I have made runs to the MEC for supplies for the trip twice in the last two weeks at very different times of the day. As the MEC in Montreal is often under the flight path for Pierre E. Trudeau International Airport (a.k.a. Dorval) I had the opportunity to do some plane spotting which was strangely instructive as to the nature of the traffic in and out of Dorval. The first trip was in the early afternoon. I saw no less than 3 or possibly 4 Bombardier-de Havilland Dash-8s in a row belonging to Air Canada Jazz and Porter Airlines. Evidently, it was Canadian content hour in Dorval! The second trip took place after work and the character of the air traffic was much different. A Swiss Airbus 340 came in to land, as did an Air Canada Airbus 330. I also believe I saw an Air France Boeing 777. Instead of the light prop jobs, flying to Toronto or Rimouski, it was what is know in the business as "heavy iron" time at Dorval with flights arriving from and leaving for Europe.
Interestingly enough, I fly to Victoria in a combination of "heavy iron" and light aircraft. I fly to Vancouver in a Boeing 767 and then change into a Dash-8 to Victoria. For the plane geek in me, this will be first of flying in both types of aircraft, and only the third time I have flown in a propeller driven aircraft. The previous two times being in the early 1980s! Ironically, despite my enthusiasm for planes, I am something of an anxious flier.
In other matters, my daily commute to work takes me past the Danish Lutheran church where my niece-cousin Julianne was baptized. Because of the layout of the streets in the area, I come home behind the church from where I can see the yard where the day-care/day-camp housed in the church has it's playground. It has been amusing over the course of the summer to see which days the day-care/day-camp has been to the pool as towels and swimsuits will be spread over the fences if it has been a "swim" day.
I now have Leonardo the DeVinci boxed up, but I am not 100% with the job I did, so I will have to take him out and see if there is a better fit possible. Putting bikes in a box is a very finicky business, particularly with drop handlebars. Post-Posting. Done. Much happier about the way it is now. (Yes Margo, I did consult this site.)
In other packing news, I have my duffle bag out and partially filled with assorted stuff for the trip. I just got my panniers back from my parents along with their gift for Edward. Three of the four panniers will go in the duffle. The fourth will be used as carry-on in conjunction with a detachable shoulder strap taken from a defunct MEC Satellite bag.
I was discussing the trip this evening with a family friend. As we were talking about "escape" options, an add for the Rocky Mountaineer train came on the TV. She asked if I would take that. I told her that I had looked into it, but the website didn't give the price, leading to the assumption that it was a case of "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it." The TV then quoted a figure of $6,800, possibly in U.S. dollars. Waaaay too much!
No comments:
Post a Comment