Goodbye USA - Hello Canada!

*** continued from previous post ***

Yes I was guilty. Guilty of being an American.

The Canadian official, our guide to the splendor that is Canada, our ambassador to all things northy, motioned for me to turn off the bike. I gave him a quick glance to see what we were dealing with. He might have been 20, but I doubt it. His beard, if you could call it that, would inspire comments such as, "Aw, look! He's trying to grow a beard. Isn't that cute?". Or, "You know, shaving is 'in' right now." Or, "Dear god! Get a stick quick! That poor boy is being attacked by some varmint with mange! It might be a wolverine! Or a cat! Either way, that thing needs a good smackin'."

I guess I could have just described his beard as 'patchy', but that word does not do Capt. face-fur justice.

He was dressed in a crisp, khaki and forest green uniform and wore, what we in the USA call a 'Smokey The Bear' hat. He looked like the cutest boy scout ever. I thought it prudent not to mention this to him. It might spoil the moment.

After our initial greetings, and the typical, 'whereyoufrom-whereyougoing-howlongyoustaying?', the following conversation took place which, although you might not believe me, is reproduced verbatim:

Him: "Do you have any guns?"

Me: "No."

Him: "Do you have any knives?"

Me: "No."

Him: "Any weapons of any kind?"

Me: "Nope."

Him: "How about Mace or other aerosol devices like Pepper Spray?"

Me: "Umm . . . no. We don't have anything."

Him: "You don't have any weapons of any kind on your person or on your motorcycle?"

Me: "No." (Although, at this point, I'm beginning to get a little nervous)

Him: "Not even anything to protect yourself against animals?"

Me: (Animals? WTF????) "No. Should I?"

Him: "Go on ahead and enjoy your stay in Canada," he said with a smirk and waved us through.

Mom immediately wants to pull over and buy guns. And knives. And brass-knuckles. Oh, and Mace. Possibly a Howitzer if we can find one. Poor dear, it's been a long day. It takes some talking, but I convince her that all she really needs is a rock that I picked up in the parking lot of a convenience store where we stopped to grab our umpteenth bottle of water. The fullness, the heft, the sharp edges all seemed to soothe her. Her eyes lost that wild saucer-shape that gives me the willies.

She loved that rock. In the days to come, I believe she loved that rock more than me. I can't blame her. The rock never convinced her to go on a motorcycle trip to Banff.



*** the journey continues tomorrow ***

Grand Marais Fisherman's Picnic Weekend

Been gone for a while.

Thursday last week, I was cleaning up some loose ends at work. I took Friday off, and headed up north to Grand Marais, MN with my wife.

We went there for our now annual Grand Marais Fisherman's Picnic weekend to meet a few of my wifes friends, who have now become my friends. The scenery there is stunning. I'd like to retire around the North Shore someday, and lucky for me, my wife is totally on board with this

plan. We stayed in a quaint cabin just outside of downtown. We ate, we drank, and shopped in town, enjoyed the festival, had a camp fire dinner with our friends, and parted ways the next morning. My wife and I spent the last day there together, and just enjoyed each other's company. We saw some incredible scenery and views as we headed along the Gunflint Trail. I was so into the beautiful views in front of me, I was just, well, dumfounded, and too lame to take any pictures. I take that back. I have a few on my camera phone. Now if I can just find time to figure out how to get them off!

I got another souvenier knife.

I love knives, especially when I can tie it into being a biker knife, that makes it even better.

I got back from our trip to start work the following day. I spent the last two days in a training class, and got absolutely nothing done as far as my real job goes. Now I'm really far behind the 8-ball. I really don't even have time to be posting this. I'd like to lay blame on my temp. who did absolutely nothing while I was away, but... Oh wait.... I don't have a temp. All the work just piles up while I'm gone. As a matter of fact, I was even assigned more work while I was on vacation! Bastards. Nothing like job security right???

Please excuse my absence as of late, and in near future. I have much catching up to do. I'll try to catch up on my regular blogs I read, and we'll talk to you all soon.

Peace,

Mr. Motorcycle

Been gone for awhile

Sorry about my absenteism on my comments last week, but I was on the North Shore on a camping trip with the wife and kids, and no computer service up there.

I brought back some pictures to share.


Cool lighthouse



Split Rock Lighthouse



Gooseberry Falls running with high fast water



More Gooseberry Falls



North Shore in the Gun Flint



North Shore in the Gun Flint



I collect knives, So I had to bring home this souveneir!






I checked my google reader. Over 100 and some blog posts unread!
I'll never get caught up!
Nice to be back.