As people who are firmly ensconced in the world of hang gliding and paragliding, I have become extremely familiar with an expression we call ‘hang waiting.’ No, you cannot control nature. You must hone your skills of patience and perseverance, learning to lean into the possibilities of the day and the expectations of the glorious flying that will certainly occur- sooner or later. There has been a good deal of patience honing and perseverance perfecting on this trip. Well, there has been a great deal of this in all of my flying experience with Jorge, but…that is a story for another day.

I will say that traveling has given Jorge a broader scope of ‘hang waiting’ than I have seen him experience before. We most certainly consider the weather and flying possibilities at each stop along the way, but we do not limit ourselves to standing (or sitting) on top of hill waiting for the wind to correct itself and allow for the ten-minute sled ride that may ensue. Patience is a virtue, but so is an adventuresome spirit. Now, we analyze the weather (sometimes hour by hour, other times day by day), factor in the other options for adventure that day and make choices about the tangibility of the flight. There are, after all, so many things to do, so many places to see, so many drives to make…

As we walked to breakfast we were hopeful after a text from a local pilot suggesting we meet at the hill at 11:30, but the short walk down the four blocks to the bakery found the clouds rapidly building and it did not take long for the second text to arrive – ‘thinking about taking students to practice kiting at the training site.’ For some of you, this may not make sense. For others, you know that while Jorge claims paragliding as his second sport, he is certainly not a novice and kiting at the training site does not a flying day make! He decided instead to get a haircut.

This was very fortunate for me. As he went to the barber, I visited some of the local shops. I had just picked up a shirt when I received a text from him, ‘PM on the sidewalk near the barber.’ I dropped the shirt and walked out into the street to find the Canadian Prime Minister. He and I had a quick chat, I told him how happy I was to see him, he asked if I would like a photo, put his arm around my waist and smiled at the camera. As he walked away, I told him to have fun. He replied, “I always do.” Yes, I swooned.

Moral of today’s story – we came to Whitehorse with the potential for flight, but did not. Oh well, we just hopped in the truck, charted a new course with the MilePost, set off to explore the Atlin Road-Carcross Loop and take a trek up to the top of the flying site near Jake’s Corner. It was delightful. If we had been waiting on a hill, we would have missed it.

Day 25 – 216 mi…no flying today, but Michele did meet the Prime Minister.