this old beater around the lake. I don’t think I knew even then what kind of bike it was. I took it out into this alfalfa field because it looked soft. I didn’t realize how bumpy it was, though. “But I didn’t fall off.” Home Cooking and Fresh Baked Goods India’s Cafe and Bakery Hwy 118 in Terlingua, at the base of Bee Mountain Orders to go: 432-371-2888 Open daily 5:30 am-4 pm (closed Thursdays) Quilts, Etc. by Marguerite Made in Big Bend Country Highway 118, north of the “Y” in Terlingua Monday-Saturday 9:30 – 5:30; Sunday 1:30 – 5:30 PO Box 142, Terlingua TX 79852 8 The Big Bend Gazette November 2011 Marguerite Chanslor (432) 371-2292 371 2292 And she hasn’t fallen off since. “That’s the over the top thing about all this,” she told us. “My one million miles have been accident-free.” Think about that. No, don’t. It defies reason. To travel one million miles, one would have to ride 40 hours a week at highway speeds for eight and a half years. While doing that you will have consumed 25,000 gallons of gas, spent 16,500 hours in the saddle and squashed countless millions of bugs on your windshield in the process. Most of us can’t drive to the Quik-Stop for six months without scraping something costly from our vehicle’s exterior. How did Voni do it? “I have tried to avoid congested areas whenever possible, but of course that isn’t always possible,” she told us. “I’m very careful. I put the first 100 miles on my first bike in my yard. I wouldn’t take it out on the road. I never thought that there was a million miles in my future. It took me seven years to go 10,000 miles. I was a mom and I knew that, you know, I could die. But it eventually became a lifestyle for Paul and I and the kids and we started bike camping and by 1990 I had my first 100,000 miles. And please mention that I’m a big believer in ATGATT: All the Gear All the Time. Always wear a motorcycle helmet, padded jacket, pants, boots and gloves. Seriously. The statistics are amazing. I’ve taken safety courses when and where they became available and we have both participated in track days and multiple track-day seminars. A lot of well known racers and teachers have become our friends.” Speaking of well known, Voni and Paul have become quite famous in the distance riding community particularly among those folks who ride BMWs. Paul, who writes a technical column for the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (MOA) magazine, is known for his mechanical expertise, and Voni, who has won the MOA’s mileage contest seven times in the last 12 years, is known for her, well, iron butt. “The years I didn’t win, I placed either second or third,” she said. “I like that I won it the last two years because it means I haven’t lost my edge.” We asked Voni how one manages to do that, ride all those miles without losing that edge. “It’s simple,” she told us. “You stay in the present. I wave to every motorcyclist I pass on the road whether they wave back or not because I know that by doing that I’m staying in the moment. I’m not spacing out. I concentrate. In 1999 I rode 73,000 miles in six months and I developed an actual map of the United States in my head. I never really needed an atlas at all.” And how does one rack up 73,000 miles in six months. “I just rode everywhere I had to go and when I didn’t have to go anywhere I just rode. It’s like a disease,” she laughs. It goes into remission, but it always Guitars • Basses • Amps • Ukes• Mandolins New • Used • Vintage • Repairs • Trades Stevens• Seagull • Hohner • Republic• Santa Cruz DRUM STUFF • GIFT CERTIFICATES • HARMONICAS
comes back.” Voni and Paul have lived in Terlingua for six years. They met in North Dakota and spent the intervening years moving incrementally south. “We moved to Iowa, then Kansas, then Texas,” said Voni. “And we absolutely love it here. We have a great group of neighbors and we call our little community Nine-Point. I’m the school marm, which is what I did before retirement, and Paul is our city planner, because that’s what he did. And I just want to say that one of the congratulations I received that meant the most to me was the one that appeared in the Terlingua Moon [Terlingua’s one-page weekly newsletter]. I think they do a great job. I’ve tried to help them in the past and I hope to write for them in the future. Oh, and I have to tell you: whenever people visit us from other parts of the country they ask what my favorite local ride is and I just tell them ‘around the block’—because that is my favorite ride.” Voni’s “around the block” ride follows Highway 118 south to Study Butte, then FM 170 west to Lajitas and all the way to Presidio, north on Highway 67 to Marfa, east on HWY 67/90 to Alpine, and back south on 118 to her house, a distance of 234 miles. And for the record it is the shortest paved loop available. We asked Voni if she had any special memories about her million-mile odyssey. “My friendship with Ardys, of course,” she said, referring to the other millionmile rider. “We got together at Lone Star BMW in Austin two years ago and we started to talk about it. She had 40,000 miles to go and I had 70,000 miles to go. She was worried because she was 77 then and wasn’t sure she could make it. I reassured her and said that I’d catch up and we could tie for the record. Well, in August I was in Montana and she was in Oregon. We figured out how many miles we had left and Paul suggested that the Million Dollar Highway just outside of Ouray, Colorado would be just about perfect. We celebrated at the Ouray Brewery the night before and that wasn’t bad either. “Oh, and I have to tell you about our celebration at Engle Motors in Kansas City. We’ve known them forever so they threw us a party. I pulled into the parking lot and this guy was standing there; he was an Army reservist or something, he was in fatigues. He smiled and asked me how far I’d ridden to get there—it’s a standard question—and I looked at him, smiled, and said, You are cordially invited to visit the White-Pool House Museum November 21 through January 2, “Early Toys for the Joy of Christmas Morning” Before computers and smart phones, little boys woke up to erector sets, models of farm animals, and the most advanced machinery of the day. Little girls found dolls and toys that encouraged homemaking. As part of the museum’s Christmas decorations these early toys will be beneath the Christmas trees throughout the museum. See it now, in its current restored beauty.... Free Admission; donations welcome Open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am–3 pm 112 East Murphy Street in Odessa, Texas 432.333.4072 www.whitepoolhouse.org Funded in part by the OCAH and the Texas Historical Commission. Terlingua resident and long-distance motorcyle rider Voni Glaves is one of only two women in North America known to have ridden over a million miles on her motorcyles. (Andy Byrnes,photo) ‘One million miles’. “The poor guy walked right into it. I was thrilled.” Andy Byrnes lives in Terlingua with his wife Rose Valasky. They moved to the desert after living for years in the cold in upstate New York. The former journalist and newspaper owner and keeps promising he’ll retire from his latest career in construction to build Rose a real kitchen. ...and learn about lifestyles in the 1800s and early 1900s, with exhibit items on loan from area artisans and collectors. November 2011The Big Bend Gazette 9
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Terlingua motorcyclist Voni Glaves logs in over a million miles in the ...

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