Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:26:55 -0400
Reply-To: Greg Potts <greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Greg Potts <greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Subject: Highway of Heroes - Vanagon trip report (limited vanagon content)
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I guess I'm going to call this a trip report; even though it happened as
part of a typical workday commute. But as it turned out the commute was
anything but typical.
This morning I got up before the dawn and left the house just after
6:0AM to drive my Vanagon 80 miles east of Toronto to do a printer
/cutter system install at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton. The
machines I installed today are used to make signage and graphics needed
to refurbish and maintain Canadian Forces aircraft and equipment; which
incidentally is a job I applied for in the fall of 2007. Unfortunately
at that time there were no openings. Apparently there are about 70 slots
available now; but I'm well entrenched with my current employer and
enjoying the challenges they throw at me.
So, as you might imagine, working on the airbase today was quite an
eye-opener for me. I wound up driving the vanagon right across the
runway to park next to the hangar where the ACS technicians service the
aircraft. On the way through I drove past a bunch of C-130's, 737s, a
helicopter or two and a monstrous C-177 globemaster.
I was originally expecting to be at the base from 8AM until about 3PM;
but soon after I arrived I was told that I would have to be out of there
before 1PM, as there was a Ramp Ceremony scheduled for that afternoon.
For those not in the know, a Ramp Ceremony is held whenever a fallen
soldier from the mission in Afghanistan arrives at CFB Trenton. The
C-130 Hercules cargo plane is met by an Honor guard lining the tarmac,
and the fallen soldier is then escorted by a large police-escorted
cavalcade for the trip west from CFB Trenton along Highway 401 and down
the Don Valley Parkway to the Coroners office in downtown Toronto. This
100-mile route is now officially designated by the provincial government
as the Highway of Heroes.
In any case, I got my install completed by noon; then grabbed lunch on
the go as I headed a bit further east to a second service call in
Kingston. That one got done around 2PM, and I was headed home; about a
2hr drive. As it turned out, I wound up less than 15 minutes ahead of
the procession.
And that was definitely a drive to remember. All the way home from
Trenton to Toronto, EVERY SINGLE BRIDGE along the way was lined with
people waving flags in support of the fallen. Truck Drivers. Daycare
Providers. Police. Fire Fighters. School kids. A squad of RCMP officers
in scarlet tunics. Solemn Veterans with medals. Not a single bridge was
empty; even in the most rural of areas. Many bridges had fire trucks or
ambulances parked on the bridges with the lights flashing. It was quite
a spectacle. Eighty miles of this can start to impress a guy, and get
him thinking about things.
I phoned ahead as I got closer to home, and had my kids almost ready to
go as soon as I pulled into the driveway. I live within hearing distance
of the 401, so I figured I should be able to get off the highway, pick
up the kids at home and get back to the bridge before the cavalcade
caught up. While I was waiting for the kids I grabbed my 5'x10' Canadian
flag from the shelf in the garage and then we sped back to the highway
to get there just as the procession was passing under the bridge. I
guess they were even closer behind me than I thought.
In any case, it was a very moving day.
Happy Trails,
Greg Potts
1973/74/79 Westfakia "Bob the Tomato"
1987 Wolfsburg Weekender Hardtop
www.busesofthecorn.com
www.pottsfamily.ca