They pronounce is Soo Saint Marie. Here I was using my French accent and no one knew where I was talking about!
They've hosted over 56 couch surfers. I know CS doesn't allow charging, but if they opened a bed and breakfast, they'd do very well!
It was a wonderful family of 5, with experience living in Bangladesh. The children were very curious and sharp. They had a garden which I couldn't resist but talk for awhile about, giving the mother (Rowena) some pointers on clipping the suckers on tomato plants.
I brought them some fresh peas that I bought from a Mennonite farm near Desbarats, Ontario. It was pretty cool, the place was dead quiet, with one guy manning the cash register, which was the old kind without electronics, fully mechanical. They had 3 heads of cauliflour in varying shapes and sizes, 2 cloves of garlic of the same spread condition, etc, all laid out on the slanted wood tables. Certainly a stark contrast to supermarkets with hundreds of generic, identical, perfect veggies just laid out!
Unfortunately all was not well with the locals today. I stopped at a garage to have my lighter socket looked at.
The guy was really nice, and he spent about 10mins finding out that I had the wires backwards. He then hands me off to the manager to ring me up. First of all I thought that it'd be more of a "spot me 15 bucks so I can grab some beers after work" sort of thing, but the manager wanted to prep an invoice for $40!
He said the minimum he could charge was 30 minutes of work (even though he spent 10), so I told him if he was going to charge that, I want the mechanic to work the other 20 minutes polishing my bike or something.
So he says, "Guy, if you hadn't gone to the mechanic directly I wouldn't have even served you", and pulls the "we don't work for free" BS. So I told him I'd pay $25, no more and he took the money and basically told me to get lost. I couldn't ride away fast enough!
I guess, the moral of the story is mechanics are untrustworthy whether in a small town or large, Ontario, Québec, the US, it's all the same story.
I met 2 guys in the town of Spanish, Gary (Kawasaki ZX6R) and Harold (Honda Shadow), who both work in Barrie, ON at the Honda plant that assembles the Civic, MDX, and the ZDX. Gary's got the red ZX6R in the background, Harold the brand new matte black Honda Shadow in the middle. Mine's in the front (forgive me guys for being selfish and putting my bike in front, you've really got some nice machines!)
I also visited Elliot Lake, the scene of a deadly incident where the town mall (Algo Mall) food court roof collapsed. 2 people were killed. It was about a 30min detour from the Trans-Canadian (17). As expected, there were candles and pictures, flowers and gifts posted in front of where the police tape was.
There was a big Ontario Provincial Police mobile command center I went up to a cop to ask him what he thought about the whole thing, and what his role there now was, he gave me attitude and said, "I don't know anything about it, I'm just told to sit here and stop people from coming in."
He was really not emotional at all, not talkative, generally a dick.
I told him, "Sorry your town experienced that loss." For all I know he probably thought I was talking about the loss of the mall.
I was considering adding, "It's okay to cry man, you must be really broken up about the whole thing.", but thought better of it.
Good sir! Must you play into all stereotypes that cops are pricks?
My Hosts in Sault Ste. Marie
They've hosted over 56 couch surfers. I know CS doesn't allow charging, but if they opened a bed and breakfast, they'd do very well!
It was a wonderful family of 5, with experience living in Bangladesh. The children were very curious and sharp. They had a garden which I couldn't resist but talk for awhile about, giving the mother (Rowena) some pointers on clipping the suckers on tomato plants.
I brought them some fresh peas that I bought from a Mennonite farm near Desbarats, Ontario. It was pretty cool, the place was dead quiet, with one guy manning the cash register, which was the old kind without electronics, fully mechanical. They had 3 heads of cauliflour in varying shapes and sizes, 2 cloves of garlic of the same spread condition, etc, all laid out on the slanted wood tables. Certainly a stark contrast to supermarkets with hundreds of generic, identical, perfect veggies just laid out!
Motorcycle as a Means to an End
On the way up I passed a couple bicycling along the shoulder of the Trans-Canadian. Wherever they were headed, it looked like they were in it for the long haul! They had worn-looking panniers and deep tans. Their heads were down as they peddled the 4% grade. For all of my complaining about electrical problems, etc, at least I have a motorcycle! Those bikers didn't look like they were enjoying themselves. If I was doing that with a girlfriend I could imagine that we'd always be on edge, many an argument centered around who led for how long, who's not waiting for who...Unfortunately all was not well with the locals today. I stopped at a garage to have my lighter socket looked at.
The guy was really nice, and he spent about 10mins finding out that I had the wires backwards. He then hands me off to the manager to ring me up. First of all I thought that it'd be more of a "spot me 15 bucks so I can grab some beers after work" sort of thing, but the manager wanted to prep an invoice for $40!
He said the minimum he could charge was 30 minutes of work (even though he spent 10), so I told him if he was going to charge that, I want the mechanic to work the other 20 minutes polishing my bike or something.
So he says, "Guy, if you hadn't gone to the mechanic directly I wouldn't have even served you", and pulls the "we don't work for free" BS. So I told him I'd pay $25, no more and he took the money and basically told me to get lost. I couldn't ride away fast enough!
I guess, the moral of the story is mechanics are untrustworthy whether in a small town or large, Ontario, Québec, the US, it's all the same story.
I met 2 guys in the town of Spanish, Gary (Kawasaki ZX6R) and Harold (Honda Shadow), who both work in Barrie, ON at the Honda plant that assembles the Civic, MDX, and the ZDX. Gary's got the red ZX6R in the background, Harold the brand new matte black Honda Shadow in the middle. Mine's in the front (forgive me guys for being selfish and putting my bike in front, you've really got some nice machines!)
I also visited Elliot Lake, the scene of a deadly incident where the town mall (Algo Mall) food court roof collapsed. 2 people were killed. It was about a 30min detour from the Trans-Canadian (17). As expected, there were candles and pictures, flowers and gifts posted in front of where the police tape was.
There was a big Ontario Provincial Police mobile command center I went up to a cop to ask him what he thought about the whole thing, and what his role there now was, he gave me attitude and said, "I don't know anything about it, I'm just told to sit here and stop people from coming in."
He was really not emotional at all, not talkative, generally a dick.
I told him, "Sorry your town experienced that loss." For all I know he probably thought I was talking about the loss of the mall.
I was considering adding, "It's okay to cry man, you must be really broken up about the whole thing.", but thought better of it.
Good sir! Must you play into all stereotypes that cops are pricks?
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| Bridge going to the US and into Upper Michigan. |
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