Feb 2009 - Tour du Nord V: this time, it's personal

[Halifax]

Anyone in your crew giving a live presentation/slide show about the trip? We could arrange to host such an event in NW CT if anyone is interested.

[MinorRoadsKill]

Quote: Originally Posted by Oldpaint (original)

That was a very good explanation. I visited the governor generals house in Ottawa a few years ago, but she and the Queen weren't home. Who was running things then?

Cleaning out my old inbox, I think I missed this one a while back...

I believe that if the GG is away on a State visit, one of the Lieutenant Governors is invested to act in her place (LGs are not deputy Governors or deputy Premirs, but provincial vice-royalty, similar to GG). Practically, however, the GG scuttles plans to leave if Parliament looks like it's going to fall.

[tedsmini]

Quote: Originally Posted by Halifax (original)

Anyone in your crew giving a live presentation/slide show about the trip? We could arrange to host such an event in NW CT if anyone is interested.

Sounds like a great idea, not only for MINI enthusiasts, but maybe (big maybe these days) for kids at schools. Way back when, we used to have an elderly couple come and do slide shows in our school auditorium of their travels to exotic places. We little hoodlums would sit spellbound for an hour or two looking at pictures of faraway places that we could only dream of visiting. I don't know if kids today would have the same interest, but who knows...

[Oldpaint]

We'll I'm not planning to do any live presentations, but my writeup is now up on the Cape Cod British Car Clubs website in the newsletter department. Its at the end of the current edition. I did not name any of the guilty parties in the article (to protect their dignity and to keep character development from making the article twice as long), nor did I go into the play-on clutch situation or the Quebec traffic citation. Our newsletter editor selected the pictures from ten that I sent him.


On another topic. At the Deifenbunker the docent said that the atomic bomb in their lobby was the same as in Dr. Strangelove. That is incorrect. In that movie Slim Pickens is riding a hydrogen bomb.

[MinorRoadsKill]

Quote: Originally Posted by Oldpaint (original)

my writeup is now up on the Cape Cod British Car Clubs website in the newsletter department. Its at the end of the current edition. {ed: April edition}

Nice write up. I especially like the map you made. Any chance I could use a copy?

[Oldpaint]

I'll send it along. Its not totally accurate - my route home in particular, since I went through Cornwall but I didn't want to clutter up the map with more lines.

[blalor]

I picked up some unexpected wear on the trip:

The caliper's supposed to just be black. I'm thinking this is from snow packed into the wheel... The other side was fine.

[squid]

Hudson history and memorabilia abound in NY ( New Amsterdam) next month.
Perhaps upstream, too.

NY400

[Oldpaint]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a guy from Canada who raced Targa NF 6 times. He also told me about the winter version of the ALCAN 5000, run every four years. While we were in Radisson, it was running. If you scroll down the page a bit you'll see the links. Of course you folks who get Roundel already know about this.


Oops... While we were in Newfoundland (the second time) it was running.

[DUCTTAPE]

We discussed Alcan and fielding a (several) MINI Team(s) in 2013

Stay tuned

[Oldpaint]

2012 might be a better year.

[geowit]

Just received Bob V's dvd on Friday. Great stuff. I had to show it to my brother and my 2 daughters. Now I feel even worse about missing the Labrador trip. Thanks for the disc Bob.

[MinorRoadsKill]

First post in more than 2 months! I trust everyone's enjoying the summer, but dreaming of February...

Things remain FUBAR in Carp. We're still living out of boxes in the basement, while nearly every room above is seeing some form of renovation. Even after 5 months, completion seems further away than ever.

The good news is that should we choose to attempt the train again in 2010, sleeping arrangements in Carp have improved. More Beds. Less Concrete. No promises about km381 though. Word has it that the staff there are as cheerful and welcoming as ever.

Speaking of the train, the Ontario Northland staff we spoke to back in February said they would start looking at auto-carriage modifications in June, so I plan to phone them next week for more info and see if they need anything from us.

Anyway, what prompted this post is that I found out today that Marine Atlantic has acquired a bigger, faster ferry, the MV Atlantic Vision.
The Vision cuts 1 hour off of the minimum 5.5 hour crossing time. No word on changes to the 30-hour TourDuBarf trips.

From the pics, it sure looks nice inside compared to the Smallwood and the Caribou. Almost enough to warrant another ArcticMINI trip to NF...

If any of you veterans are going to NF, FYI booking by phone allows you to check which sailings are on the Atlantic Vision, and plan accordingly.

[squid]

Is plan B to bring planks to position the MINIs to be oriented correctly and tied down on the train ?

BTW, I regret not getting a picture here on the way up last Feb (LI --> NJ --> Newfoundland --> PA --> Binghamton --> Syracuse --> Ottawa)

[Oldpaint]

A fine movie about Newfoundland was made a few years back - The Station Agent.