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Brockville (Ontario) Drivers

— for those who like group drives —


Muddy Waters Café
#55 – Muddy Waters Café
– not quite the actual route –

Next Drive

Date: Wed. Oct. 30

#55 –Destination: Muddy Waters Café
Verona

Departing 1000 Islands Plaza, Section F, 10:00 a.m (sharp!)
(i.e. arrive no later than 9:45)

Return to a group-fav, the Muddy Waters Café.

The drivers hanker after at least one more drive before the fun-cars go into storage. Not to say that we can't drive our more practical vehicles on winter tires and have fun in the cold.

We can.

Still.

It admittedly isn't the same.

They want this. They hunger after this.

They need this.

It's happening.

Routes:

Temporary Notes

Upcoming Destinations
  1. I have heard rumblings about returning to St. Albert Cheese.

Permanent Notes

  • Suggestion: talk with your SO and inspect your calendar this very minute. It helps me to know if you're available or not. (I know: things change. That's normal. They change for me too.)
    • RSVPs optional but welcome. You know where to reach me!
  • Departure: we almost always leave from the 1000 Islands Plaza, section F, at 10:00 a.m. sharp. People have missed drives by arriving one minute late. Feel free to phone if this happens to you.
  • If you start with a full tank/battery, then the rest of us don't have to feel bad when we leave you behind at the fuelling station.
  • Sometimes, some of us reconvene after the drive back at the 1000 Islands Plaza Parking lot, and that has led, on occasion, to another coffee or even another meal out.

Ideas and suggestions, for venues or routes, always welcome. Contact me.

Let me know if you would like email updates.

Keep an eye here and on our Facebook page.

Join us.

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Drive 54
Drive #54 – Bastard Coffee House, Delta

Previous Drive

#54 – Bastard Coffee House, Delta

Wed. Oct. 23

The assembled multitudes (four of us) have taken quite a liking to the Bastard Coffee House in Delta.

Also, I constructed a 1.5 hour drive to a place a half hour away, a mix of hilly, curvy roads and longer straights on more major (secondary!) highways.

I liked it.

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MX-5 dawn

The Idea

Starting in June of 2022, Brockville Drivers exists simply for people who, like me (Charles T. Low), would like a group drive once in a while (cars, motorcycles, any road vehicle, really). In our short history to date, we have done shorter drives, longer drives, and no overnight trips (yet?).

Safety – the main thing will be safety, of course, completely on each driver's individual recognizance. This is not a club or any formal type of organization, the events not being sanctioned by any recognized body. The drives are nothing more than an offer to join others for an occasional motor excursion. I explicitly assume no liability whatsoever. I intend these, speaking only for myself, as 100% alcohol-free events.

Vehicles – there are no vehicular specifications. (I have said that I discourage unicycles, and yes, that is as humorous as I get.) We are tending to attract fun-vehicles, but ... come in whatever you like to drive!

Frequency – up to weekly in the summer, roughly monthly in the winter — no firm schedule.

Destinations – usually somewhere within 90-150 minutes outbound, shorter inbound, for lunch.

Routes – With help from other drivers, we have been finding back-roads routes, no major highways, and I have done my durndest to avoid badly bumpy roads, and strive mightily never to drive on gravel roads at all. Without pre-driving the routes, surprises can happen (and have done so) — all manageable so far. Road-condition websites (below) and Google-maps Street-View help immensely (if a bit tedious to wade through).

Starting point – we have been meeting informally, most often in the 1000 Islands Mall parking lot, between Gabriel Pizza and Staples, roughly between markers E and F.

NotificationContact me if and when you would like to be on a (very private) notification list. I will attempt to contact interested parties individually, once, and anything further will only be with your explicit permission. Notifications could be through email, or potentially through an email list service such as MailChimp (could be necessary as numbers grow). As of August 2023, we have Facebook group, and I share some posts with a Brockville events group.

Weather – most drives are rain or shine (although I do intend to be intelligent about that), without a rain-date unless explicitly specified.

Some of the restaurants require reservations, and it also helps in general if you RSVP as early as you are able.

Charles T. Low
Brockville, Ontario

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Drives

2024

  1. #32, MOM Restaurant, Verona, route, 4 vehicles, ~230 km, ~3.5 hours
  2. #33, Tue. Apr. 16, Goose and Gridiron, Merrickville, Outbound, ~1.5 hours, 97 km, Inbound, ~1.5 hours, 102 km
  3. #34, Wed. May 1, St. Andrews West, Quinn's Inn, Outbound 1, Outbound 2, Inbound, 250 km.
  4. #35, Sat. May 11, Verona, Muddy Waters Restaurant, Outbound, 1 h 39 min, 113 km, Inbound, 1 h 38 min, 118 km
  5. #36, Thu. May 16, Laverne's Eatery, Gananoque, Chit Chat Convenience (Lyn) for coffee, Outbound (really lovely, twisty run), Inbound, 178 km
  6. #37, Sun. May 26, Fall River Café, Maberly, ~3 hours driving, round-trip, ~220 km.
  7. #38, Thu. June 19, Embrun, Homestead Pub, outbound, 3+ hours of driving round trip, ~223 km
  8. #39, pop-up drive, Wed. June 19 St. Louis Bar & Grill, Perth, 4 cars, ~175 km
  9. #40, Tue. June 25, Au Vieux Duluth, Cornwall (lunch), The McIntosh, Morrisburg, coffee/desert, outbound (inbound extemporized), 5 cars, 232 km
  10. #41, Thu. July 4, The Opinicon at Chaffeys Lock, extemporized as the planned route proved unsuitable, 7 cars, 95 km on the outbound leg, home via Gananoque, 1000 Islands Parkway, Lyn ...
  11. #42, Howe Island, Outbound, Inbound, 4 cars, 5 people, slow waiting for ferries (so we talked), lunch at Husky, Joyceville Road and 401, ~200 km round-trip
  12. #43, Cornwall, Blue Anchor Bar & Grill, Outbound, (Inbound extemporized, similar), Mcintosh Inn, 4 cars, 241 km.
  13. #44, July 24, Cornwall's Pub, Rockport, 3 cars
  14. #45, July 26, Muddy Water's Restaurant, Verona, 4 cars
  15. $46, August 1, Rapid Valley Restaurant, Lansdowne, 3 cars
  16. #47, August 22, The Swan on the Rideau, Outbound, Inbound, 4 cars, 240 km
  17. #47.5, Sep. 2, pop-up to Village Bean Café, Merrickville, thru Jasper, home all the way west on Kitley 3 to #5 (then #8, etc.), 2 cars, 135 km, good drive
  18. #48, Sep. 5, Lockmaster's Taphouse, Smiths Falls, Outbound, Inbound, 6 cars, 7 people, about 228 km, 3.5 hours round trip
  19. #49, The Miller House, Lake on the Mountain, Prince Edward County, Outbound, Inbound (planned), Inbound, revised, disrupted (fanbelt, squirrels, but we got home), ~5.5 hours of driving, 434 km
  20. #50, Alexandria, Outbound, Inbound, 4 cars (it seems)
  21. #51, Redneck Bistro (busy!), Calabogie, Coutts Coffee, Perth, Outbound (Inbound more directly home), 5 cars, ~4.25 hours total driving, 304 km both legs
  22. #52, Goose & Gridiron, Merrickville, Outbound, Inbound, 4 cars, ~3.25 hours, 229 km
  23. Outbound (revised 2024-10-15), 1:43 h, 123 km
  24. #53, Homestead Pub, Embrun, McIntosh Inn, Morrisburg (apple pie!), Outbound (theoretical), 1:43 h, 123 km, Inbound, 1:43 h, 113 km
  25. #53b, Bastard Coffeehouse Pop-up drive, Oct. 21, straight there on 42, home along the near-mythical Opinicon Road among others (Marble Rock road, also delightful), 2 h, 140 km
  26. #54, Bastard Coffee House, Delta, four cars including one newcomer ("had the best time!") Outbound, 1:33 h, 108 km -extemporized return including lovely slow portions on Sherwood Springs Rd. and Halleck's Road W.

2023

  1. #14, Sat. Jan. 21, Almonte, route up fun but faulty (not shown), route back, 4 vehicles, ~300 km
  2. #15, Sat. Feb. 11, Coutts Coffee, route to Perth, 4 vehicles, ~170 km
  3. #16, Tue. May 9, Westport, Tangled Garden, 5 vehicles
  4. #17, Wed. May 24, Verona, Muddy Waters Restaurant, and Westport, Vanilla Beans Café and Creamery, 3 vehicles, ~250 km
  5. #18, Sun. June 11, Blue Anchor Pub & Grill (near Cornwall), Outbound, Inbound, 4 vehicles
  6. #19, Wed. July 7, Muddy Waters Restaurant, Verona, Ontario, Outbound, Inbound, 3 vehicles
  7. #20, Tue. July 18, Gananoque, Laverne's Eatery, pop-up drive, there on the Parkway, home more circuitously through Emery and Junetown, 4 vehicles
  8. #21, Sat. July 22, Fall River Café, Maberly, Antrim Truck Stop, Arnprior, Outbound, 7 vehicles
  9. #22, Wed. Aug. 2, The Swan on the Rideau, Outbound, (inbound on back roads through Kemptville, Oxford Mills, Bishops Mills, North Augusta, New Dublin), 8 vehicles (incl. 1 motorcycle), 10 people, 209 km round-trip
  10. #23, Wed. Aug. 9, Chaffey's Lock, The Opinicon, Ice Cream Shop, Outbound, Inbound, 5 cars, 6 people, ~200 km
  11. #24, Sun. Aug. 20, Muddy Waters (FB), Verona, Outbound, Inbound, 4 vehicles
  12. #25, Aug. 28, Carleton Place
  13. #26, WhiteFace, Lake Placid, NY
  14. #27, Fall River Café, Maberly (lunch) – Lanark – Coutts Coffee, Perth (coffee), Round Trip, 3 cars, ~235 km, ~3.5 hours driving
  15. #28, Melt Gallery, The Miller House, 2 cars, ~320 km
  16. #29, The Swan, Thu. Oct. 26, 4 cars, 4 people
  17. #30, Muddy Waters, Verona, Fri. Nov. 3
  18. #31, Nov. 30, Laverne's, Gananoque, Outbound, Inbound, 2 or 3 vehicles (complicated!), 162 km, ~2.75 hours driving

2022

  1. Sun. June 12; Gananoque, coffee, Tim Horton's, return, 2 cars, 2 people
  2. Sun. June 26; Kemptville (there and back), coffee, Tim Horton's, 2 cars, 3 people
  3. Sat. July 2; Smiths Falls, McDonald's (there and back), coffee, 4 cars & 1 motorcycle, 6 people
  4. Thu. July 7, Calabogie (there and back), Redneck Bistro, lunch, 6 vehicles, 6 people
  5. Thu. July 14, Manotick (there and back), The Swan on the Rideau, lunch
  6. Sat. July 23, Perth, light breakfast at Coutts Coffee Roastery and Café
  7. Sun. Aug. 07, Chaffey's Lock (there and back), lunch at The Opinicon, 9 vehicles, 13 people
  8. Mon. Aug. 22, St-Albert (Fromagerie at), there and back (legs one and two), 5 vehicles, 6 people.
  9. Sat. Sep. 17, Gananoque, Laverne's Eatery, 6 vehicles, 7 people.
  10. Fri. Oct. 14, Juniper Café, Kingston, Outbound, Inbound, 4 vehicles, 5 people.
  11. Sun. Oct. 23, Opinicon Road, lunch at Ferg's Cook House (Crosby), 3 vehicles, 4 people.
  12. Sat. Nov. 05, Bedford Road, Westport, actual route, snack at the Tangled Garden Café, 7 vehicles, 9 people
  13. Sun. Nov. 10, The Village Bean, Merrickville, route through Perth, 2 vehicles, ~150 km

Feel free to suggest dates, times, places of your own choosing (duration, distance, activity, frequency, etc.). Feel free to comment on the roads — looking for safe, fun and interesting, will not damage the vehicles or overly jostle the occupants. Feel free to comment on the durations and distances of the drives.

Starting with full fuel suggested; otherwise the group very easily gets separated from each other.

If the group would like a drive on a date when I am unavailable, then I will try to help to facilitate it, as able (and that has happened, and it went well).

Sunblock!

It has happened that some of us returned to the start-point, rather than head straight home, and that has led to some spontaneous and very enjoyable conversation with or without another restaurant patio-meal.

Attracting Participants

Feel free to comment on:

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Housekeeping

Non-rules

This is just a group of drivers going for drives, so no one has any explicit rules. Here however are a few useful ideas from formal driving clubs:

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MX-5 Dawn

Links

Route Resources

Road Conditions

Car Clubs

Several other wonderful local car clubs exist, their focus being elsewhere than on driving, to my knowledge. I hope that I'm not stepping on anyone's toes, and please let me know, if so. So far, the Brockville Drivers initiative seems to have found a very receptive audience!

This is a very partial list (suggestions welcome):

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Brockville Drivers © 2022-2023 ctLow – Brockville, Ontario
Privacy: this webpage itself does no tracking or information-sharing.
#ctLow #CharlesTLow #ctLowDrives #BrockvilleDrivers -posted: 2022-07-13 -updated: 2024-10-29