We rode it around home, and liked the freedom of riding through the countryside. Our first long trip was to Owen Sound, taking backroads all the way, and stopping every half hour. It may have taken us a little longer than driving in the car, but we liked the ride on the bike so much more.

Our neighbours at the time, much younger than us, both had motorcycles, one an '82 Wing and the other a 900cc touring bike. They always liked to ride, and, of course, go for coffee. When the call came from them to go out, we were always ready and eager to go. Once again, we thoroughly enjoyed biking around. At that point, it was obvious we were serious about this - we were hooked!

At this time we felt the need to move up to a bigger bike, and looked at an '83 GL650 Silver Wing. This looked good to us. Our friend advised us that we had better buy a Gold Wing as he was sure we would end up with one eventually. So, off we went to the local dealer who was also a GWRRA member. We were talked into buying our '83 Gold Wing. This was a big commitment on our part. After a few months we began to feel more comfortable on this much bigger bike.

We didn't know a lot about riding, and we wanted to ride safely so we took the motorcycle course at Conestoga College, a local community college. We learned a lot about handling motorcycles and riding safely, gaining much confidence.

A friend who had an '84 Gold Wing contacted us, and told us about a GWRRA meeting in Woodstock. We attended the meeting, and we were impressed with the organization's values and goals. We decided to go ahead and join.

Glenn and Iona have been riding for over 25 years, and have been members of Gold Wing Road Riders Association since 1985. Iona and Glenn reside in New Dundee in south-western Ontario, and associate with Chapter E in Kitchener-Waterloo.

In their own words...

In the spring of 1985 we acquired our first Gold Wing, an '83 GL1100 Interstate with full fairing and bags, but no radio, intercom or CB. We also took out a membership in GWRRA. How did we get to this point?

Fifteen years earlier, we had two teenage sons interested in motorcycles and the money from their first jobs went to buying bikes. At that time we had a dairy herd, and not much spare time, but we did take our sons' bikes out for the occasional ride.

We enjoyed it very much. In 1982, when our youngest son took over the dairy farm, we found it a little easier to get away and thought if we were ever going to get a bike, now was the time. At the ages of 54 and 50, we bought a 400cc Honda street bike with a windshield but not much else.