DREAM, PLAN, RIDE, Repeat

Heat, weather, traffic and construction are just a few things to consider when planning a motorcycle trip

In summer 2021, the residents of Western Canada experienced the “heat dome,” a cone of extreme hot weather that blanketed most of B.C., Alberta, and parts of Saskatchewan over a few weeks in July. My husband and I didn’t passively suffer through the heat by staying indoors and hydrating; we took a weeklong motorcycle riding trip through some of the hottest parts of the B.C. Interior and the Alberta Rockies. We had fun and enjoyed every moment. When our concerned family and friends called or texted us, worrying about our well-being and questioning our sanity, our response was that the proof is in the planning.

We did not plan to ride during the heat dome. The trip was conceived earlier in the spring, with the expectation that the first week of July would be decent riding weather. With the Canada-U.S. border closed for recreational travel, the obvious choice was to stay local, to revisit