This First Person article is the experience of Grant Bawolin, a lifelong Edmontonian who grew up in the northeast and now lives with his family in the southwest. His story is part of The Henday Project, a CBC Edmonton initiative focused on the suburbs. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.

“Let’s ride,” he said. “There’ll be girls. Lot’s of ’em.”

In September 1984, Pope John Paul II conducted an outdoor mass for 125,000 people on a delta of farmland near the Namao air base. My buddy and I decided to cycle over the night before to engage and entertain some of