expanding ahead of us. Waving grain
fields and long straight highways
stretched out as far as the eye could
see. It was a fantastic day to com-
mence the journey!
Crossing into Saskatchewan was a
milestone, a photo op was absolutely
necessary. Canola fields in full bloom
on both sides of us we forged forward
feeling the rhythm of the road set-
tling in. Suddenly, the bike lost all
power and shut down. No amount of
tinkering would help. Fortunately, we
were in Canada and had full roadside
assistance. At about 165 kilometres
from our destination and in the mid-
dle of nowhere there was little else
we could do.
Still positive and excited about our
trip, we just thought it would be some
simple thing and we’d be off in the
morning. The reality of the situation
was very different, this was to be our
induction into the world’s motorcycle
community.
With a tow truck called, I set out
trying to contact the one dealer in
Saskatoon. The shop owner an-
swered the call late on a Saturday
evening of a holiday weekend. As-
tounding! He said that he was in the
process of shutting down his Ural
TRAVERSE 19
dealership, that his mechanic was in
Calgary and he was in British Colum-
bia.
“Let me call you back in half an
hour,” he announced confidently. “I’ll
find someone to help you.”
Within less than half an hour our
mobile rang, it was the dealer. He
told us to call his friend, Jerome,
who had a private motorcycle garage
in Saskatoon. We couldn't thank him
enough, he just kept saying, “that’s
just what we do in the motorcycle
community.”
Without hesitation Jerome told us
to take the bike to his shop and he