Mystery Tour It was a dark and stormy morning, so despite good advertising and organization, this year’s Mystery Tour just couldn’t draw the numbers it had hoped for. Though this no doubt disappointed the Eastern Ontario HOG Chapter organizers, the day turned out wonderfully for those of us that braved the cold rain anyway. Ok, so maybe we cheated a bit. Instead of riding all the way up to the starting point at Capone’s restaurant just to have to ride past home again, we drove. That way we were able to stay warm and run a few errands before starting the ride from North Gower instead. It took a while for the weather to finally change, but the sun felt good when it did come out. We enjoyed the mini-games at the two designated tour stops (in Burrit’s Rapids and in Perth). Since we fared well at the ring toss and bike mini-golf, we won extra tickets for the raffle waiting for us back at Capone’s. The included lunch was a bit cold when we finally finished the official tour, but fortunately we had stopped at Tim Horton’s back in Perth. Door prizes with our names on them were waiting for us at the prize table in the back parking lot of Capone’s, including a Heart and Stroke foundation prize pack and a battery-less flashlight. The raffle prizes also forced us to be in a constant state of anticipation. To win these, you were able to put your tickets toward any package you wanted. They were all pretty darned good, valued at hundreds of dollars each, so we had at least one ticket for each prize. Then we split our halves of the tickets amongst ourselves because there were too many numbers for one person to keep track of. We were feeling pretty down after the winning numbers for each package were announced, and none were ours. Finally, on the very last draw, Andrew’s number got called. We won an array of gift certificates, a deluxe BBQ set, and quality steak knives. Not bad! We divvied the loot amongst ourselves and continued the day feeling smug, even if we didn’t win the automatic pool cleaner or hot air balloon ride. Perhaps the HOG chapter may have to rethink the format of their charity event to attract more riders, or perhaps it was just the weather. But either way, they did a great job with this year’s Mystery Tour.
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