Goodbye To 1979 And Over A Million Kilometers Of Memories

At 1540 I spotted the whirling blue lights behind me. The previous five minutes of my driving life flashed before my eyes … I’m sure that light was green– dam.
“Can I see your license and proof of insurance?”
“Sure, okay, just a minute, wait a minute, okay, whoops here it is, dam, is that the right one, whoops, sorry … Is there a reason?”
“Yes, there is. Have you looked at your car lately, of course you have!” (At least he had a sense of humor.)
“Hu?”

“Come on back here and take a look” he said as he invited me to join him in the rain to stare at the back of my car. “Hu?”
“Your plate, there’s no blue left on it!”
“I know, I’ve had it since 1979” what more could I say. “I’ve grown attached to it. And the dirt on it, it's like a little outline don't you think?" (He didn't think so.)
Good thing he wasn't looking at the front plate ...Wait a minute, I see blue, and much better dirt.

And so it was, at 1540, standing in the pouring rain, the very nice and very, very tall Kingston City Police Officer braving the remnants of Patricia let me know he couldn’t read my license plate from the required distance and requested that I say goodbye to my 1979 plate and over a million kilometers of memories. "Get new plates" he said politely, "within 3 days or I'll have to find you and give you a ticket." I’m not that hard to find so I headed over to the MTO. (I'm sure if it hadn't been raining so hard he would have been able to see the numbers with no difficulty.)

Of course I hadn’t really thought the MTO plan through either… the folks there, bless their souls, had only a flat head screw driver on hand. Right, I need a socket wrench for the back plate and a Robertson for the front – what kind of idiot put these plates on anyway! 

Tomorrow Officer, I promise (and I've found the tools) but do you think I can convince them to let me keep the memories, you know ... to frame and hang in the living room?

Since 1979 these plates have graced a Ford Mustang, a Chevrolete Cavalier, a GMC Jimmy, a Buick Skylark, an Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra, a Hyundai Santa Fe another Hyundai Santa Fe and a Hyundai Tuscon and seen over a million kilometers of road. I'm going to miss them.

Saturday Sunrise

Spectacular! Enough said ...

It Would Be Beautiful ...

It would be beautiful if it wasn't happening so soon.

Yup! It snowed again today ... so perhaps I didn't jump the gun.

Mommy It's Over!

Spit shone, sparkling and nearly naked (the bike that is, I was wearing winter gear) we had the last ride of 2015 surrounded by the glory of fall.

I may have jumped the gun, but as I write this post it’s snowing. It’s not the kind that will stay or even make its mark on the ground … so maybe I did or maybe I didn’t, but the Star went into storage this weekend.

Snow on the radar, snow in the clouds, Mommy, it’s over ...

Good news - today was another meeting of the Kingston Motorcycle Club at the Creekside. There was only one brave rider but there were lots in attendance and the motorcycle talk, photos and memories are giving me lots to think about over the long winter ahead.

In Search Of Colour

An absolutely stunning Sunday called to me,” Go for a ride.” So despite the clinging cold I set off in search of colour. Late as usual I headed north to meet up with Ron in Havelock (167km from home.) No time to stop for photos when you’re running 30 minutes late ... "Never mind," I thought, "I’ll come back this way, the trees will still be there."

 

 

Well, I’ve learned, you can never go back. Those stunning scenes I saw in the morning light were near impossible to find in the fading afternoon shadows. I tried – God I tried. Several U turns later, "Nope that wasn’t that spot." Oh, how the light changes everything.

 

But it was a beautiful ride and I didn't go home without at least a few autumn pictures and one friendly wave from a Harley riding OPP officer – I didn’t get his picture either.
472+/- kilometers, stunning autumn colours and "Mommy, I still have a cold!"

IT AIN'T OVER YET...

I heard them though I could barely see them hidden in the trees. It was the gathering, an all too common sound of autumn. It sounded like a Hitchcock movie but this time the birds were gathering, not to wreak havoc, but to discuss their plans – plans for a trip south. They tweeted out, “Riding season is coming to an end.” And I yelled back… BUT IT AIN’T OVER YET…

Just to catch you up to speed … September has zipped by but…
I took a little ride to ‘The County’ via the long way ‘round.

  Attended yet another festival (Chili) in the City.

And met BMW Triumphant (only a blogger to blogger meet up could get me, suffering from my ‘man cold,’ out of my cave on such a windy day) for a little 200 km ride through the home place.

  IT AIN’T OVER YET!