The Last Chance Saloon

One of my favorite one day rides is down to the Drumheller Valley with a stop at the Last Chance Saloon in Wayne, Alberta. Only a few kilometers east and south of Drumheller the ride is highlighted with the crossing of eleven wooden decked bridges and a serpentine of a road on the valley floor.
At the end of the ride is the Saloon and hotel with accompanying campgrounds. Just a short little jaunt out of Drumheller but the frosty beer and Buffalo Burger as well as the wall decorations make for a pleasant stop.
The place is a mecca for local riders and has hosted some of the bigger biker rallies in Alberta.

Darcy sitting on his Sportster prior to a Buffalo burger and a beer

Another ride, another beer at the Saloon this time with Dan and Donna

Motorcycle Ride Video-Eleven Bridges Road

Here is a motorcycle ride video I did last Sunday with Dan and Donna-Lynne over the Eleven Bridges Road to Wayne, Alberta culminating in a stop for refreshments at the Last Chance Saloon.
I shot the video at great peril to myself as I put the bike on cruise and held the camera with my throttle hand. No bikers were injured, maimed or otherwise disfigured in the making of this epic journey.

Push the little arrow thingy to watch the video.

Riding the Rockies

These are a few photos that I took when a friend, Darcy and I did a five day tour thru the Rocky Mountains and then continued on to redo a ride we had done twenty years ago.
The ride was from Creston B.C. north to Kaslo with two free ferry rides across the lakes, over to Nakusp and then coming out at Vernon B.C. This has to be one of the most scenic and twisty roads that any biker can take through British Columbia. It is loaded with twisty roads and scenic lakes and not the hordes of tourist traffic one would expect to find in B.C.
One of the many switchbacks n the road between Kaslo and Nakusp
The green waters of the Big Horn dam west of Rocky Mountain House in Alberta
No matter how many time I have crossed the rocky mountains of Alberta and B.C., the scenery is always spectacular to a flatlander like myself
This is Saskatchewan River Crossing on the Bow Valley Parkway, highlighted by great roads and light traffic it is also the place where gasoline costs the most.

The Hells Angels never wave back

The one great thing about riding a motorcycle is the camaraderie of fellow bikers you meet on the road.

Because we are kindred spirits out on the road, bared to the world not surrounded by a cage, bikers have developed a nifty little habit of waving to each other. Like an acknowledgement of the fun and adventure we are sharing.

Sometimes it can be a little tiring and boring when the road is loaded with bikers but in most cases it is a salute to one another and usually merited.

Recently on a trip through the Rockies we came upon a pack of riders and despite my friendly wave and salute, not one in the pack of Harleys waved back.

After my friend and riding partner stopped for lunch, I mentioned that not one of that pack of bikes had waved back and I mentioned that after not receiving a wave back, I gave them the finger.

That was because that was the Hells Angel he stated, looking at me like I was some kind of organ donor.

At which point, I admitted that they were a mile past when I gave them the one finger salute.

Photo Blog of First Ride of the Year

Got the bike out of winter storage last week, had to drag it over a couple of snow banks to get it to the shop so I could charge the battery and bring it back to life for another year.

Can't go too far as I need a new rear tire again, they only have a life span of about 6,000km or so, and the one I got on the bike shows no tread at all.

But I did manage a small ride around town to take a few pics.

You come across all kinds of things in a small town, so it was not unusual to see a tractor parked out on the front lawn. Seems to be one of those photos where you have to pick out what does not belong in the picture, the tractor, the bike or the snow.
And with the snow melt there is an abundance of water everywhere. I biked around town and this was the best reflection shot I could get, the background is not that great.

This is maybe the one of the shortest rail lines in Canada as they took the tracks out years ago and all that is left is the granary which was saved as a museum piece and they left enough track to park an old caboose, cattle car and grain car. They had the tracks out before they could get an engine in there and now will have to truck one in to complete the mini train.

Brokeback Motorcyclist

The other night at our regular poker night, one of the boys mentioned that he had seen the movie Brokeback Mountain. The jeers , catcalls and taunting from the guys came in a thick and deadly barrage.
His excuse he explained, after the verbal carnage, was that his wife had wanted to see it, and he just tagged along.
Personally I have no such desire to see the movie and as a matter of fact the last movie that I had seen in a movie theatre was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I took my young nephew. I can think of better things to spend my money on as life's priorities take a toll on the pocket book. Usually I spend my money on bikes, babes and beer and the rest I just waste.
In the old cowboy movies it wasn't unusual for the hero to fall in love with his horse, dog or cows and of course the girl next door, but never another cowboy.
And things around here, out on the prairies, hasn't changed much in the last 100 years and thats about how we like it. The fancy cowboys have a tendency to migrate to the urban centers leaving us to our horses and girls and in my case, my iron horse.

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Hoss Hauls Heavy Humanitarian

When you got a lot of stuff to deliver and no

snow for your sleigh to glide on, who ya gonna call?

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The biker type guy at the reins is Hoss, the guy on the back is some kind of delivery fellow from the far north. Hoss has managed to ride his Lehman trike every month of the year since he got it, don't hurt to have a third wheel for stability in the ice and snow.
Lehman trikes are made in Westlock, Alberta and Spearfish, South Dakota and sold world wide. The trike conversions are made for all the brands of motorcycles but I think Hoss bought his for the throaty roar and rumble of the Harley engine.
You can usually hear Hoss thumping around town on his Harley most times of the year, he uses it as a daily commuter to work, takes it to meetings, goes golfing on it, and sometimes lets his wife ride on the back. Rumor has it that he will be riding the big white thumper down to Sturgis bike week this upcoming year, dressed to the hilt in his Harley gear, you will know him when you see him, he is hard to miss because he will try to sell you some real estate.
You meet the nicest people on a Honda they say, with a Harley you are sure to be surprised who is going to be riding.

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