 | OK, it's been a year and a half. Kill'r is resting in peace somewhere in Nevada, I'm the lucky owner of a 2015 KTM 1190 Adventure R, he's pretty much kitted out, and ZAP! Just like that, here we meet again. The mission of the week is to relocate The Honey Badger -- so named for his go-anywhere, do-anything outlook on life -- somewhere south of winter for... well, for winter. The route out to High Level offers little variety, but is always a breath of fresh air. What made today's run unique was Alberta welcoming me back with an epic hailstorm not 5 kilometers south of 60. The road surface was literally white. I pulled over twice to boot-check the friction, and try for a photo, but it was an absolute deluge and there was no chance at all of pulling a camera out. |
That's the second time I've ridden in hail. The first was within a month of getting my motorcycle license in the foothills of the Rockies, and momentarily made for a frightening fogged-visor battle on the Trans-Canada Highway. The quantity of hail today was far, far greater, but fortunately the road surface and visibility remained passable.
The bulk of my helmet time was just spent decompressing, and reflecting on how fortunate I am in many different ways.
A few more intermittent showers and a muddy detour around bridge construction accompanied me into High Level for the night.
For the first time, I'm tucked in a room around the back at the Days Inn, and it turns out that this adds to the transportation theme! My view includes not just the parking lot, but also the Greyhound bus depot and the railroad tracks -- the latter of which just treated me to a reminder of the sound of a train, as I stood sock-footed, straddling my residual muddy water puddle, watching and listening to the empty fuel cars clickety-clack past out the hotel room door.
Tomorrow, a new road.
The bulk of my helmet time was just spent decompressing, and reflecting on how fortunate I am in many different ways.
A few more intermittent showers and a muddy detour around bridge construction accompanied me into High Level for the night.
For the first time, I'm tucked in a room around the back at the Days Inn, and it turns out that this adds to the transportation theme! My view includes not just the parking lot, but also the Greyhound bus depot and the railroad tracks -- the latter of which just treated me to a reminder of the sound of a train, as I stood sock-footed, straddling my residual muddy water puddle, watching and listening to the empty fuel cars clickety-clack past out the hotel room door.
Tomorrow, a new road.
| Day total: 743 km, 8h10m Trip total: 743 km | Start: Yellowknife, NWT. End: High Level, AB. Soundtrack: Three Pistols, Ghosts, and alphabetically subsequent song titles. |
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