Bear Paranoia and the Rockies......

Cruising the Rockies

Diary Time

The day after broke with blue skies and at last I could see the real beauty of the Rockies. I walked the 2 miles into Jasper and immediately went on my usual quest of finding the nearest wifi. Found a great cafe/bakery and ordered a cappuccino and pastry only to set up my netbook and find their wifi was down! Finishing my breakfast I resumed my internet search. Found a spot quickly, but had to order a full cooked breakfast in order to use the internet! C`est la vie! These are the challenges of being on the road. Staying on top of my e mail, skype, blog, etc, sometimes proves difficult. The day before I left I met 3 BMW riders at the camp who were really helpful. Ron helped me adjust my chain and also suggested I attend the big BMW rally that would be taking place in Oregon in a week or so. Meeting like minded spirits seemed like a good idea and it would also give me a few days off the bike and maybe pick up some advice about Mexico and further south. With that in mind, I created the first real plan in 3 weeks – Redmond, Oregon it was! From Jasper, I rode about 2 hours to Lake Louise and queued to get one of the last spots available in the campsite 2km from the town. Same routine, pitch the tent, stow any food in the bear proof lockers and walk into town to find wifi! In the evening attended an outdoor lecture on “A Year in the life of a Grizzly” (thought it wise to be informed!) This campsite had bear warnings all over the place even though it was surrounded by an electrified fence like a mini Jurassic Park!
Came back to find another bike next to my pitch. Turned out to be 2 people from England, riding an older BMW. David and Jill from Plymouth. We exchanged stories from the road and blog addresses.



They were on their way to Calgary for the stampede and asked if I wanted to ride with them because they had a spare room in Calgary. I must admit to being sorely tempted. It would be nice to have some company on the road. But I had committed to “Couch Surfing” (www.couchsurfing.com – a brilliant idea) in a place called Kelowna 200+ miles south and my hosts were expecting me. (Also, I needed to get my oil leak checked out at the BMW garage).

Couch Surfing in Kelowna!

What an amazing experience! A friend recommended it as a worthwhile thing to sign up for, so as a virgin Couch Surfer I was really interested to see what would happen. I logged on the site and punched in Kelowna and found several people offering to host. For some reason I was drawn to a lady called Myrna Park and when I checked her bio discovered she was into speaking and training! Coincidence? I don`t think so. She told me to go straight to the BMW garage and drop off my bike and her husband would be over to pick me up. “You can`t miss him. He`s a tall man with a beard and will be driving a pink car!”


Layton and the pink hot rod!
Sure enough, a big bear of a man rolled up in a pink hot rod! Enter Layton Park, speaker, author and humourist! And so began a fascinating two days were they treated me as one of the family, introduced me to their friends and even took me as a guest to a local meeting of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). Myrna created some fantastic, healthy salads (best food I`d had in weeks!) and Layton regaled me with stories of his books and bikes. Two extraordinarily talented and generous people. We talked about quantum physics, personal development and the journey (literal and metaphorical) I was on. They created a haven for me to recover after many days of hard riding. Just what I needed. Coincidence? I don`t think so. I was so comfortable there, I didn`t want to leave! But too soon, I had to get back on the road. Myrna insisted I soak my neck scarf and t shirt with water to combat the stifling heat (30-35 degrees!) and warned me about dehydration. With a commitment to stay in touch, I waved and headed off over the mountains towards Vancouver.