By Jason Okolisan
The annual Halton Hills Tour has become the traditional first cruise of the year and a great way to kick-off the driving season. In the same format as last year, we started the event with a Joint East/West Meeting at Montana’s in Milton. The date was Saturday May 10 and we were fortunate to have a beautiful day – sunny and warm with a breeze.
The Halton Hills Tour has a big turnout due to its central location, relatively short duration and being the first cruise of the year, everyone is eager to get out for a drive. Last year we had 34 cars and this year 31 registered. We ended up with 26 cars including a Porsche, Subaru and two Corvettes joining our Zeds. This is a huge group to organize and it’s impossible to keep this many cars together so like last year, we split into three groups keeping a five minute gap between to give some space on the roads.
I wanted to ensure a smooth event so I pre-drove the entire route the week prior to check the condition of the roads. All the roads were paved and in good or fair/acceptable condition. The course was 138 km, 2.75 hours driving time and flowed well. I felt comfortable and familiar with the route so I was confident to lead the first group.
Erle’s “Green Machine” was in the shop for repair so he joined me as my navigator. Erle was eager to try his new Garmin GPS but unfortunately the devise was having problems following the route via Mapquest. We were preoccupied with the troublesome Garmin and as a result, I turned off 15th Sideroad too early – so we had to take the 401 to Campbellville. I feel bad that I led my group off course on the first leg of the tour.
At least the other two groups did the entire route as planned except for the Cheltenham Badlands – which only group one saw. The other two groups stopped at Tim Horton’s instead. In the end, everyone got to drive Forks of the Credit (in both directions) which was the best road of the day. Most of us ended the tour with drinks at Bistro Riviere in Erin.
Overall, I’m happy with how the tour flowed and relieved to have this one under my belt. I do enjoy the tours but tend to get anxious about Halton Hills because it’s become my event to organize and it’s a big undertaking to coordinate that many people and cars. I was shown appreciation by the group so I feel good that everyone enjoyed this fun afternoon cruise.
I’d like to thank the group leaders Dan, Wes, Rajinda, Mauricio and Eric. Thanks also to my co-pilot Erle who is determined to work out the bugs with Mapquest to GPS for future tours. For this tour in early May, it was nice to see some tops down and everyone enjoying a spirited drive in the countryside and the fellowship of the club.
