I may have :Bryan Ward" disease

[CanuckHoss]

I posted this on the other Forum last nite...

Here is a quote of Bryan's from May when he was going to the V8 Smokey Mountian Rally

Qoute "Well............not sure what to say, but I won't be getting down there to Pigeon Forge. What a day!!! So, first what happened was I missed my flight because I read the itinerary wrong. I thought I left here at 1530 but was supposed to depart at 1030." End Quote

Now for why I believe I have his disease...I booked Wednesday morning to fly to Portland Oregon to spend Friday with Ron and Jennifer at Wildrose Boss Hoss. I would be demoing the 2007 Coupe trike I bought off Ebay in August to make sure all is well with it. Ron did the deal for me as he was 30 miles away. I would fly back Saturday as Sunday was a family dinner here. So all in all a very, very short trip but worth doing anyways as a short visit and 1 day ride around is better than none.

Gwen and I get to the Airport yesterday early...2 1/2 hours before the scheduled time only to find out that my 2:00pm flight was actually a 1:00pm flight and there was no way for me to get on it and no other flight available due to Thanksgiving. I guess on the confirmation where it said 13:00 hours that means 1:00pm... I looked at that time at least 10 times in the 24 hours before the flight and it never dawned on me that it was 2:00 This is the first time Gwen has not checked any of my flight arrangements.

So now I am scrambling to find another nice day to get to Ron's before the weather turns crappy there and I can't ride at all to test the trike. it only has 3,000 miles but I wanted to do a few hours and if anything needed adjusting Ron was ready.

I was not mad when I found out...it is what it is so no sense getting all flustered. I got 100% of the money back as I was within the 24 hour period....I was late to the flight but not late enough that I could not checkin at a kiosk...another 5 minutes and it would have been an $1,100 loss...

Us Canadians love to entertain don't we????

[CanuckHoss]

And I posted this just a few minutes ago today:

I was looking this morning trying to find a day of good weather over in Portland, Oregon in the next 2 weeks to do this trip again. Not much was there other than this coming Monday the weather was still going to be good.

I started looking for flights and I could get out there Monday at 10 am and that would give me pretty much a decent day of riding. I would fly back Tuesday afternoon...barely 36 hours away from home.

I phoned Ron to see if he was available Monday and he was but then he asked "are you bringing Gwen?..you could ride the trike to the coast 90 minutes away with her?"...wow...never even thought of that...got off the phone and asked Gwen. her answer was YES...let's do it....As we would only be gone a day and a half it would be Ok for her Dialysis so we checked flights and BOOKED!! Gwen is ecstatic to get away..she has never met Ron after 14 years of me dealing with him.

The best part of this is that Gwen is going...the second best is that I could not use Airmiles on the missed flight and it would have cost $1,100 for me alone had I made the flight...this one is thru Airmiles...Gwen and I both flying for a total of $280

Does this add confirmation to the theory "Everything happens for a reason"...ABSOLUTELY!!

[GordonBH]

Looks like a good result, well done mate!

[Iron Maiden]

AWESOME !! Have fun and be safe!! Oh and take some pics along the way to share with us - Thanks!!

[CanuckHoss]

Left yesterday at 7am and back about an hour ago.

Ron and Jen are great people and great hosts. We only rode for a couple hours but that was enough for testing the trike for ride and everything else and it is pretty much ready other than having to soften the front end a bit which is no biggy. Buying it sight unseen but having Ron be the middleman worked out really well as I am 100% satisfied with the purchase. Nicest running FI'd 350SB I have seen.

We rode out to a really nice set of Falls that were East of Portland..photo ops were good there...I have never seen tress covered almost 100% in Moss. Back to St. Helens for supper and a bit of history about Lewis and Clark in the park where the Halloween theme was in the pictures. They put us up for the night and fed us breakfast.

THANK YOU to Ron and Jen for making us feel at home. It was a long time coming and Gwen is just tickled pink to have made the quick trip and meet both of you.

[Iron Maiden]

Glad everything worked out for you! Great pics- thanks

[randy burkey]

Barry. Thanks for sharing your pictures.. Looks like you all had a great time,and glad Gwen was able to take the trip..The pictures at the waterfall are great!