Freedom Rally '11 - Day 3

Sunday is a slow day at the rally.  The morning is quiet, the afternoon is taken up by the bike games and the evening is when everyone sits down for catered dinner/award ceremony.

During this year's events Heather won youngest rider and also a free admission to next year's rally.  Since next year's rally falls on the same weekend as the Twins Festival, I may be the one who ends up using the free pass.

Heather and Kevin - youngest and oldest riders at Freedom Rally 2011

We spent the night in Heather's parents' motorhome after sleeping in the tent the previous two nights.

Freedom Rally '11 - Day 2

Saturday is a day of traditional rides.  I had planned a ride for Heather and I to Manitoulin Island.  We didn't get rolling until later in the morning.  We first rode west along Highway 17, portions of which were recently widened.

Before reaching the island we made a couple of stops in Espanola as well as Birch Island.  Espanola is known as the paper town as it's home to Domtar, the largest producer of freshsheet paper in North America.  The ride south towards Manitoulin Island was full of beautiful scenery and twisty, for Ontario, roads.

Veterans memorial in Birch Island

As lunchtime approached, we stopped in Little Current which is the first town on the island, just past the bridge leading to the island.  The bridge was actually up when we got there but it only took a couple of minutes before we were moving again.

The bridge to Manitoulin Island

Little Current is a very small town but also a very popular tourist destination.  The streets and beaches of Little Current were full of people enjoying today's perfect weather.

We ate at the Anchor Inn Hotel and of course we both had some type of seafood.  After lunch, I led Heather on a ride deeper into the island.  The roads on the island were no longer twisty but scenery reminded me of any farming community I've seen before.

As usual, we getting very tired riding on a hot day so we decided to turn around in Kagawong.  I took us there just for the purpose of getting a water tower photo but the destination reminded Heather of a school trip she'd done years ago.

It turns out that Kagawong is home to Bridal Veil Falls.  We stopped there on the way out of town and descended a few flights of stairs to get a closer look at the falls.

Bridal Veil Falls in Kagawong, ON

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at a gas station in Espanola for some refreshments.  We arrived back at the campground well after 5pm and just before supper.  The ride may have been a little longer than planned but when an opportunity is there, it is tough to pass it up.

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WATER TOWERS

Freedom Rally '11 - Day 1

For the second time ever, Heather and I chose to attend the Freedom Rally in Sudbury hosted by the Freedom Riders. Once again, we took today off as the trip north would take a large portion of the day.

With our motorcycles packed, we left under ominous, dark skies with some rain gear on. We rode on the 401 until Mississauga where we stopped at a GO station for a water tower photo. From there we took back roads. The weather was still not improving and we actually got hit by a couple of showers.

As we were approaching Barrie, it was finally getting progressively better and patches of blue sky were appearing. We actually also stopped in Barrie for lunch at Cora's.

The rest of the trip took us through Highway 400 and Highway 69 with a small detour through MacTier. We arrived in Sudbury under sunny conditions and pitched our tent although we'd end up moving it later in the evening to a site occupied by members of the Waterloo Wings which included Lynn and Peter, Kevin and Maysey, and Doug.

Sun setting over Lake Richard.

The night ended with the traditional hot dog cookout.

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WATER TOWERS

GLVROC Rally '11 - Day 3

We departed Swanton shortly after an early breakfast. The sun didn't let up today and at about the halfway point we gave up on highways and took a slower pace through the back roads. Our route diverted around Chatham where I thought it'd be a good idea to follow old Highway 2, including the portion that goes through the busy London downtown.

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WATER TOWERS

GLVROC Rally '11 - Day 2

It was another beautiful day in Swanton today. We had a breakfast in Boomer's garage and then made plans for a ride. There was a group heading to Fort Wayne, Indiana and a bigger group heading east.

Heather and I chose to explore the neighbouring communities and search out water towers.We left at 10:30am and also went east but, with Scotty's suggestion, we rode to Grand Rapids, Ohio for ice cream at Rita's Dairy Bar. The ice cream was amazing and Rita's will now be a nearly mandatory stop whenever we're in the area.

Enjoying ice cream at Rita's Dairy Bar in Grand Rapids, OH.

From there we continued looking for water towers along our route, even finding a couple at a Campbell's plant in Napoleon. Our lunch was at Applebee's in Defiance. The day continued to get hotter and riding became harder.

Roseman and Boomer manning the grill.

Back at the rally headquarters, the crowd began gathering for the night's feast. Besides VROCers, some of their families joined us as well, including Wayne's son Kory with wife Melanie and their newborn son Liam. We shared a table with them during supper and swapped stories of life and places to visit. The night ended, as usual, by the fire.

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WATER TOWERS

GLVROC Rally '11 - Day 1

After missing the 2010 event because of a wedding, we made sure to make it to the third edition of GLVROC Rally at Boomer and Shannon's in Swanton, OH.

Heather and I both worked half days today so we weren't home until about 1pm. Our neighbourhood was a busy place today as workers were busy creating sidewalks on either side of our house. The sidewalk in front of our house had long been finished but since our neighbours' houses weren't yet finished, this job waited until today.

It was probably not a good day to be working outside as it felt like one of the hottest day so far this summer. Then again it would turn out not to be the best for riding.

As we approached the Sarnia/Port Huron border crossing the traffic came to a standstill. We spent over an hour on the bridge not moving and unlucky for us we had to do it without the convenience of an air-conditioned car. The reason for the delay was not known although we figured that it could have had something to do with a fire in a nearby Port Huron neighbourhood.

Regardless of the reason, we crossed the border at around 4pm and immediately made plans to stop for gas and food. We finally stopped on the outskirts of New Haven, minutes from I-94.

Then we joined the afternoon rush hour through the suburbs of Detroit along I-696 and I-275.

I had planned on taking the scenic route to Swanton but the border delay left us no choice but to continue on freeways.

It was already past supper when we arrived in Swanton. We had some leftover burgers, pitched our tent and then joined the crew in front of the fire. The highlight of the evening came when Boomer was chasing Blitz on his ATV and scraped Flatop's Voyager while taking a wide turn coming out of a corner.

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WATER TOWERS

Happy Canada Day!

We spent this year's Canada Day in the company of Mike, Kim, Jolene and Robyn at Southside Park in Woodstock where the city held its festivities. There were many attractions although we were mostly interested the ones that were kid-specific like pony rides, ferris wheel and a fire truck display. Jolene took part in all three and seemed to have enjoyed all even though she might have been a little scared.

I'm not scared.