The Aftermath - Post #26

Sir Nut Bar's implications were the simplest. Other than the time he put aside for the trip, not much else would change. He would leave and arrive back later than originally anticipated. But the duration would remain the same. A scheduling issue, nothing more.
The situation for me and my brother was significantly more involved. Even more so for the bro', because the U.S. lock-down would be considerably longer than ours in Canada. He needed to get from San Francisco to Vancouver and, as it turned out, my plane went ahead on schedule. His did not.

He learned quickly that there was no way a plane was to be leaving San Fran on Sept. 13. In fact, I believe it was about a week before the airspace in the U.S. was opened up again. Now, you might think in light of the events the reasonable thing to do would be to stay home and feel OK with that decision. Angel had rather vehemently stressed this option. And she had done so with the possible understanding that the United States would be declaring war with a very nebulous adversary. And my plan was, prior to all this, to bring the bike home through the States.

I had driven the Canadian route in my university years. Been there, done that. What we had planned for this wee adventure called for something completely different. A route through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota with Yellowstone and Sturgis, South Dakota as highlights on the list. And now I was hearing that Angel felt traveling through the US at this time was likely going to be fraught with unnecessary difficulty. She had suggested that border crossings could only serve to exacerbate the potentially troublesome situation. And with the military, National Guard and/or State Militia's presence everywhere, she envisioned us landing in a whole pile of trouble.

I, on the other hand, believed there couldn't be a safer place in the whole world than America in the immediate aftermath following the big event.

Not that it was a huge point of contention; after all, she did play a giant role in bringing this dream to fruition. But I REALLY wanted to bring the bike back through the States. And in the end I was willing to accept that she had a valid concern and if my plane was to fly, I would bring the bike home while riding within Canada.

Simple enough. Me bro', on the other hand, had a more difficult situation. When he heard my plane was to go, he hadn't yet heard from his wife, who was on business in London at the time. She had tried to reach him on the West Coast but I guess the phone lines were overloaded and she couldn't get through. And he had to make a quick decision. If he was to still participate he was going to have to rent cars and make the drive. And that meant he had to get started immediately if he was to meet the schedule.

At the time of his departure, he hadn't heard for certain that my plane would fly on time. He set out in the rental from San Francisco hoping that I would get away close to the scheduled flight. The drive would take him about 16 hours to do the 1,600 kms. But he would likely need to change rental cars at the border adding time to the overall production. Which in the end, is exactly what happened. So he set out, not having reached his wife and not having confirmed that my plane would leave on time. My travel agent tells me Wednesday to go to the airport, as planned, Thursday morning, expecting to fly. There may be delays, but it is likely that I would get away.
Very optimistic.