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COVID be damned! I got a media pass to attend a race in Grand Bend. About 3 hours west of Toronto. What a great 3 days away I had this past weekend.
Let me share it with you as this is the only real excitement I have had since COVID.
Day 1.... up at 5:00am and out the door at 6:00.
Arrive at the track at 9:00am.
My Media security meeting .....
"DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT SOCIAL DISTANCING!"
OK, this made me laugh. But, sure, I am game. No problem. We are easing out of this quarantine and ... well, people have forgotten already. I am just going to leave it at that.
Where do I go?
Over there ...
OK, so I drive there and almost end up on a hot track until the marshal jumped in front of the car screaming at me to stop.
OK, I told him I was instructed to go here!
He shook his head, mumbled something about the track idiots and told me where to park and where to go. Apparently, the "track management" does not run the races, they rent the track out so one hand doesn't always co-ordinate with the other.
I missed the "main guy" at this booth I was supposed to go to so I was told I had to wait till 1:00 pm to get on the track!
Riiiiiight. After driving 3 hours? Who are they kidding.
So, they quickly found someone to take me into the inside track! Enough said.
Met up with some great marshals, they pretty much let me go almost anywhere as long as I didn't try to kill myself by being stupid. I brought with my my 500mm and my 200-400mm so I had excellent reach and got some simply amazing images!
Got a huge interest on my photos. Sent out over 30 contact sheets and the sales have started coming in.
I shot 4 cards worth of pictures in Day 1. Why? Because I love to hear my shutter click. Missed it.
Insanity really, especially this week trying to sort through the images!
I meet some great people with some great dogs. Really enjoyed the first day. Windy, cool, almost perfect weather.
Went to my lodging, a B&B in Exeter. Wow, what a treat that was. The room was amazingly comfortable. Huge, 12' ceilings, an old victorian era home, renovated, very tastefully! The attention to detail by the owner is exemplary!
I had a hand written custom card presented to greet me. A chocolate bar, surprisingly one of my favorites, on my dresser and the owner and I hit it off very well. He is a real entrepreneur and we had a lot of stories and things in common. We chatted mostly about how COVID has killed businesses in Exeter.
Day 2
Up early, my breakfast was out of this world ... omelette, coffee, orange juice, home made muffins, toast and homemade jam... I was stuffed!
Day at the races was like Day 1. Full of photo taking, walked the Paddock and left business cards everywhere! Paid off in spades after the race. Tons of new contacts.
Best event of the day? I see this plane wobbling in the wind. Very low and coming towards me. Keeps coming lower, and lower, and lower and ..... fight or flight or empty your pants time!!!! ..... still coming down .... towards me. What do I do? Run for my life?
No, I take pictures. It LANDS ON THE TRACK!! Yes, the RACE TRACK!!! The race track believe it or not, is also, an AIRPORT! Planes land in between races. Well, now I have heard everything!!!
Drove home, went to get dinner, showered and crashed!
Day 3
The thrill of the day was seeing what was for breakfast! Lemon Cheese Cake French toast!!! 
Oh yea, that was something! With three huge slices of pea meal bacon. I died and went to heaven. Some fancy toast, coffee, fruits .... I didn't want to leave!
Same as Day 2. Only difference is it as a longer day and lots of checkered flags!
I pack and drive home. Stop at the enRoute to get something to eat.... you can't go in without a mask. Now, I don't care, fine. BACK TO THE CAR I PARKED A MILE AWAY on the other side of the building because they have NO SIGNS!!!! You have to go to the door, read 12 point type that tells you.... GO THAT WAY. Get there and they send you back.
Go inside!!!! NO CASH!!! I didn't care about this as I always use my phone, so who cares, but other people LEFT! Why? NO SIGNS.
Just STUPID COVID RULES almost like they do this on the fly, no pre-though! They genius of all the B S.... we all go in one door and share germs going out the same door. The place has 3 massive entry points!
Ate in the car, gassed up and on my way!
Spent the last 3 days working on pictures people wanted.
It was so nice to be out again, I can't tell you!!
Sample of images below!
Freebee.jpg 1.13MB
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HS---Mackay.jpg 1.29MB
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16-Steve-Kinghorn.jpg 257.16KB
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PANNING-SAMPLE.jpg 268.96KB
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Marshal-_2.jpg 568.95KB
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Airplane.jpg 520.64KB
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Marshal-_1.jpg 445.03KB
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Mustang.jpg 562.84KB
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HS---NIckerson.jpg 1.27MB
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16-Trevor-Dion.jpg 938.86KB
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This is the DINING ROOM!!
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My meal!
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And, the living room...
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