[RHClarke]

It was a busy weekend for the Hammond crew. Saturday was spent in La Belle Province at the Sorel Car show and shine (losts of show, but not too much in the way of soleil). The car show included a lot of classic American muscle cars, but we stopped by to visit a few members of the "Blue Ball Express" to discuss things CMP and to explore the possibility of a repeat visit by the Express next summer to Hammond.

After walking the grounds, we made our way to the back of the lot in the tree line. There we found the folks we were seeking out. We got a good look at Gerry Boucher's well restored CMP truck. Interestingly, his truck sported some tires made by Gateway. They are commercial tires but look the part. Gerry mentioned that he was unable to find other Gateway tires and had to go to Speciality Tire to get a sprare 10.50 X 16.

After drooling over the various CMPs and Jeeps, we made our way to the 3ieme Batterie d'Artillerie de Montreal and met with CWO (ret) Gilles Aubé and his 25 Pounder Gun Detachment. After a tour of the Gun/Howitzer, Bob became an Honourary 3rd Battery Gunner when he fired his first 25 Pounder blank round.
It took the rest of the day for Bob to loose the SEG, and he was still smiling when we hit the road back to Hammond. We made a quick stop into the famous Bar B Barn in Montreal's west end. After stuffing ourselves silly, we made for Ottawa.

On Sunday, Bob and Grant cleaned out the barn and did some maintenance on the tractor. Today was moving day. We moved some gravel around Bob's driveway and filled in our versions of Lakes Ontario and Erie near the barn. Joyce must have felt sorry for us and ordered us to sit down to a great lunch.

Next we moved Bob's antique tractor to the front of the barn and then moved his shelter to the side of the barn next to the Prototype shelter. Bob moved his "Marina" CMP into the shelter and buttoned it up for the winter. After that fun, we extracted a few studs from a HUP front drum. The first one came out with some damage to the threads that left us in a bit of a quandry. Grant's sharp eyes noticed that there were thin locking wires retaining the spacers surrounding the studs. After they were extracted, stud number two came out with no damage. It will be making its way westward tomorrow to fill a special order.

It was a full weekend and we took advantage of the so-so weather to get things organized before the fall floods. There is still a lot to do including: more pothole filling, tree cutting, wood splitting, seacan moving, and of course CMP restoration projects. Ain't life grand???

Pic One: Gateway tires? Anyone know this manufacturer?
Pic Two: Bob and Gerry getting the low down on Gerry's truck.
Pic Three: Artilleur Bob Carriere just before "popping his cherry".