august 19, 2006 :: day three

and on to a reasonably early morning. we were all pretty lazy on that saturday and very much ready for the free breakfast being offered by the hotel. it was nice to see that it wasn't a continental breakfast, but a full breakfast with eggs, toast, bacon, and hash browns. yum. it very much hit the spot.

everyone gathered around and chatted and discussed what was going on that day. apparently we were going to meet up with some other people at a local diner called The Flying Saucer. after that it was a meet up for the actual ride that was planned for that day.

the day didn't look like it wanted to agree with us though. it was very overcast and obvious that it rained over night.

we were hopeful though. and if that didn't work, we could sacrifice joe to get sunny weather. he made the mistake of saying that we were going to have good weather for the weekend and jinxed us.

off we all went to The Flying Saucer.

it was an odd place, to say the least. shaped like a flying saucer (no kidding) and deceptively small. everyone chatted outside for a bit and then moved inside. the chatting continued and some drink and food orders were made. apparently the food left a lot to be desired. i had a shake, joey had the fries. "how can they screw up fries." she said. well, she found out.

and down came the rain.

we tried waiting it out, but it really didn't look like one of those days where the rain was going to pass. needless to say, none of us were prepared for rain. everyone that had rain gear had left it at the hotel, including me and joey.

the rain made the ride back seem extra long and my pants got drenched. joey didn't make out too bad, seeing that she was mostly protected from the rain by me.

everyone got changed, took out their rain gear and gathered around on the veranda of the hotel. we were all half geared and watching the Tim Horton's parking lot across the street. if anyone else showed up, that's where they would be.

the only person that showed up was brian, which was a good thing because he was leading the ride.

we waited until well past the ride start time and finally said the hell with it. we finished gearing up and hit the road.

it was a light rain. just enough to soak you if you weren't prepared for it. my gloves held out well, as did my rain suit. my boots, on the other hand, have zippers on the sides that aren't very water proof. needless to say my feet got soaked. joey held out quite well and never even got wet. her new Teknic jacket faired great through the whole trip. the jacket also kept her camera dry between shots. ;)

we made a quick stop at a park with a giant floral clock. lisa, leo and joe had no rain suits and thus were very very wet. everyone else seemed to be fairing rather well. it should be noted that joey was the only passenger that came for the wet ride. it also should be noted that she was the only one excited about riding in the rain. this wouldn't be the last amount of rain we saw on this trip...(insert foreboding music)

as we were milling about, someone in the group pointed out my pipes. it seemed that joey had touched her left leg on the side of my muffler. yellow Canadian Tire rain pants + extremely hot muffler = melted plastic. it never melted through her pants, but it left a lovely brown oval mark on my top pipe. jokes were made and suggestions were passed around. minutes later, joe realized that he had burnt his own pants on his pipes. he immediately blamed joey and laughter ensued.

while we were standing around getting more wet, a young Asian man came up to us and asked to take our picture. we gathered around and smiled as he captured us in all our wet glory.

off we went again, making our way down one of the more scenic streets. there were plans to go to a place on that street for a sit down, but we all decided that Tim Horton's would be better.

Tim's was cold...freezing! raining outside and air conditioning inside. brrrr! we stayed for a while, trading stories and trying to warm up with coffee. i had the worst tea ever and didn't even finish it. that was one of many bad tea experiences i had on that trip. truth be told, i never got a good cup of tea until we finally got back to New Brunswick and i made one myself.

when we finally left, the rain started to hold up. for the last leg of our ride joey was able to whip out the camera and take a number of pictures.

on the way back, i had to stop at Canadian Tire to pick up a pair of shoes and jo wanted to get a pair of the now famous Canadian Tire wet pants. both joey and willie had a pair and jo thought they were a steal and would be great for rides in the rain (dryness + extreme visibility). too bad he was already wet...hehe.

back to the hotel we went.

everyone dried off and got ready for the next food-fest. it was off to Mick & Angelo's. seeing that most of us would be having a drink or two, the bikes were left behind and everyone hoofed it up the street to the restaurant. it was a crazy little place and extremely busy. we got a table out on the patio underneath a very dark and threatening sky. mother nature was very kind to us though and didn't spill a drop of rain on our night.

there was lots of talking, picture taking and great food, but we knew the festivities were slowly coming to an end. this would be the last night with everyone as we were leaving the next day with paul and line. one of our number had left earlier in the day and by the end of supper we had three more hit the road, including joe.

the rest of us grabbed a cab and headed back to the karaoke bar!

paul, line and lisa did a rousing version of "Love Shack" by the B-52's of which i have three videos. me and joey did some minor shopping for our little one. we didn't have much room, so we couldn't pick up too much.

there is a Harley Davidson shop next to the karaoke bar and we ventured inside. i don't think i have ever seen so many H-D branded items in my life! it was funny watching people get on the full sized Fat Boy they have on display there. i kept thinking, "heh, we rode to Niagara Falls on our bike."

it was an early night for some of us, with the call of a morning departure ringing in our heads. we hopped another cab and headed back to the hotel.

besides, me and joey had an appointment with a heart shaped jacuzzi.

to be continued...