13th Annual Birthday Party
Silver Lake, Ontario
June 22 & 23, 1996
text and HTML by Jeff Berg, images by Jeff Berg except where credited otherwise
Every June members of the Ottawa Valley Land Rovers (OVLR) gather to celebrate the birth of the organization and to worship the primary reason for the group's existence... the spectacular British marque... the "Best 4x4xFAR"... Land-Rover. This worship ritual takes an unusual form. The faithful, take their Rovers, objects of much love and devotion, and put them through a rugged series of tasks and tortures that would surely destroy a lesser vehicle. And that's only the light off road course.
When the going gets tough, the tough get Land-Rover. All in a days play at the OVLR Birthday Party.
When we're not out testing the vehicles, the gang enjoys meeting with each other to show off our restorations... ingenious repairs... and custom features. We gather new ideas to improve our vehicles... or in some cases ways to just keep them mobile. Of course there's more to it than that. During the event we make new friends and reacquaint ourselves with old ones... sit around campfires and rehash Monty Python routines... enjoy a beer or two. In short, it's two days of fun for all who attend-with some adventurous driving as a kicker.
Andrew Finlayson and Peter Gaby discuss details. Al Richer, leaning on Churchill, can be seen doing the same thing in the background.
Spencer Norcross queries Phil Tusinski about his faux Camel Trophy Series III.
I'd heard stories about previous events on the Land Rover Owner Mailing list and from Dixon Kenner, who I met the previous year at the Rover Owners Association of Virginia's Mid-Atlantic Rallye. From these stories, and my own experiences at two Mid-Atlantic Rallyes, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. As it turned out, I was wrong.
As you've no doubt already gathered, I'm proud to associate myself with this group of Land-Rover fanatics, and I was excited to leave Connecticut to set off for Ottawa and attend my first Birthday Party...
©1997, Jeffrey A. Berg and Ottawa Valley Land Rovers
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