2020 has definitely been a year of firsts...for instance, it's the first year in 12 that our little group from the NW was not able to gather for our annual Valhalla Rally held in late June, with the border being closed. Scheduled for Grand Forks BC this year, it just didn't seem right to hold it with just our small Canadian contingent and without our American friends, what with the border remaining closed after a couple of postponements and rescheduled dates...so it was eventually cancelled.
Fast forward to December, the idea came up to organize a Zoom meeting so that we could all catch up and shoot the breeze around a virtual campfire. I know it sounds kinda lame, but we've all become such good friends over the years that it seemed like a decent "better than nothing" thing to do for everyone. So yesterday evening, a good representation of our core group gathered in front of their computer screens, and it turned into an almost 2 hour session, with lots of laughs, some great stories, and sharing of what each of us have been up to this year. I wish I had remembered to record the meeting so I could've got a screenshot of everyone....about 17 in total, from BC, SK, WA, and ID
Everyone sent me photos of rides they were able to get out on this year, projects they've been working on such as hot rods, bikes, garages, planes, etc, hunting/fishing/camping or other trips they'd managed to take, and I put them all into a Power Point slide show which I ran during the meeting. Everyone then took turns narrating their own photos.
Again, nowhere near the same as actually riding together and sharing a beverage and bs'ing in a parking lot around the firepit, but it turned out a lot better than I thought it might. Certainly will be a topic of discussion at future Valhalla rallys..."remember in 2020...?"
