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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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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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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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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