June 10th - BigHorn Motel - Deadman's Flat

Yesterday (June 9th) at this time I was riding in 35 degree weather, and soaked to the bone. When I stopped at a Starbucks in Calgary, I left puddles of water with each step (along with a gushing sound). Even the inside of my helmet was soaked through. There was not any part of me that was dry - except my rain gear that was packed inside my bag. Some of you might wonder why I would not be wearing my rain gear, it’s a valid question. I do have a heated jacket and heated handgrips on the bike. The jacket was soaking wet but at least when I plugged it in I did get some heat. I guess I was quite the sight at stop lights in Calgary - a guy on a motorcycle in the rain with steam coming out of his jacket.

You never know just what is around the bend when you’re traveling, what experience you might have or who you might meet. I could not find a room Calgary - all I wanted was to get to someplace, out of the city, where I could get a room without selling my bike to do it. An hour later and about 15 miles from Banff, I saw the “Bighorn Motel” along the road in Deadman’s Flat. I stopped, got a room and was in the shower for at least 30 minutes. But - like a lot of things that happen on a trip like this, it isn’t the ride that will be remembered but the people I meet.

The owners of the motel are Jivan and Rambha. If you are ever this way, it’s worth a stay just to meet them. In the first 5 minutes I liked them, within the next 2 hours I considered them friends and now on my second night here I have invited them to visit us in California.

Jivan and Rambha moved to Canada 35 years ago from Kenya. Rambha, Jivan’s wife was born at the foothills of Mt Kenya. Both of their children were born in Kenya. They moved to Canada because of the increase in violence and issues of security in Kenya. Jivan said when they got off the plane in Edmonton, Alberta it was January 1975 and a minus 40 degrees. Jivan’s first job was with Alberta Power. He moved to other jobs over the years to be in a more hospitable climate. Rambha was a nurse. Both are now retired, if you could call running a motel a retirement.

Jivan’s cousin Bill and his wife, also named Rambha, are visiting from the UK. Bill was born in Kenya and his wife in Uganda.

Jivan and I, in a very short period of time, have had some pretty personal conversations and I want to acknowledge here how much it has meant to me. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail but Jivan and Rambha tragically lost their son in an avalanche at Kicking Horse British Columbia. He was skiing with a friend in steep, deep powder of the rugged Canadian backcountry. Both he and his friend were lost. He leaves two children without a father, a wife without her husband and two parents without their son, Hima.

Hima raced for Porsche racing and raced at Daytona, Laguna Seca, Montreal and won the Canadian GT Championship in 2000. He owned one of the most prestigious shops in Canada, Riegel Tuning, in Calgary. He founded Maher Racing Inc. in 1999.

What is striking in this is the impact the love of parents along with their common sense can have on the growth of children. Never was Hima discouraged from what he always wanted to do, from the very youngest age, but was given love and the guidance that is necessary to turn a desire into reality. The same can be said for Hima’s sister Diviani who is a practicing physician in Vancouver. Where Diviani was into reading and academics, Hima was into mechanics. What was and is common between the two, was and is, two outstanding parents.

I asked Jivan if he and his wife were involved in any community activities and they both volunteer at the local hospital. I think they have done a lot to make this world a better place. Impacts made, lives touched, people changed, not the least of which has been mine.

What was a miserable wet day yesterday is a much brighter day today - even with the rain.