Breakfast on the run

Stu Jeffries, deejay on K-97 in Edmonton
in 1988, and host of CBC TV's "Good Rockin' Tonite"

The other day I was having a “Farmer’s Wrap” at Tim Horton’s and I thought, wow they stuff everything into one of these – sausage, egg, hash brown.

It was funny because it reminded me of another time that everything got all stuffed together –  a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Going home

It was the end of April, 1988 and me and my best friend Chris Vining were moving home after rooming together our first year of university.

My mom and sister had come up the previous weekend to take the bulk of my stuff home. Chris and I stayed behind because he still had a bunch of stuff to move plus his car – the Little Orange Tornado – the Pinto he had stored at his dad’s place northwest of Edmonton by a place called Cherhill.

His dad had actually come to get us the night before and we crashed at his farm then drove the Tornado back to Edmonton.

The next day we loaded up everything and said goodbye to Edmonton and our first year of university.

Drive through

It was a six-hour drive or so, and mid morning.

Vining suggested drive through before we got too far. Back then, the options weren’t what they are now. I don’t think there ever was Tim Horton’s at all back then, or if there was not at all what it is now. We never went there if it did exist. There was not much else in drive through for that matter – except McDonald’s.

There was one on I think it was Stony Plain Road on the way. That was our destination.

To keep us company, we listened to music, starting with the radio. Stu Jeffries was the deejay on K-97, and it was the first time I heard him on the radio. I had come to know him from hosting “Good Rockin’ Tonite” on CBC TV on Friday nights. He was playing “This Time” by Bryan Adams as we pulled into the drive through.

It was our turn at the drive through and Chris ordered for both of us.

When the food came he pulled out, and got on the road. While he was driving, he stuffed his hash brown and everything else into an Egg McMuffin he ordered.

It was the “Farmer’s Wrap” before the “Farmer’s Wrap”.

With that, we left town

As we ate, and drove, we reminisced about the past year, which really had changed our lives.

Parting thoughts

When I look back, and think about that day, and Stu Jeffries, “This Time” and Chris Vining’s kamikaze breakfast, it has nothing to do with the food.

It brings back memories of new friends, a new life and all the friends I had met in my first year of university.

I think of that, even for just a minute, every time I have a “Farmer’s Wrap”.