Canadian Thanksgiving – Ridiculous!

Canadians – I tease my Canadian wife – do things just slightly different from the US so no one mistakes them for Americans: like colour, cheque, and zed (for z). They also hold thanksgiving in October, which is far better than 3 weeks before Christmas, but don’t tell my wife I think it’s better. Obviously we weren’t in Canada for their Thanksgiving, but I’m sure thankful we were in Canada with Canadians this past week. We learned first hand that the most distinct difference about Canadians is they are ridiculously nice. What’s more, there are only like a total of 3000 Canadians, so you constantly feel like you have the entire country to yourself. And what a beautiful country.

Tuesday, we left Banff, Alberta. Having enjoyed the town, a comfortable hotel and great food, we were completely at odds with riding heavy bikes through the woods. Despite my best efforts at using paper maps, GPS and electronic maps, we were still at times a bit off route. Or as Gloria might better describe it: “wandering in the woods, what trail?”. Miraculously, we still arrived at Engadine Lodge for the night.

The scenery left me little reason to ever go anywhere else for mountains. Our yurt at Engadine had a view that would never grow old. While I was not anxious to share a dining table – mandatory like a B&B – with others at the lodge, I found the conversation extremely interesting and enjoyable. Ridiculously nice Canadians fed us amazing food and made our stay as pleasant as the scenery.

Fortunately, on leaving the lodge, route finding was simple as we followed dirt roads into and through the spectacular Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Unfortunately, a road construction crew was hauling gravel up and down our route. Amazingly, the truck drivers would slow down before, during, and after passing us to avoid kicking up dust. And on another lonely stretch, a driver stopped to warn us about a bear that he had seen up ahead. Ridiculous!

It was a 70 mile day that included hike-a-bike on parts of Elk Pass as we left Alberta and entered BC. We finally arrived at Elkford, where Gloria’s nephew, Chris, not only provided us with a comfortable room, he loaned us his truck to get around town. It was especially appreciated as he lived up on a hill and we had to go down to town (and back up) for supplies. Ridiculous!

Elkford to Sparwood provided some of the most pleasant riding of the week. We flew through the kilometers (remember – cheque, not miles?) down the Elk Valley with farms and ranches next to us and beautiful peaks higher up. I think we saw 3 cars in 30 kilometers.

Unfortunately, while beautiful, the next leg – Sparwood to Elko – included more flying but unintended. Clearly a bunch of ridiculous Canadians had gotten together to make an amazing 25 miles of single track between Sparwood and Fernie. Any mountain biker would love the ride, without a trailer! Gloria, struggling with a trailer, had a low speed crash. As I ran back up the trail, I was sure it was the end of “our” ride. But being a ridiculous Canadian, too nice for her own good, she shook it off and kindlydefaultcontinued with my crazy dream.

She recovered at “thee” motel in Elko, next to “thee” store that night. I treated her to a special Friday night date of microwave nachos and salsa from “thee” store. Then on Saturday, we began our last leg of the week to Eureka, Montana not knowing that ridiculously kind Canadians – and a family of Americans – would once again bless us.

Likely the crash bent the derailleur and I wasn’t smart enough to check it closely. On Saturday we made good time and soon had passed through beautiful Baynes Lake. Entering a VERY rural area on our way to the border, Gloria shifted into a low gear. After some horrible screeching and metal tearing sounds, her bike ground to a halt.

Minutes later, with the trailer off the side of the road, Gloria’s bike thrown in the weeds sans back wheel, and me staring at three broken spokes torn through the rim, a bent derailleur and broken derailleur hanger, Mike and Jo-Ann pulled up on their bicycles asking if we needed anything. We do that in America, but they actually meant it. Within minutes, Mike had ridden back to their cabin, retrieved his truck, loaded the bike and the three of them were driving to the border. Ridiculous!

Gloria pushed what was left of her bike, across the border and Mike and Joann returned home. Waiting on the US side was Morgen. Our daughter Jessica had met Morgen and Daman years before in college. Jessica connected us when she realized our route went through Eureka. Morgen, on receiving the desperate call from Canada, put a trailer on the family car and headed to the border. Apparently, even though not Canadian, Daman and Morgen have been adversely influenced by living just 10 miles from Canada and are also ridiculously nice. After rescuing Gloria, she drove her an hour to Whitefish – the nearest bike shop – where they waited until the bike was repaired and ready for Monday. They then gave us a lovely room, food, and friendship.

We didn’t ride on the Sabbath, we went to church. The day of rest is good. While giving thanks for the most important being in our lives – Jesus Christ – we also gave thanks for miraculously associating with people who truly act like Him. Our lives have been blessed this week by beautiful places, wonderful people, and the amazing opportunity to enjoy them. I’ve been motivated to try and be more Christian and Canadian.