Road Pursuits

Thursday. After work.

The sun is out, with a bit of cloud cover and a pleasant temperature. No thunderstorms in sight, and the forecast is clear and dry all evening. What better time than to wrap up work for the day and meet up with a certain Carmine Red Cayman?

The brief? Go and check out "Norton Road" out Calabogie way. We'd spotted it before, but hadn't yet sampled that bit of Eastern Ontario / west-of-Ottawa pavement. Meeting up at a local mall parking lot, we make a rough plan to head out of Ottawa, avoiding the highway. It takes about 30-40 minutes to leave the dull straight roads behind and at least get into some gentle curves west of the city, so why not at least get off the truck-haven of the 417 and use the side roads to make our way?

After a quick pre-drive clean up, I'm ready. After all, you can't go out in public not looking your best, right? It's a perfect late afternoon for the Boxster. The top is down and will stay that way for the next four hours or so, as we do some exploring. I'm comfy and content as I click the mode selector into 'Sport Plus' and follow the lovely curves of the Cayman out into the wilds.

We stop to grab a snack and drink to be consumed somewhere along the way (no eating and drinking in the car!) and we push on into the Calabogie Highlands, leaving the arrow-straight roads and 90° turns of Ontario farmlands behind. There's a little bit of elevation out here, and plenty of small lakes and rivers, so the road becomes more sinuous, following the landscape more, rather than just being cut efficiently across it.

I have to say the road surface is impressively good - definitely New York State-worthy - with only the deficit of unpaved shoulders marring the quality. I keep a wary eye around the bends for gravel that an errand trailer wheel has kicked out inevitably right at the apex. It's not bad though, and I have no 'moments'. The road is smooth and grippy and even though my tires are at their end of life, they are way less noisy out here than in the city.

Interestingly, and perhaps counterintuitively, the Cayman is noisier inside than the Boxster. I mean, the engine is RIGHT THERE in the cabin with you in both cars, but in the convertible, at least with the top down, the sound escapes to the rear making it a much quieter ride. I would have expected that the wind noise in the convertible was greater than the engine noise in the coupé. Not so. I think the Cayman would be more tiring on longer trips.

As the sun sinks lower, dipping behind the trees, I wonder that my daytime running lights are still on and the full regular headlight beams have not auto-activated yet. I look ahead to my leader's non-illuminated taillights - same story for him. It seems a lot darker than I thought it should be for them to activate. Then I realize that I still have my sunglasses on. Oops!

We make the turn to head back towards Ottawa in this grand loop, and the last part of the drive is now definitely heading into darkness. It's giving me a chance to marvel at the excellent headlights. When the road curves a little more, you really get to see the auto-swivelling feature in action, and it is very good. The high-beams are simply superb, lighting the road up far ahead - a good thing given the several critters I've seen.

The pace is sedate, but pleasant, and now the darkness is deep. This far outside of the city there's very little in the way of light pollution and with the roof down I am treated to just an excellent view of the stars. You can't beat that - the cool night air and the Milky Way spread spectacularly above me. Superb.

We reconnect with Ottawa, the city glow masking the glorious night sky above. Time to wrap it up. After four-plus hours of delightful driving, I'm not fatigued, not bleary-eyed at all. The cool air felt good all evening and the Boxster was the right place to be. A quick remove-the-worst-of-the-bugs spray wash and I bid a good night to my Cayman companion, already looking forward to the next time out. 

Few better ways to spend an evening.

~ Luke