It was about time I met the Menegozzos. Really met them.

I’d only really seen the family of Cheryl, Clive’s wife, twice. One was at their wedding in October 1982. The second was at Bryce and Breanna’s wedding last May. (Happy Anniversary, by the way since it’s coming up soon.) Both were situations not conducive to really getting to know others.

Both of Cheryl’s older brothers, Brian and Blair, have opened their doors to me in a very generous manner during this bike adventure.

In a pre-caravan test ride with Brody and his friend Noriko back in April, I got to know Blair, his wife Carmen and daughter Sumner. We visited with them in Nanaimo where they were camping. They had come down Vancouver Island from their home in Campbell River to support Sumner in her final show for her design degree.

We made pizza in their Canadian Tire pizza oven beside their beautiful and big trailer and had a great chat around the fire. A couple of days later, we made our way to Campbell River where we got to rest for a couple of nights. Blair was the consummate host, and also came to the rescue (after all he is a paramedic) by answering Brody’s emergency plea to transport us and our bikes to Nanaimo to catch a ferry back to Horseshoe Bay so he could rest his wounded knee instead of heading to the Sunshine Coast for the rest of the planned trip.

During a visit to an amazing waterfall near Campbell River while we were there, Blair told me he got his first paramedics job in Surrey, which is where he met his wife-to-be and where she grew up. (Or maybe it was North Delta, I can’t remember for sure. Sorry if I got it wrong. Forgot to take notes. Another journalistic no-no.)

Both wanted out (insert requisite bad-taste joke about Surrey here) and live in a smaller community. Their incentive was partly for the small-town feel, and also because of the Lower Mainland’s cost of living. He applied for a couple of openings before getting the Campbell River posting, and they can’t be happier. Don’t blame them. It’s a picturesque spot with trees, ocean and the Gulf Islands all around.

One little funny fact about Blair’s family is they live on Greystone Drive, their trailer is made by Greystone, and the factory colour of their truck is Greystone!

Older brother Brian met his wife Ruth while both attended Simon Fraser University in the 1970s. They were working together at an accounting firm in New Westminster. But the company closed its doors. However, one of the partners immediately found them jobs at a satellite office in Lethbridge. Later, Brian applied and received a teaching position at NAIT, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, in Edmonton. They moved to St. Albert. It’s a town with a bit of a split personality. It has some lovely walks and green neighbourhoods along the Sturgeon River. Conversely, Highway 2 runs right through it and there are blocks and blocks of big box stores and strip malls along both sides.

Brian and Ruth, who works as an executive director for the YMCA) have raised three lovely children, Brooke, Brant and Renata.

Brooke (also a YMCA administrator) and Brant are in somewhat of a transition with Brooke’s stuff downstairs (she’s getting an apartment soon), while Brant’s man cave is about to disappear when he moves out. Brian’s pottery studio will its place.

The excitement in Brian’s eyes is highly visible when he talks about getting that room for his pottery passion. That enthusiasm was heightened when he got to talk about it with fellow potter Rosamond.

Brian’s a pretty darn good cook too. The first night we were there he whipped up a bunch of pizza ingredients, which we got to load onto the pie plate ourselves. The only limit was we couldn’t put on more than two inches of ingredients because that was the maximum height of the pizza oven. It looked extremely familiar. Turns out it was the same model as Blair’s.

The next night, he served up a fantastic spaghetti dinner for Clive, myself and brother Ian and his family who are staying in St. Albert as they await being allowed to return to their home in Fort McMurray.

Brian declared since Menegozzo was Italian that’s what we were going to get while we were there. He didn’t mention he is half Scottish, but there were no objections from this quarter. Pizza and spaghetti are much more desirable than haggis!

The hospitality provided at both Menegozzos was exceptional. I’ll never be able to repay their generosity but I’d love to at some point.

There is one Menegozzo I have not talked about. That would be sister Shirley. But since she lives in Yellowknife I don’t think Clive, Brody and I will be able to make that detour to see her. Maybe another year.

• When we left St. Albert, we took an unobstructed route across the top of Edmonton to avoid traffic in the city. However, it did add an extra 22 kilometres to Saturday’s ride to Vegreville taking 132 kilometres instead of the 110 Google said it would by going via Edmonton. Considering the heavy traffic on Highway 16 through the city it was probably worth it.

• During our journeys through B.C. and into St. Albert I was leading the way over Clive most of the time. I had done the same when I was with Brody. I was feeling pretty good about myself, but it turns out I really didn’t have reason to be.

As you know, it turned out Brody had a wonky knee. When we were in St. Albert a little piece of wisdom from an older brother – certainly not me – had Clive picking up speed the last two days. One reason is after two weeks on the road he’s hitting his stride fitness wise. But it was after Ian noted Clive’s tires were a bit low his performance has shown a big improvement with properly inflated tires. Now it’s him leading the way most of the time, and when he isn’t he’s right with me. Good stuff even if it means my ego has been sufficiently punctured.

• At last report, Brody was in Valemont on Saturday. While we reached the Saskatchewan border (we’re sleeping Sunday night in Lloydminster, SK) Brody has yet to reach Alberta. But that doesn’t matter because by all reports he’s having a great time.

His consulting physiotherapist spoke to him about how to rehabbing his knee. Rosamond reports Brody, as he is wont to do, has been making friends in the mountains. He even talked to one woman who fed him breakfast and gave him an audio version of the book she’d written. He’s a remarkable young man, but he may need to Go Greyhound to catch up to his dad and uncle.

• This weekend we put in more than 280 kilometres in just two days. We’re planning to reach North Battleford on Monday which is almost 140 km away before heading to Langham to visit cousin Linda.

• My apologies to Breanna for not getting her name spelt right. That’s a big no-no for newspaper journalists. But then again, I’m no longer employed as a journalist. Still, no excuse.

Kilometre count

Day 16: Grant (Vegreville to Lloydminster) 152 km. Total (13 days riding) 1512 km

Day 13 Clive: (Vegreville to Lloydminster) 152 km Total (11 days riding) 1,282 km