The Homecoming trip
In July 2015 Roz bought a 2014 LT Spyder and fell in love with the 3 wheeler. Her arthritic legs made her feel unsafe on two wheels and she wasn’t ready to stop riding. After an aborted attempt at triking her Suzuki we went for a test ride on the Spyder. Love at first ride. We bought the year old demo on the spot.
Two years later she was an outspoken advocate of her prized possession and couldn’t understand why so many people didn’t see the advantages. Can-Am announced that for the 10th anniversary they were going to hold a special party at the plant in Valcourt, Quebec where the Spyders were manufactured. Roz decided that we should attend, bought the tickets and arranged the travel plans. The party was Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, 2
017.
A week before we were scheduled to leave Roz found a used RT model online at the dealer in Kitchener. She had been jonesing for the bigger, luxury, touring model ever since she had been given a loaner by the dealer on a recent service. So, there we were on June 1 heading off to Quebec for 5 days; Roz with her new (2016) Spyder and me on the Harley. The forecast was 5 days of rain and cool temps. Oh well, we had booked this and we were going.
The weather was gloomy and overcast with the occasional drizzle, so there was no point wasting any time wandering around back roads. We headed right to the 407, out to hwy 412 and down onto the 401. It made for a long boring hiway ride to Cornwall for the night.
When in the Cornwall area we always stay at the Best Western. We have been there several times in the past number of years. It is a pretty ordinary older hotel, but the staff is something special. They always treat us like returning family, always find us an upgraded room near the lobby (at no extra charge) and are always willing to have a friendly chat. It also helps that they have a nice restaurant and bar onsite. The special this night for dinner was the pulled pork sandwich with fries. It was perfect with the local craft beer. Tanya, our waitress, remembered us from a previous visit and spent all her spare time chatting with us and the three other tables of guests in the dining room. Yep, pretty good for day one.
The next morning it was 14C and drizzling as we were headed out for Drummondville. So, onto Hwy 401 to the new hwy 30 bypass, up to hwy 20 and over to the Best Western in Drummonville. It rained all the way, just a light drizzle, but non stop. When we arrived at the B-W about 2pm, the parking lot was already half full of Spyders and only a couple of bikes. We had stayed at this hotel once before and enjoyed the stay, especially the indoor pool and onsite restaurant.
When I book a hotel I always request that we have a room near the lobby because of Roz’s mobility issue. The room they assigned us was the very last room down the hall on the 3rd floor. I returned to the front desk and told them that this was not acceptable. The only other room they had available was a suite on the second floor, it was $25 more but was near the elevator. Fine. We just got unpacked when the phone rang. It was the front desk explaining that this room was only available for one night and we had booked 2 nights. Damn. If it was not for the HomeComing party I would have told them where to stick the room, but it would be impossible to find other lodging anywhere near here. OK, then what. We have a room next door available for the second night. Fine.
By 4pm the rain had stopped so we decided to go for a ride down to the factory in Valcourt, about 30 miles away. Valcourt is a tiny village. The CanAm factory is an old Ski-Do factory and takes up about 50% of the actual town. There are perhaps 2 or 3 blocks of small frame houses surrounding the factory, and of course there is a hockey arena. The countryside is quite pleasant, full of farm land and rolling hills. But the skies were still quite overcast and I decided not to venture too far away just in case. So, back to Drummondville.
I spotted the convention centre where the big party would be and decided to check it out. There was a small tent with the CanAm logo on it, set up in the parking lot. I asked about the events. They said we have to go to Valcourt to register and pick up our package. They do offer guided rides from this and 2 other locations, but they are only for Spyders; I could not take the Harley. I explained that I had paid the same registration fee and thought this was not acceptable. Too bad… What a rip.
We stopped at Roy Jucep for dinner. They claim to be the birthplace of poutine. The specialty of the house is several varieties of hot dogs with poutine and orange shakes (think Orange Julius). And, when in Rome (or Drummondville) order the specialty. A Michigan dog dinner. That’s a regular steamy hot dog on a cheap bun smothered in spaghetti sauce alongside an order of poutine. Not exactly heath food, but tasty and cheap. I grabbed a six-pack at the local store and we headed back to our mini suite to watch the football game.
The next morning we decided to have breakfast at the restaurant downstairs. It was expensive and service was extremely slow. However we did meet several ladies from a group calling themselves ‘Ladies on Spyders’. They were from several places in the USA and met online. A lovely, friendly bunch of devoted Spyder riders. While Roz chatted with them I decided to see about our room. I packed our bags before breakfast and was ready to move out. The front desk informed me that our room would not be ready til perhaps 4pm and that we had to vacate our current room by 11am. And, they were not allowed to handle our luggage, so I would have to get it out of the room by 11am. This was certainly not the pleasant, friendly or accommodating service I would expect. They finally agreed to allow me to store the luggage in the manager’s office for a few hours.
When I got back to our room to grab the luggage, I met the maid servicing the rooms. She was just coming out of the room next door, the room that was to be our room tonight. I explained the situation and she said she was finished cleaning this room, we could have it as far as she was concerned. I ran back downstairs (yes down the stairs; there is only one small elevator and the maids were using it for laundry). I informed the front desk person (a young girl of perhaps 20) that I had just talked to the maid and she was finished cleaning the room. She grudgingly called the head of housecleaning and confirmed that the room was ready. She handed me the key and off I ran back up the stairs to move the luggage. When I entered the new suite I discovered that the ‘living’ room was actually a ‘board’ room set up for meetings with a 10 foot table and 8 chairs; no couch, no TV and the bedroom only had one double bed. I ran back down the stairs and informed the front desk girl. She gave me that ‘so what’ look and turned and walked into the manager’s office. She emerged a few minutes later with the manager who proceeded to look things up on the computer. They did have another suite available on the second floor, it was also set up as a board room, but with a smaller table. They could move that table and chairs out and move in a cot and TV. It was available now, but they couldn’t move things around until after the maids had finished all the daily cleaning. I could move my luggage there and they would have things set up later in the afternoon. Fine; we’ll do that but I am going to complain to BW. I hauled our luggage, in 2 trips down the stairs and into the new room. A service dude was already dismantling the table.
We had agre
ed to travel down to ValCourt with a friend from home to do the registration and tour the factory. When we got into Valcourt we found a traffic jam leading into a very crowded parking lot. It was quite the impressive site, with at least 1000 Spyders. Looked like an infestation to me. My Harley was one of only a handful of bikes. A Rose among Thorns.
It was only after we parked that we found out that the registration desk was on the other side of the factory. So, back on the bikes and around the building. At the registration site we were told to park and walk to the other end of the parking lot to the tents where people were confirming the online registration and handing out goody-bags. I explained that Roz could not walk that far and they finally allowed us to ride there. We received our packages and returned to the parking lot on the other side.
The line-up for the factory tour was about an hour long and the tour was about an hour long. This was totally impossible for Roz to navigate. Our friends got in line for the tour, we opted to visit the hockey arena where vendors were set up. The ‘vendors’ ending up being just CanAm. All the items appeared to be merchandise that they had not been able to sell at the dealers. There was nothing here worth buying for us. There was also a large beer tent and a local rock band. The line-up to get in was not something we were prepared to suffer thru. We decided to go for a ride.
At about 1pm we found ourselves in a beautiful little village called St Cyril de Wentover. This is a very typical Quebec village with old frame houses, large brick mansions and the mandatory huge church. A little further along route 122 we pulled into a roadside café called Cantine Le Vi-Lain. For some unknown reason they had a large Tasmanian Devil on their sign post. There was a white RT Spyder parked out front, identical to Roz’s and just as we got off our bikes the couple riding the Spyder emerged. We greeted them in English, they replied in French. Roz speaks some French, I do not. The other couple did not speak English except for a few phrases. Thru broken French, a smattering of English and hand gestures, we managed a very pleasant 15 minute conversation. They were from Trois Riveires and this was one of their favourite little restaurants. They were totally unaware of the ‘HomeComing’ in Valcourt but might ride down and check it out.
Inside the café we were presented with a hand painted menu on the wall over the front counter; all in French. The smiling hostess spoke only French. I managed to make out a few phrases on the menu board and determined that this was not that different than the Roy Julep from the previous night. I ordered the special, a loaded hot dog with poutine. Roz followed suit. The loaded hot dog was the regular steamy on an ordinary bun, smothered in chili and topped with cole slaw. It was quite tasty, or perhaps I was simply becoming more ‘Roman’.
There were only a handful of patrons in the small room. We slid into the first booth and sipped our coffees. The lady at the next table smiled then greeted us in broken English. She seemed very amused at our ‘Anglais’ attempts to communicate in French, but she did appreciate the gesture. She excused herself and left, wishing us a pleasant day, ‘Hope the rain stays away’. Two older gents at the next table smiled and each forced a grinning ‘Bon jour’. A young man entered the café and ordered his lunch, taking the seat that the first lady had vacated. His English was perfect and explained that he had just returned home to visit his parents. He had spent the past 3 years working in Texas and was undecided as to whether he would return to Texas. The money was good, but he was not enjoying the cowboy, political atmosphere.
We headed off down the road with no destination in mind, simply wandering thru the rolling hills. As we came over a hill on route 267 we saw the raw cliffside overlooking the town of Thetford Mines. The asbestos mining operation have changed over the years but is still the main source of income for the region. The town shows the signs of slow deterioration, but the Tim Hortons is thriving and busy. After a quick coffee we decided to head back to Drummndville, the banquet was due to start at 7pm.
The banquet was taking place at the Drummondville convention centre. When we arrived the parking lot was almost full. We had to park a hundred yards or so from the front door. So, I parked my bike and walked back to the entrance where Roz waited. She went in and I rode her Spyder to park next to my Harley. As I parked, a BMW pulled in beside me. The older gentleman’s wife pulled in behind him on her Spyder. I chatted with them and discovered that they had ridden from Virginia in two days just to experience this shindig. He was also disappointed in not being able to take his BMW on the escorted tours, today he rode on the back of his wife’s Spyder.
The banquet was stupendous. The room was licensed to hold 3500 people and it was packed. We found our assigned table, luckily it was not far from the front door. The large room had about 20 huge TV screens on the walls. All were showing Spyders; on the road, in show rooms, in front of people’s houses and on the production line. It was a very impressive display. At precisely 7:30 someone jumped on stage and the lights dimmed. He introduced himself as the V-P of marketing. He told several tales about his switch from riding a Harley to a Spyder and of his encounters with the fascinating people who ride them. He was convinced that the Spyder culture was set to be the next big adventure for boomers. It was also becoming the jumping off point for young adventurers looking for the open roads. The blatant advertisement reminded me of similar Harley ads.
The 4 course dinner was quite good although not exciting. The service was pleasant and efficient. Dessert was served promptly at 8:30 and consisted of a cheesecake with strawberry compote. After another brief brain-washing from the marketing department, the band came on stage. The band was lead by Gregory Charles who is famous for being able to play any song the audience requests. And they were very good at it.
As I exited the venue I noticed the BMW dude sitting on his wife’s Spyder near the front door. ‘I decided to bring her ride to the front door while she went to the bathroom’. “That’s what I’m doing as well”. When I reached our bikes I saw his wife standing there scratching her head, looking for her Spyder. I informed her that “He went to pick you up”; ‘The bathroom was lined up so I passed’. “I’ll let him know”. I guess even the best intentions go awry when a husband tries his darndest, but without permission. Roz was waiting for me at the front door. I told Mr BMW the news, he laughed. I hopped on the back of Roz’s Spyder for a ride back to the Harley.
The next morning we parted the hotel, opting for breakfast at McDonald’s. I had studied the map and decided on a route that would avoid main hiways until just before the Ontario border. There is a wonderful network of backroads winding their way down toward the USA border. The sun was shining and the temp was near 20c. Roz kept pointing out the dark clouds on the horizon, I kept shielding my eyes. At a gas fill-up stop and Timmies break she pointed at the black cloud rolling in and asked where the sun was, I pointed at the cloud and said ‘Right there’. For the most part the sun did shine as we cruised along route 202 and up and across Grande Isle at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. It was a wonderful day, but we could not find another litt
le roadside café, settling for Tim Hortons, twice, and one small softee ice cream. I think I’m going to miss those steamies and poutine. We arrived back at the Best Western in Cornwall about 7pm just as the rain started. At dinner, Tanya was once again our waitress and we returned to our room with a pint in hand about 10pm. Good times…..
As I was performing my morning bike check and loading the luggage, a woman came over to ask about the Spyder. She was travelling with her husband from their home in Alabama to a family wedding in Niagara Falls. The wedding was the following Saturday and they decided to tour thru southern Ontario on the way. This was their first trip into Canada. Apparently her husband had owned a Harley in a previous life and was threatening to get another bike now that he was retired. She was concerned about the safety of bikes and wanted to know about this 3 wheeled thingy. I gave her the run down and when hubby showed up I insisted he perch on the seat. She took his photo and promised to look into these things when she got home. He asked directions to the Thousand Islands and recommendations for routes to travel and sites to see over the next few days. I told him how to get onto the Long Sault Parkway and suggested staying on Hwy 2 at least until Kingston; avoid downtown Toronto and spend some time exploring the wine district in Niagara.
Roz came out just as the couple headed off in their new Cadillac. The drizzle started to fall again and we mounted the bikes and headed to the 401 for the soggy ride home.
2500kms in 5 days with perhaps 6 hours of sunshine.
