Day 16

We made it! The hours of driving have paid off, we are in the T-dot, aka TO, aka Toronto. We arrived at the house of Mr. Orynoman at around 3 p.m. Josh, Allan and I said a quick hello to Greg (and his dog) and wandered off in search of an Internet cafe.

The Winnipeg gig went well. It wasn’t really the right venue for our kind of show, but we rocked their socks off regardless. We had another lovely stay in a Super 8 motel and hit the road early the next morning for Thunder Bay.

Ah yes, Thunder Bay. Josh’s catch phrase for every city we arrive in has been, “This place sucks”, and it certainly applied there. When Allan and Jay arrived at the venue, there was already a band setting up on the stage. Apparently they are the house band that plays every Thursday night, and the manager had no idea we were supposed to be performing. After initally resigning ourselves to not playing, the bar offered to let us play a short set, which we did. We got a free meal and a cut of the door, and a cheap motel room, so we made out all right.

A somewhat inebriated bar patron informed me that Thunder Bay has the highest beer consumption per capita in all of Canada. Congratulations guys, you did it!* I also met an interesting gent named Aaron. He likes to sing Elvis songs and get really drunk. He is also very lonely. He wants you to know that he is not gay, however.

Thunder Bay certainly has it’s charms, but Toronto beckoned, so we set off early the next morning. Shortly after hitting the road, we received a gentle correction of our somewhat liberal interpretation of the speed limit by one of Ontario’s finest. You down with OPP? Yeah, you know me. We made it as far as Spanish, Ontario before a heavy fog set in, so we elected to spend the night in a motor inn there. Allan and I enjoyed a few beverages in the adjacent lounge. We also met one of the locals. Rob is a furnace repair assistant who enjoys fishing. Happy birthday, Rob.

This paying by the minute for computer access is crap. Next time, I’m totally bringing a laptop and sponging off of open wi-fi access points.

* This is an in-joke that only my fellow bandmates will appreciate. The rest of you may disregard it.