Sudbury Ontario to West Montrose Ontario

In the couple of days at home alone, I managed to attend an Action Sudbury monthly meeting and work a Bingo for them. This is a very worthwhile organization promoting safe and sober driving.

This morning was clear and sunny. We have been making the Labour Day pilgrimage to Cyclefest in the Waterloo area for 29 of the last 30 years. There wasn't a big rush, so I took my time getting ready and hooking the trailer up. I got underway at about 9:40. It was unusual to be towing the trailer without a passenger, but Sandy was already down there.

South of Rock Lake, about 30 miles from town, I came upon a scene where two northbound vehicles were off the road and sitting upright in a marshy area. Without any information, it looked to me like they might have bailed when confronted with passing traffic in their lane. The police and wrecker were there and the constable looked like Francis, our former STOP area OPP coordinator.

I had more problems getting the cruise control to engage but no longer think it's a contact issue with the button. There are a number of interlocks in the system preventing the cruise from engaging or disengaging it in certain circumstances. I think one of these interlocks may be malfunctioning intermittently because I downshift and upshift and all is well again. It's sad how dependent I have become on that little piece of technology.

When I got it working, I set the cruise at 100 KPH by the GPS. This was slower than I normally travel, but it would save fuel with the trailer on and seemed to work very well with the southbound traffic.

I stopped for fuel and food about 250 KPH out at Derek Roberts's Esso in Waubaushene. I had a double stacked ham and swiss from Subway and talked to a striking Inco mason from the smelter who was making ends meet by working for the City for a while. I took this opportunity to wipe the coffee off the 'tank', a common Wing problem if the Butler mug leaks, while dodging a large number of yellowjackets. Seems they are all over the place this season.

The 400 southbound was one lane almost all the way from Highway 93 to Barrie. It wasn't a problem today but I think Labour Day Monday might be interesting. I stayed on 400 all the way to what used to be Highway 88, then headed west through Beeton and the Hockley Valley. Dufferin 16 around Orangeville was gravel as they were resurfacing it, but I didn't know until I was on it.  I won't go back this way.

I rolled into West Montrose Family Campground at 3:20 and found Fred's truck and trailer set up in the usual place. No Fred, but I assumed he was out on the bike. I managed to get the trailer and awning set up next to his trailer before Fred returned. Tom came out about 5:00 and set up his new tent (the one they had at the Freedom Rally). I still really like the way it goes up. Then he had to head for Toronto for the evening.

Heather called to say that she and Sandy wouldn't be to the campground before they went to their dress fitting in Elmira. That was at 7:30 and, not wanting to starve, Fred and I decided to go the The Gorge restaurant in Elora for supper. It was a short ride and I had to go to keep up with Fred, who is 80 years young but still gets down the road really well. I had veal Parmesan while Fred had chicken Parm.

Back at the campground, Heather and Sandy finally arrived. Sandy critiqued my setup, but I chose not to hear any criticism. Heather decided she would spend the night at home (about 20 minutes away) and, with no fire because this wasn't an official rally night, w turned in quite early.

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