I'm sure when you go for a ride on your motorcycle, you don't say to yourself..... hmmm, think I'll hop on the bike and search out some graveyards today, well neither do I because that would be morbid but having said that, I do like to stop whenever I run into one, get off the bike & visit! I've got a fasination for old things in general & that includes graveyards. I especially like when I'm riding on open prarie & all of a sudden there's this oasis with lush green grass,
trees all around, I usually need to get off the bike & stretch anyway. My fasination with old graveyards started when I was in elementary school & the class took a trip to Barkerville BC. For those who don't know, Barkerville is basically a Ghost Town/Museum with many of the original buildings still intact &well preserved. The original mine shaft which made Billy Barker a millionaire is still there as well. I remember we camped just out of town
and that's close to where the graveyard was. I remember wandering through the old graves, reading the headstones & being suprised at how young most of them had died! Life couldn't have been easy for them & illness took it's toll, usually on the young. I'll always remember this was the only graveyard I'd seen where there were pictures of the people sealed in thick glass & mounted in the headstones. It was sad seeing the young childrens
faces whose life had only just begun. I've never seen pictures on gravestones since that day. One of the most beautiful graveyards I ever visited is in Nordegg, nestled in the mountains..... some of these pictures are from there & I'd like to visit this peaceful place again next season on the bikes hopefully with Michael. It's a very special place. So the next time you're roaring down a highway or byway & you see a lush green oasis, pull over, stretch your legs, take a little time to remember the ones who lie there! They deserve a visitor from time to time. James.