Editorial  

By Cliff Brougham

Well, it's now early September and our washout of a summer is nearly over. This year has got to be one of the wettest summers that I can remember. We have just returned from our bike trip to Reno Nevada (see Local Gossip) and right back into the monsoons that we left! Ah, well we certainly had a good time and good weather while we were away anyway.

Things we noted while travelling in the USA.

Almost every American we met smokes! In most parts of the USA, people light up and puff with abandon wherever and whenever they feel like it. Usually the most obnoxious smelling concoction of camel dung and straw combined to produce the worst gut wrenching cloud of toxic waste that my poor sense of smell has ever been subjected to. The Silver Legacy Hotel in Reno is a very classy and beautiful hotel with very nice rooms. Unfortunately, our non-smoking room had just been vacated by a gang of cigar smoking hoards! The bedding and the towels smelled so bad I thought the room was still smouldering. Luckily the hotel staff had another free room and moved us the next day when attempts to de-stink the room failed. I hope they can check back and find out who the offending smoker was and bill them for the cleanup or maybe rub their noses in it!

Quite a number of Americans noticed we weren't locals. The giveaway was apparently our Canadian accent, eh? We were greeted more than once by the phrase "Ya'll shore talk funny!" Which, I guess, was their first clue.

Another difference of note was the lack of small commuter type cars on the highways. These were replaced by the ever present 40 to 50 foot diesel pusher motor-home towing a Cadillac or Lincoln type of SUV. These behemoths were almost always in front of me doing 20 mph under the speed limit and making my eyes water.

The next thing we noticed was along the Oregon coast were some of the most scenic and jaw dropping viewpoints I have ever seen. Unfortunately, none of them have washrooms or litter barrels. Consequently, most people drop their garbage and their drawers right there for all to see and smell. The result was the good, the bad, and the ugly all in one place!

On more than one occasion, we were given the cold shoulder by various hotels and motels. Without coming right out and saying so, this was because we were deemed as "biker trash" by the person sitting behind the front desk. The exception to this was a Best Western Country Inn in Fortuna California. The clerks there, Brandy and Katy, went out of their way to accommodate us and even gave us a substantial discount because we were HOG members. I have written an e-mail to the General Manager there expressing our thanks and gratitude. If you're ever travelling through Fortuna California be sure to stay there and say HI to Brandy and/or Katy for us.

Most places near where I live in Campbell River will take American money and offer some sort of exchange. In the USA, they don't offer any exchange. In fact, they won't accept any of our Canadian "monopoly" money anywhere, not even the coins.

Their attitude towards guns is also quite a bit different than ours. There was a recent event in Texas where a Trooper was shot and killed during a routine roadside stop. The rest of the local police force organized a "posse" and hunted down the offending shooter. In the ensuing gunfight, the bad guy was shot to death by the police. When a local judge asked why the suspect was shot 68 times the local police chief responded that was all the ammunition they had!

Over all we had an enjoyable trip and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again as soon as I save up some more Ameribucks! I guess we must seem pretty funny to Americans when they venture up here to the Great White North. We have Loonies and Toonies for money, the metric system, clean water, little or no garbage on the sidewalk, no smoking allowed anywhere, if you drop a pop can on the ground, a bunch of tree huggers will spring from the bush and beat you senseless with it, if you decide to murder your wife, you'll probably do 10 days or less in jail (to be served on weekends of course) it's not -60° F in July, there is no 8 foot wall of snow at the 49th parallel and then there's native rights and taxes to contend with, but don't get me started! The bottom line is that I hope we can go on entertaining each other for some time yet!

CB 

    Ride Safe, Far and Often