ECR 2002 report

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again. Keyboards get a little odd when you go to a different country. The keyboards in France were really bizarre to me--the keyboards in Montreal are much less so, but there are still a couple of punctuation marks that I cannot find....

Anyway, Im hanging out in an Internet Cafe here in Montreal, killing time until my flight leaves. The 2002 East Coast Ramble ended yesterday, and it was a heck of a good time! Pictures will follow at some point, whenever I get them uploaded and then convince Wayne to put them up on the site. (If youve seen Waynes workoad lately you may know why that can take a while...)

I arrived Thursday night, after some running around on my end of things to make sure I had all of my paperwork in order. (Hint: Passports are a good thing when flying to another country, even to our neighbors to the north!!) Michel Richard picked me up at the airport in his 914-6 conversion, and we headed out to the Auberge Handfield--the Ramble HQ. On the way, we took a detour to see the Circuit Giles Villeneuve, which is the F1 track here in Montreal. We got there, and drove a lap around it--yes, on the actual track itself!!! There was a rollerblader (in dark clothing, the idjit!) and a cyclist on the track, but we were the only car. Amazingly enough, its open to the public. The speed limit is 30 km/h (18 MPH) and we were pretty careful not to exceed that and get thrown out.

Anyway, Michel dropped me off at the Auberge and I got checked in, and then I hang out in the bar with Dave and Joanna from MIT (non 914 owners, mostly because Joannas dad wont give up the 914 that she grew up in--but they have a nice 944!) and John Jentz and his wife. (Also Joanna? Im sorry, my brain is still fuzzy.)

Friday began with a group of us (4 or 5 914s, the 944, and Alan Letts Boxster) heading on a short drive to take one of the ferry boats (sorry, Michel--"little boats") across the river Richelieu, and through the very pretty countryside. Made for good pictures. We even spotted an old Mini converted into a tow-truck!! We got back to the Auberge and met up with another half-dozen or more 914s and ate lunch. Very good food, of course, mostly French food. (Pretty comparable to what I ate last year in France, even!) We were then on our own for a couple of hours before the evenings activities started.

We drove to the Vieux Port (the Old Port district of Montreal), where we got drizzled on just a little. We split up to see what we could see, with the intention of meeting at 7:30 for dinner. Some of the Eberlins, Marc-Andre Morin, Mihai, and myself started wandering in search of real Cuban cigars for Tom. After a few wrong turns ("were amost there!!" was heard about every 10 minutes) we found a very small selection. Tom and Mihai went off to find better, while the rest of us came back to the Vieux Port for une biere. From our perch at the bar, we saw most of the rest of the group watching a street magician. Tom found out that real Cuban cigars are really expensive, even in Canada, and did not wind up with any. (DOH!) But we got some good exercise walking...

Come 7:30, the group is ready to wander off. All but a certain long-haired Californian, that is! Michel wound up literally dragging me away from the bar, where the hostess had struck up a conversation... (Hey, she was pretty! Let go of me! Where are we going?? ) Anyway, once that was settled, we walked over to dinner. It was fabulous!! More French cuisine, but a lot of it was "game" meats. I ordered Caribou, and Joanna ordered Bison. Venison and Ostrich were also on the menu. After dinner, we came back to the Auberge and either retired to our rooms or hung out at the bar, depending on personal inclination.

Saturday began with a drive to take more ferry--I mean "little boat"--trips across the river. More beautiful countryside, and we even passed the Mini tow-truck again. After gathering at a gas station (two pumps is not enough to serve a dozen thirsty Porsches!), we headed off again... After noticing the first error on the route instructions... Happily, we had Sabin leading us through roads he knew well. We were going to a local airport to have a "sound off" to see whose car sounded best, but eventually we decided that it was late enough to skip that so we headed directly for a "Faunic" or Nature Park.

Lunch (sandwiches prepared by Madame Richard, merci beaucoups encore, Madame!) was served at the end of a long causeway out into the wetlands. We got to watch boat traffic on the river (or was it a lake? It was certainly wide enough!) from the three-story wood tower. Many of us generously helped to lighten the load of Sabin, who was carrying the beer...

On the way out, Marc-Andre handed me the keys to his Six conversion. It now has a three liter with carbs... So I drove my new car around for the whole afternoon!! We stopped at a liquor store, garnering stares from a lot of people. At one point, we spotted an early (pre-74 bumpers, may have even been short-wheel-base, pre-70!) 911 and exchanged waves. A long-ish dirt road led us to a very picturesque covered bridge, and many photos and a few videos were taken. I only got the Six sideways a couple of times--honest!!!

We wound up back at the Auberge again for dinner. Delicious as always. The wine was pretty free-flowing, and one or two people may have had a little too much... There was talk of flaming Sambucca shots, lots of BS thrown back and forth, and Ed Vs name was taken in vain many many times. (See what you get for not showing up, Ed?)

Sunday AM came waaaaay too early for those of us who had overindulged. I really did try to make the autoX, but there was simply no way. I would have loved to have tried M-As car out on the course, though... It drives really nice--and oh my god, the SOUNDS!!!

Michel took me back into Montreal to his house, where I was allowed to nap for a few hours and regain some vague semblance of humanity... Eventually dinner followed, and I got to meet two of Michels daughters. (I still think the middle one is twins! She runs two restaurants--one of which we were dining at--owns an apartment building, and just got her teaching degree. No way can one person do all that!!!) I used the chance to practice my French, but it needs a lot more work... Michel had to fly out early Monday morning, so he dropped me off in mid-Montreal so I could see the sights some more. Of course I spent half the time catching up on the Pelican BBS and writing this report instead. Some things never change, eh?

Thanks to all for the 2002 East Coast Ramble! Thanks to Sabin for planning, for translating the menus, and being an all-around character. Thanks to Marc-Andre for all of his work and for letting me pretend that I owned a 914-6 for a few hourse. And most especially, thanks to Michel Richard and his family for organizing everything, making the arrangements, and for putting up a long-haired oddball in their home for a night! (And an afternoon...)

Hmmm.... Maybe Ill try to find that bar with the cute hostess again....

--DD

[jabb]

If you find the cute hostess do not loose track of the time again and miss your flight..... or maybe that will not work out that bad either. Good to see ya again.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

...She wasn't there.... Oh well, I made it back in one piece!

--DD

[norustscott]

East Coast Ramble? Did you see the Atlantic?

[michel richard]

We did see some pretty big ships going up the St-Lawrence river. And there is a bit of tide where we had lunch. And, and, the girls look pretty good here so the rest don't count.

Michel