The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 04 / 10
Issue #432
Including:
A Note From Lorne
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Had a different riding experience last weekend, Ryan and I participated in an enjoyable group ride. There is a riding organization know as the Canadian Motorcycle Cruisers who have chapters all across the country. The first and founding chapter is in Cambridge, Ont. There is a Vancouver chapter but it has gone dormant for some reason. However, there are several chapters on Vancouver Island that are very active. The mandate of this CMC organization is to safely enjoy the sport of motorcycling. They do a lot of get-together family orientated events. They also do longer, day and over-nighter type rides.
And that’s what this was. A small group made up of members from the Port Alberni and Campbell River chapters came over to ‘do the Duffey’. The Duffey Lake Rd, which is the section of highway #99 between Pemberton and Lillooet is a motorcycle mecca and draws riders from all over the continent. It is 100 kilometers of steep, twisty alpine riding at its best.
Along with one rider from North Van, we met the group of 5 bikes and 7 riders in Horseshoe Bay as they came off the ferry from Nanaimo. That made for 8 bikes doing the ride. We led them to Squamish, stopping for a few minutes at the base of the Chief so they could get neck cramps as they tried to look straight up the rock face. We spotted some climbers half way up making it that much more interesting. Then it was on up to our place where ‘the wife’ had a nice BBQ waiting for everyone. We ate and chatted for an hour and then saddled up for the ride north.
Organized groups of bikes ride in a staggered formation with the lead bike (road captain) sitting in the left side of the lane. The next bike sits 2 seconds behind and in the right side of the lane, and so on, and so on. Works very well. Hand signals are used to communicate information down through the bikes. The rear bike is the tail gunner. It is his responsibility to control the traffic behind and to keep an eye on all the riders. We rode in staggered formation to Pemberton and then in single file for the Duffey leg of the trip. The Duffey cannot be ridden safely in any other way. I know I’ve talked about the Duffey before, how it is a paved, narrow twisty road that climbs from the Pemberton Valley up into the alpine with its hanging glaciers, icy streams and mountain vegetation. It is incredibly scenic but can be a bit chilly at times. At the north end where you drop down into Lillooet on some rather tight switchback, you have entered a very different world. The moist Coastal Mountains are behind you and the arid Fraser Canyon is at hand.
It was here that Ryan and I had to drop out and head back for home. We only had the one day available. The group was going on to Cashe Creek where they would spend the night before back tracking out to the coast to catch a ferry over to Vancouver Island. The ride back for us, and for them the next day, was just as scenic because you see everything from a totally different viewing perspective. We hit some cold rain through the high country of the Duffey but it didn’t last long, and we got stuck behind a very inconsiderate tourist who could only inch his way down the hills and around the turns but would not let any of the vehicles that were pilling up behind get by. There are long sections of that highway where you cannot safely pass, but many places where you can pull off and let the traffic get by. This jerk would not let anyone by all the way back into Pemberton, doing only 45 in the posted 80 sections. You could just feel the road rage building in the every growing line of frustrated drives stuck behind.
One of the guys in the group took a whole lot of pictures and posted them to a photo-sharing site. What you might find interesting about these pics is that they give a good depiction of the country we ride through and live in every day.
http://s120.photobucket.com/albums/o173/gussijons/Duffy%20Lake%20run%20August%2028th%20and%2029th/
*
On Tuesday August 31, BC recorded its wettest day ‘ever’ for any day in July or August. Or at least that’s what the local news was reporting. And yes, we did get rain that day, rain that was desperately needed. But it was NOT the wettest August day ever recorded in BC. (‘Ever’ means since 1936, I guess anything before that doesn’t count). It was the wettest August day ever recorded at the Vancouver airport with just over 2 inches of rainfall. During the rainy season you wouldn’t even notice a paltry 2 inches. Anyway, the greater Vancouver area got a couple of inches of rain because the weather front flowed right down the St of Georgia and hit Vancouver smack dead on, causing the rain bearing clouds to pile up in the Fraser Valley. Most of the rest of the province had showers with much smaller amounts of precipitation. Here in Squamish we only had about a third of an inch. So yes, it was Vancouver’s wettest August day but definitely not BC’s wettest August day. Vancouver, much like Toronto, tends to forget that anything exists beyond its borders. Just thought you’d like to know.
Oh, by the way, we have fresh snow on some of the higher mountains around here.
doug
****
A Note From Lorne
Ted, our dog, a Shelty, was growing woolly hair down to the ground. He lacked hooves, therefore he was not a real muskox. Vivyan took him to get groomed and when she brought him back, I was sure she had the wrong animal. Except for the head, no hair. The tail, never before seen, looked like a store bought pigtail. All else was a dull pink. When he went to sit or lay he jumped right back up never before having felt a bare floor or lawn or driveway. Next we noticed he could move about quicker, less air resistance I suspect.
Boots, Tim's cat, staying with us while Tim and Heidi are in Winnipeg, looked, sniffed, spat and walked away as I did.
Slowly, stubble like a 5 or 6-day beard is becoming evident and can be sensed by brushing a hand over his back and he is again beginning to respond to the name Teddy.
Will keep you posted
Lorne
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, the kids are heading back to school in a few days and you can tell that, by the herds of them that are swarming Wal-Mart and other stores that sell Chinese made school supplies. I wonder if there are any pencil crayons made in North America any more? From what I’ve been reading lately about the huge container ships that are running back and forth between Vancouver and China there isn’t much of what we buy these days being manufactured here on this continent! The main ship I’m referring to is the largest ship in the world and is owned by a Scandinavian shipping line called Maersk. This ship can carry 15,000 shipping containers and is run by a crew of only 13 men. It runs exclusively for Wal-Mart and can cross the Pacific in four days. It apparently runs out of Vancouver and after dumping its Chinese cargo on the docks of BC it returns to China “EMPTY”! What a shame it is that we aren’t sending any of our Canadian made products back to the place we are spending so much money in! You would think it would be fair play to say to the Chinese that we expect them to reciprocate with purchases of Canadian products for their daily use as we do theirs. It won’t be long before we’re all speaking Chinese anyway! Oh well, at least when we’re taken over by the Chinese we’ll outnumber the Muslims on this earth! Just food for thought!
*
We had some fun this past weekend. Friends of ours that were moving to Petrolia Ontario from Acton asked us to help them at their new house in Petrolia. We went down to Petrolia on Friday and met them at their new place. Paul is working at a new job in Sarnia and the company was paying for him to live in a motel until he managed to sell their house in Acton and buy a new one down near his work place. We stayed in the motel he was booked into until Saturday when the moving truck arrived with all their worldly belongings. Luckily there were 5 guys along with the huge moving truck to carry all the furniture etc into the house. Ours friends Paul and Gidge are the same age as we are and agreed that we are too old to be doing that shit ourselves anymore! LOL! Sorry bout the language but it’s true! Better to leave all the slugging up to the much younger and of course more experienced professional movers. We had the task of unpacking the 200 plus boxes that the movers stacked in whatever room Gidge directed them to. The new house is a raised bungalow so at least we didn’t have too many flights of steps to run up and down. There was one flight up from the front foyer and one flight down from it to the finished basement. We did enough climbing of those stairs as it was! For all of Saturday and most of Sunday we all worked our backsides off placing their belongings in what may or may not be their final resting places. I say that because I’m sure Gidge will re place each and every item over the next few weeks anyway no matter where we put them last weekend. That’s just the way women are, right guys? RIGHT! Anyway, although it was a lot of work, we did have a lot of fun while we unloaded everything. On Saturday we unpacked box after box while waiting for the Sears guys to deliver the new appliances. Around 2pm, they finally arrived. They were supposed to have been there between 8am and 10am but you know how that goes! As we worked along side the guys bringing in the new Fridge, my friend Paul asked one of the deliverymen if he was from Newfoundland due to his accent. The guy replied “Nope, I’m from Pictou County Nova Scotia!” To which Carole and I both replied in unison “Hey, we know someone from Pictou!” Hahahahaha……..!
The guy asked whom we knew and I told him our friend’s name is Sus Latulippe (hope I spelled that correctly Sus) what a small world eh? He said that he knows Sus very well and to say hi to her for him. So…… Hi Sus from Chris McIsaac! He said “ I know her, she’s run a hair dressing salon there for years and years! LOL! Made it sound like you are really old didn’t he? LOL! He also said that you lived right across the street from the Levitt family who happen to be his grandparents. I’m sure you’ll know if this guy is right about all this Sus. Let me know if you know who I’m talking about. It was a highlight the day when that happened and I wrote the guys name down so I wouldn’t forget to let you know. Does he actually know you or does he just know who you are because you’re famous down in Pictou? LOL! Anyway, Carole and I thought it was cool to bump into someone that knew you this far away from your home.
We had another interesting incident happen as we were leaving for home on Sunday evening. On the edge of Petrolia is an ESSO gas station and I had pulled in there to gas up before the drive home. While standing at the pump I heard the most beautiful sounding engine revving out on the street. I looked up to see in line at the light, a burnt orange coloured Lamborghini Gallardo. I tried to point it out to Carole but she couldn’t see it from the angle she had while sitting in the Jeep. As I pumped more gas and watched to see the Lambo drive away, I was surprised to see that it turned into the gas station and purred right past the Jeep to the pump beside us. I was awestruck to say the least. What a machine! I watched as it pulled up to the pump and was surprised to see an older couple sitting in the car along with a little white poodle. The man got out to start pumping gas and said to his wife “Pull it!” she said “Where is it?” I began to wonder what he wanted her to pull! LOL! It turned out he wanted her to pull the gas door release. She finally found it next to the emergency brake handle and opened the door on top of the right rear fender. He looked at me and asked if he had to pay for the gas before pumping and I told him he didn’t. As he pumped the gas I talked a little to him about the car. I asked what model it was and was it new. He said it’s new and it’s a G’G’G’… and his wife beat him to it and yelled to me “Gallardo!” as he finally said “Gallardo!” Ha ha ha.. it always amuses me when people talk for each other especially when it’s an older couple. LOL! She actually surprised me when she knew the model of such an exotic vehicle.
They appeared to be in their late 60’s or early 70’s and didn’t seem to suit ownership of a Lamborghini. Such a special automobile is usually pictured as being owned by some 30 to 40 something aged dot COM computer whiz or other millionaire executive, not a man in his 70’s that is dressed like a tobacco farmer. He didn’t look shabby or anything he just had a well-worn BMW ball cap on and a red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and a pair of blue jeans and older running shoes on. I told him I liked the car and he thanked me and asked if I lived around Petrolia. I told him we were from Kitchener and he commented on how much KW is growing. He said they live in Sarnia and he’s retired. Thoughts of him being the latest Lotto millionaire ran through my head as we talked. I took a bit closer look at the car and then told them to “Enjoy your lovely Gallardo!” and said goodbye. He thanked me for the kind words and said, “Have a safe trip home to Kitchener”. I couldn’t help taking a final peak in the rear view mirror as we pulled out onto the highway for home. I’ve always loved exotic cars and to see a brand new one in such unusual circumstances was very cool indeed! We talked about it as we headed for home. We drove about twelve km further till we reached a small town, I think it was called Wyoming. There was a Mac’s Milk store in the middle of town so I pulled to the parking spot across the street. I said to Carole that I just wanted to pick up a lottery ticket before going home. I entered the store and as the clerk printed my tickets I asked if they had any big winners in that area lately. The clerk said they did have a million dollar winner a few weeks ago and it was an older couple that lived in Sarnia. He said he thought they were in their early 70’s. Hmmmm..? The wheels started turning in my little brain and I told him about my encounter at the ESSO station in Petrolia. He said that the couple with the Lamborghini might well have been the Lotto winners from Sarnia. Not knowing for sure of course I headed for home imagining that on that lovely sunny day I had just met up with a new Lotto millionaire who happened to be driving my dream car, just like I would be if I were to finally win “The Big One”! LOL! What an interesting incident that was! It’s the stuff that dreams are made of for sure!
*
Well, I guess that’s about it for this week!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… GREG.
PS: Something To Think About>
You’re never too old to dream and you’re never too old to fulfill that dream! Providing you can afford it!
Now, Go get that Lottery Ticket before someone else buys the winning one!
PPS: My tickets from Wyoming didn’t win!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.