When Mark Wallace, Greg Tait, Gary Vandendende and Dave Stuart turned 40, they all thought they deserved a break from work and planned a guys trip to B.C. The dynamic foursome met in high school in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and have remained friends for more than two decades. Wallace, Tait and Vandendende still live in Thunder Bay and Stuart now lives in Calgary, Alberta. They decided to use Calgary as a starting off point and from there travelled to Radium Hot Springs to play golf, visited Toby Creek Adventures near Invermere and went quad riding, dared the rapids and went whitewater rafting down the Kicking Horse River and camped throughout the Kootenays.
A promise to meet again
The four men all had a great time and they vowed to meet for another trip when they turned 50. Turns out they couldn’t wait that long and last year, when they turned 47, Wallace, Tait, Vandendende and Stuart had their second reunion. The second trip was similar to their first and the foursome enjoyed golfing at various golf courses in Kimberley and Radium Hot Springs.
Wallace, an avid ATV and snowmobile enthusiast, said that he rides around Thunder Bay quite frequently but was longing to experience ATVing in B.C. The four men booked a Paradise Ridge full-day ATV trip with Toby Creek Adventures. That is where I come in. I happened to be doing research for an ATVing story and was invited for a day of riding at Toby Creek, and I ended up riding with these guys. While I’m used to the steep mountain ridges and varying elevation that is inherent to B.C., Wallace was overwhelmed by the scenic beauty that he saw while ATVing.
“To see the nature and to be riding modern machinery past these old cabins and to get that past/present differential was pretty spectacular,” said Wallace. “The guide was so great and they treated you like gold. The machines were brand new too and I recommend it to everyone that I have talked to since.”
When it was perfect the first time, why change it?
Wallace said that he, Tait, Vandendende and Stuart have a tentative date set for their next trip to B.C. and they plan to meet again before they are 50. While the time of their vacation is not set in stone, they are all absolutely positive that they will visit Toby Creek Adventures again.
“We have another date within the next two years, hopefully when we turn 50,” said Wallace. “We are definitely doing the same thing—for sure doing the quad thing again—everyone enjoyed that and we will probably hit up a couple of different golf courses.”
Comments