SBCregal

get an astro/safari. its about as trucklike a van as you'll get. its no soccer-mom grocery getter thats for sure. tows 5500lbs, seats 8, rwd and solid. you'll be able to find a real nice one for that kinda money too. ryan

thanks for the tips guy, but it looks like the trip isnt going to happen. looking for somewhere else to head for the morning. gonna head out to dunnville or port maitland area. it'd be nice to get into some perch or walleye somewhere for a nice feed. ryan

if it were a friday or something else the 407 would be well worth it. the worst part of the trip always tends to be the 400 from the 401 to the split just north of barrie. the august long weekend we left oakville at 230, took the 407 and hit the 400 at 3 on the dot. it took us over 1.5 hrs to get from 407/400 to the split.. and from there it was smooth sailing. on a saturday morning though i wouldnt be taking the 407, but i'd go qew/403 to 401, avoiding the 427...thats just my personal preference though. last few times i've been on the 427 there was plenty of construction. where are you coming from, the qew through burlington and oakville gets backed up all the time, even weekends...theres a bunch of construction along there and people forget how to drive when the lines on the road are orange. ryan if you're coming from the west you could take hwy 6 up to the 401 and take that across to the 400, avoiding burlington/oakville/mississauga altogether.... its the way we tend to go when we head north from burlington.

hey everyone, we're headed to the toronto islands tomorrow with some friends and their kids, they are going to centerville with the kids and we're tagging along. i was wondering how the fishing is out there this time of year. i know earlier in the year it is good for pike but i was wondering if it'd be worth dragging a small amount of gear out with us tomorrow, maybe sneak away from centerville for a bit and do some fishing. chances are i'll take something along, i just dont wanna drag it around all day if theres really no point. any tips/pointers for the area? ryan

i'd worry about what other parts are gonna get eaten if you replace it with a metal gear. there has to be an underlying problem that is wiping out the gear.

i was gonna say, delivery jobs are great. i did it as a second job for far ages actually enjoyed it. the nice part about it is that most of them pay cash at the end of the night, so its cash money, and being paid nightly really helps with getting through the week. good luck, ryan

Joey, we were actually heading out on the boat and saw you two pull away from the cabin and go around the campsite. we were in site 1 i believe it was, on the left side of the road on the way towards the washrooms, we were in a jayco tent trailer and green gmc safari van. I actually saw you two a couple of times, that time and once when we were coming in and you were heading out. guess thats just the way it goes. i was the guy with the big long beard/goatee. ryan

i fix cars. licensed recently but in the trade for about a decade.

so, we spent the weekend up at lakair this past weekend. first, i must say that its a real nice place and the people there are fantastic. we like it so much that i called him again today to book a campsite for the labour day weekend on to the fishing...or lack thereof. having never fished the area before we started drifting alongside weedbeds, jenn fished worms while i chucked just about everything in the box with no results. we tried trolling deep channels...nothing, trolling weed edges...nada. at least we werent the only ones not catching up there, seemed to be pretty tough go for most people. joey and paul were up there but it seemed the timing was off to get a chance to say hi. oh well...hopefully we have better luck in a few weeks. at least i know now what DOESNT work! ryan

im at lakair right now, sitting on a rock down by the marina. the water is down at least 3 feet and the fishing seems to be tough. the area is fantastic and the people here are great. we've been marking plenty of fish, just cant get any into the boat. hope to change that this afternoon and evening. looks like theres plenty of spots you could get to with the kayak, just be careful of the bigger boats that go by.

hey everybody, in about an hr or so we'll be fighting the holiday weekend traffic up the 400 to Lakair for the first time. hope to post a report when we get back. ryan

dont worry about it man, if they dont like it...they dont have to get it on their arm. its badass

there are service kits for when you do tires. they are a seal, retaining nut and new valve cap. we put a new one on every time we do a set of tires. for what its worth, 3 months is WAY to long between checking your tire pressures. most owners manuals (and common sense) say that you should check your tires at each fillup. being too busy to check your tire pressures is a pretty lame excuse if you ask me, your safety, and perhaps more importantly, the safety of everybody else on the road depend on your vehicle being safe. it takes 30 seconds to check 4 tires and not much longer to add air if necessary. being a mechanic, im responsible to let you know of things i see when the car is in my bay for a half hr. the rest of the time its the owners issue. i am a mechanic...im not gonna jump all over you for thinking that way though. its a conversation ive had too many times in the past. when we tell people that they need work on their car, we're ripoff artists, when we dont tell people whats wrong with their cars, we arent doing our job...its lose/lose. oh well. ryan

thank the ford explorer/firestone tires fiasco for the mandatory TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) on the new cars. at the shop, we've replaced tons of them. using the caps that come with them helps. *I* think that the problem is that people never unscrew them at all until the light comes on (which could take years). 45 bucks for on is pretty cheap, some of the european luxury cars are even more. the way i look at it, if you arent responsible enough to check your tire pressures regularly (i check mine weekly) you shouldnt be behind the wheel of the car. all these drivers aids, like blind spot warning systems, TPMS, adaptive cruise control, backup assist, parallel park assist etc, are just dumbing down the driving public, and are nothing but a bad idea. we already have enough people that dont belong on the roads. ryan

thats going to be a killer tat. ...oh....and nice fish!

emily provincial park in omemee. there is camping at the provincial park, and just outside the park there are boat rentals. right at the south end of pigeon lake. ryan

if thats the case, maybe you shouldnt be traveling as fast as you possibly can. glad everybody turned out okay. ryan

what i cant believe is that people think things like vandalism and car breakins deserve priority from the police. i wonder how these people would react if they were in a REAL emergency, and the cops couldnt make it because they were chasing a kid with some spraypaint.

a draw test isnt normally something you do after you do a job like that. at least, *I* havent seen anybody do it (been in the trade 10 or so years now). these things happen, its how its handled after the fact that makes the difference. with mechanics, as with all people... mistakes happen. glad everything worked out, and that you got taken care of. not everybody is out to rip people off ryan

have you considered a crew/quad cab pickup? any 1/2 ton would be more than enough truck and probably a little more capable offroad than most suvs

i was there last week and im PRETTY sure there was shimano gear there. we did go to 3 different stores that day so i may be confused....damn this heat. ryan

problems with getting ripped off on windows, movers, garage door guys, etc etc can USUALLY be avoided by doing your homework. do your research, ask the right questions and get multiple quotes on things and you'll find it much easier to find someone not out to rip you off. if you go with the cheapest quote you find, theres normally a reason. i dont really feel sorry for anyone who claims to get ripped off because they didnt spend a bit of time educating themselves on what they're spending money on. people will spend all sorts of time on the internet when it comes to spending a grand on a tv, but will hire the guy with the cheapest quote to put 10k worth of windows into a house? cmon. of course, this rant has little to do with the HST, but more to do with the people who think every tradesman/mechanic/shopowner is a ripoff artist. ryan

the mechanic would've had to disconnect the battery to do the starter. make sure he tightened it back up properly. other than that, this weather really is hard on batteries, we had 3 cars towed in today where the battery up and quit on them. 40c ABOVE 0 is just as harmful to batteries as 40c BELOW 0 is. ryan

i heard on the 4 oclock news on the way home that a helicopter has spotted a man fitting the description of the missing son. hopefully everything turns out well.

quite true john.