This past weekend was the Canadian thanksgiving; a time for giving thanks and for eating turkey with family. For me, visiting my folks for the holidays is a bit of a logistical headache since I live in Ottawa and my parents are nearly 800 km away in Windsor. Combine that with the fact that this time I was picking up my sister in Aurora, which makes the trip a lengthy drive for turkey.

To make the drive more pleasant, I decided to purchase one of those FM tuners so that I could listen to my iPod in the car. This way I would have the necessary eight to nine hours of consecutive music without having to flip CDs. This has the added benefit that since most of my music collection can be found on my iPod, I don't have to select which CDs to bring before I leave; I can listen to whatever fancies me at the moment (mostly).

The weekend was pretty low key and relaxed. Football being an important part of thanksgiving, I decided to check up on my Lions (being in close proximity to Detroit makes this easy). Things were looking good, they were up 10-3 at the half. This is when i decided it was time to leave. My sister needed to be back in Aurora for dinner time, so our departure window was quickly coming to a close. With care packages of leftover turkey in hand, we got in the car and made our way to the highway 401. That's when I decided that the soundtrack for our journey should be the entire Bouncing Souls discography; a glorious collection of 140 songs. So to choruses of “His name is Lamar Vannoy”, we peeled down Manning road to the 401.

Song 32: I realize that for a road trip, the incidences of insanity have been pretty much non-existent. This seems odd to me; something should be done about this.

Song 59: Still no insanity, but we're approaching Toronto, I decide we should make the requisite stop at Krispy Kreme for 700 calorie per unit goodness.

Song 68: We arrive at Krispy Kreme, my sister goes to the ladies room to be welcomed by the distinct odour of vomit. Meanwhile I'm buying a double dozen and I get a couple packs of glow in the dark stickers... boss. My sister, un-deterred by the vomit, picks a doughnut frosted like a jack-o-lantern... it's yummy.

Song 87: We arrive in Aurora, Stronach country. Maybe we'll run into Tie Domi being unfaithful... still no insanity.

I drop my sister off at home, grab a quick bite, check the sports channel to find out that the Lions in fact lost (jerks) then continue on my way to Ottawa; first south on the 404 then east on the 401... still no insanity.

Song 110: I crack open my Monster energy drink. Then stop in Marrysville to take a picture of the quarry. It looks cool all lit up at night. I wonder if I could jib it.

Song 112: I start wishing upon the stars.

Song 122: I drive by the Big Apple. Unfortunately it's closed because I wanted some pie. Plus the giant apple is cool; it makes me feel like I'm James in the giant peach.

Song 125: Someone in front of me gets pulled over; time to reduce my cruising speed.

Song 138: Johnny says he's bound by only six strings to this world. Also, I'm approaching Kingston.

Song 140: I've listened to the entire Bouncing Souls discography. I'm pleased because it occurs to me that “Here We Go” might be the best road trip song ever and it seems to be impossible to have too many “Oi”s in a punk song. I'm disappointed though, because I still have a ways to go and I'm out of Bouncing Souls. I quickly deal with this lack of continued Bouncing Souls love by putting on some Voodoo Glow Skulls... it's El Coo Cool.

I arrive in Ottawa roughly nine hours after leaving Windsor. I'm sick of driving so it's good to be home, but I'm still disappointed at the lack of amusing events on this road trip. I did learn a few things though which is important:

• The Lions suck! They're still my team but I have no reservations in stating how much they suck.

• 140 Bouncing Souls songs will get you from Windsor, through Aurora, to Kingston. Another 30 Voodoo Glow Skulls songs will get you the rest of the way to Ottawa.

• Energy drinks are yummy and encourage me to do random things like stop and take a picture of a quarry.

• Sometimes I'm boring, deal with it.

So that was pretty much my thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell. Although it seems the awesomeness factor was also on vacation this weekend, I enjoyed my time with family, and of course the turkey. I hope you all had a similarly pleasant weekend. I hope the awesomeness factor's hiatus is not too lengthy so I'll have something worth while to write about soon (I'm hoping it will be back for the Toronto Ski and Snowboard show). Until then, keep your strings only one turn out of tune.

Keep shreddin' the GNAR!

J.

Tags:Thanksgiving, Road Trips
Published by jr_barns: 11:20 AM
Views: 438