Secret Agent Lorne!

Ok, so I have the best of intentions for blogging, yet I never do. Excuses aside, here is my latest!

I had a recent trip to Trenton, ON. It was a good trip at less than seven days, so it is my ideal, all things considered.

Bienvenue a Ottawa! Voted best airport in North America in 2011!

It was a nice airport, as far as airports go.

I wanted to visit my dear Grandmother in Perth, just south of Ottawa, so I decided that since I had taken the red-eye out of Calgary and I looked like garbage, I would hit up a gym in Perth so I could clean up and look presentable. I found this:

The Perth Athletic Center and Martial Arts Center (PACMAC, for short). It was an old soap factory converted into a gym.

I wanted to take photos of the place, but I just downloaded their images off of their website.

The gym was awesome, full of retro / old-school equipment and fashioned like a warehouse!

I had always wanted to workout in a gym like this. I even said so to the gym owner who was tending the counter.

Any gym where you can flip tires has my vote as an awesome gym!

All of their equipment was well used, nothing fancy and everything needed.

It was awesome to be in a gym that isn't full of cardio equipment. Just the machines, weights and such.

The brick wearhouse look wanted me to lift as much as possible!

The gym was super tidy and well organized! I was impressed. Someday, I will own a gym like this.

My darling son made me a card for when I was in Ontario, so I brought it with me everywhere I went! Here it is on the bed in Toronto.

We had a two hour drive to Trenton the next morning. We took the 401, and 20 minutes outside of Trenton the highway was shut down. It took us 2 hours to drive 5 km. 

Once in Trenton, we worked on the C-130 as usual. Good stuff. I worked on this very plane about 8 years ago when I was at SPAR Aerospace, so it was nice to see it again.

The advantage of Ontario over Alberta is the fact that they have REAL poutine that actually uses proper cheese curds and NOT shredded mozza. Magnifique!

When was the last time these toilets were cleaned?

Your truly, hurrying up and waiting!

Secret Agent Lorne got to fly on the C-130 and play with Night Vision Goggles. Booyah!

The lights of Kingston, I believe. At night through NVG.

Flying over CFB Trenton. The runway lights were only visible through NVG goggles. Very cool.

I have this same photo during daylight hours during one of my previous exploits.

It was a good trip. Short, to the point and in my opinion successful.

:-)

Whirlwind

I've recently done some work in Trenton, and these trips make for a good way to blog. While I would much rather be blogging about adventures and such, this will do. I am not trying to fill up netspace, just sharing my experiences.

I had never been to Trenton before, so I was delighted to see something new. Here are my adventures.

So this is the plane that was taking me from Calgary to Toronto. I always take a picture of the planes I'm about to fly on.

This plane was flying to London, UK. That would be cool to do someday.

This is Winnipeg from 35,000 ft. On the hi-res photo, you could actually see the forks. A very cool place to see.

This is the Holiday Inn in Trenton. It was comfy, and I didn't arrive until 11pm (9pm, Alberta Time), but travel and driving is always exhausting.

I thought it was funny that this was the alarm clock in the room. I had the same one as a kid, so I knew how to use it. (and I still have it today!)

Driving around Trenton. Yup, it looks like Ontario.

Compared with Alberta, there are many more brick houses in Ontario. I thought they looked pretty nice.

I arrived at the base 2 hours early (well, my contact there was 2 hours late), so I drove around the area and explored what I could. 

This is driving along the south of the base.  Those are the A319 transports for DnD.

Since there are many buildings on either side of this highway, there were pedways across the roads for everyone to, well, get across (d'uh!). Pedways. Fun with you feet!

I was amazed that traffic lights in Ontario were the same colour. And the same orientation too. In Alberta, they are sideways, with 2 shades of yellow, a blinking green that alternates between green and purple, and the stop light is a black light that only works if you are wearing a white shirt.

This is the work that I had to do. Change those 3 connectors to different types of connectors. That's all I will say about work.

I always make sure to get in some exercise when I go anywhere, so the morning I was to leave, I went for a jog around the area. 

I have a knack for looking at a map and being able to find trails for running (since I prefer them to roads). So a quick glance at a Trenton area map and I found my route. It proved great!

It crossed the Trent river via a Dam Bridge.

Beside the Dam Bridge was a train bridge. Yes, they have train bridges in Ontario as well.

Like I said, my knack for finding trails, even when the locale is unknown to me.

The trees were budding! March 30th! I hope it was doing likewise in Alberta (it wasn't).

Looking down the Trent River towards the lake.

And yes, I made it back to the hotel, showered, and headed north towards Ottawa.

I flew home from Ottawa, so on my way in to the airport, I slightly detoured through heavy rush-hour Friday traffic into our nation's capital. Ah, good memories from November 2010!

I wanted to get out and wander a bit, but I knew that finding a gas station on the way to the airport had proved difficult on my previous visit to the city. So I gave myself plenty of time to get to the airport (which is only about 20 mins from Parliament Hill).

And the plane that took me home. Gate 22. 22 is such a good number in my life!

 The trip was a whirlwind, but it was good. Only two nights away from home, but still two nights too many. I did some awesome work and got everything done ahead of time (hero biscuit!). I also reconfirmed my abilities with my profession, if that makes any sense.

I was also fortunate enough to visit my granny who lives in Perth, halfway between Trenton and Ottawa. She's 93, and we spent a few hours together which is always a treat! She's doing so well and it's always such encouragement to see her! I wish my wife and son could have been there, but I'll take what I can get, especially on company dime!

:-)