Ontario’s “Highway of Heroes” and Quebec’s “Autoroute du Souvenir” - and my thoughts about Kyle Loza
Just now, I was reading a few articles on various sources on the internet about a stretch of Highway 401 from Trenton to Toronto already renamed as the “Highway of Heroes”. This particular stretch of highway is dedicated to our Canadian troops who served in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, many soldiers had died serving their time in Afghanistan. From Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs or “roadside bombs”) to friendly fire or rollover from their military equipment. Many people had been perished in their line of duty. Once their dead body (or bodies) are retrieved, they began a long journey to CFB Trenton, where they are loaded in a hearse and traveled down the 401 throughout the long journey to the coroner’s office back in Toronto.
Many people like to stand by on bridges to see the passing hearse travel by the highway and they salute their support for not only that particular person who died in the line of duty, but the fact they want to support their troops serving their time in Afghanistan. To mark this occasion, many people like to wear “red” as a result. The point being: to show care for our troops. Police officers, firefighters and ambulance personnel show their support too. This has prompted a petition (and a facebook group) demanding that the stretch between Highway 401 between Trenton and Toronto to be renamed, “Highway of Heroes”. You can see the sign below:
Below this picture is a few pictures of many people standing near bridges in support for our fallen comrade(s):
Many visitors to our province will wonder, “Why does this stretch of highway designated as the highway of heroes?”. In my humble opinion, it’s anyone’s guess - unless you tend to ask the troops who did a display of the Canadian Forces showcase at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Canada from mid-August to Labour Day (September). It’s not the first time that the 401 was designated the “Highway of Heroes”. Further east, a complete stretch of the Highway 416 between the 401 to the south near Prescott right up north to the Ottawa-suburb of Nepean already designated as “The Veterans Memorial Highway”.
Just recently, the Quebec Government decided to designate a stretch of Autoroute (Highway 20) between the Turcot Interchange in Montreal in the east and right up to Rivière-Beaudette in the west (just close to the Ontario border) as L’autoroute du Souvenir (or Remembrance Highway). It will connect to the Highway of Heroes (the 401) in Ontario. Signs are already unveiled and they will be mounted on various stretches of Autoroute 20.
The signs look like this:
(source: http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.qc.ca/)
The signs will be in French, but the veterans’ replied that “It’s not a big deal“. I would send my congratulations to the people of Quebec, Ontario and all the war veterans who served their time in the great wars, a job well done.
Changing gears from sad news to rad news, I have some thoughts about FMX rider Kyle Loza (who hails from the O.C. (or Orange County) in California) and by looking at his appearance and by looking at the various videos scoured on Youtube, he is a very rad rider. I really like his great skill when he did “The Volt” back at the X-Games in August 2007. He was awarded gold for his tremendous stunt. It took him a lot of training to perfect that stunt. Perhaps he is well inspired by the late Evel Knievel. If Mr. Loza was in Canada performing a stunt show or a competition, I would say to him, “Hey, you were excellent in the Volt. It’s quite scary for some, but from my point of view, it took you a lot of effort on it.” His reply to me, “Thanks. hehehe Glad you like it.” Here’s a few pictures of Mr. Kyle Loza doing the Volt:
And here’s the fanfare(!):
To see the video of him doing to volt, you can view it right here:
I got to say that this is the excellent performance that Mr. Loza did. To close off this blog, I’m going to leave you a line of the song “Golden” by the band Fall Out Boy. I’m trying to find out how to insert music on this blog, but stay tuned. You’ll be seeing this in the near future. Until that is sorted out, here’s an excerpt:
How cruel is the golden rule,
When the lives we lived are only golden plated.
And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me,
Though I carried carats for everyone to see.
And I saw god cry in the reflection of my enemies.
And all the lovers with no time for me.
And all of the mothers raise their babies to stay away from me.
In other Fall Out Boy-related stuff, I’m going to leave you a music video “I’m Like a Lawyer Like The Way I’m Always Getting You Off (Me + You). This music video has nothing to do with the topics I had covered, but due to the graphic nature of this music video, VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED.
Oh and GO Transit left me message about the incident I had complained to them. I might contact the person who left me the message as early as tomorrow. That’s all for today.
References:
Highway of Heroes/Autoroute du Souvenir:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/11/05/4633664-cp.html
http://www.citesnouvelles.com/article-156700-La-20-designee-Autoroute-du-Souvenir.html (in French only)
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070824/online_petition_070824/20070824/
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20070907/Highway_Heroes_070907?hub=TorontoHome
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_15251.aspx
http://rcl91.com/RemembranceHighway.htm
Kyle Loza:
http://expn.go.com/expn/story?id=2959548
