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7:00 am – Arriving at La Roadster Show at the Pomona Fairplex. Following Chick Koszis in his sweet 55 T bird.
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Some of our Road Tour members filing in.
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Passed the HAMB group on our way in. Paul & Dorothy went back later to say hello and got a delicious homemade cookie.
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Took these for our good friend, John Adams.
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Bill Story’s 56 Ford Longroof (wagon). On the Road Tour from San Antonio to Pomona Bill was driving a ’32 Ford roadster (topless). He lives in Pomona so went home and switched the ’32 for this GORGEOUS car. Modifications galore and extremely well done. It’s for sale – we can get in touch with Bill if you want more information.
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Bill Story’s ’56 wagon – Note the modified bumper bead line around the exhaust, the body line around the license plate.
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Engine compartment of Bill’s ’56 wagon.
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Dave Schaub is driving this ’32 Roadster 49 states in 7 days and all to benefit Ronald McDonald House! To sponsor or to find out more about him, check out his website at www.49in7.com
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Our Road Tour group (that’s the Welder Series coupe on the corner). The tent was provided by Street Rodder Magazine – nice touch and much appreciated later when the sun burned through.
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At the Swap Meet – ’34 Ford Vicky $55,000
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Tommy Ivo’s slingshot dragster. They fired several of these dragsters during the day (a “cacklefest”) and since we happened to be parked across the aisle, all conversation ceased during that time. Dorothy thinks it was a guy thing for sure!
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Chuck Lombardo, Jr. tricked out our Welder Series #2050 Ford motor mounts. Pretty sharp, don’t you think?
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Neat cover for the tire – keeps your pants clean when you sit down.
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Note reflection of legs several feet away (is that a pun?). Very straight and clear (paint not legs and not feet).
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Road Tour participant Fast Eddie’s 57 Chev. His passenger was Kent Kottler, who was a friend of Fred Guarjardo’s in San Antonio. We met Fred when we hand delivered a catalog on June 11. As they say, small world.
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Road Tour participants Jerry Koch & JC Carrillo. Enjoyed a meal with them early in the tour and continued to find them to be good company.
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Rick Love’s 39 Ford Deluxe. Rick, Vintage Air VP, was a great leader and kept us on track for a good portion of the drive. He worked hard on planning the tour and it certainly paid off. Thanks, Rick.
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Road Tour Participants – The Hernandez family from Texas in their ’34 Pontiac.
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Road Tour Participants – Stan & Clifford Friesen from Texas in their ’67 Camaro. A couple of breakfasts and other conversations with this father & son. Great guys.
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Jerry Dixey – Street Rodder Magazine host & leader of our Road Tour in this ’55 Chev. Jerry travels from one Road Tour to another. Forgot to ask him how many miles he puts on this car each year. Jerry and several other cars were leaving on Sunday for the next tour to Pueblo, CO. See you in Louisville, Jerry. Thanks for a great job.
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Wally Parks museum at the Pomona Fairplex where the LA Roadster show is held.
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Wally Parks museum
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Swap meet at the end of the day on Saturday.
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Odometer as we arrived in Pomona – total of 3,369 miles driven. Sure is cooler here than it has been in Texas & Arizona.
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Paul and I wanted to go to the SoCal Open House in the afternoon on Friday so didn’t go on the optional events for the Road Tour which was to go by bus to the Petersen Museum and Justice Brothers Museum. Instead we drove just north of Pomona to Mount Baldy. You can see it in the distance.
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We didn’t go all of the way to the top, but what we saw was wonderful scenery.
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Curvy mountain roads – lots of areas to pull partly off the road to let the non-sightseers pass.
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Fun drive – Dorothy rubber-necked and snapped pictures.
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Looks like a Canadian snow plow but they were clearing rocks.
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Paul has a fear of heights and was determined he would stand close (but not dangerously so) to the edge. “Take my picture quickly!”
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’32 on Mt. Baldy
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We stopped and ate a gourmet picnic of peanut butter & buns at the side of the road.
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Passed several cyclists going both UP and down the mountain.
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Arriving at SoCal’s Open House in Pomona.
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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Lots of ’32 Fords. We may have been the only one in gel coat??
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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SoCal Open House
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Bobby Walden Open House
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Some of the work being done in his shop.
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Neat way to mount the wiring harness in the trunk area.
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After a restful night at the Holiday Inn, we got up early to wash the ’32. The last good clean it received was on June 3 at home.
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Jim’s Rod Shop in Yuma AZ – one of our Welder Series’ dealers.
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Some of the shop projects
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Shop Projects
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The Welder Series coupe gets checked over and tightened up.
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Left Jim’s shop and headed toward California on I-8 West. Passed the Holiday Inn where we’d spent last night. Temperature: 109 F
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Welcome to California.
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Not long after we crossed the stateline into California, we saw these incredible Algodones Sand Dunes.
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Jim was right when he said at any minute you expect to see Lawrence of Arabia riding a camel over a dune.
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Maybe we did see him! This picture was taken at 2:55 pm. Watch the next pictures for how quickly the scenery changed.
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3:44 pm – flattened out again.
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3:45 pm – irrigated crops for a short distance.
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3:51 pm – rocky hills
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4:02 pm – now we’re seeing larger rock mountains. Altitude: 1306 ft.
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The drive just keeps staying beautiful…
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…and more beautiful
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4:45 pm – Altitude: 4200 feet
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Out of the ‘rocky’ mountains and into the city of San Diego.
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Heading north on I-5. Could this be Toronto? No, otherwise it would be 16 lanes each direction. We thought it was the end of a fun drive, but it was not bad at all – moving nicely most of the time.
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This was the extent of our view of the Pacific Ocean on I-5. Got to our hotel, Doubletree Claremont, about 8:00 pm. The other Road Tour members have had other activities for the past 2 days and now we’re back with them.
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Leaving Alpine TX morning of June 13. We’ve travelled 2161 miles so far.
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From Alpine TX we drove on US 90 North to pick up I-10 West toward El Paso. Scenery has gradually gone from flat to mountainous. Roads are still very flat but jagged & rocky mountains are in the distance.
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Another ’32 highboy approaches from the rear. Several roadsters with no tops on the Road Tour. They drive mile after mile in the direct sun, wearing long sleeves, hats and even scarves over their faces. What troopers!
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Pecan groves. Everything parched with no rain since January, but irrigation has made it possible to keep this grove thriving.
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Stopped for gas in Van Horn TX, where US 90 meets I-10. Right next to the gas station was this small restaurant. Diesel Fried Chicken must be a West Texan specialty.
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Gassing up at Van Horn.
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Some of the Road Tour gang pulling out and heading to I-10.
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Waiting our turn to get on the road.
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A Road Tour member passing us. Neat, clean 1960 Ford truck. Front plate reads: “Grandpa bought it, I’ve still got it.”
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Speed limit of 80 MPH. Apparently you can get a ticket for going just slightly over 80. Makes sense.
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Randy Clark’s 1946 Ford Delivery.
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Another road tour beauty – 1957 Chev Wagon.
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MSD Ignition in El Paso hosted our group for lunch and a tour of their facilities.
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Great lunch provided by MSD – thank you for your generosity!
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Impressive facilities. Paul & Dorothy enjoy manufacturing tours.
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Rick Love & Jack Chisenhall of Vintage Air are gathering for a photo with the MSD hosts. Rick & Jack are really happy about something.
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Welcome to New Mexico.
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Just east of Deming NM where we stayed Monday night. Notice the dust swirling in the air. Wind was blowing from the west where wild fires are raging. You could smell the smoke in the air and our ’32 was covered in ash the next morning.
I just found this video posted on the Street Rodder magazine Vintage Air Tour website (http://tour.streetrodderweb.com/2011/vintage-air-tour/):
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Gathering at Vintage Air for the first day of travel on the Street Rodder Magazine Road Tour.
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Another view of some of the cars.
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Our first stop of the day was to the History Store across the street from the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. An interesting story about the Alamo itself and the battle between the Texans and Mexicans.
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The group went to tour inside the Alamo, but Paul and Dorothy have been on previous trips, so we opted for one last quick stroll along a section of the Riverwalk we hadn’t walked yet. A nice man took our picture.
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From San Antonio headed south to pick up Highway 90 West (not an interstate). Rick Love of Vintage Air told us it was desolate, but it was desolation I had never experienced. This area has had no rain since December or January and even the cacti are shriveled. Uninhabitable is a good description. Rain is not fun in a street rod (especially if your car happens to be clean), but the land looks so parched and sad, I hope it rains for them.
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How flat is it, you ask?
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This is looking out the rear window seconds later. As you can guess, our road tour participants were quite spread out. We were behind some, in front of others.
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Highway 90 West travels along the Mexican border quite closely at times, but for many, many miles, there is a dusty, rocky road running parallel to Highway 90 for the border patrol vehicles, searching for illegals. Suddenly, there was a stop sign ahead and we had to stop. I/Dorothy had this sudden fear that perhaps we had taken the wrong road and were crossing into Mexico! The 2 men assured me that we were indeed in Texas. When he asked if we were both American, Paul said, “No, I’m Canadian.” (The Border Patrol person hadn’t noticed the Ontario plates.) He asked to see our passports! I told him we were used to Canadian customs, and could I take a picture. Sure!
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The Border Patrol Station to the right of the car (men were on the left side).
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This is a view of the road used by the Border Patrol vehicles.
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This road goes on and on…
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Another view from the windshield – many miles were like this.
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Another view from the rear window. Where is everyone??
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We were advised to get gas in Del Rio, but we didn’t really need it then, so drove on. Afterall, we can just get it at the next gas station! Not only did we NOT see any gas stations, we didn’t see much of anything (see previous pictures). Finally… in Sanderson, Texas a gas station, but it was CLOSED. Another road tour participant also pulled up, tried the pump and it worked. It seems you can still get gas by using your credit card when there is no attendant. It’s not like that where we come from – I don’t think. It was only regular gas, but we couldn’t be choosey. Our 12 US gallon tank took 10.5 gallons. We had driven 181 miles. The next station we saw was in Alpine, about 80 miles away, where we spent the night. There’s nothing for a couple hundred miles and then BOOM, a Hampton Inn. Had a great meal at Buffalo Rose here in Alpine, too. Perhaps it is similar to someone from Texas coming to Northern Ontario in January and being amazed at the desolation and cold.
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Fred & Dorina Guajardo – San Antonio. Met Fred in an unusual way. Hot Rod Hotline sends us names of those who have requested one of our Welder Series’ catalogs. Paul was looking at emails from our San Antonio hotel room and saw that there was a catalog request from Fred Guajardo in SAN ANTONIO. Hey, wouldn’t it be neat to deliver it? Phoned Fred and he said “come on over.” It felt like he, his wife Dorina and daughter Vanessa were long-time friends. They treated us to a wonderful Mexican brunch at a local restaurant! Wish we could deliver all of our catalogs! Think of the postage we’d save and the people we’d meet.
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Fred’s 36 Ford pick-up project.
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Alamo Hot Rod Parts in San Antonio. Neglected to get a picture when we were here on Thursday so returned for the proof.
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A Road Tour participant – first one seen as we approached our hotel in San Antonio (Schertz).
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After a quick clean-up of the ’32 & ourselves at the hotel, we meet the other participants at Vintage Air’s facilities.
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George Package of Vintage Air takes us on a tour. Quite impressive. We are driving quite comfortably in our ’32 because of a Vintage Air unit.
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Vintage Air Showroom with Jack Chisenhall’s 53 Studebaker. This car drove 219 MPH with the air on at Bonneville. Also quite impressive.
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Driver meeting #1. Rick Love gives us some road tour instructions for the upcoming days. Jack Chisenhall looks like he’s seriously taking notes so as not to mess up. One of the best instructions: enjoy yourself.
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Military march just outside the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. Many branches of the military represented and lots of veterans in town, so it was some special event that we failed to find out about.
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Menger Hotel constructed in 1859, just 100 yards from the Alamo. This is one of their 2 lobbies. We stayed here a couple of times in the past when we were in San Antonio for Vintage Air dealer meetings and absolutely loved the Menger. Rich in history, very Victorian decor, even smells elegant!
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Menger Hotel garden courtyard. Isn’t it beautiful?
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Paul & Dorothy in the courtyard.
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Menger Hotel’s 3 story Victorian lobby. That’s Dorothy on the second floor balcony of the lobby. Next picture shows what’s above.
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Victorian lobby of the Menger.
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Building in San Antonio as seen from the Riverwalk. Gives the illusion of a wall only a foot thick because of the shape of the building.
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The Landing on the Riverwalk. Enjoyed these 2 jazz musicians followed by a jazz trio. Capped off our stay in San Antonio quite nicely. Check-out tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Meet our Street Rodder Magazine Road Tour group tomorrow evening at Vintage Air. Friday night one week ago we were cleaning up the ’32 at home in Cambridge, Ontario.
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