Here’s where we went during my six days with Bill …

To quote the kid at the end of the movie Hook; “That was a great story.”

We started saying our theme would be” finding a sustainable rhythm to life” but quickly changed it to “this does not suck.”

Some thoughts …
– The road from Banff to Jasper has to be the most beautiful scenery on this continent. Rankin was right on this call … from his tour guide college days.
– Every man should do this.
– I love seeing little boys in the back window wave … you know they are dreaming of growing up and riding the mountains. I think I heard Bill say, “all the men who see us want to be us and all the women want to be with us.” But I could be wrong?
– Riding down the mountain from Jasper in the pounding rain with little visibility and slippery roads will test a man and make him appreciate a hot cup of coffee.
– There are beautiful women everywhere.
– This was great but would have been even greater if there was a group of us riding …
– Dave and Sue Chambers are wonderful people.
– Marble gets close to a sustainable rhythm to life.
– I felt more close to the Bald Eagles I saw soaring over the Rockies in Banff than ever before.

– Having the proper gear is mandatory. Riding in the cold and rain was no problem since we bold could just ‘gear up’. Only the ride down from Jasper was a bit of a test. The rest of the time we were warm and dry and having the time of our lives.
– Good friends salt a trip like this well. Our time with Bob and Conner to start the trip, Moon and the Master Chief in the Tri Cities and then Dave and Sue Chambers in marble were as great as the ride and the scenery.
– The Master Chief has no end of stories. He owes us two he couldn’t tell in front of Jake.
– Moon has no end of Moonisms.
– You meet some wonderful people on a ride. The others are easy enough to ignore.
– Seems that everywhere has a great local Pale Ale?
– The Salt Lick in Banff is a great place to eat.
– The Duck Brand is a great place to stay in Winthrop. We had the perfect bowl of oatmeal there.

When we were here … … a man walked by and gandered at the bikes twice (can’t remember his name … Bill will). So we started talking to him. He was from England with his wife Paula. He said he dreamed of being a Harley man but so far only had the hat. As Bill showed him his bike and gear Paula told me he was dying of cancer and this was their trip to make the most of the rest of his days since they didn’t know how many he had left. I told her I had several friends that beat cancer but she said he’d already had all the surgery and chemo and it kept coming back. Pray for them. He was a delight; told us about his motorcycles and his “Bubble car” that had never been rained on! I asked Paula if she liked to ride behind him; she said she did but knew he wanted to get out on the road alone and not worry about if she was ok back there so she sent him out alone.

We will do this again … to be continued …

Looking forward to ‘watching’ the rest of your trip Bill. Make the most of it.

The rest of you need to start planning to get a bike and join us on the next ride. And we’ll all have to start figuring out how to take Paul Jackson up on his invitation to ride around New Zealand! We can all fly down and rent?

This is a great way to live!