Friday, December 9, 2011

Day 104, 105, and 106 Guelph to Elmira to Orangeville to Aurora, Ontario

Day 104, new week, different role. I am on Activation 3 (affectionately known as "little bird"), a 3 ton Penske truck we use to haul all the event gear around.

Today was a very short relay day at the University of Guelph

There was no convoy today either, these medal bearers, their families and the relay staff walked around the campus .

Every medal bearer carried the medal appoximately 200 metres.

It was raining a little, but we all had a great time.
The local Honda Dealership came out in support.

A warm exchange. There were only 12 medal bearers today.


After the relay, everyone came back into the university for an end of day celebration.

Afterwards Hank and I sorted out the gear on "little bird" and went off to do some errands.
We went to to the trucking company Vitran to drop off some flooring we weren't using. They are shipping it back to Vancouver

Hank recommended this diner in Kitchener for lunch. It had that homestyle feel and the food was awesome.

I took this pic of the candies. For once there are other colors of mints besides the usual red and  green!

Day 105, its a 15 minute walk to where the oversize vehicles were parked in Kitchener, where we stayed one more night. On the way I spyed this brick smoke stack which stands alone in a parking lot. I found out it was part of the Lang Tannery, a company that started in the 1850's.

It is no longer in business, but a lot of the building are used for other things and smaller businesses

Last one out
The moose had a new friend today, I know nothing about the history or how whatever it is even got into the truck.

Crossing the Grand river on the way to Orangeville

Starting to get that winter look.

Heading into Elora, Ontario, population about 4500


Cruisin through Fergus, Ontario, We have been in Ontario Since October 26

More of the Grand River

There was a lunch celebration at the Sportsplex in Fergus.

Next stop.....................
Orangeville, a town with a population around 28000

Downtown, the end of day celebration was actually on the main street. They fenced off 2 blocks.

The erected a giant  screen on the street for the event. Here there were clips of Rick Hansens's original man in motion tour.

The middle of the street was decorated in the Christmas spirit.

A shot of the stage at the end of the street befor the celebration began.

Part of the library in Orangeville, this building has been there since 1908
Kinda puts you in a holiday mood

Beside our display is our merchandise tent. Natalie did a great job of setting it up.

Natalie, Kyle, and Ross on the "merch" tonight. Drivers and medal bearer host usually take turns working the tent.

The findal medal bearer arrives.

Video for the crowd to watch includes a shot of the Terry Fox monument in Thunder Bay
and a little inspiration from Rick

End of day medal bearer was Brian. Here is a litlle bit about him:
I was injured April 24th. 2010.I have been a full time ski instructor for the past 29 years.I am the director of Sports at a resort for the past 23

years.Every year I certify and employ over 100 instructors.We teach over 400 children per day to ski.7 months post injury I returned to my work

to try to show those that work with me that anything is possible.With the assistance of so many I will be able to continue my work and remain

in the ski industry.


Day 106, back on "little bird" again today, heading down the road towards Aurora

We actually spent the night in Newmarket, , pop 85,000 .which is right beside Aurora. pop. 50,000 Newmarket is only about 50 kilometres away from Toronto 


The suburbs in this area were endless, there must be a lot of money around here. Some of the subdivisions were million dollar mansions.
Our end of day was at the Aurora city hall. It coincided with their annual tree lighting ceremony.

The celebration was inside the council chambers.

The end of day celebration is changing a little bit. Less about the firework dance and more about the christmas carols!

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