The size of this initial page is about 150K, and the full size images average approximately 60-70K each.
1998 Toronto DML Meet - Saturday November 21, 1998
Here's how this works... I'll show you a small thumbnail of each picture, probably along with
some blabbing about it. There are two versions of each picture; one is a plain ol' picture, but
with the other I've added some labels. In the "labeled" version, yellow text identifies
the owner of each truck, and red text identifies people. If a label isn't clear as to
what person it goes to, I've drawn a (red) line from the label to the person.
Clicking on a thumbnail will bring up the labeled picture. If you'd like to see the version
without all the text and labels, click on the "*" to the right of
the picture.
The plan was to meet in the Playdium parking lot
(99 Rathburn Rd. West, Mississauga) at 9:30am.
Click here to see the original
event profile
that Norah posted.
(Maps from www.mapquest.com and
www.playdium.com.)
Jason & Norah Bleazard were the first to arrive in Norah's '98 4x4 V8, followed by myself
in my '96 4x2 V8, Bob and Dave Tom in Bob's '97 4x2 V8, then Randy Drew in his '97 4x2 V6.
Shortly after that, Eddie and Lisa Estoppey rolled up in Eddie's lowered blue '97
4x2 V6 with a Xenon ground effects kit.
After anywhere from a half an hour to forty-five minutes of talkin' Daks, checkin'
out Daks, etc. we were all pretty cold. The temperature hovered just barely over
freezing (it even started to snow ever so slightly a couple of times), and there was an
"artic wind" (as Jason later put it). We headed across the street to a Starbucks
for coffee, hot chocolate, and anything else we could find to bring feeling back into our
extremeties. :-)
After warming up, we headed back outside where those who had 'em smoked 'em, and we
stood around talking some more. After a couple of minutes, someone walked out of Starbucks,
and there was a huge blast of hot air from inside, which is about when everyone noticed that
they were freezing again. :-) So, it was back across the street to the nice warm
Playdium, where we had more wild and crazy adventures, not the least of which was
rescuing Randy's AWOL pager from the bowels of the virtual roller coaster.
After a fun filled hour or so in the Playdium, we headed back outside to talk
and freeze some more. :-) Bob wasn't feeling so good due to his cold, so at this point, he and Dave
said their goodbyes and headed home. The rest of us saddled up and headed out to Jack Astors,
with Eddie and Lisa in the lead. Jason took this opportunity to showcase the talents of
Norah's 4x4 (the only one in the bunch) by climbing the biggest hill he could find. Of course,
since this was Toronto (Mississauga), the biggest hill happened to be the curb. Still, it was
more than any of the rest of us 4x2'ers dared to attempt... :-)
After a small detour ;-), we found the restauraunt and headed inside, while resolving
to have the next DML meet during the summertime. :-) Next time, we'll have to
pick a location which is further away from the meet site; being in a Dak caravan was
pretty cool, but it didn't last very long...
When we got inside, we discovered that all the tables were covered with brown paper
"tablecloths" and equipped with crayons. So of course, we had to use 'em
to announce that "The DML was here"... :-) Eddie drew it, and we all
signed it. Except for the green tires, that Dak looks suspiciously like Eddies... Oh
well, we'll let that slide... :-) It was so cool that I had to take it home; its hanging on
my wall now, where I see it every day and wonder when the next DML meet will be.
All good things must come to an end, and this was it... We headed out to the parking lot,
posed for a couple more pictures, talked some more, became frozen again, and then headed home.
Although most of us had never met before, this DML meet was more like a family reunion than
meeting perfect strangers. There was an instant bonding, and it got even stronger as
the day progressed, to the point where I had a hard time leaving; I felt as if I was losing
my best friends... But, I get to talk to 'em every day on the DML, and I know we'll meet
again someday. (Hopefully sooner than later!)
I suppose some of you reading this will think it rather strange to drive
for hours just to stand around in a freezing parking lot with people you barely know
and look at trucks... Your loss. :-) I guess if you have to ask why, you wouldn't
understand...
We weren't even back 3 or 4 days when we started planning the next meet! Jason had the
thought of a DML camping trip to Algonquin, Norah mentioned it to the DML, and Eddie, Randy, and I
almost instantly jumped on it with "me too's"! :-) I'm not sure what's going
to happen with that, but I do know that one way or another, one place or another, we will
get back together again. :-) If you're interested, keep a lookout for information or
announcements on the DML and/or the
DML Event Profiles.
- The people that attended the 1998 Toronto Meet were:
- Eddie Estoppey (DakGts@MoparEd.com)
- Jason Bleazard (jbleazard@home.com)
- Norah Bleazard (nbleazard@home.com)
- Randy Drew (FonMan@ican.net)
- Jon Steiger (jon@dakota-truck.net)
- Bob Tom (tigers@bserv.com) & his son Dave
The photos of this meet were taken by Bob, Jason, Norah, and myself.
If you find any errors, please let me know.
Jon Steiger jon@dakota-truck.net
December 4, 1998
Back to the DML Home Page
Jon N. Steiger / stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu / SUNY College at Fredonia
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