Welcome to Calgary

Terry was waiting for me right outside of customs once I got to Calgary. We haven't seen each other for two years but it felt just like old times. I had a window seat for the flight in and got to see some of the country we'll be riding through. Holy smokes, the mountains are incredibly imposing. It's really beautiful, but my quads are quivering just thinking about what's to come.

I'm in the process of meeting everyone. We'll have 8 riders and 4 crew members. Four of the wives of the riders are going to be our support staff along the way. This seems like a really good group of folks.

While I made it here uneventfully my bike has not been so cooperative. I shipped it 2 day delivery on FedEx. It was due to arrive last Friday, but apparently some folks at the FedEx customs office have become attached to it. It's been quite a circus. They originally wanted me to pay excise tax because they assumed it was being shipped for retail. That took a couple of days to get resolved. Now it's out of customs and ready to be delivered, but today is Canada Day, a national holiday. So still no bike.

We're driving to the FedEx office tomorrow morning to pick it up. 2-day delivery has turned in to 9-day pickup. I've been going cookoo-for-coconuts the last couple of days worrying about how to get this resolved. My buddy Kevin has been pulling strings inside FedEx trying to get things worked out. Assuming no damage in shipping I'll get it put back together tomorrow just in time for Friday morning's roll-out. Hey, it ain't an adventure until something screws up.

On a happier note I found out that we'll be arriving back in Calgary a day earlier than planned so I'll be able to ride the entire trip. I had thought that I'd have to skip the last day of riding in order to catch my plane. Now it looks like I'll be able to finish with the group.