Aztec Treasure

Maria (Meztli) Skollson’s POV

North Shore of Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada

We only made one stop on this leg, at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, right off the Trans-Canada Highway 17. The park was convenient, with a trail with 182 steps leading down to the falls. I was glad Lance was along to carry Maritza after the kids finished playing, and we had to go back up! The falls didn’t have any large vertical drops, but they cascaded down the rocks and were beautiful. When we returned to the parking lot, we grabbed some sandwiches, chips, and drinks from the support van. I knew there wasn’t much in the way of food out this way, so we’d brought it in coolers from Thunder Bay.

By one, we were back on the road. We arrived at the beach in Terrace Bay less than an hour later, parking all the vehicles at the far end of the parking lot. The beach would be our headquarters for the night, and I’d arranged optional activities. I paid a boat charter to take groups out on the water, rented kayaks so people could paddle the lake and rivers, and there was a short hiking trail to the 100-ft drop Aguasabon Falls. If you wanted more riding, there was a four-hour ride looping up through Steel River Provincial Park. If you had a camera, you were using it.

Once everyone was briefed and out having fun, I joined the kiddos playing on the beach. We’d set up canopies and a playpen to keep the sun off them as they played and slept. The Moms were watching them and talking. I got a better idea of who Chase and Rori were from this time. I got to spend time with Carson’s mate Heather and her twins Kelly and Connie. Ashley was there with her son Shane while her mate Sawyer was out kayaking. Rori stayed on a blanket, her eyes not missing anything as she rested her big pregnant belly.

The beach itself was not as crowded as we expected as it was still early in the season. It wasn’t sand, more like gravel, and the water was cold. The sun was warm, though, and it was a beautiful day. Lance and I took a break for the boat tour and hiked to the falls before dinner while the others watched Maritza.

The smoker on the barbecue catering truck I’d hired had been going all afternoon, and everything was ready by seven. Chase had turned the ramp on his toy hauler into an outdoor patio, and we sat around enjoying the late sun and the company. Those that weren’t driving were drinking cold beer around the campfires and making s’mores.

Everyone was having a great time, even the ones who weren’t riding. Three Tequila told me she didn’t know how I did it. All of the Steel Brotherhood rides she’d been on went one of two ways. Either they were family social events or hard riding and drinking. Somehow, I’d found a way to have us all together while still allowing people to have the trip they liked. If you were here to ride, you’d been in the saddle for ten hours today. If not, you spent more time hiking and exploring than you did riding.

The other beach visitors were leaving, so many of us decided to shift in the RVs and explore. Maritza was thrilled to change into her cat. The humans who stayed behind watched, fascinated as wolves and two jaguars started running and playing along the shore. As the only cats, Maritza and I got a lot of attention. We were the only ones who went swimming; wolves will hunt in streams and cool off in the water, but they aren’t Labradors. Jaguars are natural swimmers and will even hunt underwater.

Maritza had enough water after ten minutes, so we shook ourselves off and trotted over to the campfire. Ashley dried her off with a towel, and Maritza promptly fell asleep in her lap. She didn’t mind a bit; since wolves don’t shift until their mid-teens, my baby jaguar was ‘off-the-charts cute’ and was just fine there.

Thirty or so riders headed to town for their hotel rooms while the rest of us stayed on the beach and watched the stars come out. Some people set up tents, but most of us headed for the heated campers.

You wouldn’t believe how many people an RV can sleep when they are puppy piling.

We cooked mass quantities of eggs, bacon, and pancakes over the campfires and the RV kitchens in the morning. On the road by nine, we swung by the hotels in Terrace Bay and topped off the gas tanks. This part of the ride was sparsely populated, with no big restaurants. I also ordered the Prospects to the Wal-Mart to buy all the steaks, burgers, and fixings for dinner they could fit into the coolers.

Today’s ride took us around to the east side of the lake. There was no “long” ride option this time as there were no hotels big enough for us before Sault Ste. Marie. We rode three hours along the lake to Wawa.

The town wasn’t big enough to feed everyone, so I gave everyone ninety minutes and left the choices open. We ate at the Viking Restaurant; others picked the North of 17 or the Chinese place. It took a while to get everyone served, but we still made it to Old Woman Bay by one in the afternoon. There was no camping at this site, but we paid for parking and drove down to the big beach and set up. The bay was very scenic, with sheer cliffs four hundred feet tall in spots surrounding the beach. Once again, I’d arranged for kayak rentals here for the adventurous, and there was good hiking if you wanted to stretch your legs.

We had all the grills fired up and the steaks ready by five. We had a good time at this stop, but soon enough had to head back out on the road for the hotels. It was a two-hour drive south along the water, with the sun setting over Lake Superior to our right. We had reservations at three hotels to find all the rooms we needed, but we’d all have a place to sleep tonight.

The sun was almost down when it happened. Our group of riders filled the lanes, doing about fifty miles an hour on the winding coast road. Suddenly, I saw lights to our left as an old pickup blew a stop sign and crossed just in front of me. Lance braked hard, swerving left into the oncoming lane before laying our bike down. I landed hard on my left shoulder, and we skidded for a few seconds before hitting the guardrail on the other side.

Lana couldn’t react fast enough. She braked hard, but the front of the pickup hit her front wheel, and she went over the handlebars. All I could hear was scraping metal and brakes as the rest of the riders stopped in time.

“LANA!” I heard James screaming for her as he got off his Harley, running around behind the pickup truck to where she lay on the road. Two guys went to check on the driver while the others ran to us.

“Are you all right,” Lance asked me.

“Get this fucking thing off my leg,” I told him. Others rushed up to do just that.

Everything slowed down as I heard James begging Lana to open her eyes while someone told him not to move her head. Guys lifted the Harley off me and helped me up, but I couldn’t put any weight on my left knee or lift my left arm. Lance was trying to walk it off, but I could tell he was hurting too.

I heard someone on the phone with the emergency operator reporting the accident and requesting an ambulance.

Lana still wasn’t moving, and James wasn’t handling that well. If that idiot killed his mate, I don’t know how many wolves it would take to stop him from ripping the driver apart.

Word of the accident had spread to the Alphas, and they took charge. Everyone ahead of the accident scene was to keep going to the hotels; there was nothing they could do for us here. Alpha Chase came back since he was a doctor. Possum grabbed the medical kit out of the RV and ran forward to help. In the meantime, guys wheeled Lance’s bike to the right side of the road. They set up flares on the road and started controlling traffic so our people trapped behind the accident could continue to the hotel. Only a half-dozen riders and Chase’s RV were still at the scene when the first Ontario Provincial Police officer arrived. The ambulance was right behind him.

Any thought of this being an assassination attempt against me ended when we got a whiff of the driver. The old man was so drunk he could barely stand. After his arrest, he threw up in the back of the police car.

Thank Tezcatlipoca that Lana woke up. She was dizzy and seeing double, but she was awake. Chase supervised as she was strapped to a backboard and moved to a gurney. With potential head and neck injuries, her helmet was still on, and they’d placed a neck brace. They would remove it in the Emergency Room after X-rays checked for a neck fracture.

“You need to go with them and get that knee and shoulder checked out,” Chase told me.

“James should go with her.”

“They won’t take him with you two, and you can’t ride with that arm. James can follow on his motorcycle. I’ll be with him plus a few others.”

Lance wanted to go too, but his Harley was too damaged to ride. Granite, the Fort Lauderdale Chapter President, told him to take his bike, and he’d wait. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Once they finish with the accident investigation, we’ll load the bikes into Chase’s toy hauler, and we’ll head to the hospital.”

I thought about just riding in the RV, but Lance would insist I get checked out after he landed on me and rode me into the rail. Chase and Larry linked arms under my thighs and behind my back to carry me to the ambulance. They sat me near the back and closed the doors.

The last thing I saw was James’ face as he turned to run for his Harley.