Happy Easter!

We spent the Saturday in the company of Heather's parents, Jim & Sandy. Our plan was to visit their family friends John and Lorie in London which is about an hour's drive. But before that, I took Heather to the Polish church in Kitchener where they held the traditional blessing of Easter baskets. We then returned the basket to my parents where we all enjoyed a filling breakfast serving of white borsht.

We arrived in London at about 1pm where we visited with John, Lorie and their family until about 5. On the way home we stopped at Subway for supper and then Rogers for some evening viewing. We went with The Hurt Locker and Old Dogs.

On Sunday we went to Cambridge again where the whole family went to the local park for some afternoon sun.

Daddy-daughter fun in the sun.

Then it was back to Waterloo where my parents hosted an Easter feast with my side of the family present.

Good Friday Ride to Port Dover

The weather-guessers had forecast great weather for the whole Easter weekend with temperatures reaching 20+C. Not wanting to waster this opportunity we settled on a Friday ride to Port Dover. This was going to be our first leisure ride of the season. The plan was to meet Janine and Hailey in Port Dover for lunch at around noon.

After the usual pre-ride ritual, we were on the road by 10am. As always, we stuck to the back roads. We made our first stop in Delhi in an empty beer store parking lot. While there, I texted our lunch buddies to see where they were. It looked like we were going to arrive in Port Dover at pretty much the same time. Still in the parking lot, a truck pulled and the driver asked us if we were looking for a beer store that was open. What was strange about that was that the driver of the pick-up was wearing a biker vest. On such a beautiful day, I imagined he'd want to be on two wheels instead of four, but I guess to him the thought of being on the road does not vary between the number of wheels on your vehicle.

As we were approaching Dover and Lake Erie, the wind got a little colder. But as we arrived in town, it was Port Dover at its best. That means motorcycles everywhere. Clearly, this town is a favourite one-day ride destination of many southwestern Ontario bikers.

Janine and Hailey arrived just a minute or two after us and we all parked in Powell Park. After putting our gear in Janine's van, we walked down to the beach for lunch at Callahan's.

The many beach-goers on an early-April afternoon.

The restaurant was quite busy as we were told to expect a 30-minute wait for a table. Luckily, we waited for no more than 10-15 minutes before being seated. But then the food took another 30 minutes before making its way to our table. While at the restaurant, we ran into Rose, who we know from Cyclefest. After finally getting out of the restaurant we walked down to the local lighthouse and a bakery before leaving town.

At the Port Dover lighthouse.

We left Dover before 3pm and rode to Cambridge. There we visited with Kim, Mike, Jolene, Heather's parents who were in town this weekend and Heather's friend Jessica. We stayed for a short while because after we got home we got into our car and went back to Cambridge for the rest of the night.

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WATER TOWERS

2010 Elmira Maple Syrup Festival

Once again, we decided to attend the Maple Syrup Festival held annually in Elmira. Our friend Janine and her daughter Hailey picked us up at 7:30 and after making a quick at the farmers' market, we were off to Elmira. The weather was once again chilly but not as cold as last year when it actually snowed.

We arrived in Elmira no more than 15 minutes after leaving and after finding a parking spot on a side street we proceeded to the pancake line. At 8 in the morning there were dozens of people in the line but it was moving at a good pace. Had we been there an hour or two later, we would have had to endure a very long wait.

Pancake breakfast in the bitter cold.

From the pancake tent, we went to the main street to walk among the various vendors. At some point, too, we went inside the local Bargain Shop for a few minutes to thaw out.

At about 10 we made our way to the Woolwich Memorial Centre where we enjoyed the Megamutts dog show. As far as dog shows go, I thought it was pretty entertaining. As the dog show concluded, a celebrity pancake flipping contest was to take place. The celebrities included local politicians, law officers, etc. After 5 minutes or so, we all had seen enough and left.

We made another lap around the main street and then went home. It was a good event as always, but I'm hoping for yet another improvement in the weather come next year's festival.

2010 Season Is On!

Not even 4 months after last riding in 2009, Heather and I started our 3rd year of riding together by doing something we've never done before - the morning commute to work.

While Heather was in Hamilton last night, I was home preparing the motorcycles for tomorrow's ride. I even got a chance to ride to the Daily Grill to meet with members of the Waterloo Wings. I stayed there long enough to pay for our new golf shirts and to, again, fix the electrical problem. All power was shot and the bike wouldn't start because as I rushed to connect the battery I failed to tighten the screws. It's a good thing I'm now an expert at removing the seats to get to the battery and putting them back on. I was on the road no more than 5 minutes later.

Once I got home, I installed the battery in Heather's motorcycle and took it for a quick spin around the block. All systems go!

Today, we left home just after 7am to get ready for the ride. It being March, the morning are still quite cold but I didn't think twice about overdressing. Some of our body parts like fingers and legs were very cold when we arrived at Heather's office shortly before 8am. There I switched to my cold-weather gloves and rode the 401 to my office.

Over the course of the day, the weather improved but while it was warm it was overcast with a cool breeze. An almost perfect riding weather given it was warmer by 2-3 degrees. And while, we managed to avoid the morning rush by leaving early, this time I was on the 401 going to Heather's office right at 5pm. I was busy for about 3-5 kilometres but after majority of people exited at either Highway 8 or Homer Watson, I continued to Cedar Creek.

We then rode home along Fischer-Hallman Road taking a leisurely pace. The weather won't be very accomodating in the next couple so it was good to get out and get back at it this early.