Thanksgiving run

[masonjs at nrtco.net]

Last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving.  We had a house full of 
relatives for 3 days.  Fortunately my brother in law Dave showed up 
with his Honda VFR giving the 2 of us an escape from the pandemonium.
Sunday morning was 12C (56F) bright and clear with light rain forecast 
in the afternoon.  We took off from the house in Westmeath heading for 
Renfrew seeking fuel.
We gassed up at Chenaux and bypassed Renfrew taking 515 to Calabogie.  
We had been informed to be back mid afternoon so the Bogie road to 
Lanark was out and we headed west to the Centenial Lake road.  The 
autumn colors were peaking and a little distracting.  We had a nice 
leisurely 25 km of twisties on the Centenial Lake Road and stopped at 
a rural boat launch for a drink and a sandwich.
We came out on Hwy 41 at Griffith and headed north  We stopped at 
Tooley Lake picnic area to discuss the return route and decided on The 
Scotch Bush Road to save time.  On the decent into Dacre there was a 
detour sign stating that the bridge on the Scotch Bush Road  was 
closed at Balalclava.  Decisions being made for us.  We continued 
north on 41 and turned onto the Opeongo Road heading 30 km up to 
Foymount.  Foymount is the highest village in Ontario and not all that 
high - about 900 feet (300 meters).  It was built in the 1960's as 
part of the "Pine Tree Defence Line" a series of radar bases installed 
during the "Cold War".  We were about 1/2 way up when we ran into a 
light rain.
As we crested the summit the vista before us was spectacular.  We 
could see the brilliant autumn foliage in a 90 degree arc from north 
to east for 160km.  Neither one of us had thought to bring a camera.  
We stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the view then turned right onto 
512 and headed down hill to Cormac.
Half way to Eganville we waved at my son and his family as they had 
left my place and were at his in-laws for the remainder of the 
weekend.
Another 50 km of lackluster back roads had us at the house in 
Westmeath and the annual Thanksgiving pig out there at.
Its been a week since the ride and the feast and my fridges are still 
full of left overs.


Jim - who has to get out and ride more