Elizabeth Streifel:
CLASS OF 1971
Burnaby South High SchoolClass of 1971
Burnaby, BC
Elizabeth's Story
It's been an exciting summer, Calvin and I motorcycled from Medicine Hat to Fountain Run Kentucky in August, 4000 miles round trip in blazing heat and humidity in the 90's! It was amazing, we met so many wonderful, kind people. 5th day out we crashed the bike in Illinois, got tossed off and I ended up taking an ambulance ride to emerg for the day with a fractured rib in my back. Strangers were helping instantly when it happened and when I was released, a lady drove me to our hotel as I couldn't ride, then offered to store the bike if we had to rent a car for the rest of the trip. But I got back on the bike next day and continued for 2500 miles. Spent 6 days in SW Kentucky with family. What a beautiful place! I thought BC was great, but it is so green there, everywhere looks like a golf course. Few evergreens, the trees are gigantic and densely packed. Beautiful wildflowers roadside the whole trip. Lots of black vultures circling the sky. In Illinois and Kentucky the cicadas were so loud it was hard to hear over them, they buzz 24/7, it's very bizarre, you never see them, just hear them. They only hatch every 13-17 years so we were there at the right time. Met some interesting locals in Fountain Run, sort of granny Clampett ladies with a really heavy accent. Learned that amrat chaunder means I live over there (I'm right yonder)!!!!! They were the real deal, very cool. The cousin we stayed with has a Plus Air BNB, so we had our own little cabin, there's three of them shaped like barns set down in a 'hollow' with a backdrop of trees. 16 acres with deer, birds, flowers just beautiful. So privacy and family worked out great. We took eight days to return so it wouldn't be so hard on my back. I bought a small pillow and stuffed it under my jacket for padding, I looked like Quasimoto but I didn't hurt as much!! Just east of Rapid City S. Dakota we ran headlong into a monster storm. There are no trees in South Dakota, nowhere to hide. A crosswind so strong that we had trouble keeping the bike upright and in the proper lane. Cal is 6'2" and strong and the bike with us and luggage is over 1000 lbs. I was terrified. Hanging on to the armrests for dear life while the wind is trying to pull me off the bike all the while praying to God that we not die today, lol. we survived. At one point the air around us was pink, I think it was lightning. Then two days from home we end up in Billings Montana. Now on the way out we stayed there at a decent hotel for around $100 us, three weeks later, the rooms are $300 and up and all booked. The state fair is in town. We find a room at Motel 6 that we can afford. Oh my........it was so dirty and rundown but we had ridden 8 hours in 100f and needed to stop. The young desk clerk wearing a tank and short s...Expand for more
horts with a baby on her hip in a diaper greeted us in the lobby. Two ladies came down the stairs, handed over a key and said "no thanks, we'll pass. Clerk looks at me and says "well you heard them, do you want to check out the room first?" We just needed a bed, how bad could it be? We could handle the filthy carpets on the stairs and halls, the stains and holes in the walls, the door to our room was so warped we had to put the boots to it to get it open. Still not going to give up. Hah!!! Peeling wallpaper, laminate floor curled at the edges, window so dirty couldn't see out. Then I noticed water on the floor, not just a bit, but quarter size spots over the entire floor, the bed was soaked, it was raining from the ceiling and we were on the top floor, obviously the roof is going to collapse and we are all going to die. I freak out and run down to the lobby, it was only 2 stories. Yell at clerk, she comes up, looks around and says "oh, would you like to move to another room?" OMG are you kidding? We were out of there like a shot. I'm not supposed to lift anything and here I am in the middle of the room throwing bags out the door while Cal is still trying to figure out what's happening. Absolutely hysterical!! Then we have to find a room. We are hot, hungry, exhausted, I'm hurting, so Cal finds a room at Super 8. We get there to find a no vacancy sign taped to the door, whaaat? Go in and say we have a booking, clerk says impossible, we are booked solid. In our panic, we booked for the next night by mistake. Noooo, I ask plaintively can we sleep in the lobby? Laughs all round. This is so awful it's funny. There are other guests already checked in hanging around the lobby to see if any interesting is happening, so we are the centre of attention. Then the clerk says there was a man who was supposed to call by 6 to confirm his room, I ask the time, she says 7:20. Well too bad for him, that's my room now! The clerk was happy, we were happy, everyone was happy. Next morning at checkout I mentioned how grateful we were to find the room due to our misfortune. She was horrified on our behalf for having to go through what we did, She was the manager there when the place was sold and it went from decent, respectable to a filthy, rundown, drug infested, violent place within a year and a half. Two days later we crossed the border into Alberta and home. We had issues at the border for non compliance but nothing serious. It was most certainly the biggest adventure I've ever had. The best part was the people. I gained a new respect for the people of the USA, they are just as concerned with current events as we are, they certainly know more about us than they used to. We both have countries worth fighting for. And that was my summer vacation.
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