Like in 2018, a small group of us get together for a little pre-rally rally, a warm up to the big event. Back to La Jolie Rochelle, a private campground on a beautiful river setting. For a few days, a line of Altos graced the river’s edge. Although the weather was wet and nasty at times, the conversations and ample laughter made us soon forget the soggy weather. Truth be told, the way the river swelled and the flow increased had many of us eyeballing reference points on the far shoreline. Two large rocks in the middle soon only had little knubs visible. How high would the water go?
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| that river just swelled... |
Between all the laughing and scratching, I was able to help out Annie with some updates to her Alto. Always fun to get a screwdriver in my hand and get to work on a mod. We installed new and improved screens/blinds to all the windows, replaced one of the acrylic side windows, then installed a set of tail light bars to the rear of the 1743. These are a big visibility improvement to the towing safety of this particular model. Over the course of the mods, we got lots of help from Alex and Jack, and a keen observation from Chris. Such fun working together and figuring shit out.
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| not that big a job...once the first one is done |
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| why not just change a window |
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| Annie captures a coffee fuelled discussion |
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| a good finishing touch... |
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| one of many enjoyable dinners together |
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| always love the line of Altos |
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| Barley...been here, done this already, nap time. |
On Thursday we all broke camp and headed to our assembly point. Like in 2018, we descended upon a small neighbourhood close to the site of the big rally, so that we could convoy in together and be co-located at the rally site.
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| wonder what the neighbours were thinking... |
This way, we were all parked in the same row, and huge kudos to Francois, who coordinated a ballet of pink shirts while cruising at daredevil speeds on his motorized longboard. What a guy!
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| Francois and his longboard |
We shared the asphalt enclave with Christine and Alex, and given the sketchy weather, jerry rigged awnings soon covered our spot, with many other pairs of Altos doing the same.
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| pretty sure Eileen took this pic |
SC had a welcoming get together in the evening, some visiting afterwards, and then the rains arrived. It really pounded down, but a quick peek at the awning satisfied my curiosity and I soon was fast asleep again.
There is a wonderful deli in the town of Saint-Marie called ‘Pere Nature’. We wandered over there Friday to pick something up for dinner. Great selection of cheeses, baked goods, and a very nice in house butchery. In addition to the kabobs for the Q, we picked up some Quebec delicacies,…creton, a salmon spread and a chunk of elk pate. Yum.
For the evening get together, SC had a local craft beer tasting, and a great band. The beer was cold and refreshing, and ‘The Live Blend Band’ was an excellent tight group and the lead singer had a great voice. The sets were all sorts of rock and roll, perfect for the audience they were playing for, and the dance floor was always full. One of the guitarists looked uncannily like Pete Townsend…but did not incorporate any of the windmilling that Pete is famous for.
A big storm was rolling in, but that did not deter a group of us from sitting under Jack & Lee’s awning, a highly animated bunch, eyeballing the clouds all the while.
Alex and I had earlier decided to wait to see what would transpire weather-wise before tearing down our awnings. The gusting wind and the blackening clouds made up our minds, so we darted back to our site and the awnings were soon thrown in the back of our Honda’s. Back to the laughin’ and scratchin’, I might add that Chris’s humour was on fire this evening, roars of laughter filling the air. The skies ultimately did open up and drove everyone in for the night.
The rain pounded down, accentuated by booming thunder and cracks of lightning. One set was together instantaneously…a sure sign that it happened very close by. It seemed to pass by in a little over half an hour, and by morning there were lots of patches of blue sky, and a nice day ahead.
Saturday was pretty much a lounge around, visiting sort of day. We wandered around to have a peek at a couple of A2124s. A bit of an odd looking trailer, but after a close look inside and out, we soon realized that SC had done a good job with the layout. We had a gang in under the awning out of the sun at our place in the afternoon, then just before heading out to the evening meal and show, we packed away the awnings and some gear to get a little prep done before heading out in the morning.
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| thanks Justin for the great photo...and for the record, those knees belong to Alex! |
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| Alissa and her incredibly creative 'Dory' cover |
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| lots of smiles this weekend |
In the morning we could see the clouds moving towards us, so we quickened our pace to get hitched up and heading out. Our little convoy of three Altos heading back to Ottawa were fortunate to finish up at the dump station in Saint Frederic before the rains started. We took a more leisurely route home, and it was nice to be travelling at a slower pace when the clouds really opened up. It rained all the way to Montreal, but then we cleared the edges of the storm and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.
Getting together with friends at the pre-rally and attending the big SC rally are always events not to be missed. Special kudos to Safari Condo for putting together a perfect anniversary rally, and to the amazing group of friends we were able to hang out with.
Alto camping with friends is a very special treat.
Sounds wonderful
ReplyDeleteIt really was!
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