In late April, I heard that TARC was coming to my city, Windsor, Ontario. Ever since the show began, I’ve had a running list of possible tasks/sites ready. Ready for the day they would come here. The time had come!
So, armed with only speculation, my (adult) daughter Sam and I started scouting places a few days before we thought the leg was to be filmed- Saturday May 6th. Willistead Manor - one of my top 5 places to film - looked not-ready for prime time. Construction on one side, complete with a porta-potty. The grass hadn’t been cut.
We checked a few more places on my list. Nothing seemed out of place or ready for filming. Except for one wee, weird thing. As we drove along the river, past the sculpture garden, we noticed a couple of guys fidgeting with “blocks” which closely resembled an existing sculpture. Could be nothing. Could be something. I put a star next to the sculpture park on my list of possibilities.
And how would the teams get here? The most likely was ViaRail, because they’ve done that in Ontario before, and flights to Windsor suck. So on Thursday, off to the train station we went. Lo and behold, in the parking lot across from the main entrance was a roped off section - enough for 5 to 7 cars.
The next day, 7 shiny, new Chevy Equinox magically appeared, all lined up in a nice convenient row. Five red, one white and one blue. BINGO! WE GOT ‘EM!!!
We set off bright and early on the day of filming, loaded up with water, Starbucks Venti coffees (size matters later) and coffee cake. We went back to Willistead. It was still messy. Checked a few other places before going back to the station to wait. Cars were gone from what looked like a perfect promotional spot to the far end of the parking lot, next to the exit. No doubt to get a better shot of teams running to the cars. (and they didn’t even use that footage)
We parked at the side of the station so we could get a good view of teams running to the cars, and waited until the 11 AM train arrived. I decided to get out and walk around as the train came in. The first team off the train I saw was Ben & Anwar. I ran back to the car cos I knew this would be quick! I giddily screamed at Sam, “I saw Ben and Anwar!!!”
They were held back until the camera crew could position themselves, then off they went. Ty & Kat, Ben & Anwar, and Ty & Kay. Geez, these teams look good!
Me: “Go, go, GO! Follow that car!”
We were pumped. The chase was on!!!
We were tailing Ben & Anwar. When they turned east onto Wyandotte, we wondered where the frack they were going. They drove about a kilometer before they made a u-turn. We were right behind them. At one point we had to pull up next to them at a red light.
Me: “Don’t look. Don’t look. DON’T LOOK!”
I looked.
I had to. I mean, what choice did I have???
They looked good.
We decided to hang back a bit because we were being waaay too obvious. We also didn’t want to interfere in any way with the teams, or production. Big mistake. Huge. We lost them at the next light but thought we could see them way up ahead turning right (north towards the river). This seemed logical because we had Caesars Windsor as a possible stop. Still didn’t see them.
Luckily another team crossed in front of us going west so we followed them. By this time we were overstimulated from the coffee, in hysterics, and feeling like we were in a chase scene from Fast and Furious. But they drove past the casino…where the hell were they going?
We ended up at Adventure Bay Waterpark. We circled the block, parked, and waited only 15 to 20 minutes. Just as I was about to go in for a closer look, teams started to leave. That’s how fast it took for them to complete that task.
Sam: “Whadda we do? Whadda we do?”
Me: “Follow them!!!”
By this time, we were committed to following whoever the lead team was. That seemed like the logical thing to do.
Next stop was the sculpture garden and sure enough those blocks WERE a task. Several teams were there but as we waited Jas & Derek and Deven & Amanda ran right in front of us (together) to the task. (Did I say, these teams look good?) About 5 minutes later, the same 2 teams ran out together - presumably to switch Detours. (At the time, I mistakenly thought the Waterpark was a Detour task)
Ty & Kay finished the sculpture task first, so we followed them. They were headed to Sandwich - WHERE I LIVE!!! Sam and I were in a daze. We also had to pee. Those Ventis had kicked in. They ended up at Rock Bottom bar, a place my son later said, “You mean the Old People’s bar? Next to the Dollarama?” Yep. That place. WHY THAT PLACE???
At first I thought it was the Roadblock because Kay was pacing and studying the board, looking like she was memorizing something. So I took a little walk and saw “Face Off” and “Texas Holdem.” Ty & Kay waited out front for the next team. And waited. We still needed to pee, and not knowing if we’d get another chance, decided to drive 30 seconds to my place. I’m serious. We were that close to home! Amazing Race Canada was in my backyard!!!
We got back in time to see Ty & Kat arrive, with Ben & Anwar right behind them. The two TyK teams went in but only one came out - Ty & Kat.
Needless to say, we followed them. They headed east. “Where the frack were they going?”
Soon we were on the 401 Eastbound.The 401 chase was hilarious. Ty & Kat stayed in the left lane, sticking to the speed limit. We stayed abt 10 car lengths behind, in the right lane. Maybe Colasanti’s? A greenhouse in Leamington? Point Pelee? Nope. They kept going. Sam and I were seriously questioning our life choices. They finally turned off at Tilbury, going southbound. Left, right, left, right. Seriously, if you wanted to know where the middle of nowhere was, we had found it. Just farmland and wind turbines for miles and miles, as far as you can see. There is absolutely NOTHING there that could possibly be a task. We went through a town/not a town called Coatsworth. Seriously, it was just an intersection. They turned down a road which turned into a dirt road.That’s when we said “Nope!” We had just put new tires on the car, so there was no way we were doing that.
Then we got an idea that because we were an hour out of Windsor, there was no reason for them to drive all the way back. The most logical place for a pitstop might just be Point Pelee National Park. After all, it’s the southernmost point of mainland Canada. So we turned around and passed Ty and Kay going in the other direction. We drove the 25 minutes to the park. It was crowded, as it usually is for a Saturday. So we realized we were done and went for fish and chips, as one would do after a long day of chasing TARC teams.
Of course it bothered me for days, wondering where the hell they could have been going. An hour out of Windsor, for crying out loud. Stuck in the flatland nether region between Windsor and Chatham. Nothing to see here but huge farms and wind turbines. Wind turb…oh, wait.
Thoughts:
They never did a Windsor pizza task - seriously??? I demand a re-do!
We never got to see Jon Montgomery.
These people move quickly! Kudos to the hard working camera and sound guys. They are just as amazing as I thought they’d be. And the tasks were completed very fast.
Point Pelee: It’s a LONG trek from the parking lot (or the end of the tram loop) to the point - the path is mostly boardwalk (only as wide as a residential sidewalk) until you get to the sandy beach at the point. Too bad they didn’t show any of that, it would have been funny.
