Mater lives just up the road

Meeting up with an old friend
Thames Centre, ON
August 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Today was a lousy day for a bike ride. I’m not a fan of heat and humidity, especially when they show up together.

But I went out anyway, because we never get enough days. That life thing.

And on the flip side, I think I may have found Mater chilling out in an old-farm-equipment boneyard not far from Thorndale. Lightning McQueen was nowhere to be found - I believe he may be on tour with the little forklift who installs his whitewall tires - but I’ve always had a soft spot for low, slow, and patina-covered, anyway.

The wannabe-Mater was parked amid a bunch of old equipment just sitting in a clearing beside an aggregate quarry, and as luck would have it, I needed some shade and water right as it appeared around a sweeping curve. Funny how that works.

I wasn’t here long, but these ancient machines stuck in my mind as I got back on the bike and continued pedalling through the countryside. These trucks were built right around the time the Greatest Generation headed off to war, and they’ve probably been oxidizing quietly into oblivion for as long as I’ve been alive.

And all it took was a few cranks of the pedals to get out and see them. We really are surrounded by wonders, and I’m rather surprised that I was so profoundly moved by a bunch of long-abandoned agricultural machines.

On second thought, maybe the ride wasn’t as miserable as I first thought. Maybe I need to keep looking for other slowly rusting gems hiding in plain sight.

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