dltang
Very Handy Member
Part 2 the Story Continues.
While parked up front and waiting for my husband from the general parking, I started cleaning up my baby. I couldn’t hardly have it entered in a custom paint contest while it was dirty now could I? Many people started flocking around and all the questions and conversation were great. Spyder owners are a fantastic bunch. About this time Mrs. BC1540 now know as pinkwidow I believe, aka Carol, came over and introduced herself. She was great. We ended up spending a lot of time with Brad and Carol before all was said and done. We saw Lamonster pull in and went over and introduced ourselves to him, what a nice guy. He was like a celebrity, many people checking out his mods. Also, one of the advantages of having a custom Spyder and having already posted the photos, many people knew who I was. Aluvatar, aka Jeremy and his wife Alice came up and introduced themselves as well. What great folks, we had dinner with them and lots of great conversation. I just kept meeting people. Spyder-dude, Spydergramps, flyjake, jeuckler and his wife Barb, and so many more.
Finally, we decided it was time to go into the factory for the tour. We had spent so much time outside socializing that we missed out on the cookies and treats they had laid out for us. I ended up eating an apple prior to going into the factory. While inside, Marc from SpyderTalk.com came up and handed out nametags. That was a nice touch. It made it easy to identify other forum members. Most of us ended up in a group together for the tour. We were one of the last groups to go through and it was taking forever. That is one place they could use improvement. I don’t have specific ideas but it just took too long. I left early and went out and did the custom video of all the Spyders. There were a lot less people milling around and it made it easier. Most of the crowd had already been bused over to the BBQ. I waited for my husband who finished the whole tour. Most of the group that we had gone in with left the tour early to go get lunch. But, being the good wife that I am, I waited for my wonderful husband. I talked to a lot of onlookers just walking around. By this time I was very hungry though. A few of the employees at the gate offered me some of their cookies, everyone was so nice. While I was out there waiting, one of the BRP employees came up to me and gave me what I will say is the ultimate compliment on my Spyder paint job. He told me, that is a very nice thing you are doing with our product. I wish I had gotten his name.
Finally we boarded the bus for the BBQ, there was hardly any food left by this time. I ate light because I knew dinner was only a couple of hours away and I didn’t want to fill up. If I had only known. (You’ll understand soon) The pork was good and the cake was great. The presentations that went with lunch were not too long and that made it easy to sit through. The awards were fantastic, more than any of us expected. Winners getting $1000.00 in accessory money. 2nd & 3rd place getting $500.00. I never would have guessed the prizes would be so generous. I don’t know for sure but I have decided that my Spyder was in 4th place and not too far out of the running. LOL. The last thing after the BBQ was that we all got in line to shake hands with Marc and Jose and receive our commemorative pins and our certificates for a free tank of gas and our gift bags. Of course the lines were long and it gave us time to really get to talk with jeuckler aka John and his wife Barb. They are really nice people and I wish we had gotten to spend more time with them. So many people and so little time.
The BBQ had ended and we all got bused back to our Spyders. Now it gets fun. Who knows how to get to the Chateau Bromont? No one really had a clue. Okay, we have GPS; we’ll just enter the address. Not a problem. Our first stop was across the street for free gas though for many that had to fill their tank. Brian and I didn’t have to fill until the morning so we just went along so we could all ride in a group. There would be the two of us, Duane (our traveling companion) Brad and Carol, Jeremy and Alice, Shawn (spyder-dude), Tom (spydergramps) and Bill (nexus) all traveling back to the hotel together. Everyone was fueled up and now we were ready to go.
As many of you may know, when you program a GPS for the shortest route, that is what you get, regardless of where it may take you. When the first road we were sent on was a dirt road, I knew we were in for an adventure. Luckily it was a very good dirt road and it did come out to the main road we were looking for. It was actually a very beautiful ride and very enjoyable. We saw some great countryside and we did get to the hotel. That is all that counts. And it gave us all a good reason to pick on my husband for a while. All we had to do now was check in and get cleaned up for dinner. The saga will continue in part 3.
While parked up front and waiting for my husband from the general parking, I started cleaning up my baby. I couldn’t hardly have it entered in a custom paint contest while it was dirty now could I? Many people started flocking around and all the questions and conversation were great. Spyder owners are a fantastic bunch. About this time Mrs. BC1540 now know as pinkwidow I believe, aka Carol, came over and introduced herself. She was great. We ended up spending a lot of time with Brad and Carol before all was said and done. We saw Lamonster pull in and went over and introduced ourselves to him, what a nice guy. He was like a celebrity, many people checking out his mods. Also, one of the advantages of having a custom Spyder and having already posted the photos, many people knew who I was. Aluvatar, aka Jeremy and his wife Alice came up and introduced themselves as well. What great folks, we had dinner with them and lots of great conversation. I just kept meeting people. Spyder-dude, Spydergramps, flyjake, jeuckler and his wife Barb, and so many more.
Finally, we decided it was time to go into the factory for the tour. We had spent so much time outside socializing that we missed out on the cookies and treats they had laid out for us. I ended up eating an apple prior to going into the factory. While inside, Marc from SpyderTalk.com came up and handed out nametags. That was a nice touch. It made it easy to identify other forum members. Most of us ended up in a group together for the tour. We were one of the last groups to go through and it was taking forever. That is one place they could use improvement. I don’t have specific ideas but it just took too long. I left early and went out and did the custom video of all the Spyders. There were a lot less people milling around and it made it easier. Most of the crowd had already been bused over to the BBQ. I waited for my husband who finished the whole tour. Most of the group that we had gone in with left the tour early to go get lunch. But, being the good wife that I am, I waited for my wonderful husband. I talked to a lot of onlookers just walking around. By this time I was very hungry though. A few of the employees at the gate offered me some of their cookies, everyone was so nice. While I was out there waiting, one of the BRP employees came up to me and gave me what I will say is the ultimate compliment on my Spyder paint job. He told me, that is a very nice thing you are doing with our product. I wish I had gotten his name.
Finally we boarded the bus for the BBQ, there was hardly any food left by this time. I ate light because I knew dinner was only a couple of hours away and I didn’t want to fill up. If I had only known. (You’ll understand soon) The pork was good and the cake was great. The presentations that went with lunch were not too long and that made it easy to sit through. The awards were fantastic, more than any of us expected. Winners getting $1000.00 in accessory money. 2nd & 3rd place getting $500.00. I never would have guessed the prizes would be so generous. I don’t know for sure but I have decided that my Spyder was in 4th place and not too far out of the running. LOL. The last thing after the BBQ was that we all got in line to shake hands with Marc and Jose and receive our commemorative pins and our certificates for a free tank of gas and our gift bags. Of course the lines were long and it gave us time to really get to talk with jeuckler aka John and his wife Barb. They are really nice people and I wish we had gotten to spend more time with them. So many people and so little time.
The BBQ had ended and we all got bused back to our Spyders. Now it gets fun. Who knows how to get to the Chateau Bromont? No one really had a clue. Okay, we have GPS; we’ll just enter the address. Not a problem. Our first stop was across the street for free gas though for many that had to fill their tank. Brian and I didn’t have to fill until the morning so we just went along so we could all ride in a group. There would be the two of us, Duane (our traveling companion) Brad and Carol, Jeremy and Alice, Shawn (spyder-dude), Tom (spydergramps) and Bill (nexus) all traveling back to the hotel together. Everyone was fueled up and now we were ready to go.
As many of you may know, when you program a GPS for the shortest route, that is what you get, regardless of where it may take you. When the first road we were sent on was a dirt road, I knew we were in for an adventure. Luckily it was a very good dirt road and it did come out to the main road we were looking for. It was actually a very beautiful ride and very enjoyable. We saw some great countryside and we did get to the hotel. That is all that counts. And it gave us all a good reason to pick on my husband for a while. All we had to do now was check in and get cleaned up for dinner. The saga will continue in part 3.
