The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 22 / 12
Issue #539
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We’ve all heard the stories about some guy who drops in to some car or truck or bike dealership just out of curiosity and ends up driving away in a brand new vehicle right then and there. Well, that actually happened to an acquaintance of ours. They hadn’t intended to, but they did. Not his real name, but I’ll refer to him as ‘John’, John and his wife do a lot of riding. They live in Calgary and are members of the same riding club we belong to. John rides out to the coast on his ’08 Harley Road King whenever he has even a small excuse to do so and has been on several of the multi-chapter rides here. They decided to ride out to the coast for the Port Alberni Toy Ride that was held last weekend. On the way they stopped in at the Kamloops Harley dealership, just for the heck of it like we all do. While relaxing and poking around and looking at the bikes and the bling, they spotted a nice new shinny red Harley Road Glide Ultra on the showroom floor. The usual banter with a salesperson ensued and of course the statement was made that if the price was right they would trade their King on the Ultra and be on their way. The Kamloops dealer crunched the numbers and low and behold, the price diff was something that John couldn’t walk away from. It even included the taxes and an extended warrantee. The bike would be ready to go by the time the paper work was done. John and his wife resumed their road trip on a brand new bike that had many more bells, whistles and luxuries than his RC ever could have.
They were almost embarrassed (as they grinned from ear to ear) about the whole thing as they showed us their new bike. We met them in Horseshoe Bay to see them off as they waited for the ferry over to the Island. They went to the Island and visited with friends over there and rode in the Toy Ride, then came back over to the mainland in time for the Salmon Run. Interestingly and conveniently, they would end up having the first servicing done by the Kamloops dealer on their way back through. Harley requires a first service at 1600+/- clicks on new bikes.
The Salmon Run is a new ride idea for the Lower Mainland. This was it’s first year. The idea is that the local First Nations, together with the local biking clubs, would do a ride from Vancouver to Squamish to honor salmon and the native traditions. The ride went from the HD dealer in Burnaby to the native-run casino in Squamish. The town of Squamish is not yet on-board with the run but will hopefully come around as they see the business advantages. The ride started with native ceremonies etc at the Burnaby location and then with the help of the Vancouver motorcycle police, it proceeded up onto the highway. Some of my members and myself helped with the traffic control and then acted as tail gunners for the run up the highway. Once all the bikers were on the casino parking lot there was entertainment and a catered lunch and more ceremonies. There were only about 300 bikes this time, being the first time for the ride but it will grow. Also being the first time, there were some issues that will need to be addressed for the future. The ride itself needs to be better organized, as do most rides when it comes right down to it. The choice of ride leader must be better though out in the future. Ride leader was a local First Nations chief and he was loaned a bike by the HD Dealer. Well, as soon as he was up on the highway he ignored the police escort and everything else and went hell-bent for Squamish. The ride immediately turned into a race. As tail gunners it was all we could do just to keep up. There is one section of the Sea 2 Sky highway were it passes through Lion’s Bay that is posted at 60k. I ended up going through there at 110, just trying to keep up. You can imagine the speeds we hit where the highway was posted at 80 or 90. This was not good. For one thing, many riders were struggling with these speeds, and the fast moving convoy of bikes caused the rest of the traffic to drive equally fast. However, we all made it to the destination and next year ‘our club’ will have a much bigger voice in the planning and execution of the ride.
And of course we all knew it would get here, and its always here way too fast, but the end of summer is upon us. How can it be that summer always goes by so very fast. Interestingly, after a miserable cold wet start, our west coast summer turned into one of the nicest ones in memory. We have been warm and sunny and dry since the second week of July. In fact, its been too dry lately. There were the usual hot spells but even they were tempered a bit and didn’t last overly long. They didn’t last long enough to melt the snowfields that are visible in the mountains around us here and that’s a good thing. Those snowfields will continue to supply water to the mountain streams for as long as it stays dry. Then the rains will take over and the snowfields will grow again. Along with the end of summer is the end of my blueberries. There is still perhaps a pint of them on the plants but something (I assume birds and not a neighbour) has been taking them as soon as they start to ripen. But this has been pretty incredible, blueberries right to the end of summer. Mind you they were a month late staring but it has been a remarkable crop this year.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone or should I say “Allah Salam Alaikum”?
A greeting phrase used by every member of the Muslim faith, “extremist” or not, which means “Peace be upon you!”
It’s also been interpreted by Muslim Clerics as “I will not harm you either physically or mentally!”
Kinda makes you think, doesn’t it?
Greg
Thanks for tuning in! I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
PS: I promise, no more religious columns, ever!
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.