My Trip to the Canadian Atlantic Nationals-2009 How were the Atlantic Nationals??---Well---Kinda like an old Clint Eastwood show, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"!!!--I left Barrie on thursday to drive to Perth, Ontario, where I would pick up my buddy Doug, and join the tour at the Perth curling Club on Friday.--And it rained--a wet cold, nasty ***** of a rain, all the way to Perth.--I had my new side windows in, and they worked great---BUT--they created a low pressure area inside the cab of the RPU, which ****ed rain in thru the s***ched seams in my nice top, and dripped down the back of my neck. By the time I reached perth, I was wet, and cold, and by the end of the day, I had caught a cold. I stayed at Dougs on thursday night, and Friday at noon, in--you guessed it--wet cold nasty rain, we joined up with the tour. Friday at noon, the tour showed up in Perth---about 80 cars. We had a very nice lunch, put on by the Perth Curling club?? (I'm guessing at that)--and we then drove on to Ottawa in nasty, cold rain all the way. We stayed that night in a very nice Holiday Inn, and got to bed early. On Saturday, we got an early start for Rivier Du Loup---We drove thru absolutely blinding rain all across Quebec---and just a note here---Quebec gets more Federal transfer payments each year than any other province---I don't know what they spend it on, but it sure as Hell isn't their highways. The highway across Quebec was full of potholes, stripped pavement, and all the expansion joints in their bridges will get you airborne at anything over 40 miles an hour.--ugly, ugly, ugly. That night we struggled in like drowned rats to "Auberge De La Pointe"--a beatifull, scenic hotel on the shore of what I can only ***ume was the st. Lawrence River. It rained so hard the entire time we were there, that you couldn't see amything more than 50 foot from your room.<O></O> Next day We travelled thru partial sun and mostly rain to Miramichi, to a R**d Hotel.--I will probably get sued for this, but in my opinion (and everyone elses) it was a total dump. The rooms stunk of old dirty carpet and dead mice.---the kind of smell that gags you as soon as you walk in, and never really leaves, even with all the windows open. By this time I was in a world of hurt with a raging sore throat, so I went to the pharmacy and loaded up with over the counter cold medicines. One of the big sponsors for our trip was A&W, so at many of the end of day stops we were invited to the local A&W where the local hotrod club would meet us. Most of these "meets" took place in either heavy rain, medium rain, or light rain.<O></O> On Monday, July 6th, we drove--(thru the rain)--are you beginning to see a theme here??? to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We crossed the new bridge to PEI in a combination of rain and overcast skys. There was SOME sun at random intervals. We stayed overnight in PEI, and drove back across the bridge the next day in the same kind of weather, and on to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. By this time, I was seriously considering turning tail and heading back for Barrie.<O></O> At some point in this incredible journey, (it was on Sunday) we stopped in Bathurst, New Brunswick, for a group dinner. Someone noticed that my p***enger side lower front shock bolt had disappeared. (Probably somewhere in Quebec!!!). The mayor of Bathurst, who is a hotrodder himself got on the microphone after the meal and said that anyone who had a car problem should speak to him. I introduced myself at once, and a fine gentleman named Curtiss Bennet of "Curts Auto Appraisals" and "Curts Auto Repair" opened his garage, put my rpu up on the hoist, and found a shock bolt and bushing for me. He wouldn't take any money, so I told him that he would get mentioned on my favourite website!!!---Thanks, Curt!!!<O></O> The 7th was my birthday, and as we were planning to tour the entire Cabot Trail on the 8th, I had a quiet chat with the MAN in charge of the weather, and asked for a sunny day for my birthday present. HE must have listened, because the 8th was a beautifull day, a bit cool, but wall to wall sun all day long. We had a great tour of the Cabot Trail---(I had been around it about 35 years ago, but it was raining and foggy and the visibility was awfull the first time I went, so we didn't see much that time.) The tour was great, except for one unfortunate tour member losing control of his truck on one of the humungous hills, hitting a rock face, wrecking his truck and breaking his leg. We stayed in North Sydney again that night, and got up the next morning to more rain, and drove to Dartmouth. By this time, my cold was really stuffing up my chest. I don't remember much about next Dartmouth, but after this many days on the road, everything was starting to kinda run together.<O></O> We arrived in Moncton, New Brunswick on the 10th of July and the sun was shining. The downtown was closed off, and a couple of hundred cars of various years were spread around the downtown. There was a live band in the center of town, and of all the strangest damn things, they were playing Pan flute music????---Somebody should definitly speak to the event organizers in Moncton!!! Doug and I went over to the Centennial Park and registered my roadster pickup for the Nationals, next day. We stayed at a nice hotel in Moncton that night.<O></O> On the 11th, the sun was up, hot and beautifull, no rain in sight. My cold was starting to leave, and off we went to the Atlantic Street Rod Nationals. We had registered the night before, so we got in thru the gates quite early, like about 8:45 in the morning, and got a really great parking spot. Okay---This is going to probably hurt somebody, but I have to say it. The vendors area totally ****ed. There were vendors selling sungl***es, ladies scarves, ice cream, Napa auto parts and chrome refinishing. None of the major aftermarket hotrod parts manufacturers were in evidence. The swap meet area had damn little there, and what was there was pure garbage. My primary interest in hotrods is pre 1948. I would hazard a guess that less than 5 percent of the cars at these nationals fell into that category. The park grounds were beautifull, and if you enjoy cars from the sixties, seventies and eighties, then probably you would have enjoyed yourself. The goody bags were full of paper "Don't touch my Hotrod" signs, a plastic dash plaque, and a one pint bottle of Mothers car wash concentrate. for a $40.00 entry fee. I mean, come on, Jesus, I've seen better goody bags given away at small town car shows in the boonies!!--Perhaps I've grown old and jaded, but man, if that was Canada's largest Nationals, we better go back to fur trapping and eating pine trees.<O></O> Next day, the 12 of July, it was off to Bangor, Maine thru a sun/rain mix. --To be fair, mostly sun. On arriving in Bangor, we realized that there is no good way to get to Plattsburgh, New York without driving thru a zillion little towns which all have a 30 MPH speed limit. It took a LONG FRIGGIN TIME to travel the 300 miles to Plattsburgh the next day---<O></O> On the 14th, we left Plattsburgh, and drove thru to the bridge at Cornwall (which had just been re-opened the previous day) and re entered Canada. There we encountered a baby cop who wasn't going to let us into Canada because my 1931 roadster pickup doesn't have seat belts. I told him to get on the blower and talk to his sargeant, that it didn't need seat belts. He did, and then said "Huh--Well I never heard of that before!!!"--then waved us thru. We highballed it thru to Perth, where I had intended to stay overnight at Dougs house. ---BUT---I'd had enough. I wanted to get home. I dropped Doug off, got his good wife to feed me a coffee and a sandwich, and drove on thru to Barrie. (Exactly 400 miles from Plattsburgh.) In summary---The rpu worked great. The weather ****ed!!! The nationals semi-****ed!!! the tour organizer, Frank Colgoni of Canadian Rodder did a very good job of organizing it all, and the people who went on the tour were a great bunch of people. (Especially the bunch from Timmins and Sudbury). Would I do it again?---Not in this life.---Will I ever eat another Teenburger--maybe next year.---Brian<O></O> <O></O>
The roads **** in Quebec?! I would have never guessed! *sarcasm* Sorry to hear the weather blew, Brian. But I'm sure in a few years you'll look back at it and...cry?
]On the 14th, we left Plattsburgh, and drove thru to the bridge at Cornwall (which had just been re-opened the previous day) and re entered Canada. There we encountered a baby cop who wasn't going to let us into Canada because my 1931 roadster pickup doesn't have seat belts. I told him to get on the blower and talk to his sargeant, that it didn't need seat belts. He did, and then said "Huh--Well I never heard of that before!!!"--then waved us thru. That's funny!
wow..I better not ask my buddy from St Thomas IF he had a good time.. He was in a closed car ..maybe he did. Sorry to hear about the guy smacking a rock..that ****s.. keep on roddin'.. Rick
If anyone wants to see it, I have posted a complete pictorial of my trip over at Clubhotrod.com. I post on 3 different hotrod websites, and its just too much work to post the pics on 3 seperate forums. Follow the link---you should be able to view all the pics there without registering on the site.---Brian http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=41320
Thanks for the post, have been looking for updates on how this went or was going since it started. Really want to do this one year. Heard about the accident through a friend who's dad was on the tour, glad it wasn't worse.
Brian;Glad to hear that you had such a relaxing holiday;your BP must be way down now! You should come west young man;all sunshine and good roads(sometimes). I'll even spring for the suds and a burger!
I don't have the faintest idea. ---I just know that I went through about 50 little towns with 30 MPH speed limits.
on the highway from bangor did you see a studebaker truck up a pole just before going down a steep hill?
That is! What was he going to do "deport" you to the U.S? You're Canadian!!?? You almost went to Syria, good buddy, close call! Hey did you see any rain?
The photo going across the long bridge is great,,looks like ya had a great time. Thanks for the story and photos. HRP
Enjoyed your story and all your pics which really top off the story. If that custom was indicative of the Nationals then thanks for not posting any more pics. BTW how many cars did they get at the Nationals? As I've always said if it goes perfect it is soon forgotten but an "adventure " like you've just experienced will never be forgotten. swifty
Brian, Welcome back to Barrie. One question when Frank was talking on the tail gate, how come no-one was smiling???? Larry
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