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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Travels With Molly

Sunday, June 29 

Been on the road so no entries for over three weeks! Left for Friday the 13th in Port Dover on Tuesday. Too many black-flies to do anything outside so I figured I may as well be on the road as sit around here thinking about going. Took the Port Perry route again but missed a turn somewhere which added one half to one hour of travel time but it didn't matter. Arrived in London in late afternoon. This was Molly’s first extended trip in the rig and she did amazingly well. In London she was reluctant to get out of it in fact. Later as we were all in the back yard she disappeared. We found her lying in the side-car. Eric had told me to put the bike in the garage and when I opened the door to show him the rig around 10:00 p.m. Molly dashed in and settled down in the car again. It took some coaxing to get her out. I think she was afraid I was going to leave without her. 

Went by the school on Thursday – it was pouring rain so left Molly at Eric’s. Tim and I went to visit Paul that evening at his house.

Friday the 13th was overcast with intermittent light rain but we barely got wet at all. Picked Chuck up at St. Mary's High School in Woodstock and got to Port Dover about noon. Those attending included Molly and me, Eric, Mike and Dany, Chuck, Steve and his friend Dave. Also saw Brian Linn there. Molly stayed with us most of the time except for the last hour or so when I tied her in the side-car. When we got back several people told me that she wouldn’t let anyone near the rig. As soon as they got too close she would start barking and snarling at them. I guess this means she has taken ownership of her side-car. 

Chuck, ever the film student, somehow came up with the idea that it would be a good place to film a fight scene between a couple of ‘bikers’ as played by Mike and Steve. No sooner had they begun fighting, preceded by lots of yelling, than we were swarmed by a dozen cops, members of a swat team with automatic weapons at the ready screaming to break it up. It took some doing to convince them that we were just doing a film shoot and that we meant no harm. Come to think of it, it was a pretty dumb thing to do considering that we were in the midst of 50 000 or more bikers all there to have a good time. Got to say it was pretty scary and they were some pissed off, but they finally left with a warning not to try anything like that again or we’d all end up in jail. Welcome to Friday the 13th! 

Stayed for Father's Day at Lisa's insistence, Jen and the kids as well as Gale and Caitlyn came over. A really pleasant time. Came home Monday – a perfect day for a ride.

I left on June 29th for the Ride for Sight. Arrived in early afternoon. Mike and Dany arrived about 7:30 Friday and Jay, Steve and Rick arrived on Saturday as did Don, Mike's old neighbour, much to our surprise. The weather was perfect all weekend. Saturday night we all, with the exception of Don, did mushrooms. They added a nice touch to the evening. I lasted until about 2:30 am Mike and Don were up until about six so, needless to say, we had to wait around to get Mike up – about 2:30 or so, as the rest of us were up relatively early – me at eight. 

 After the Ride for Sight I went back to London so I could attend graduation at Cleardale. I'm glad I went because MacKenzie (have forgotten her last name) mentioned me in the valedictory address – something like "And then there's Mr. Birtch who taught us computers. There's just something about him that makes him so loveable." Quite a compliment! Got to admit it almost brought me to tears. Unfortunately I didn't get to talk to her afterwards as I was cornered by some former students and parents who wanted to say hi and hear about my exploits in the bush.

Returned on Wednesday accompanied by Gord Ritchy, the father of some of the kids I’d taught at Cleardale.. He stayed the night and left about 9:30 Thursday morning. The ride up was extremely hot, 35°C.


All this travelling is taking me away from here much too often and I still have the Bluesfest coming up next month. Oh well, I am having a great time and should be thankful, I suppose, that I have the freedom to do so. And even though I dislike riding the rig, it’s the only way I could attend all these bike events without leaving Molly behind. Well worth the sacrifice.

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