the SNO adventure begins

Probably Katrina didn't want this much "adventure."

The plan was to rendezvous at Lora and Phil's, pile everything into the truck, and start north. First stop Louise and Geoff's for brunch. Next stop: Sudbury. We'd check into the hotel, stand in front of The Big Nickel (with our DDO t-shirts), find some dinner, and then meet up with Gord at the hotel for a SNO LAB briefing.

While Sharmin, Phil, and I were enjoying breakfast cake (made by Lora), and pots of coffee, Katrina took to the highway from mid-town. Then Phil received a bad-news BBM: Katrina's van had a flat tire! Oh no. She had already rung up CAA to crawl under the van to release the spare and swap it on a rainy, drizzly day. Half-an-hour before they'd get to her location on the DVP. We read the paper, criticised Torontonians for wasting electricity, and watched NASA TV. Sharmin, of course, started photo documenting everything.

Another message arrived Phil's Blackberry around 9:30AM: the spare tire was "fracked." Oh oh. Now the tow truck guy had to switch to plan B. He hooked up the wheel-lift under the rear axle and hauled the van to Lora and Phil's. Meanwhile, she put Fred on call. He showed up in short order with rain coat and tools.

We said our goodbyes to Lora and Fred, scratched Skeena, and jumped in the truck. On the road, at last.