The World through our Lenses

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So this week has been good for the diving community at large. The first site is a coal barge in 20 feet of water on the north side of a hundred foot sunken dock. Located in Barrett’s bay on Wolfe Island this 5 min swim from shore from the boat launch. Lots of fish and fishing tackle litter the site.

The second site made open to the public was not my idea but that of the community at large Adam and his friends lined the Tinto and I-Ho sailboat on the south side of Cedar Island in 40 feet of water. The swim though is 20 mins between sites and quite uneventful I image with more exploration items around the dive will be added.

Now the latest find of course the old guard has stated they have been diving for years, even though they couldn’t find the site with Dan and I 7 years ago on Side Scan Sonar. This little gem is located 487 NNE from the Tug Johnson was brought to our attention again this weekend. Mistaken as a sub trainer it appears to be a lifting barrel for wreck recovery at the turn of the century. Now three new sites and 4 wrecks in all to see.

Photos from the Barrel

So every couple of years the marines come to town and put on a show, this is one of the only times that Polly goes out at night :p , So armed with cameras and off to the fort for a the sunset ceremony that most of Kingston’s residents have never taken in. 39 with the humidex and the Fort henry guard comes marching on to the parade square in their british made wool uniforms, all I can think is thank god I don’t that stuff anymore. The show was 3 hours long and well attended. The new parking tax was a bit of downer and I think that most locals won’t pay to park there so when the long weekend in Sept comes time will tell.

Pictures are here.

So like always 2 days before we got ready to head to North Carolina everyone bailed except for Vinnie but we had no reservations so off to Maine Dan and I headed. if you think that the recession is over don’t drive down the popular touristy routes in the US northeast. Motels and gas stations closed or empty. Those still open charging a premium even though there’s no one.

We got into Bath Maine to ride the coastal highway to Canada and like route 66 it’s glory days are long gone and replaced by bypasses off the new coastal highway 10 or more miles from the water. When we got to the border we got our last change cheap gas and there was no us customers at the gas bar only canadians. separated by a stream St Steven’s loses all their gas revenues across the border for a dollar a gallon cheaper.

Driving through New Brunswick down the trans canada you see nothing but warnings for Moose crossing even though not one moose choose to cross at the signs. The covered bridge was pretty neat in Hartford.

So into Quebec for the last day of travel and down route 132 this was the best kept secret in the biking world. Quebecors with their need for speed love the trans Canada and leave the senic routes to the tourists, and the roads were empty. Plenty of freshly paved roads, bikers almost every bike a Harley and lots to see from New Brunswick to Levis PQ. Well worth the ride.

Coming back in Ontario we dropped onto old Highway 2 to get home. Sunburnt, Windburnt and sore as my knee went out on Sunday and has yet to heal.

Most of my pics will be here.

Woke up this morning and was able to get 30 km off on the stepper then off to the store to do some diving.

Unlike other scuba professionals I don’t mind teaching tweens/teenagers unfortunately I can’t do it full time but the look in their eyes when they can do it is worth all the time and effort. Today was no exception even though they don’t complete the task at hand and will more then likely not finish it tomorrow either I am prepared to spend more time doing so.

The good thing was my raging ear infection that has been raging for 4 days was little problem today. Then off to Raxx for 10.00 full rack of ribs so the day was a total gas.

Kingston mills it’s hard to imagine some arab immigrant murdered his family in an Honor killing earlier month. RIP to the four woman that had to die for that. But I imagine that they will be waiting in KP for him and his son a skinny fit man. Payback is a bitch at times.

Lots of diving this week, scooting in the river to 5 foot vis to diving on the Douglas in an evening dive. This week is shaping up to be another full week of diving as well. Enjoy the pics and hopefully I can get more active here.

One thing that is rampaged between website owners and photographers since the invention of the net and digital camera is ownership rights. People constantly “borrow” photo their sites and pay only with a photocredit. Lots of them state we are not for profit sounds great the last not for profit website that used my pics crucified me to the cross after getting all of them. So no more for that line of not for profit sites. Business sites do the same and get pissy with asked where is my name on the pics, well we thought about it and decided that your in competition with us. But guess what my photos are still there. Thoughts on what to do?.

Hey I don’t mind helping people but it’s got to go both ways so if you see my pics out there let me know and we will starr posting links to the people that borrow and not do anything in return. Hell I will even post links to those that use my pics and credit me.

Some immigrants and permanent residents don’t get it but yet again a little girl does. This girl marched down Princess Street giving the Town Crier a go for his money. Chris drives a kawasaki not like it’s a real bike :’-) Yet the permanent residents bash and complain about all the rights and freedoms Canada offers them in return. To hell with them with up and coming Canadians like this Looks like the future maybe so bright we have to wear shades. Complete photos of Canada are here . So after riding and lots of sunshine on Canada day a few days of rain has made everything wet and my new to me Dodge Dokota has arrived. I bought a 249.99 sat ready, blue tooth radio and it only cost me 400.00 in free installation but parts were extra thanks Best Buy. To Steve’s credit he fixed the broken mic the next day with no argument.

So like most Fridays Dan was teaching so Harold and I joined him on the Munson.
We opted to look for gear and ship parts to place in the wreck, I found 3 bottles, 3 wieght belts, 2 snorkels, Harold found a Lite, Mask and 2 pairs of sunglasses one of mine from last year. So back in and in the rain again. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will return.

Yesterday I started the Rider’s Edge Skilled Rider Instructor course at Motosport Plus in Kingston, this is a Harley Davidson sponsored program so thanks for asking me to participate

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So this morning after a very busy weekend I dragged my ass out of bed and headed to they gym for a 10km workout. This weekend was busy for lots of reasons.

Friday Night – Kingstons Biggest Bike Night (MSBN)

MSBN was a combined effort of several business and like minded persons headed by the Memorial Veterans Riders. The idea a non partisan night for all to enjoy in a public place. Any biker, fancy car or passerby is welcome to come and join in. No beefs about who’s badge is on your vest, no beefs about whos store you visit and so on. Since it’s inception it constantly has the highest turn out rate of any bike gathering in the area.

Dragonboat Races in the Morning and Diving in the Afternoon

This gathering there was a few hundred people attending and I was in took my pictures and got out just as I started to vibrate from the amount of people around. As I was packing my stuff up I got the chance to listen to an organizer talk to an other fundraiser on how to gain the status the dragonboaters got.
“Simple” he said.

1. Always send a leader with your group anytime they go fundraising, supporting someone else especially if the anyone in the group is associated with other organizations. That way you can be seen supporting the others.

2 If your organization is supporting a cause for a certian region be seen supporting and purchasing in the region this includes all your members. Don’t expect local coffiers to open up when your spending all your time and monies in another region.

3. Make sure all your members are respectfull of other agencies and groups in public Nothing will dwindle your donations and needs if you go banging on Ford’s door wearing a shirt from Toyota.

4. Don’t make rules that only you need to follow and not your supporters. like don’t tell people not to wear socks in sandels and your voluteer staff all wear socks in thiers at an event.

5. If you put all your eggs in one basket prepare to pay the price many business will not support you if you have a major sponser from out side the area and your asking them to pay the bills.

6. The coolest thing he said is that you and your representives are nothing more then buskers and in todays economy people want something in return. A simple thank you publically goes a long way, if you keep forgetting to thank the big guy on the block or pussy foot around thanking them and thier supporters, next time the pot will be empty or close to it.

7. If you and your supporters not buying locally and looking locally for funding, don’t even bother getting out of bed your wasting your time.

8. Always smile even if you don’t agree with the sponsors, your next group of sponsors are always watching.

Then some diving in the Afternoon to repair lines on the local wrecks got me thinking of this conversation this morning. Good and bad news I guess for some local agencies.

Sunday – Demo days for Harly Davidson

So I woke up vibrating and I wasn’t even going to get out of bed but I promised Jacqui that I would take some pictures for them. I grab my meds and noticed that I had indeed missed a day which now will take a couple of days for my body to forgive me on it. It was hot and busy lots of people, bikes and activities including a band for all to enjoy. Pictures from the day here.

Sean and Dan left early to go to the store when Sean lost control breaking a few ribs and pieces on his bike. Other then that he’s ok. Jamie and Fitz came up with a great idea and I have decided to throw my support behind it Kingston Area Motorcycle Association (KAMA)

Just a basic area on the web to host everyone’s rides, events and all other stuff bike related in the Kingston Area, not just the city itself. Good luck and I hope all groups will support it. The start up will be on Facebook under groups Kingston Area Motorcycle Association.

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So today i got on the bike, skipped the gym and headed west on a ride. First stop camp 30 in bowmanville. More on that later. Then north to Lakefield to see the old cement plant which will have to be a weekend or holiday ride to get the pics. I stopped for gas and headed east towards home after a few roundabout ways back to Lakefield i made it to cordva Mines and back on 7.

Camp 30 was a WW2 POW camp which housed high ranking nazi officers. During my exploration I couldn’t help but think just as Canadian as maple syrup they had it a lot better then our guys did in Europe. Snr Officers had individual rooms, a gym, rec center, soccer fields and basketball courts. even with all that the Nazi’s took over the camp and held the locals for 3 days before surrendering. The only enemy action in Ontario. In recent years the muslim community used it for a Islam University and when they left they left everything behind. the locals had a great time destroying it all as well.

when i got home it was off to the Hog meeting for a burger and chat. So all in all a good day and night. Pictures from the BBQ here.

moped man

Originally uploaded by Tom Rutledge – UER’ing in Kingston area

The motto of the North American Biker. Today Sean and I went out looking for abandonments and on the way met two very different characters with the same love for riding.

The first guy was in Bedford Mills that was selling an old mill for 3/4 million dollars and is going to retire to a smaller place with room for his work shop. The guy rebuilds classic bikes and was working on his truck but took a few minutes out to tell us about his new bike a 1935 Indian.

We talk about driving sportsters around Ontario and how rough it was driving small bikes and old ones at that. He is a customer of Motosport Plus in town so I am sure we’ll met again.

The second guy was a retired gent that drove across Canada on his moped bragging about getting 130 km to the gallon and taking 3 months to do so. Ok my hat is off to him I spent my preteen years in Germany and rode a moped when I was 13 and found it small. I remember I guy from High School in Borden running away from home on his moped and drove down the 400 back to Toronto to his Moms.

So next time my back gets a little tired driving around on my Ultra Glide Classic with rubber mounts., shocks and a nice comfy seat. I will remember these two driving with one purpose in mind.

Just to ride. Now if only the local bike clubs could adapt that mentality.