Carl and Shirley Dvorak
Shirley was born in Rigby Idaho and I was born in Chicago, Illinois.
Both of our families moved to Richland Washington in the early 1940’s.
We both grew up seeing each other around town but not paying any attention to each other. I was dating a girl named Mary at the time and Shirley was dating my buddy Glen.
After I got out of the Army in 1962 we started dating and got married on February 9, 1963. We have 2 children, Tara and Terry.
I have worked for different computer software and health insurance companies that have moved us from Washington to Alabama, Chicago, and then to Texas.
Shirley has worked for various companies in the government and financial industries.
During our early married years in Washington we got involved in riding dirt bikes and camping and both of us did a lot of desert riding. Just before we moved to Alabama I started racing motocross. In Alabama, I took it up seriously and was sponsored by a local Yamaha dealer and later a Penton dealer. I got my professional racing license in 1971 and raced against many the top ranked riders in the country. I also raced amateur flat track just for the fun of it.
In 1991 when most of the dirt bike riding areas started closing down we bought a Yamaha 650 to see if we would like road riding. After a year on the Yamaha, we bought a 1988 Honda Shadow and towed it around the country to various rallies.
After seeing the different parts of the country on the bike and enjoying the rallies we attended I knew that we needed to upgrade our bike and do some serious touring so we bought a 1986 Gold Wing SEI. We rode with a couple of different clubs and settled in with Chapter "B" in Garland who had a bunch of campers in it. Since we liked to camp and most of the other chapters were motelers we fit in better with “B”. After riding the 86 wing for 4 years and touring a lot of the country on it I got the 1500 bug. I knew the color of the bike that I wanted and after looking for about 8 months I found the one I am riding now.
I am charter member of the national Honda Rider Club of America, the Plano Honda Rider Club, Shadow Riders Club and the Dallas Honda Rider Club. Shirley and I are both charter members of GWTA chapters “E” and “I” and GWRRA chapter G2. We have been on a lot of rides with different clubs and chapters and are happy to say that we have enjoyed our experiences with all of them. It is not only the destination of where we are going that Shirley and I look forward to but the journey that gets us there and all the people that we meet along the way.
Thanks for all the good memories!!!