A Report (from Bob) and Photos (by several) of the May 4th Tour

"A write-up eh? Let's see now..."
It was a dark and stormy night...
"No that won't work, it's been used before. How about..."
It was the best of times, it was the wo-...
"No that won't cut it either. Jeez Jim! It's hard coming up with something new all the time ya know!"

I was sitting in my den with the heater going (ran out of firewood two weeks ago) with the music on my computer barely drowning out the sound of the Jag ticking herself cool in the garage. I'd let Jim talk me into writing an article about the days run but didn't know where to start. There really wasn't much to say. I'd left the house early enough to make several detours due to floodwaters but was pleasantly surprised to find all the roads open. One could see where the road had been cleaned after the water had receded in a few spots, but there where no other signs. I arrived early at the rendezvous spot to find Jim-n-Ellie sitting forlornly in the B wondering if others would show up. As we discussed the dank and dreary weather we where thrilled to see a new Healey (in light Healey blue!) purr into the lot. Curry Alden grinned like a kid while Sherrie just shook her head. Points to them for the matching (and tastefully done) wheelchair bag. An elegant solution to carrying a sizable item which proved to be just a teensy bit too big to fit in the boot.

Others arrived soon after and everyone stood around oohing and ahing. I'd been afraid that it would turn into a non-event due to the weather but we eventually gathered ten whole cars. A few sissy-marys kept their tops firmly in place but the rest of us braved the coolish temps and occasional rain drops to welcome the start of the summer season.

The route took us north along the river (lotta junk in the head pond today! You'd think there'd been a flood or something) to someplace just past Kings landing where we stopped for a few minutes and decided not to stop there (?). Continuing inland we left the swollen banks of the river (sorry about all the descriptive phrases...I get paid by the word) and puttered towards Harvey. I didn't remember much about Harvey or why we should be going there but I followed everyone anyway.

As we motored along I kept thinking what I could write about since it had been a pretty uneventful outing so far. Oh it was certainly neat to see the Alder's new Healey but this wasn't going to be a memorable run. My revery was broken by a flurry of brake lights up ahead as the column ground to a halt beside a cottage. Chris Painter was trying to act like he didn't know any of us (how to explain US to his neighbours?) but finally grinned and waived as we left. I made a note of his location thinking about what a great place it would be to crash at 2 in the morning with a case of beer and a pizza.

A few moments later we pulled into Harvey where we tried to smash each others car up in the parking lot ("We've just gotta get our parking drill organized folks!") Jim led us to Banks or Blacks or something for a late afternoon snack. We chatted, warmed up, and ate cakes we didn't really need.

aaaaaaaand that's it. The weather sucked but we all seemed to have fun despite it. Even Steve's BMW was so excited to be back in Canada that it peed itself leaked antifreeze in the parking lot.

"There ya go Jim, here's your article."

Bob Earl