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!!!!!