October 4, 2004

October 4, 2004

Sandbanks Provincial Park to Kleinburg, Ontario

DAY 109

 

I was sick today. I started feeling a little ill Saturday night. Yesterday, I felt poorly. Today, I felt really ill with a flu like illness. Fourteen years of running our own businesses has conditioned me to keep working through illness, so I was determined to just keep going today. I just had to do everything in slow motion.

I started the day doing my regular daily preventative maintenance, which today included checking and adjusting truck tire pressures. I attempted to use my new heavy duty truck tire 12V air compressor to adjust the tire pressures. It didn't work. The motor runs, but no air is produced. I'm disillusioned. The $60 version is as useless as the $8.50 version. It goes back to Wal-Mart for a refund.

Leaving Sandbanks Provincial Park, we drove north on Hwy. 12 to Hwy. 33. Hwy. 33 follows the north shore of Lake Ontario, first southwest, then northwest. As we passed through the little village of Bloomfield, we were surprised to see the Drop 'N Flop factory. Surprised because it was a small, non-descript building with small, non-descript signage, in a small non-descript village. Drop 'N Flop is a manufacturer of pet beds. We sold a huge number of their beds over the years, largely because we think they were the best pet beds we carried. We have one that was originally Nikki's, and is now used by Teddy, that is 14 years old and looks exactly the same as the day we bought it. I had somehow envisioned Drop 'N Flop as a bigger operation, perhaps in some Toronto suburban industrial park.

At Consecon we stopped at a road side market stand and stocked up on local fresh produce ; tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and potatoes.

At Trenton, Hwy. 33 meets "the 401" as it's known locally. We got onto Hwy. 401 westbound, and reached the eastern edge of Toronto right at rush hour. This is the fourth time this summer I have had to drive the rig across / through Toronto, usually at rush hour. It's become quite

tedious ! When is it not rush hour on the 401 through Toronto ? ! I was in desperate need of fuel halfway across the city, so I had to get off the 401 and find some diesel. After filling up, we drove on city streets over to Hwy. 27 going north. North on Hwy. 27 to Kleinburg, where Joanne wanted to visit the McMichael Art gallery to see their collection of original Group Of Seven art. Alas, all we own are reproductions and limited edition prints.

The McMichael Gallery was closed by the time we arrived. Remember, I was functioning in slow motion today. We parked in their large empty parking lot, and were planning to "boondock" over night, and visit the gallery first thing in the morning. Shortly after our arrival, a security guard from the gallery came over and told us we could not park over night. We moved a short distance over to a local city park, and parked over night in the parking lot.

DSK