The Trip Begins (Again) ! ! ! !

Heading to Mexico (Thursday, August 30th)

This is my second attempt at the "Three Flags Classic". This is a motorcycle ride that occurs annually every Labor Day weekend. Last year we started in Abbottsville, British Columbia and traveled through Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona before finishing in Puerto Penesco, Mexico.

On the final day of the ride last year, I had spent the night in Kanab, Utah. Because I was traveling the entire length of Arizona with temperatures reaching 120. During my entire trip I had struggled with these high temperatures for three weeks. This left me exhausted and dehydrated. To minimize this, I chose to reach the Mexican Border by noon. In order to do this meant that I needed to leave very early. About one hour after leaving Kanab at 3:30 AM as I round a corner, I encountered a deer in the road as I rounded a curve. I had about two seconds to react. The deer started to run to my left, I swerved to the right and I hit the deer in the hind leg area. I don't know exactly because I must have closed my eyes fully expecting that I was going to be in serious trouble. I felt the impact, but the bike was still going and I had survived. What I didn't know was that the front fender had been collapsed and was cutting into the tire. Ultimately, the tire went flat a mile or so down the road. As I was slowing the bike down, I hit the front break which caused the bike to roll over on the right-side. The bike had $7,800 or repairs needed and I walked away with a scrapped knee and some bruises. I was truly fortunate and realize that God had spared me to live another day.

The lesson learned last year was to not drive in the woods in the middle of the night.

This year, I left the house to head to Mexico at 4:00 AM. What made this trip different was that I was crossing the desert instead. When I left the house it   close to 90 degrees, about 2 hours later, I had to stop and put on a sweatshirt because the temperatures had dropped. I pulled into Phoenix and stopped for gas and something to eat. I repacked the cold weather gear since the temps were back up. I then started to use a new piece of gear that I purchased after last years struggles with the heat.was a "Cool Vest" that you soak in water. It works for about 90 minutes. I reached the border at noon which was according to plan. The temperature was around 100. The final 60 miles was not too bad, however, when I got about a mile from the Hotel (Registration point) there was a train blocking the road. As I sat in the sun (no share anywhere) for over 30 minutes, I got overwhelmed by the heat because this is a coastal city the humidity was over 80%.

I got checked into the hotel, showered and took a short nap before heading to the Welcome Banquet. The food was good and I sat with three folks from Calgary which is this year's final destination. I took a second shower before going to bed totally exhausted.

More to come...