The Squamidian Report – July 14 / 07
Issue #268
Also in this issue:
From the Shores of Lake Huron
A Note From Ewan
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I was going to do a little story about bugs. But I went and washed the Harley before I remembered that I had wanted to take some pictures of the big splats. So I’ll have to revisit that one later on some time.
The big story around these parts isn’t bugs right now anyway. It’s the heat. Hoe-key-toot has it been hot. On Tuesday we set a new high for that date, the 10th of July. The old record had been 29.6. We topped that by 7 degrees, all the way up to 36.6. It was sizzling. Then, on Wednesday we broke the all time high temperature record for Squamish. Not just that date record but any date’s record. The old one had held for decades at 36.7, we officially hit 37.5 or so. The recording equipment is at the airport down by the river just north of Brackendale. What we endured in other locations around the valley varied.
Down town it was about 42 in the sun, almost no difference in the shade. Up here in the Highlands it was 38 in the shade, then 42 or 43 in direct sunlight. There was just no escaping the heat. However, the lifesaver was the fact that the humidity level was way down at 15%. No humidity at all. Still, it took till almost midnight to get the house cooled down.
We close up everything before leaving in the mornings to keep out the summer sun. Then, once it is cooled off outside, we open up everything and leave things open all night. Makes for a wonderfully cool house most of the time. It just breaks down when we have a heat wave. I guess after a cold wet June the weather gods decided to give us all the sun and warmth that they owed us, all at once. And not just here, most of the province has been baking.
We went from wet and cold and flooding right into forest fire alert status. No in-between at all. I couldn’t even take the Hog out for a ride for a few days there. It was just too darn hot. There is a certain temperature at which riding suddenly becomes uncomfortable. Below that level it is great, right down to where you need heavy clothing to keep you warm. Go above that level and riding can become unbearable. The hot air starts to feel like a blast furnace aimed right at your face. The engine doesn’t cool like it should and heat rises off of it, cooking you right where you sit. Having to stop for a traffic light or a construction holdup is just too much to take. So during heat waves the bike stays in the garage.
Funny thing, our west coast heat waves come from the same place that our cold snaps in the winter come from. Out-flow winds. High pressure over the interior mountains cause air to flow out through the valleys. Cold in winter, hot in summer. The rest of the time our winds come in from the ocean and moderate the temperatures.
doug
****
Good day everyone. This I hope is going to work as it a test run to see if I can be included with the editor in chief’s newsletter. Anyway while I am writing this it is still Friday the 13th. Many things go on, on Friday the 13th in Ontario but the main Item is the congregation of motorcycle enthusiasts going to Port Dover for the day. I personally have never been and had I not been so busy working I probably should have gone down on my new ( actually it is used) 2001 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad FI. Mind you even though it's July 13 the temperature is quite cool and I am sort of a wuss when it comes to cold weather riding, AS I am writing this the outside temp is only 13.2 degrees Celsius and traveling at 80 to 100 km that’s very cold with the wind chill. Getting back to Dover, last year on the one Friday they had over 120,000 people c/w motorcycles there. They figure that this year there would be a lot more than that.
I was in the see my friends and family at the trailer camp and just the 4km ride back was more than enough cool weather riding for me. I'm curious Greg did you and your son go down there today. I heard the next one would be on June 13th next year. I will probably make it down to that one. Well I must mention that the motel addition I have been working on opened on June 29 just 3 months and 2 days after breaking ground in March. The rooms have been rented out continuously since then and the owner is smiling a lot lately. Well it's around 11:30 pm and I think I call it a night so hopefully this makes it to Doug and everyone else. Bye for now.
****
A Note From
Ewan
Hello
all!
Once
again it's been way too long. Once again life has been more or less a blur,
since about Easter. Once again too many things have happened to be able to get
caught up in less than ten pages! So I'll try to stick to the head lines.
I've
been enjoying the Squamidian, there hasn't even been a lull in the writing the
whole time. Once again I wanted to jump in and get in to some debate, but I've
missed my chance. Once again I'm at work late on a Friday night, determined to
finally write the letter to my fellow Squamidian readers that is long over due.
That is about as far as I can get before things change.
Work
is now out in Brampton, part of the suburban asteroid field that surrounds
Toronto. "Brampton Park" as it's euphemistically called by Rogers is
between some suburbs and an industrial wasteland dominated by transport trucks.
It actually makes me miss being between gay town and the infamous Bloor and
Sherbourne. My building is one of the best buildings within one huge building.
A few of the buildings still have Nortel people in them. Rogers bought it from
them. The whole place is just plain odd, but it isn't bad apart from being
located in the middle of no where but not far enough from Toronto to actually
be worth while. In the main building that stretches between the buildings there
are so many cubicles and corridors that they really went out of their way to
make them look distinct and interesting. There is a waterfall, totem pole, huge
perpetually spinning sphere, giant chess board, duck pond, graffiti, Japanese
Zen rock garden and various places to smoke (outside). There is an outdoor
volley ball court, basketball courts and an obstacle course. We don't use them
because the air is absolutely corrosive, even by my low Toronto standards. Also
there are geese everywhere (outside) and they poop all over everything. But
still, overall it is pretty good.
The
trouble is driving here. The good news is that I had to go out and buy my first
car (at 33!). I now understand why so many people seem concerned about money.
It turns out that having no debt, mortgage, car payments, insurance, medical
needs or kids is way less expensive, and means that an average tech can live
pretty much however he feels like at any particular moment. I guess these
things come and go. But on the bright side I paid a reasonable amount for a
good car. It's a 2003 Corolla, in very good condition. I'm very happy with it,
apart from the fact that it beeps on it's own far too often. I've figured out
how to minimize it, but it can't be silenced. I prefer that things remain
silent other than when I make them produce sound. Every time I unlock the car
the horn blows, which really blows. I've figured out how to lock it without it
honking at me.
It
kept honking on it's own, periodically. I didn't notice at first because the
street I live on is so loud. My cousin Scot figured out that the factory
standard security system reacts to vibration. So when a loud motorcycle or bus
in low gear would roar by it would honk at them. But I got around that, so I
can live with the honking. Other than that the car is great, it's very
practical, efficient and comfortable too. I plan to take good care of it.
It's a
pity gas is over a dollar a litre and my insurance is so high (first time…
everything). The insurance will come down, I doubt the gas ever will. I held
out so long, I find it ironic that I ended up in this position right when there
are more reasons than ever not to drive. The one reason that would of mattered
would have been some sort of alternative. The Go train station is a few blocks
from my apartment, and runs in a straight line to a station a few blocks from
work. Unfortunately people are supposed to go TO Toronto to work and live in
Brampton, so there is no train that I can take. I miss taking my bicycle (for
free!).
But I
can't complain, many people drive to and from Oshawa and Ajax every day. I
drive for about a half an hour only. But what a half hour! I remember when
Warren mentioned "Star Wars driving" through Montréal. I really
understand that term. I normally take the Gardiner, 427, 401 and 410
combination. At first it was stressful, but I've really adapted. Every single
day there are about three different psychopaths between me and work. Every time
is like a test. It's easy because that's how I look at it. For years I would
hear people complain about bad drivers, and I always thought they were good
reasons to simply avoid driving. But now I hear myself doing the same thing. I
find it's healthy to just swear at them from inside the car, and just let it go
at that. There are many ways that this slim minority of people would try to
kills us, and stress is one of them. I won't let people make me angry any more
than I'd let them hit me. I just call them what they are and stay out of their
way.
Driving
outside the city (any city) is another matter. I'm slowly starting to
understand how people could actually enjoy driving. My car isn't a dream
machine, or a geezer glider, but it doesn't have to be. It holds UU and I, as
well as some snacks and such and that's good enough for me! I did enjoy finding
about your bike though Doug, it does look and sound pretty sweet.
*
UU and
I were both quite sick in the spring. I wasn't as bad and bounced back a while
ago. Still it's rare that I would be so ill. UU isn't 100% yet, but almost. She
went to her regular doctor, a naturopathic doctor and an other specialist. She
learned a lot, and they all helped a bit, but she kept having a relapse. It
turned out to be a throat infection, which is better now. An interesting thing
happened. We have a Rogers doctor in the building (we work in the same building
again). I guess it's the same one here as the old location, he must do both
buildings. Anyway, she went to him last and he told her that lots of people at
work have the same symptoms! So much for that mystery. Some people in her
department had the same problem, and it went further and became a lung
infection. That does not sound like fun. I'm glad that although it was a long
illness she is over it.
We
were both feeling great last weekend so we went up to Dorothy's cottage for a
night. It was brief but worth while. We saw a bunch of Brubachers and some
extended family as well. Sorry I missed you if you weren't there yet! It was
fun to visit Killbear and get some fresh air. I would have liked to have stayed
longer, and next time maybe I will. That one weekend could easily fill a
Squamidian. I wish I would learn to write regularly. As it is I'll be lucky to
make the editor's dead line!
The
best news is that UU and I will make it to Nova Scotia. We both have wanted to
go to NS for a few years, and we were delighted to find that in common. The
reunion gives us a perfect excuse too. It's been a lot of fun planning it so
far, and seeing some of you will be the highlight. We only have one week off,
but we'll make the most of it. I just bought an airline ticket on line. Some
people are afraid of flying, I'm afraid of paper work. Seriously! Forms, making
online profiles, account numbers, applications, it all really scares me. It is
my phobia. I get tense in my stomach and chest, and it all makes me paranoid
and angry. The paperwork for driving, taxes, flying, banking, school, work and
life in general all overwhelms me. Okay I guess it isn't really paper work
anymore, but it's the same thing to me. In some ways the electronic method is
better, in some ways it's even worse. I didn't just buy two airline tickets, I
printed off a whole "itinerary." It's pages and pages of paper to say
what two tickets would have said, plus a lot of extra crap.
*
The
entire summer, from mid June to mid October is busy. I have one free weekend
when I don't have to go anywhere or do anything. I'll probably invite people
over because it'll be my only chance. But it's all good stuff, so it should be
a great summer.
I'd
like to tell you about the adventure we had the weekend of my cousin
Elizabeth's wedding earlier in the spring. This is already long so it will have
to wait. My uncle Roy said it sounded like one of those letters to the Vinyl
Café. I guess I could cc you!
The
last thing before I get going is recent news. I don't have all the details yet,
but my Dad has had some sort of trouble with the building in which he rents
space for his business. He is not happy with the land lord there, although he
did like the building it self. I guess they are shutting it down because of
ASBESTOS. It isn't a critical health issue, but it is a huge pain in @$$ for
all the businesses in the old "Beemer Box" building. Anyway, a bunch
of us are going over tomorrow morning to help move all his merchandise. There
is a lot of stuff in there! I think all will be well, but it has to be tough.
He only has one regular employee, and she had to cut her vacation short. They
had to find a place to put all the stuff, pack it up, rent a big truck and hire
some movers, all with no notice. Sometimes life is like the game of Monopoly,
and this seems like one of those nasty "Chance?" cards! I'll probably
tell Dad he should buy a huge complex like Ted Rogers, from some other company
that's going out of business! What's a few hundred million eh? Well, I guess
it's better to find out that you were renting a building that has asbestos that
to find out that you own one. We'll see.
Talk to you soon, and I hope to see some of you
soon also,
Ewan
P.S.
Ed Mirvish passed away this week, and if you don't know who he was then I'll
tell you about him next time. He was a great guy.
****
Hello
everyone!
Well, I
would think you’re all pretty well up to your eyeballs in motorcycle stories by
now but you’re in for one more. There’s a little action that happens every
Friday the 13th in a little Lake Erie town called Port Dover. It
started several years ago where a couple of motorcycle “gangs” as they were
called back then would ride into Port Dover for the day on Friday the 13th.
This grew into what is now a huge gathering of motorcycles and people wanting
to witness this event on such dates. Adam and I have talked about attending one
for the past couple of years and decided back in early spring that we would
attend the July run this year. We managed to drag our carcasses out of bed by
9am this morning and get organized to leave by 11am. Our intention was to be on
the road by 9am but it didn’t work out that way. LOL! Oh well, we figured we’d
still be able to get in if we arrived around noon. After all, how hard could it
be to ride a motorcycle into that little town. We figured there would always be
a parking spot for another bike or two. Fortunately, we live within two blocks
of Trussler Rd here in Kitchener. Trussler Rd runs north and south and extends
pretty much from here to the north shore of Lake Erie about two kilometers west
of Port Dover. This means it is a very strait ride south to get to this sleepy
little fishing village. Before we left on the ride, we decided we would stop
for something to eat in Sincoe, a town about 10kms north of Port Dover. We
thought this would be a good idea since the line ups for food in the Port would
be long and boring to stand in. We road south and within 45 minutes we were
seated in a nice little Irish pub in Simcoe. We decided to have a sit down
lunch instead of a “Fast Food” style and the pub was a nice change from Wendy’s
or McDonalds. Lunch was done and we were soon on the road again. We only had
another 20 minutes to reach Port Dover. On the main road in to the Port, there
were two check points manned by several OPP officers at each point. We thought
we were going to be told that the town was full and we’d have to park in one of
the fields and take the shuttle bus in from there. However, they were just
turning the people in cars into the fields and letting the motorcycles pass. We
felt kind of special when they flagged us through! As we rounded the curve at
the edge of the town line, we were amazed at the number of bikes we saw. The
town had three main roads that lead down to the harbor. The first one is Main
St and of course that’s the main road through their down town. One block to
either side of Main St is the other two parallel streets that make up the routes
down to the harbor front and beach. From one end of town to the harbor front
there are about a dozen cross streets connecting these three arteries. Every
one of these streets and arteries were filled with parked motorcycles at 90
degrees to the curb. We figured that there were three bikes filling every 10
feet of parking space. That amounts to many thousands of motorcycles if you
took the time to add them all up. We were shocked to see so many bikes. It’s
something you can only imagine unless you see it with your own eyes. It’
incredible!
In a
village that would take you about 3 minutes to cross from one side to the other
on a motorcycle any other time, it took us over an hour to make our way down
one of these arteries to the harbor front street that also leads to the beach.
This is the main beach strip where all the beach wear and food shops are lined
from one end to the other. It’s the centre of action for the Friday the 13th
events. As we crowned the top of the hill that leads the last block down to the
strip, there was a bike rider that pulled up beside me and off to the parking
row. The rider exclaimed “That’s it, my engine is cooked!” As I looked at his
classic Honda 750 Four machine, I could see the head of his motor glowing like
a spark plug. It was literally glowing red after overheating from the slow pace
of the traffic and the heat of the day. I could smell and feel the heat of my
engine too and as I pointed out the problem this guy was having to Adam he said
his bike was getting very hot as well. We had only to ride down the hill and
make a left turn at the bottom before we could park for the day. I suggested to
Adam that we turn our motors off and coast down the hill to give them a chance
to cool down. We did so and it still took us another 20 minutes to reach our
parking spots. By the time we reached the bottom the motors had cooled enough
to drive the short distance before we found places to park. We were lucky
enough to find two spots just around that corner and parked the bikes there for
the day. We had worn our heavy riding jackets for the trip since it was quite
cool when we left Kitchener. Mine is a black leather jacket and Adam’s is a
Kevlar material that is also quite heavy as well. He wanted to look through the
sales kiosks that dotted the streets at the event to see if he could purchase a
pair of leather riding chaps. The first shop we checked out had beautiful
leather jackets as well as an array of chaps. Adam decided he’d like to have a
leather jacket to go with the chaps so we spent the next half hour trying these
items on. He managed to find a jacket and chaps that he liked and worked a deal
with the shop owner. Of course, leather jackets and chaps are quite heavy and
with the new jacket and chaps and the jackets we were both wearing, we had a
lot of weight to carry around for the next 4 to 5 hours. Never fails, whenever
we go to one of these events, we always wind up purchasing stuff like this the
minute we get there and have to lug it around with us for the rest of the day.
LOL! Oh well, the opportunity was there and he figured he had to strike while
the iron was hot! We spent the rest of the day walking around and looking at
the displays of bike goods for sale as well as the thousands of motorcycles
that lined the streets. I think that the OPP broke the budget for this year in
this one event. There had to be 200 cops and cruisers in this tiny town. There
were three and four cops on every main corner and groups of four OPP officers
walking through the crowds in every direction. You couldn’t walk more than 20’
without passing a cop or two. I guess they figure there’s safety in numbers so
they had immediate backup if one of them dropped their doughnut or spilled
their late` on their tie or something. Anyway, the number of cops I’m sure cost
the taxpayers a pretty penny for this Friday the 13th. Just taking a
guess at the number of bikes there today I’d say there had to be 10,000 of them
lining the streets in the parking spaces and another 5,000 idling in the
traffic at any one time. I’d love to have the dollars burned up in gas by those
that idled through town. On the other hand I’d love to have collected $5.00
from every bike that entered Port Dover today. WOW! Would that have been a tidy
sum! The ride down to Port Dover was quite comfortable but once in town, the
temperature seemed to shoot up and it turned into a blistering summer day. The
crowds walked or should is say waddled shoulder to shoulder up and down the
streets gawking at the display of bikes. I would say that about half of the
thousands of bikes were Harley Davidsons and the rest were a mixture of mostly
Japanese and British products. When you think of the cost of these machines
there was a lot of value on the streets of the village today! There sure was an
odd mixture of people attending this event. There were kids and dogs and biker
types for sure. Most of the crowd was made up of 40 to 50 something folks that
finally managed to buy the motorcycle of their dreams. The one group that was
conspicuous by their absence was the “motorcycle gang”. We didn’t see one
person wearing a vest with a “biker” crest on it. I guess they either weren’t
there or they didn’t wear their “colours” so the cops wouldn’t hassle them. In
any event, the whole crowd was peaceful and for the most part quiet. There had
to be 200 places to buy food and a huge lineup at every one of them. We were
certainly wise to grab a lunch in Simcoe before entering Port Dover. I took a
ton of pictures of the bikes and the crowds and I’ll send a few along with this
week’s Ontarion for Doug to post. There was one gentleman in particular that
was garnering his share of attention at the main intersection on beach row. I
managed to get a shot of him but only from behind. I’m sure the Squamidian
ladies will get a kick out of what he’s wearing when they see the picture. I
will tell you this, what he’s wearing is red and was about the most spectacular
outfit there today. After walking for hours and covering most of the streets in
Port Dover, we decided to head for home. It was about 5pm when we hopped on our
bikes once more. It took us about 20 minutes to make our way out of town. It
seemed that the side street that led out of town wasn’t as clogged as the one
coming in but it still didn’t move at a very quick pace. Every house in town
had an array of lawn chairs and beer coolers out front. I guess it’s an
interesting way to spend a summer day. I doubt that anyone that works shifts
would have been able to get in 40 winks today if they had to work nights
tonight so they might as well watch the parade, get drunk and phone in sick!
LOL!
After
stopping in Simcoe once more for a tasty Pizza Hut pizza we headed north on
Trussler Rd. The ride home was a pleasant one and the traffic was non existent.
The temperature had cooled down again and riding with the leather jackets on
was the way to go. The ride took just over an hour and we were home enjoying a
cup of tea before dark. The rest of the weekend is supposed to be about the
same as today weather wise and that’s a nice break from the hot hot
temperatures we’ve been having for the past few weeks.
We’ve got
our first Friday the 13th in Port Dover under our belts and are
looking forward to the next one.
*
That’s
about it for this week!
Thanks
for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The
Ontarion Report.
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
It
doesn’t matter what make of bike you ride, as long as you enjoy it!
PPS: Oh
ya, we stopped at a variety store on the way through Scottland to pick up a lotto
ticket and got talking to a gentleman outside. He informed us that he had heard
on the news that the Port Dover event had surpassed any previous “Friday the 13th”.
The record attendance today had reached the 200,000 mark plus! WOW! I don’t
doubt those numbers at all. The crowd was amazing to say the least. I’ll have
to watch the news tonight and see the coverage. Maybe Adam and I will make the
news, ya never know!
*
PPPS: The KW Record this
morning (Saturday) stated that the crowd at Port Dover reached between 100,000
and 150,000 people. It also said that there were some "Hell's Angels"
and "Red Devils" bike gang members in attendance. But like I said, we
saw none of the biker gang members in our travels.
Greg.
*
Editor’s
Note: Here is the link to Greg’s Port Dover pictures.
http://www.thedougsite.net/Greg/PortDover.htm
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.