The Emile Aubichon Memorial Ride – Whitehorse, Yukon
On Sunday, May 15th, 52-year-old Whitehorse resident Emile Aubichon was killed in a motorcycle crash on the North Klondike Highway (see the Yukon News article [archived by the Wayback Machine]).
Last night a memorial ride was held to lay a wreath at the crash site. About 80 motorcycles turned out for the 200-kilometer ride. The convoy departed from the Whitehorse Harley shop at 7:00 pm…
We reached the crash site, about 8 kilometers south of Braeburn Lodge, just after 8:00pm. On the ride up, the line of bikes stretched unbroken for over a kilometer, and a fair number of people with cameras were out to capture the impressive sight.
There were no long eulogies – it was a short and simple ceremony as I had expected (or at least hoped for).
The bikes lined up along the highway, with the final skid mark visible. As much as I love riding, this is a sobering reminder of what a beautiful Sunday afternoon ride can turn into.
Most of us then continued on to Braeburn Lodge for a coffee and chat.
The lodge’s famous cinnamon buns were very popular – I brought mine home for snacking last night and again this morning.
I started back home just after 9:00 pm, but made a couple of stops along Fox Lake to get some photos of the beautiful late-evening light. Most of Fox Lake is still frozen, and the temperature dropped several degrees as we rode along the lake.
I had planned on being far down the Stewart-Cassiar Highway last night but a combination of things, mostly bad weather along much of my planned route, have resulted in my trip being delayed for about 10 days. The forecast calls for a dramatic improvement for all of the Northwest on about May 29th, so that’s the scheduled departure date now. I’m a firm believer in listening to the guardian angel that tries hard to take care of each of us, and he agrees with the new plan 🙂
That will get me back home just in time for the arrival of my sister and her husband for a visit, and for the Motorcycle Ride For Dad charity run on June 18th.
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