Xmas Lights Night Ride
The View From The Sidecar On Winter Solstice

21 Dec 07: After months of waiting and anticipation, it was finally time to head out on another ride to see the Christmas lights displays in our area. We did this last year and it was a BIG hit with my sweetie Angie and she'd been pestering me ever since to do it again. Unlike last year's jaunt, we actually had snow on the ground this time and the temperature was actually milder, around -1C at 5:30pm when we headed out.

Angie, who was wearing several layers of clothing and an electric vest, was tightly wedged into the sidecar with a blanket and the tonneau cover wrapped around her. With her camera at the ready we ambled around the town, up and down various sidestreets in search of the ultimate Xmas lights setup. Although there were several to look at, it was apparent that there were nowhere near as many displays as last year.

The displays were toned down from what we saw last year, too. After a half-hour or so of roaming around, we decided to head out of town and over to our favourite restaurant for supper before carrying on with the rest of the ride. The camera were starting to act up from being exposed to the cold, so they needed time to warm up anyway.

The Rapid Valley Restaurant lies just outside the village of Lansdowne and is well known for its excellent home cooked meals and generous portions. As we sauntered in the door, one of the patrons on his way out, noticing our helmets, asked if the snowmobiling was fun tonight. The look of disbelief on his face after I showed him the Ural was priceless. We walked in and sat down, to the amusement of the other customers who had witnessed our arrival through the large windows in. We started off with a mug of hot chocolate each and then tucked into our meal.

The food was, as usual, excellent and plentiful. Angie couldn't finish her banana cream pie, though, and it was boxed up and given to her to enjoy later on. Once again my Princess was wedged into the sidecar and away we went. We headed up the road into Lansdowne and toured the sidestreets there, but were disappointed to see that they, too, were short on the displays this year.

In fact, there weren't that many houses at all that were lit up so we left town and headed back for home via the backcountry roads.

About halfway home we came across this amazing display. The lights were strung across the entire width of their property and even from the road we couldn't get the full picture on the camera. We motored off into the night and a few km's later I leaned over and asked Angie to take a photo of the road ahead, just to show the perspective from the hack monkey's point of view. That was a mistake. For the next 15km she was busy taking photos from all sides and angles, giggling away and talking to herself.

The series of flashes from the camera were starting to affect my night vision, but I was more worried that all the country folk looking out their living room windows would mistake them for muzzle flashes. Last thing I wanted was a fleet of OPP cruisers marauding about the countryside looking for "some kinda ATV dat wuz shootin' at us from the road, eh".

As we neared Gananoque, we pulled in the driveway of one of our friends. John and Dianne are members of our CMC 002 riding club and great people to be around. Dianne had outfitted her nuclear yellow Nissan with a red nose and reindeer antlers in the spirit of the season. They invited us in for a coffee, but we were pretty much ready to go home by now and, after wishing them a Merry Christmas, we carried on.

As we entered the town limits, we approached the entrance for the local casino. I'd never been in there (don't get me started on what I think of casinos and the effect they have on the local populace) but the building looked impressive with all the Xmas lights on it, so I pulled in to let Angie get a couple photos.

MERRY XMAS FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS!