The Road to Kananaskis

About the Book

Out of the rough-and-tumble Rocky Mountain West of the Mid Twentieth Century, through vivid descriptions of hard-bitten characters and dangerous lifestyles, comes the warmhearted and very comical story of Wyoming’s post WW2 generation.

Camaraderie, a harmony with nature born of dirt roads, and the reckless innocence of youth propel a resourceful collection of Forties-born homeboys and girls through growing up in small town Wyoming and Montana during the Fifties, into the counterculture and seminal events of the Sixties, and on to the quest for high adventure in Alaska and the Yukon during the Seventies and Eighties.

All of the events described actually happened and all of the characters are real people. A few of the locations and all of the names have been altered to protect the guilty.

A fresh style and excellent story telling combine to produce a complete reading experience. Deja vu situations will make you smile with recognition; poignant descriptions of human emotion will tug at your heartstrings: … He spent much of the next day by himself, resurrecting the images of the youthful glory days they shared and the incredible events that forever changed their lives… combining wheat on the prairies of Montana, Vietnam, the commune on Beaver Creek, and the summer of rock festivals culminating with Woodstock. They had a good run, now Tim was gone. The memories stay resident, the sadness fades as the cycle of life grinds forward, inexorably pushing those still living to the next interval. For the young and healthy, confidence in the future crowds out sorrow and fallacious immortality masks the inevitable, fostering the climate of hope necessary to prosper on the next leg of the journey….

A tell-it-like-it-was, pull-no-punches, creative writing approach will make you gasp at the rawness of life in that era; and to top it off, THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH! …."I feel a sub par round coming on," said the fanciful Viking in plaid Bermuda shorts and high top tennies, strutting around with a confident smirk on his face. Then he pulled out a three iron and began taking vigorous practice swings on the freshly watered grass. A stern looking chap in his sixties happened to walk by about the time the Norb took a wild hack and launched a big old soggy divot. KEERRSPLAAT, went the muddy missile when it caught the old geezer square in the back and left a dripping stain the size of a softball. "Jeez Norb, you are supposed to yell fore, but with the size of that projectile, maybe you should yell twelve."...

AS A PHYSICAL ENTITY, KANANASKIS IS A PLACE IN WESTERN CANADA. IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS NARRATIVE, IT ALSO REPRESENTS A STATE OF BEING BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF HIGH ADVENTURE, CAMARADERIE, AND HARMONY WITH NATURE. THE ROAD THAT TAKES YOU THERE BEGINS WHEREVER YOU EMBARK UPON IT AND YOUR JOURNEY COMMENCES WHENEVER YOU SET FORTH, ALTHOUGH IN SOME RESPECTS IT BEGINS THE MOMENT YOU ARE BORN AND ENDS WHEN YOU DIE. IT IS A TYPICAL ROAD IN THAT IT IS FRAUGHT WITH PERIL, PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS, AND HAS HIGH AND LOW BRANCHES. IT IS ALSO UNIQUE TO EACH INDIVIDUAL AND THE SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES THEY ENCOUNTER, FOR IT IS ACTUALLY ABOUT THE JOURNEY MORE THAN THE ROAD.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: In the Beginning .....................13
Chapter 2: The Secondary Phase .............24
Chapter 3: Post Secondary ......................42
Chapter 4: Peace and War ......................72
Chapter 5: Woodstock .............................96
Chapter 6: The Mighty Blue Pacific ......... 118
Chapter 7: Withdraw to Wyoming ........... 139
Chapter 8: Big D ................................... 153
Chapter 9: Return to the Springs ............. 167
Chapter 10: The Man From Laramie ......... 194
Chapter 11: North to Alaska ..................... 210
Chapter 12: On to the Yukon .................... 244
Chapter 13: One

About the Author

There are strange things done, in the late evening sun, by men who adventure seek. Tis a loony lot, who think twice not, to open death’s door for a peek. They’ll spurn romance, and leap at the chance, to dance on the edge of their graves, In a reckless pursuit, of Miss Nature’s loot, to mountains and rivers they’re slaves. They’ll take on a lake, where a little mistake, will end up a watery tomb, In a too small craft, or a marginal raft, how do they avoid certain doom? Is it folly or braveness, or simply some knaveness, that drives such singular quests, Should they be dissuaded, perhaps incarcerated, and returned to familial nests? It burns like a cancer, that begs easy answer, for it cuts to the meaning of life, Just why are we here, and why should we fear, an end to this earthly strife? If we go while engaged, if to heaven we’re paged, pursuing dream’s grandest token, Then isn’t it sweet, we’ve dodged soul defeat, and passed with our will unbroken.