Before the skies opened in Red Deer
Red Deer — Eight degrees, fifty click winds and rain. Welcome to central Alberta, cowboy.
Sadly a pack of riders made the choice not to be frozen, soaked, shredded, sodden, shrivering beings. Imagine. Posers. Those who did show were close to comatose. All we could do was snap a few shots then pour them full of hot java.
Hogs for Democracy has taken a rain check. I’m on my way to Calgary in a cage, cradling my helmet. Life can be so cruel.
45 comments ↓
Little rain dampening your hogalicious Albertan escapade, Garth? No worries, hopefully brighter skies are on the way, for all of us.
I do hope this doesn’t mean that you came a cropper on your chopper?
I had an itsy, bitsy, ‘baby’ motorcyle when we shipped our vehicle to Vancouver to start one of the Shell 4000 rallies. The one I had was a 55cc something or other…not a Honda. I drove it to work everyday for a week. Motorcyles are really painful to drive and I recall picking bugs out of my teeth when I got to work.
I’m glad for you the weather changed and forced you to use transportation that’s doesn’t require you to pick dead insects from parts of your body.
Bummer
Good choice Garth. Safety and sanity first..Always! Later tonight.
You might say it was CRAPPY weather.
Best wishes and recovery from a tough trip. Hope you make the Albertans more aware of life beyond the conservatives.
My 55cc bike was either a Yamaha or a Suzuki. I failed my test to drive it.
I gave it too much gas at the start of my test and ended up on the other slalom course beside me where another driver was in the process of coming toward me. And I didn’t know there was a dimmer switch for the lights. Good thing I failed, because I would have killed myself and taken out an innocent predestrian had I driven it for more than one week.
Here in the East we say if you do not like the weather wait 5 minutes it will change. I went for morning coffee in the fog and cool weather, noon it sunny warm and windy….. God’s country is good Garth, sorry it appears us poor deafest persons do get a break from above some times. Did I mention the fresh salt air along with the wind. Take care looking forward for more insight from open minded Western Canadains…..thanks in advance.
Addendum…. Atlantic Salmon tastes great, should I mention all the garnish that sizzels along in the pan and the fresh PEI spuds boiling away and the fresh bread from the oven and the Grande Pre wine and fresh apple pie made from Nova Scotian granvensteins, all couched in Newfoundland pea’s pudding and New Brunswick Fiddle Heads, with some Nuffy knobs scattered on the table for added bit of sugar to settle the meal ….. oops forgot the fish chowder that you can stand the spoon in.
Yup hard time in Martimes bye….
Sorry, my previous two comments about my motorcyle were off topic about the economy.
How many have read Greenspan’s brilliant observation about the role of the gold standard, entitled, “Gold and Economic Freedom”?
http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/greenspan.html
At one time Canada had control of 25% of its debt before the banks were privatized. Now we pay top interest rates instead of allowing Canada to give itself low interest loans that support infrastructure and important social programmes. How stupid is it to pay high interest rates on debt when it’s needed for the country to function? Wouldn’t it be better for countries to lower the rate on monies…’course they can’t do that now that the banks are privatized can they? Instead we have central banks that countries no longer control their own currency that intercede to control inflation? Oh really? And I have a bridge …
The Sum of our Angst
A typo, a plot, an honest mistake, an order, or just plain stupidity?
The Internet Generation has a problem. A problem of Trust. Can you blame them?
In todays world, the lifes of innocents depends on the sanity and honesty of the few in control. The problem…exactly how “in control” are they?
Hey Dude, whose got the nuke?
Admit it, Garth, you just didn’t want to get those leggings wet!
The missing link for The Sum of our Angst
Mr. Garth TurnerMP,
Oil hit record high of $80 a barrel.
The OPEC countries can only come up with 1/2 million barrels a day to help meet demand (Not really that much more).
Is this the peak or peak-oil?
Last year the world used 1 cubic mile of oil, plus coal, gas, hydro, to meet the energy demands of today.
For more info. on peak-oil see(rent) movie ‘A crude awakening, the oil crash’
http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/
Are we in Afganastan to help get a pipeline in to central asia. Is the USA in Iraq for the oil.
Was 911 an inside job.
http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2006/09/091006_1.html
Loose change movie
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7866929448192753501
Rockefeller perdiction of 9-11 and the war on terror
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXL5kYZ2bTU&mode=related&search=
Artical, The party’s over:oil,war and the fate of industial societies.
http://www.richardheinberg.com/partys-over.html
Zeiteist the movie
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
Artical, Nature international weekly journal of science.
Energy: Nuclear power’s new dawn
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v429/n6989/full/429238a.html
For info on Canadian CANDU’s
http://www.aecl.ca/
http://cna.ca/
Also with Global Heating will we still beable to grow enough food to feed everyone, ALL X-Billion of ous on this planet?
Beleive in myth, avoids the discomfort of thought.
Are you a critical thinker?
Is critiacl thinking as common as commonn sense, witch isn’t always that common.
Do you think we can keep growing in population and use of resources for ever, on a finite planet?
Are we allowing the sociopathes to run the world for there own ends?
Will we are end up as slaves or dead?
What kind of world do you want to live in and leave for your kids?
Just a question Garth. What’s the deal with Harleys? Can a guy with a Honda Gold Wing join your parade or is it Hogs only? My wife has a Vespa, can she join too? Just a question.
Absolutely. I was just interested in noise, as usual. — Garth
So you’re telling us that the first major setback for a liberal MP from Ontario who’s doing a series of town hall meetings in Alberta is weather related? Hmmm…the forcast may be brighter than expected!
Come on back to Victoria…sunny and warm here and we can still do more Con bashing until that little idiot Lunn is gone. What’s with Harper’s Midget Ministers anyway? Does Harper like Lunn and Flaherty because they both are the right hight for kissing his behind without bending over?
Meanwhile, back in Ottawa …
a little bit of obfuscation (or was that CPC transparency?) at an HoC committee meeting:
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070912_164232_5044&page=1
Are we allowing the sociopathes to run the world for there own ends?
Will we are end up as slaves or dead?
What kind of world do you want to live in and leave for your kids?
By Greg W., Oakville on 09.12.07 5:40 pm
Whose the wacko sociopathes????As to your question. Not the kind of world you and your ilk currently live in Greg W. That’s for sure.
Tinfoil my friend, lot’s of tinfoil.
Garth,
Yes, it was a harsh day. The bikers that arrived from Calgary are quintessential Canadians, real gentlemen and real tough in a quiet way, including and especially the income trust CEO who made the ride as a statement of his commitment to income trusts. His statement came through loud and clear.
Hey fokes my past blurb was for all the downhomers who miss the great sea food, here, could have mentioned the steak and lobster scran my son-in-law and daughter layed on last month. In any rate Garth, I have a finance question, It is know fact that starting a War boosts the economy (2-3 billion a week spending to-day) now as it appears the American public may not stand for it any more, couple this with there distaste for illegal immigrants could cause a guick reduction in goverment spending. Would that coupled with subprime loan failures cause a serious depression effecting Canada. Now, would our friend PMSH & Mr. Flahtery use that as an excuse for their mismangement of our tax dollars rather than tell the truth. Surly they can not blame Paul Martin?
Rat spotted in Red Deer area http://video.canada.com/Global_VideoContentHTML.aspx?fl=1
Somebody is aware you are here Garth!
Hogs for democracy chickened out because of a little wind and rain, eh!
What are you, the Wicked Witches of the West. (Well maybe PMSH et al think you are!) You won’t melt.
No, I’m not being a hypocrite having been rain soaked on the back of my wife’s little 250cc on the M2 (London -Dover), where 8 celcius is a warm autumn day, the speed limit is 110Kph (Actual 70Mph) and the rain is just as wet.
BTW, if you reschedule the ride, take off the mufflers and go with straight pipes. They’ll know your coming!
Aww Garth,
So sorry to hear this. I know how much you were looking forward to this ride. But there will be more rides soon I’m sure.
Canuck’s mention of bug/teeth/picking brings back so many memories:) Failing the road test too… sigh. I did pass eventually.
Best be safe. Have fun, Knock ‘em dead (so to speak:)
Geo
Steve…you may scoff at Greg W’s concern for the state of geopolitics today. Although many potential conspiracies were listed in the original post, one in particular stands out, the peaking of global oil supplies or “peak oil”.
You may think tinfoil’s the answer, but I’m afraid it ain’t going to help much in preventing the oil peak. Whether it’s two, five or twenty years away, it’s still far too short a time to make the changes necessary to our society to deal with the problem.
Our economy, our food supply, our government, our military, all are totally dependent on access to cheap oil. Cheap oil is not going to be with us for very long.
Don’t just listen to me…for example listen to geologists and key oil industry people – such as Matthew Simmons, former advisor to the Bush administration. Or T. Boone Pickens, multi-billionaire and oil industry industry leader Or Dr. Colin J. Campbell., specialist in oil resource assessment.
Many of the best and brightest in the business world now realize that this change is upon us. George Bush and Dick Cheney are surely in the know, and are positioning themselves accordingly.
It’s been said that our generation needs to band together for a noble cause, just like generations before ours defeated fascism. Peak oil and global climate change are the mother of all causes.
These two very real and very imminent global challenges will dictate whether humankind manages to continue to develop and expand our knowledge and technology, or if it will eventually plummet us towards a new Dark Age. In this case, Greg is bright to question why so many terrifying things are going on.
This is so funny! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlTKSZlYpNM&mode=related&search
Interesting article about El-Al, and the upcoming one day standown of the USAF.
http://rense.com/general78/telav.htm
Steve(Coverall Guy) on 09.12.07 6:59 pm
Look buddy, not everyone shares your perspective, so have a little respect for diverse opinions. There is room for all of them.
Looking forward to your visit to Lethbridge, Garth and hope we will have a great discussion. By the way, what do YOU think will be the “issue” of the next federal election, the economy, foreign affairs, the environment, or the undemocratization (not sure if that is a real word) of Canada by PMSH? I realize these are integrated but interested in what you predict.
Thanks, Chris Ariens,ON. And Geoffrey L.,On.,
You shound like informed critical thinkers. Who think for yourself.
And who understand the meaning of freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. And why there are important in a free society. Hopefully ruled by fare laws for ALL human beings.
Sorry, about my bad Spelling.
‘Shound’ should be ‘sound’
A first-class cover letter and resume for a soon-to-be-gone person!
http://www.jimmarrs.com/news.php?recordnumber=500
Yawn . . . history repeats itself yet again, and it’s happening all too frequently now.
BTW, how many WMD did Iraq actually have? Was it thousands or millions?
Time to take a walk on the other side — it’s way nicer!
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/cia_hayden_warning/2007/09/07/30766.html?s=sp&promo_code=39BD-1
For all of us boomers, life just keeps getting better!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6990704.stm
By David Bakody on 09.12.07 5:02 pm
Oh thanks so much for making me ravinishly hungry at this late hour., Now I will have to make a trip to Barrie to get a steaming platter of PEI Mussels at Fitzy’s Crab Shack. You are so wicked
I could drive to Bracebridge to the Muskoka Steak & Seafood restaurant and have some too, or the Blackened Halibut on Canadian Wild Rice. Then there is is the new Wabora Japanese Fusion Steakhouse where the Chef (26 years experience from Japan) prepares the meal right ib front of you like Benihana. All excellent establishments BTW.
Yeah, and we have actual cuisine here in the Boonies. LOL There is also a fine French restaurant, ‘Beau Ideal’ in Port Sydney…the meal is best finished with a snifter of Grand Marnier.
Garth,
Remember that the Bible tells us that there were motorcycles in ancient Israel because “David’s Triumph was heard throughout the land!’
Interesting article about El-Al, and the upcoming one day standown of the USAF.
http://rense.com/general78/telav.htm
By Charles Oxley on 09.12.07 9:36 pm
Shabbat maybe.
Geo
OOooooooooo,…..
I’m going to have fun with this pioture,….
MUHahahahahahahaha
But first I have a new web server to configure. Work before Wingnuterery.
Nice pic btw Garth, sorry you didn’t get your hog ride. I feel the same way when I pack for a weekend of scuba diving and get weathered out.
David’s Triumph was heard throughout the land!’
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 12:34 am
Now you are talking the real deal Bill. Where rider and machine become one. Something you can only ponder when you ride a Harley. Then again, Old Harleys never die, they just get rebored. Kind of like old Politicians and their protagonists, they keep coming back to re bore us.
pro·tag·o·nist
In ancient Greek drama, the first actor to engage in dialogue with the chorus, in later dramas playing the main character and some minor characters as well.
Remind you of anyone?
Remind you of anyone?
By Greg on 09.13.07 1:23 pm
Want the list? ROFLMAO!
By Greg on 09.13.07 1:23 pm
BTW, the first Crotch Rocket I ever rode was a Triumph 650 Bonneville. Darn, I could barely hold on when I opened her up! LOL
BTW, the first Crotch Rocket I ever rode was a Triumph 650 Bonneville. Darn, I could barely hold on when I opened her up! LOL
By Bill-Muskoka on 09.13.07 4:55 pm
Borne of the minds that created the Spitfire, which defended Jolly Old France and provided her freedom from the Hun.
Lest We Forget.
By Greg on 09.13.07 7:36 pm
Yes, but have you ever worked on one? Egads…British Standard wrenches and all that rot! I owned a Triumph GT6 Mk III as well. It was a nightmare of over-toleranced inseparable parts of ferrous oxide. LOL
Sorry, but I still say ‘Give me a Honda!’
BTW, have you seen the movie ‘The Queen’? She was an aircraft mechanic during WWII, and in the flic when her Land Rover breaks down she properly diagnoses the problem. Quite impressive actually.
Greg,
Have you seen the latest autos? The French have, again, developed the ugliest vehicle on the planet…the Citreon C-Cactus! Where do they get their Wacky Weed, eh?
French go their own way at Frankfurt (Look through the pics for it)
“For all of us boomers, life just keeps getting better!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6990704.stm
By Charles Oxley on 09.13.07 12:12 am”
Not a boomer myself, but can appreciate good music. Unfortunately 20 million people signed up today on the website. There’s going to be a public lottery for the 20,000 seats. What are the odds, eh?