Thursday morning 6 AM with suitcase, cameras and some eats I headed east on the Yellowhead Highway to Russell, Manitoba. Then continued southeast on the Turkey Trail (Manitoba Hyw #45) to Hyw #357 about two kilometers south of Erickson. I did stop at Crawford Lake, adjacent to the Turkey trail near Sandy Lake, Crawford was one of the five lakes I studied as part of my Masters thesis project. Next I turned on to Highway #357 passing through Mountain Road which joins up with #5 some 15 kilometers north of Neepawa.The road through Mountain Road area is a sportscar maveens dream, fast curves, continual changes in elevation, great scenery ending with a beautiful series of sweeping cuves in which you decend some 700 feet to the floor of glacial Lake Agazzi. Then back on the Yellowhead at Neepawa, I drove east through the original home of the Klu Klux clan in western Canada, Gladstone. On to Winnipeg, and I finally reached Pinawa just after 6:30 CST. Unfortunately I missed the golf tourment but enjoyed a great social held at the Pinawa Golf Club Thursday evening -nice course!

Friday all 79 registrant were greeted with heavy rain lasting until late in the afternoon! The organizers of Rendezvous 2008 provided an excellent set of tours - one to Seven Sisters Falls and the Hydro plant; another to the Whiteshell Provincial Park to view petroforms - native symbols laid out by placing large stones which represent various animals; and these sites serve as doorways to others worlds. In-town tours included visits to gardens and Wolfstone Pottery. Friday night was capped off by Dyrk Bolger's presentation on the Targa Newfoundland. As a novice to this event, Dyrk and his co-driver Terry finished third overall. The video was evidence of what a high speed event this is; and for me it confirmed both Newfoundland and Saskatchewan have the worst secondary roads in Canada!

British car owners attending Rendezvous were from Wisconsin (3), Minnesota (22), North Dakota (6), Ontario (2), Manitoba (45), and me of course from Saskatchewan (1).

On Saturday the fun was front and centre. In the morning a Funkhana was staged, one had to garage his car, then the co-driver tossed a water filled balloon you were to catch -few did. At the next stop a bowl of water was placed on the bonnet -no spilling or points were lost; next either the co-driver or driver tried navigating a r/c Mini in a figure 8 around the beer tins - this was really fun to watch. On to the final gate where you had to whistle within 30 seconds of eating a salty soda cracker- many a dash and windscreen were covered in cracker particles!

In the afternoon the major car show was staged and run concurrently was the Pit Stop Challenge. Crew members had to inflate a tyre, apply nuts to bolts, the bolts were anchored on a board (usually given to the ladies on the team); drink a soda pop without pause; torque spark plugs and set the leads in the correct firing order; and finally receive your lollypop and sprint to the finishing line - there were some great moves by some members of the various crews.

The day concluded with a super banquet and various awards - the trophies were handmade, a tradition that goes back 18 years to the beginning of Rendezvous - actually more surprising to me my 4/4 came away with the Best of all other British Cars with other marque awards going to Healeys, MGs, Minis and Triumphs.

This was my first time to Rendezvous I was very impressed with the organization, the fellowship, great food, and the beautiful setting - I'm looking forward to attending the next one. Also it was great to return to my home province with it's beautiful scenery and great driving roads!

Sunday I was on the road at 5:30 AM, and stopped at Winnipeg to breakfast with my best man.Between Broadview and Regina the 4/4 and I enjoyed a blinding rainstorm (apparently there was a torando warning for this area) concluding the 1300 mile trip about 5 PM in sunny Saskatoon.

EAD