The British Columbia coast can be pretty chilly and cloudy and wet even in the summer, so the sight of a Tim Horton’s restaurant in Vancouver, BC put smiles on all our faces. We parked our six bikes, walked inside, ordered coffee and pastries, and waited for the life-giving warmth the coffee would produce in our bodies.Yet we’d barely taken our first sip when…
Read MoreHope for Today?
Our times oppress us. The war in Ukraine wages on, with news of the first American joining thousands of civilians and soldiers. We’ve seen Mariupol flattened, hospitals bombed. Our country seems in free fall, with inflation and partisanship and violence growing.
Increasing secularism pushes the practice of faith to the periphery. Radicals killed more Christians, for being Christians, in the last century than all combined. A climate scientist just stated that some climate changes may be beyond the point of reversal. You can add your own personal list of concerns.
And many Facebook friends bemoan current conditions, conveying a sense that nothing can be done.
They may be right.
And I don’t…
Read MoreStructure?
I’m embarrassed. Deeply. Soon, you’ll see why. Some time back I posted how I got stuck spiritually, couldn’t figure out the cause, then God intervened in a very good Good Friday service. In looking back, I have some glimmers of the source. Know that I tend to…
Read MoreWhen Fear Cost Me a Beer
In God, a Motorcycle, and the Open Road, Chapter 3 told how I pulled into Groton, Connecticut, looking for a bar to view Nixon’s resignation during Watergate. If you have the book, pull out Chapter 3 to get the story in detail, but briefly, this long-haired hippie biker walked into what looked like a redneck bar, realized he better get out of Dodge, reversed course only to be accosted by a burly guy at the other end of the dark hallway, became VERY concerned, only to discover it wasn’t a burly guy, but my own reflection in a mirror. Yeah, one tough biker!
Then…
Read MoreI Know Boats
Some time ago I sat in a harbor-side café, watching the seals cavorting on the docks, the boats bobbing with the gentle waves. Identifying the various styles and types, enjoying their beauty and the functionality. It came to mind that I know boats. But perhaps true knowledge requires something deeper…
Read MorePlan for Plan B
Over the last five years or so, Brad proved himself as “the Wizard of Waze” on our Gray Hogs trips—he’d enter our ultimate destination, calculate in any traffic issues, add in some stops along the way, and we’d blissfully follow his lead, never worrying nor looking at our maps, just riding. We got spoiled, until…
Read MoreStrange Goals, Strange Steps
Hyder, Alaska is a strange town: a United States town that uses Canadian money and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for law enforcement. Even though you can only enter Hyder from Stewart, British Columbia, Canada, you need no passport to get in this sovereign US territory. Just to get out. And yes, it looked like a ghost town as Rich and I rode our bikes there on a foggy and drizzly morning. We saw none of the fourteen people who supposedly live there. But if you look carefully and…
Read MoreAngel Wings
A few years back while living in the Conejo Valley, one Friday at about 6 AM I walked out to get the morning paper and found clear, calm blue skies, and a nicely temperate temperature. Why so many move to SoCal. By 10 AM, everything changed. The typical slight southwest wind reversed itself into a Santa Ana condition, a high gale coming from the northeast, with gusts up to 70 mph. And I was headed into the wind that afternoon, leaving for a…
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