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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)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

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


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