Trip to Nelson and Missoula

Another weekend bites the dirt and again I packed in a lot. However I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked but enjoyed every moment ( well perhaps there were a few very rainy moments on the interstate I could have done without.) On Thursday I packed up and met my friend Mac and rode to Nanton where we met Peter Rodland. Mac came back to Calgary and Peter and I headed for Nelson, BC via Highway 3. When we got to Creston we decided to take the ferry so headed for Crawford Bay. I was really impressed with the Lupins and Forsythia which grow along the side of the road. Just beautiful. Peter and I stopped for fuel in Frank, Alberta and as you can see it was a gorgeous day.

 When we arrived in Nelson Peter had reserved us a campsite at the City Park and we put up our tents and I tried to reach the contact I had for the 3 Flags Classic volunteers but unfortunately his phone was turned off so I said to Peter we need to hike down to the Prestige Resort and see if they have checked in and at least make contact. When we arrived they were out on the patio of the beautiful restaurant and we arrived just in time to have dinner with them.
Jim and Lorraine Partridge from Fruitvale were there and he is our Canadian liason. Huey, Dennis and Les from California were doing the preride so they could get all the situations that may arise ironed out. I was delighted to learn that I had met Huey at Agua Caliente on Jan 1. We had a great meeting and Peter and I now feel we know what our duties will be come Sept long weekend when the riders will be finishing there. Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful resort.

The next day we met at 10:00 with the committee and the resort people to finalize some of the set ups and what would be required and then I headed out. Peter stayed another day in Nelson and I guess he had a wet ride home. I however had a beautiful ride south and stopped just before the border to take these pictures of the Salmo River.

I carried on down to Spokane and then East on I 90. I encountered some rain showers after the summit of The Fourth of July Pass and then again as I rode into Missoula it was raining and thundering and lightening so I went straight to The Brooks Street Motor Inn for the night. There were several bikes there as there was also some kind of British Bike thing going on( but I am afraid not my kind of do) as the bunch I met seemed to be pretty heavy drinkers. I called Betty to let her know I made it and she picked me up the next morning to walk in the walk for Cystic Fibrosis.

This is Betty and her greatgrandson Micah who has Cystic Fibrosis. With the help of others Betty and I made the helium balloon arch. When it was over I went back to the hotel and picked up the bike, Went to Big Sky BMW to pick up the manual for my new bike and then headed over to Jim Iversen's for the campout. I had to give them a bad time...I was told it was a MOTORCYCLE CAMPOUT and for the longest time I was the only one there with a motorcycle and a tent. Most came in their motorhomes or went home after dinner. The dinner was excellent.

Above is our gracious host dismantling the next day. I had coffee and rolls for breakfast and packed up and headed up to Art and Betty's. The supper that evening had guests from Luxembourg and Munich. Horst our friend passed away last week on his way to Germany to visit everyone and his son Dieter and sister Christa were leaving the next day for home after taking care of affairs here. Kind of a sad reason to meet but very delightful to meet them.
The following day Art, Betty and I went to Paradise Falls for breakfast and then Art and I rode together to Columbia Falls and had a bite to eat and I traveled on home and Art back to Missoula.
I texted from Sparwood to ask if it was raining but Mac said not yet but he had heard thunder. I carried on and never did run into any rain. Maybe he just farted??? HAHA. I guess they did get a downpour but I managed to evade it. So once again I am home for a little while. We will see what the next adventure brings.

Addition to Ride to Work Day

In the afternoon there was a ride to culminate Ride to work Day. 8 hardy or stupid souls rode through wind and rain to have dinner at the Water Valley Saloon. The dinner was very good and there was a draw for a chance to win a Ford Mustang. This was a ticket of only 350 so the odds were good. However Brad won it so he may have a chance. Here is a couple of pictures taken outside after dinner. I managed to ride home almost dry Just a few sprinkles at 32 ave and Deerfoot.

Just got back from Ride to Work day downtown and I felt there was a really good turnout but this is the first one I have ever been to. The types of motorcycles were certainly diverse and the police even showed up on their new electric bike. They will be able to sneak up on us now. Attached are some pictures to show what this was all about. We managed to connect with quite a few riders and some even have Asthma themselves so hopefully with the word out there we will get more and more to our ride on Aug 26.

Alberta 500 ,2012
Once again the Alberta 500 was a huge success. There were 19 in all counting Peter and Nelly. What a beautiful place they have. Despite the rain we all had a wonderful time and the food was out of this world. Eric Goretski came to help out with breakfasts. I wish I had taken more pictures but as always was busy doing things and my camera seemed to always be in the wrong place but will share those I did take with you. Friday morning it was decided I would meet up with everyone at the Shell west of Airdrie on Hwy 22. John and Dorothy Wetherell from Cranbrook stayed in Deadman's Flats on Thursday night and were going to get an earlier start and would be ahead of us but when I pulled in to fuel there they were. Timing could not have been better..reason for them being there not so much. Seems when John locked the steering on the bike it went over to accessories so the battery was dead in the morning. After much rigamarole and a new set of battery cables etc they finally got on their way. Poor John,,it just wasn't his day..The knife he carried on his belt for 15 years the strap broke and 2 straps broke on his new luggage also. But it all worked out in the end and they were able to stay in the house at Peter and Nelly's. They are an amazing pair with John being 85 and Dorothy 86 and riding that Suzuki VStom all the way from Cranbrook.

We managed to miss most of the rain on the way up and had a nice lunch in Rocky Mountain House.
Norm and Julia from Lethbridge, and Annie and John and Dorothy and Carol Finlay and I. Carol was in her car and tagged along behind which is good. Kind of a back up vehicle. When we arrived and set up. Ray Johnson from Milk River was already there and Kathryn Seymour came in from Edmonton. Dick and Carol arrived in the motorhome and we all found places to sleep. Peter cooked up some smokies made from moose, deer and cheese. OOOh were they ever good and Nelly had made a potato salad and another salad as well and this awesome dessert with angel food cake,blueberries, lemon pudding, whipped cream, and strawberries. Here are a few more pictures of our set up on their beautiful place.

It rained through the night but we were able to enjoy a beautiful campfire both evenings and Karl,Dodie,Doug Campbell,Bo, and Randy Lilley all had their trailers set up. Saturday I rode into town on the bike and sidecar with Dodie to get a few more groceries and Annie went to meet some of her long lost relatives because she is reseaching and updating her family tree and that is quite a task. Both mornings we had a breakfast of bacon, eggs. hash browns toast and coffee. And Saturday night we had moose roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, salads and this wonderful apple,almond cheesecake that Nelly made. Oh my we really lived up to our UMCI motto, Food,Friendship,Fun.
Sunday came all too soon and we all packed up and headed for home. Strange thing happened though. Annie and Norm's Harleys when we pulled into the key fuel lock Shell would not start. Their alarms just came on and would not go. We kind of moved them away from the area by pushing and reseting their keys but it was really strange..Both of them! and after we never had another problem.

We ran through a few rain showers and stopped at the Mill in Red Deer for a quick bite on the way home. The horns were the view I had out of the door of my tent.

Around the campfire. I had a special rock from Peter's campfire which kept me warm and toasty all night. The following picture is of Dodie and Julia on the bearskin rug.

Well I must be off to Ride to Work day downtown at Trans Canada Pipeline in support of my Asthma Ride so will close this post for now. Great Weekend!!!!!

Could not help myself:  Not sure how I am going to color coordinate but here is my latest purchase. Let me tell you I was beaming ear to ear when I brought her home today.

Addition to Osoyoos Campout

Just got these wonderful pictures of the May long weekend in Osoyoos and just have to share them with everyone who reads my Blog.

Friday, June1,2012
Today was another beautiful day in Alberta and because I have spent the last week getting almost all the things ready for upcoming events I had a rather day and this afternoon tooka motorcycle ride out to Cochrane on the old highway to Seebe and then cut over to Highway 1 and stopped at Deadman's Flats to see my old friend Inno Thomas who owns the Esso station there. I used to sell him parts for his equipment 30 years ago when I worked for BrakeDrome. I saw some beautiful country as always and will add a couple of pictures although they were taken last weekend at our scouting Unity Camp.