Days 16 & 16A, Caledon to Mississauga to Richmond, B.C. to Sarnia, Ont.

Day 16 of the 2015 Pan-Am games torch relay include a little bit of a twist. While half of the team stayed in Ontario, the other half flew to Vancouver to continue the relay for one of the National city celebrations. The relay was based out of Richmond, and one of the modes of torch transport was this rowing eights team outside of the 2010 Olympic Speed Skating oval.

The topper on the day was this sky-diving team that carried the flame in a lantern from Grouse Mountain on the North Shore Mountains.

and my favourite, (although I cannot take credit, I "borrowed" these pictures from our own website) a shot outside of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Cauldron at the foot of Burrard in downtown Vancouver.

Day 16 started for my host, Hayley, and me started and ended in Port Credit , now a suburb of Mississauga. (population over 700,000) Today our torchbearer meeting point was at the Port Credit arena.

A meeting in the board room, fitting for these torchbearing V.I.P's

Today, the group shot was outside, away from my shuttle. There was another event going on, and they would not let me park close to our meeting spot!

Pumped and ready to go, off we go to their segment spots.

and then the weather changed, and umbrellas were starting to come out. (did not dampen the spirits, though)

on our way to the hotel in Mississauga the skies opened up. The Ontario relay team had an early finish, so the British Columbia team could continue on with the flame (all flames in the lanterns originate from the "mother flame" in Mexico City.) With the 3 hour time difference, it was possible to continue the relay with the flame only burning in one place at a time.

We will call this day 16A. The Ontario team were heading from Mississauga to Sarnia, while the B.C. team was flying with the flame from Richmond to Toronto to Sarnia. I went with Jamie, our supply truck driver and logistics expert, to the head office for the Pan-Am games to drop off some commemorative torches (mainly for sponsors) and to pick-up more gear and uniforms.

The truck for the road is jammed, and this shot only shows the half of it, the rest is on the loading dock.

The torch relay office is almost vacant now, but the rest of the building is still vibrant with all the people making the Pan-Am games happen.

After being on the road for two weeks, it was fun seeing the back-drop of Toronto again I had to grab a Pan-Am vehicle and drop it off at the hotel in Mississauga.

Of course the guy who doesn't live in Toronto has to decide which of the many highway options to take. (the QEW of course!)

going left, leaving Toronto again, but we always seem to creep back.

Traffic was a mess as we left Mississauga, but it thinned out after we cruised by London.

I remember this area from the 25th Anniversary Rick Hansen relay.  There were wind turbines everywhere. This link is a very interesting article against the turbines.

Our hotel in Sarnia is right at the border with Michigan. If you stay left, you better have your passport.

I actually did end up of the left side of these miles of trucks lined up to cross the border. I had to squeeze through to the right, they must have felt sorry for a bus that looked like an orange creamsicle