Ron: 0:03

I would like to dedicate this episode to my fellow Rocky Mountain Tour guide and friend, craig, and I need to tell you why. This past week, the guides for Green Jeep Tours in Estes Park, colorado, up the road from my house we all came together to celebrate Dolly's 15th birthday. We met at a pub there in Estes Park and had wonderful snacks and just such a wonderful time together. Dolly wore a cute little pink dress and she was so excited to see so many of her friends there. Dolly, by the way, is a dog who belongs to Nikki. Nikki owns Green Jeep Tours. It was Dolly's 15th birthday it really was and Nikki she just loves her friends and loves her dog and her dog's friends. So she brought us all together for an evening at the pub and it was just wonderful. You know, this is why I love Rocky Mountain Tour Guides, because they're goofy, they're fun and they're full of love. They're some of my best friends. Anyway, back to why this episode is dedicated to Craig, as several of us guides sat at a table the other night and shared stories about tours that went well, and mostly about tours that didn't go so well. Well, not as expected. Anyway, craig shared a story that topped them all, and for me it demonstrated what kind of person Craig really is. So here's the short version.

Ron: 1:44

Craig again, fellow tour guide at Green Jeep Tours. He received instructions to pick up a family who wanted to take a tour of Rocky Mountain National Park. It's what we do all the time, nothing strange there. Rather than coming to Green Jeep Tours, to the shop there in downtown Estes Park, though, they asked to be picked up at one of the national park entrances. So they asked to be picked up at one of the national park entrances. Craig was agreeable to that. So Craig met the family there and took them for the standard 3 hour and 15 minute tour through Rocky Mountain National Park. And when they completed the tour and returned to the pickup point, craig was informed by the family that they didn't have a car there. That's strange. They told him that they had taken a rideshare there, like an Uber, all the way from downtown Denver to Estes Park. That's an hour and a half on very twisty mountain roads as they expected to grab another Uber from Estes Park that evening and go back to Denver. Well, craig, being a local, gave them the bad news that there are typically no rideshare services way up here in the mountains, especially not in the evening no Uber, no Lyft and, this time of evening, no bus service either. So they're kind of out of luck.

Ron: 3:10

But Craig, knowing that they were in need and assuming that they would be grateful for his efforts, craig offered to drive this family all the way back to Denver, to downtown Denver, to their hotel, in his personal car. When Craig told me that, I said to him. When Craig told me that, I said to him you've got to be kidding. And he said nope, I drove them to Denver an hour and a half one way in my personal car. Wow, you know, I try to be a nice guy but honestly, I wouldn't have done it. I don't, I'm sure. No, I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have done it myself. Anyway, here's the thing. I wouldn't have done it myself. Anyway, here's the thing. We get paid a flat rate for every tour, but the hope is that you'll have very nice tips that definitely supplement the income. So that's always helpful and most of the time people do tip, and some tip very well. So Craig delivered this family to their hotel in downtown Denver, remember now, this is following a three-hour Rocky Mountain National Park tour that he took them on, following another hour and a half drive to Denver in his personal car. So, after all that, they just said thank you and walked away into their hotel. No tip, nothing. Then Craig drove for another hour and a half back up into the mountains to Estes Park to reach his home.

Ron: 4:50

A very, very long day and a disappointing day. You know what makes my head explode, though, about this story? It's what Craig told me and our buddies about his thoughts on that experience. Craig said that, yes, he was disappointed in the lack of gratitude, like in a tip, but he also told us that it was his hope for them, this family, that they had a great day in Rocky Mountain National Park. He felt like they did, and he was glad to see this family get home, safe, back to their hotel in Denver, and he wished them all to have a wonderful remainder of their vacation. That, my friends, is an example of love for your fellow man, something that we so, so need these days, so so need these days A demonstration of caring for those who have only seen us once and they may never see us again. That's why I say to you, craig, if you're listening, you are a hero and I'm so glad that you are my fellow tour guide and I'm especially glad that you're my friend. So today, as I was inspired by Craig's story and his inspiration, we're going to stay on that topic of kindness and how that relates to our attitudes and our image as motorcycle riders. It's always our hope, right, that other drivers see us for sure for safety, safety but I think most of us also do our best to demonstrate that, yes, we are inside a helmet and underneath protective gear, but we're people, we're your neighbors, we're your friends and a great majority of us have really good hearts. We have a love for our fellow man and I hope that this story that I'll share now, bringing it back, was originally published two and a half years ago, but I hope that it brings new insights if you've not heard it before, about a heightened awareness of kindness from the seat of a motorcycle.

Ron: 7:43

It was a fabulous Friday afternoon. The six of us met up early and rode our motorcycles into the mountains. We rode over to Nederland, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and we visited the Carousel of Happiness and we took a ride on the classic handmade carousel. It's wonderful, a lot of smiles. We had such a nice coffee visit too a train, car, coffee right next door.

Ron: 8:08

Before we hit the peak-to-peak highway to carve the twisties down through the canyons and over the mountaintops, just having a blast, we decided to head on down into the valley. We cruised down Highway 34 following the Big Thompson Canyon. There was very little traffic this time and we followed endlessly curving roads, pushing the speed? Yeah, a little bit. Hey, we know what we're doing. We've been down this road many, many times. We're careful Enough, I guess. Once we reached Loveland, we took a left on Wilson Avenue and headed north. Our next destination was the Howlin' Cow Cafe for another coffee that we probably didn't need, but oh my goodness, it's just so good and so much fun to be there. Yeah, maybe we were riding a little too tight and a little too close, but it felt great and, more importantly, we looked really good. We're experienced riders, we're all close friends and going fast. We tend to do that sometimes.

Ron: 9:17

It was when we reached the intersection At the light that it happened. A very close call. We most certainly had the right of way. How could she just turn right in front of us, causing us to slam on our brakes, narrowly missing each other, and the ditch, for that matter? She looked right at us. When she turned she looked right at us. Yeah, we were going fast and riding too tight, but surely she must have been paying enough attention to know that she didn't have time to turn in front of us. Then, to top it off, she just kept driving. She didn't stop to see if we were okay, she just kept on going. We pulled off at the next place where we could to check on each other. A few of us were shaken up a little bit, but we just struck this up to idiot drivers. There are just so many idiot drivers out there who just don't give a darn. There was one more right there.

Ron: 10:39

She never expected her life to turn out this way. She knew that when she married him he had a mean side. She thought that after the first child he would become a good dad and be kind to her. But when the next child was born three years later, it just got worse. Her hope that day that Friday, that it would be a day when it all would stop and she could get on with her life with her two kids. No one was available to take care of them when she had to go to the court, so she had to take them along and ask someone there at the courts to watch after them. For a few minutes, while she tried to get through this last argument about who would take what, including the children, her world was completely shaken as her attorney escorted her out to the car and someone from the courts helped to bring the babies out into their car seat. She really wasn't sure if she could drive, but she just had to go home. It was near that intersection when, the perfect timing between the time when her children began to cry and then she began to cry too. It was right. Then, when she turned left and heard the sounds of squealing tires and honking horns, she looked right at them and she was so sorry. But she knew she couldn't handle any more hurt that day. She was already so broken up inside she just couldn't face anyone who was going to be angry with her, anyone else. So she just drove on home, hoping that none of those motorcycle riders would follow her.

Ron: 12:42

The places that I described, where we ride, we really do and, yeah, sometimes we push the speed limit a little bit.

Ron: 12:50

But the story I think, even though it was fictitious, it could be very, very real in a lot of scenarios. You see, we never know what's going on in the life of someone else. Yeah, I very well could be just another idiot driver who pulls in front of us or drifts into our lane, but it also may be someone whose life has been shattered. It may be someone who needs to see a little bit of compassion, like a friendly wave indicating that it's okay, everything's fine, all is forgiven, don't worry. It's really easy for us to get angry at those drivers who don't seem to care, but I think we have to take a bold step and assume that by controlling our emotions better yet, showing forgiveness, showing kindness, maybe, just maybe, that driver will be a little bit more careful and care a little bit more about you and me out on our motorcycles, as always. Thank you so much for listening and I wish you peace. And I wish you peace and I wish you love. Thank you.