It must be February (Blog 4 of 30)

Some people know it is February when Valentine's Day rolls around. 

Some mark February as the time that they take their annual ski trip in the mountains or their hot holiday down south.

Me - I know it is February when I start dreaming about motorcycle trips.

This year my dilemma has been made worse (or better) by the fact that, this past Christmas, the girls gave me a couple of motorcycle magazines that had articles in them that looked like this......

So this has me reminiscing about various trips my brother Lenny (not his real name) and I have taken.  They all end about the same way, so let me recount last year's ride for you.

- It started with a plan to watch the RCAF Snowbirds perform at the army base in Dundurn, Sk.  It was 8 degrees when I left home..... it got colder!  By the time I got to the other side of Regina, I could not feel my fingers.

- The airshow grounds had no shelter at all.  We spent extra time in the port-a-potties just to warm up

-  Then we rode 3 more hours to our campsite for the night.  Set up the tents and found out that there was no fire wood.  Spent the next 4 hours loitering at a Tim Hortons

- By 3 am, I was so cold that I put on all the clothes I could find and pulled my heavy leather jacket over top of me.

- The next day was nice..... until we nearly died (Going around a corner, the pavement stopped and we hit the deepest gravel I have ever seen on a grid road...... oh and there was a truck coming toward us in the middle of the road).

- After 14 kms of deep gravel we got to a back country site at "Meadow Lake Provincial Park" where, at 3 in the morning, I could not tell what was roaming around by our tents..... was it a deer or a bear?   I hoped it was a deer and went back to sleep.

- Having not been eating by the bear, we packed up and started riding toward Viking, Alberta where we got caught in the biggest storm I have ever seen (other than the one that blew us both off the highway in North Dakota the year before).  Three hours in a cafe dripping all over the floor and then we hid in hotel.

- Froze all the way over to Wetaskiwin.....  went to a car museum..... and then had ONE NICE DAY riding to "Cypress Hills Provincial Park"...... where is rained all night and I froze in my tent.... again wearing every piece of clothing I had and hiding under my motorcycle jacket that helped keep my core warm, but did nothing for my extremities.

- To end the trip, we headed to Moose Jaw and then to a car show in Weyburn.  On the way home, I got caught in rain storm so bad that I almost pulled over because I could not see!

The ground was hard..... we only ate two meals per day at the most (breakfast and supper)..... I froze my fingers so much that the ends of two of them hurt for three months afterward.....

I can't wait for this year's ride!  :)
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As an added bonus...... Lenny and I do video diaries most every day when we are on the road.  Without his permission.... and without paying royalties..... here is the video we did on our last night on the road in Cypress Hills.  PS.  For those of you who are concerned..... I did find my hat!