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on the: Beverly Kennell, of Apple Valley, goes to great lengths to capture her photos(Daily Press (Victorville, CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Aug. 26--Atr ue Renaissance wo m a n , B eve rly Kennell is an accomplished amateur photographer, a biker mama and a library assistant 1 at the Newton T. Bass Library in Apple Valley. And just to make life interesting, in her capacity as county recorder class 1 she issues birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses and marriage certificates, and also performs weddings -- all at the library. "My first wedding, I was nervous and embarrassed, but by now I've performed about 350 ceremonies," she said. "Couples come to the library from all over the High Desert." Kennell, who has luminous red hair, admitted that her hair is dyed: "I told my hairdresser, Chris Valverde at Hair Precinct, 'I want biker red, especially for our trip in June.' " For three weeks Kennell and her husband, Jim, rode through the upper Midwest on their silver, 800-pound, 100th Anniversary Edition Electra Glide Ultra Classic Harley-Davidson. For all 5,900 miles Jim was at the controls. Beverly rode shotgun. "I tried to learn on dirt bikes but got thrown going uphill," she said. "That ended my career. Now I'm the passenger. But I figure the mileage and make the reservations. Typically we ride between 300 to 450 miles a day." Their adventures on the Harley are a busman's holiday for Jim Kennell, who works for Roadway Express and drives 600 miles a day: from Apple Valley to Bloomington, from there to Fresno and back, and finally home to Apple Valley Beverly's wanderlust probably stems from her father's job as a digger of ditches for pipelines. "I was born in Buckeye, Ariz., in a birthing home," she said. "My father had to return to the pipeline the next day, so my mother, who didn't know how to drive, had just one day to learn. She was a brave woman. "Later, my mom and the kids would follow my dad, leapfrogging as the pipeline was laid." The family moved so often, Kennell would sometimes stay at a school for only three or four months. Her senior year in high school, she attended four different schools in four different states. "Moving that much," she said, "you understand that you won't have many long-term friends. "But you lear n to make friends quickly. And to see the country as we did, to see Route 66 when it really was Route 66..." The Kennells' trip in June began with a visit to St. Paul, Minn., but with a detour en route to see Carhenge, a famous roadside attraction in a field outside Alliance, Neb. An exact duplicate of Stonehenge, Carhenge was built by the sculptor Jim Reinders using old cars. Although all the cars are painted solid gray, Jim Kennell managed to identify every one of them. From St. Paul they continued north to Carlton and Cloquet, Minn. -- near Duluth. In Cloquet they saw a Phillips 66 gas station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1956, three years before his death. Then west to Fargo, N.D., famous/notorious for the 1996 movie starring Francis McDormand. "As much as they made fun of it in that movie, the people of Fargo are the nicest, most courteous, most helpful of people," Kennell said. "At a Laundromat, the owner practically did our laundry for me." From Fargo they went to Montana for the National HOG (Harley Owners Group) Rally in Red Lodge and also to see Glacier National Park "At the park," Kennell said, "we met some nuns who belong to a new order, Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. "When I asked if they'd pose for a picture, the nuns said yes, as excited as schoolgirls, and even hopped on the bikes. "Then their priest blessed our bikes." From Montana the Kennells returned to Apple Valley. Almost every year since 1998, the couple has made a lengthy motorcycle trip with friends from Roadway. From their first tour -- of all 21 California missions -- Beverly Kennell brought home many handsome photos, including one of stairs leading down to the wine cellar in Mission San Antonio de Padua, in Monterey. It won First Place, Judges' Best Choice, at the San Bernardino County Fair. She loves another photo -- of a window at Mission La Purisima Concepcion, near Lompoc -- "not for the picture but for what it is: fabric from the 1800s still intact despite all those years hanging in the light." She added that of all their road trips, the best so far was the one this June: "T he worst weather we encountered was the wind and pouring rain in Yermo and Barstow, when we were practically home. "But it's amazing to see a weather cell. And every turn, every minute, was worth taking a picture. I took more than 1,000, brought home 700, then edited these down to 180." Kennell was given her first camera, a Kodak Brownie, when she was 8 ("I know I still believed in Santa Claus"). She now shoots with a Fuji FinePix 700 digital camera, which Norm Goyer, of Apple Valley -- an author and retired editor -- taught her to use. From these lessons emerged her three-part photo essay of three different county entities: the Apple Valley library, the Apple Valley Airport and Mojave Narrows Park. The final chapter -- photos of the Narrows -- is now on display at the library. "Beverly's photographs are excellent," Goyer said. "She is a super-quick learner and has the eye for good shots." One of those shots, the first she entered in the fair after buying her new digital camera, won Best of Show in the Humorous category. The portrait of a lizard hanging from a stucco wall, it was taken vertically. But when viewed horizontally, as Kennell had it framed, it looks as if the lizard were a 1960s hipster in a drawing by R. Crumb of "Keep on Truckin' " fame. Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. 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