The Road To Rocky Mountain House
Mar
2010
-Report from Marinus Damm
Marilyn, outside a restaurant at Lake Louise, in Banff National Park, Alberta
Why are we here?
“We” are Marinus and Marvin.
“Here” is Rocky Mountain House, where the Gnu is.
“Why” is the hard part. Oh, how far back should we go, seeking an answer to that question….
I can start:
A year ago, Marvin and I toyed with the idea of doing the Gnu together. We never came to a clench on it, so, like many temptations, the opportunity went by. And I felt a tiny loss, a once-and-gone tugging at my core, when the event went on without me, and Gnu ’09 was in the past. Darn it!
This year, at The Thunderbird’s closing ceremonies, a delightful rallying couple from Alberta extended a personal invitation to run the Gnu. Jamie & Cynthia’d aimed the invitation at Renee and I — but my favorite navigator recently switched workhorses, so to speak, and the entirety of her 2010 PTO is spoken for. (Yes, her PTO is 100% rally-related, what’d you think?) So she couldn’t make Gnu.
Oh, Maaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn!
Marvin and I braced each other (“You interested?”)
and each declared our intent (“I would do it…”)
and then we circled and stalked each other ’til the day was nigh, the chips were down, and it was time to
put up or shut up.
Which is why Ron saw us on the road to Gnu today. Neither of us blinked.
800+ miles, 14 hours on the road; just some practice for long days of the Summer Alcan
