2023... We Dropped 3 And Picked One Up

Frost Bytes Day 11, 02/26/2023... "At Least I Don't Have To Pack My Bags"

February 26, 2023

Old Man Ron, entertains the crew with his coin trick

Welcome back riders,

Finally able to write a blog on the day it happened. It’s been a while. It was our second day in a row getting in by 3pm.

But let’s get back to last evening. When I finished my writings’ last night, we proceeded to order dinner. Nothing crazy, pretty simple, I shared pizza with Hedgie, and Action Dan had the platter of ribs. I really didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the entree’s that were served. I was just happy that they had the attached restaurant open for us this trip thru! And we re-paid them in kind by wiping out their cooler full of Bud Lights, Coors Lights and, yes, the vodka. That’s the problem when you get in too early, you end up with a bigger bar tab at the end of the night.

Most of the group retired at a relatively appropriate time. Hedgie and I had a night cap of a cold Coors LIght in my room around 9pm, then we practiced good judgement and retired for the evening. Can’t say the same for the glimmer twins, The Wanderer Dylan and Wingman Rob, needed to check out the town, and started down the trail to the Hostel that has a bar jutting out that back of the main lodge. I am not sure where, how, when, why their night took them from there. I just know that Wingman Rob got his butt chewed by Stick several times in the middle of the night for not properly hooking up his life support machine, and waking me with his peel the paint off the walls snoring.

This morning, the snowmobiler breakfast around 7:30 for most of the group. The glimmer twins may have or may not have been on time. We were scheduled for take off at 9am. Dylan was fine with that schedule, because at least “I don’t have to pack my bags this morning.”

Some updates on the health and vigor of our infected riders is as follows:

Yamaha Rob is still suffering from the traveling virus, and worsening. He was supposed to get some Nyquil from The Wanderer, but he was absent without notice at Rob’s bed time.

NFG Kelly is suffering from and ear infection and ruptured ear drum. He hitched a ride to the local emergency room for some relief, but by the look in his eyes this morning, I don’t think it was helping much.

Fearless Craig has the lighter version of the Virus, and is getting along.

The Glimmer/Toxic twins both are suffering from their own ingestion of toxins.

Back to the Tales of the Trail and enough about our personal problems. The Ontarians left the motel first to fuel up, and we met them at the entrance to the ferry. I didn’t even know we were doing the ferry ride across the Saguenay River, but we did today. And we made it on board just as it began boarding. We have much better luck catching the flat deck, open ferry vs. the large ferry that crosses the St Lawrence Seaway. You would have to be a long term follower to understand this reference.

Pretty uneventful day on the trail. We had a small lunch at our fuel stop, and just kept motoring down the finely groomed trails. It was a good trail day, and the temperatures are much more conducive to our comfort, well above zero on the old thermometer.

After about 65 miles, there was a connector trail that most of the group took to add about 40 miles to our ride for the day. The Ontarians took the short cut to get NFG Kelly in and hopefully some additional attention to that ear infection. Also Ski Doo Matt and Truck Driver Brian took the short cut. Wingman Rob tried to take the shortest route, but that request was promptly denied by Fearless Leader Craig.

We arrived right around 3pm to the beautiful Pourvoirie du Lac Moreau in Saint-Urbain QC. It is a wood log lodge with an expansive great room with several seating areas spread out across center of the main floor, a small bar, naturally, at one end, and a dining room at the opposite end. A fine dinner is offered for this evening, of Foise Gras appetizer, choice of Filet or Pork Loin and an assortment of other accompaniments that I don’t recall now, as I already turned my dinner sheet in with my selections.

The bedrooms are along the upstairs open hallway that runs the entire length of the lodge, and overlooks the main floor of the lodge. A beautiful lodge in the middle of the BUSH of Quebec, and also offers spa services, and no cellular service.

At this time, most of the group is gathered and spread out around the main floor lodge, some on couches, some talking to the large cage of parrots in the corner next to the reception area, and the remainder bellied up around the 1/2 horseshoe bar in the corner. Naturally. And then there is The Wanderer who has locked himself away in his private chamber, contemplating and evaluating his life choices the last couple of days.

The Wanderer contemplating life choices on a break on the trail

This is our last night on the trail, and it’s a perfect location to gather, reflect and conversate about the epic adventure we have endured to this point. Tomorrow we return to Pont Rouge, where our trucks and trailers are parked, and I will enjoy one last bowl of my favorite Onion soup before departing the beautiful providence of Quebec, once again.

Tomorrow’s mileage has been bantered about at anywhere from 180-200 miles.

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick

PS. I finally got the answer to a long asked question…You may want to proceed with caution beyond this point…

Does a Robere poo in the woods? Yes it does

Frost Bytes Day 10, 02/25/2023...

February 25, 2023

Welcome back riders,

FYI: This is blog catch up day, you may want to scroll down to day 9 to stay in chronological order.

We have a late departure time of 10am this morning, and fortunately for us the temps are more mild this morning, low negative single digits and no wind, with the sun shining down. A Blue Bird day, as they say.

Even with the scheduled late start, the group gathered around 7:30am for the snowmobiler breakfast. I awoke around 6am, and tried opening my phone with the facial ID. It wouldn’t work. To back things up a bit, coming out of Chibougamau, I got a bad bite of the frost on my jaw line, and I have had an egg size goiter growing out of my jaw line. I went to the bathroom to do my morning tooth brushing, and I was shocked at the reflection in the mirror. I see why my facial recognition didn’t work, I was pumpkin face boy. My phone didn’t even recognize me.

Anywho, we decided that since everybody was up and at ‘em we may as well get suited up, fueled up, and on the trail. NFG Kelly was still ailed with the traveling virus, and his group decided to give him more time to rest, and they would catch up with us at our night’s destination.

And off we were. A beautiful mountain ride back to civilization, with fast well groomed trails. We only had about 85 miles total to our overnight stay and by noon we had clicked off 65 of them. We stopped at a fuel station with a restaurant attached, and decided we may as well have a bite to eat while we are here. The rooms wont be available to check in, anyways.

A light lunch was had, with Onion soups, club sandwiches, and cheesburgers all dressed being served up. A funny thing happened after lunch, however. Rimel caught me in the coat room where our gear was, and asked me to try his helmet on. I am bewildered at this point, trying to figure out where he is going with this. I reluctantly say “OK”, and as I am putting it on he says “Can you see out this helmet?” I ask him, before I placed it over my head, “you have taken the protective film off the inside of the visor, right?”. He replies “Well, yea, duh”. Ok, I slide it on it for 2 seconds and say well then it’s effed, you better see Ski Doo Matt for advice. So he meanders over to Ski Doo, who promptly pulls off the protective film from INSIDE the visor. You can’t make this stuff up! And to add to this story, after our arrival this afternoon to our overnight stay, Hedgie and I was discussing the Rimel helmet debacle, and Hedgie says “hold on, it’s worse than you know. He has had, and worn, that helmet for THREE YEARS!!” Folks at home, you can’t make this up, I am just not that creative.

Anywho, we were back on trail for 15 miles to our overnight stay at the Club Tadoussac, in Sare’-Coeur QC. We arrived around 1:30pm to the parking lot and small chalet of an office. Fearless Craig went to the door to find the office unattended. He called the phone number on the window for assistance, and was told to ride back down the service drive to where they were cleaning and working on our residence for the night. This is where this becomes a Darkside Adventure, once again. The main lodgeing unit that was going to house 9 of our 14 group was suffering from a pipe burst, or some ailment that had the water shut off to it. They had alternative, RUSTIC cabins available with bunk beds, but no electrical outlets. And this group needs electrical outlets, half of us travel with life support machines (CPAP) and power is a must.

I have to add to this that we waited in the parking lot for about an hour while Fearless Craig was doing recon on our bunks for the night. A couple of the crew got impatient, and decided to travel down the trail about 5 miles to bring back adult beverages, and such, for our evening, that being Dylan, feeling lively and spry again with his new partner Wingman Rob, and the Old Man Ron for supervision, and diet Pepsi. The rest of us hung out in the parking lot killing time and smoking ‘em if you got ‘em.

A decision was made to travel up the trail to the Resto-Motel Chantmartin where 7 rooms and 14 beds were open and available. As well as electrical for life support equipment and running water for hot showers. Onward we traveled.

If any of our 7 followers have been around for any period of time, you will recall this is the location that we have stayed one time prior. When we took the ferry across the Saguenay River, headed this way a couple years ago, we were met with the remnants of a winter blizzard and snow drifted trails, and unable to make Club Tadoussac that evening, and they put us up here for the night. For further jogging of your memory, they wouldn’t feed us here, and we wound up about 200 yards up the trail at a hostel that made us a fabulous spaghetti dinner, and fed us in their hostel’s kitchen at a big wooden table, like school children. Still a fond memory for us.

The riders that didn’t go ahead for adult beverages, landed in the parking lot of the Resto-Motel around 3pm, with the 3 degenerates chasing adult beverages arriving shortly there after.

For the record, they are taking much better care of us this evening, with the restaurant/bar open at least until 8pm, and the option to stay open later, as long as the thirst lasts’, and the cash flows.

I think we are caught up to the present day and time. It’s hard to tell at this point.

And the virus continues to spread, now Fearleas Craig is popping dayquils like tic tacs, once we got in.

Tomorrow, I hear, the ride is about the same as today.

We shall see.

Bye for now

Stick

Frost Bytes Day 9, 02/24/2023...

February 25, 2023

Welcome back riders,

I am doing my best to get caught up here, it is now Saturday afternoon about 3:45pm and we are in Tadoussac QC. However we are not at our intended destination. But we will get to that in due time.

Friday morning we departed the Hotel Du Jardin in Saint-Felicien QB around 9am. Not without a few hiccups before our departure. It was another cold morning, around -15 degrees. Truck Driver Brian, Stick and Action Dan had semi warmed up our sleds already, and then shut them down to finish our pre-trip departure check list. Once the group was gathered up, we went to re-fire our Ski Doo’s and they were dead. Nothing, no power. We all looked at each and said in unison, “where is Ski Doo Matt?”. Naturally, Ski Doo knew the problem rather instantly, and said go get a bucket of hot water and pour it over the relay. Apparently by not letting our sled warm up to full temp, the electrical relay had frosted over, and the hot water would release it! Having Ski Doo Matt with us is like having our own Factory Authorized Service Tech with us. The sleds fired right up after that.

Our first destination was to the Yamaha dealer down the trail about 40 miles, where NFG Kelly’s brother Chris was already at. Upon arrival we would find out what his sled’s prognosis may be. We were supposed to have 10 sleds for this first leg. About 10 miles in at a short check in stop to make sure all was good with the group, Stick stated to Action Dan “ Where is Old Man Ron?” Apparently we pulled out of the hotel without him. We discussed what to do for a couple minutes, and decided that if he is at the hotel, he can ride in to our destination with Dylan, Rob and Wingman Rob when they depart when the hotel kicks them out of their room.

This leads me to a continuation of last nights story of Dylan and Wingman and their exploits at the bar with the locals. Apparently their over night stay in the hall way, sleeping in the roll around chairs and the mass quantities of trail juice had them not exactly in tip top shape. Yamaha Rob, Dylans wing man, was collateral damage, as he was now stricken with the traveling virus going thru our group like monkey pox. The virus seems to be getting stronger with each sequential host, ane he needed the extra time just to feel better and make the trip. They apparently left the hotel when they were kicked out by house keeping at around 11:30am. From listening to their conversation it was a long ride for the 2 new best friends, with a stop or 2 along the way for bodily relief. They arrived at the Auberge du KM 31 just shortly after our arrival last night, mostly intact.

Anywho, back to the trail ride for the riders that made call time. At the end of our previously mentioned trail break, as we were about to take off, lo and behold here comes the Old Man. He followed the trail, and we were back in tact.

After about 40 miles we arrived at the Yamaha dealer around 11 am. When we walked into the dealership Chris informed us that his sled would be ready shortly, and that he would be back on the trail. NFG Kelly, Cousin Bill, and brother Chris would ride as a threesome into Auberge 31, so the rest of the group could be on their way. And besides, Ski Doo Matt was getting hungry, and he was getting hangry, and we needed to feed him. Off down the trail the abbreviated group rolled.

But before we departed, Chip Nasty was making his own arrangements for his broked Ski Doo still farther down the trail, in our direction. Nasty was not convinced the dealer was going to be able to get him back on the trail in an expedited fashion. He talked to the owner of the Yamaha dealer, made arrangements for a dealership employee to drive him to the Ski Doo dealer, pick up his sled, and then transport them both about 3 1/2 hours back to Pont Rouge to his truck and trailer. We were sad to see Nasty have to do an early departure from the ride, but he had to do what he had to do. Fare well brother Nasty, we know you will get your problems solved and back on the trail for our next expedition!

We found a quaint little restaurant on the trail, where they lady working the cash register also was the cook that made our cheeseburgers all dressed, and prepared our bowls of hot soup. We fed the hangry one, and back on the trail.

We had a beautiful ride thru the mountains and arrived at Auberge 31 around 6pm. Shortly behind us NFG Kelly and his clan arrived, and shortly behind them Dylan, the infected Yamaha Rob, and Wingman Rob arrived. Also, now NFG Kelly was infected with the fast moving virus, and he was not feeling good at all.

Auberge 31 is located in a desolate area surrounded by mountains, and overlooking a lake. It is one of our favorite over nights on the trail. The kitchen takes the last order at 8pm, so we hustled up our showers and clothing change, and congretated in the main lodge. These outlaying, desolate locations always wind up having the best meals, and tonight was no exception. I saw ribs and chicken, lasagna, baked spaghetti and an assortment of other finely prepared meals delivered to the table. A great dinner was had by those that hung around for the dinner hour; NFG Kelly wasn’t feeling up for dinner at the table, so his brother took him dinner back to the room, and the self-inflicted Dylan chose to skip dinner service and retire early.

Our lodging for the night was in the outlaying cabins that have a living room and efficiency kitchen on the main floor, with an upstairs with 2 bedrooms, 2 beds each, and their own attached bathroom. I wound up bunking with Fearless Leader Craig, Action Dan and the Old Man Ron, with Ron & I sharing a room. I wish I would have paid more attention to the Old Man when I came into bed that night, I completely missed that he was wearing his snow mobile helment, listening to music when he fell asleep. It would have made a good headline picture I imagine.

We have about an 80 mile ride tomorrow, and because of the continued cold temps, -20 tonight, we are planning on leaving around 10am for “warmer” conditions.

We shall see.

Bye for now Stick

3 Comments

Frost Bytes Day 8, 02/23/2023... Nasty Temperatures, and Nasty on the Trail, It Was Just A Nasty Day

February 24, 2023

Welcome back riders.

We had a good 2 nights in Chibougamau, and it’s the farthest northern point the marked trails have taken us. We currently are at Auberge Du KM 31 outside Chicoutimi, QC, mostly all here, and mostly all accounted for.

But let’s get back to where we left off. At breakfast this morning, we had the sparse continental breakfast, again. Cold cereal, toast, and your choice of yogurt. And clean up after yourself when you’re done. Knowing that we have about 150 miles before our first gas stop, or food stop, or warming stop, Dylan & Stick took advantage of the open continental breakfast bar, and borrowed an extra couple slices of bread, some peanut butter and jelly, and made a couple of PB&J sandwiches for a snack at one the very few breaks will take, along the trail.

Speaking of Dylan, I would like to thank him for stepping in and taking over the Frost Bytes Day 6 Edition for me. I think he did a fine job as a guest writer, and I am looking forward to handing the keyboard over to him again, occasionaly, on the trail. The break was much appeciated. Especially since there is a virus bug traveling thru the group, that hit me on Wednesday. Pretty much a bad head cold, with a slight throat tickle, and a very light chill. Nothing DayQuil/ and NIghtQuil can’t help us get thru. So far it’s made its way thru Hedgie, Dylan, Stick, Yamaha Rob, and I think Craig is beginning to feel infected. We will persevere, we have no choice. As I write this on Friday evening, I think Wing Man Rob will say it’s infecting him too, but I really think his ailment is more brown bottle flu related.

The day was pretty much drama free. Until it wasn’t . We knocked down the 150 miles to the gas station we were last at 2 days ago by about 2 pm A couple of the Ski Doo’s did run out of fuel on the trail, just short of the fueling station. I think they were a little more aggressive on the return trip, after feeling confident they made it without stopping on the way north!

At the fuel station in La Dore, we quickly fueled, and headed inside the station for the heated restroom, and continued to warm ourselves in the snack isles. Somewhere in here, Chip Nasty made the spoken error you never say out loud…” We’ve only got 17 miles to go? Looks like we will be in early!”. You can think these thoughts, but never, never, ever, say it out loud.

Things got Nasty about 3 or 4 miles out from the fueling station. A sharp right hand turn was missed by Rimel, and he shot straight down an ungroomed trail instead of risking a rollover making the turn. The Ontario guys behind him, stopped on the trail, to the right, to await Rimel’s return. Chip, blinded in the snow dust, didn’t see the stopped sleds, and side swiped NFG Kelly’s brother Chris on the right. Chris and his Yamaha Sidewinder were flipped in the trail, and Nasty went ass over tea kettle off the trail. All I saw from 4 sleds back was a Sidewinder track in the air, and alot more snow dust. We all quickly jumped into action and fortunately, other than a little pride, nobody was seriously hurt.

The Sidewinder was draining it’s engine oil due to the sight tube being knocked off, and the trail was littered with Ski Doo plastic parts every where. Once we were sure all riders involved were going to be ok, we quickly began the process of clean up and getting in motion removing the damaged sleds and towing them back to the gas station for retrieval.

A couple of tow trucks were called, and each sled was delivered to it’s respective dealership, and the riders delivered to the overnight accommodations. Unfortunate circumstances, very fortunate over all outcome,however the most important thing is all riders are safe and uninjured.

After the involved riders were set up with tow vehicles, Ski Doo Matt, Old Man Ron,, Action Dan, Stick, and NFG Kelly’s cousin BIll (The rest of the group advanced to the Hotel Du Jardin to get our rooms ready for when we all got in) we left them at the gas station and took a local trail on in to Saint-Feicien. We still got in pretty early, see, I can say that now after the fact, around 4:30pm. We were greeted in hallway of the 2nd floor with the rest of the group having a hallway party, with their rolling chairs all pulled out into the hall way and a couple cases of cold blue mountains not getting a chance to go warm.

Dinner was around 7:30 pm, and a tasty meal was had of steaks, chicken and such, and most of the group retired relatively early, to the best of my knowledge, as I was doping up with Nyquil by 9pm, trying to be trail worthy by morning. But, there was a couple of riders that just couldn’t resist the tempation. I understand Hedgie hung with the boys in the bar with some locals until, I’ll just say past midnight, while Dyan and Wingman may have been a bit later. I’m not really sure of their quiting time, as when I got up at 12:30 Wingman’s life support machine (CPAP) was hooked up but he was MIA. This morning I awoke to him snoring, no life support connection, and texted video from Dylan time stamped at 3:30am of Wingman snoring away in one of the room chairs, but in the hallway, at the end of the hall, where the hall party had been about 8 hours ago. I think Dylan spent the night next to him, in another chair.

Departure time is 9am on Friday. Most of us will leave on time, some won’t. We also will have to make a couple stops at the respective dealers where the shrapnel sleds are being evaluated for repairs. We supposedly only have about 160 miles to go for the day, so the extra stops shouldn’t affect us too much.

Disclaimer: Just so everybody at home is aware, while we have a lot of fun in the evenings, nobody consumes alcohol on the trail with this group, our belief is the beer will be colder when we get in, and there was absolutely no alcohol involved in the unfortunate mishap that occured today. It’s a good reminder for all of us to use care and be diligent in our riding, and as my father used to day, “Son, don’t let that string that is attached from your brain to your thumb to snap”.

We shall see,

Bye for now,

Stick

3 Comments

Frost Bytes Day 7, 2/22/2023... He's Not Dead, Just Resting

February 22, 2023

Day two in Chibougamau was a “rest day”. The blog master was given the day off today due to an ambitious and Medicated decision I made last night at the end of the evening. action Dan, Chip, and Ron all were able to fix their “superior” Bombardier products. Of course, the Ski Doo dealership was able to sell them the parts, but they had to go down the street to a do it at home mechanic to get the work done… This morning started off a little groggy due to Dr. Rob prescribing to many Coors lights last night.

Dylan finally found his long desired beaver pelt seat cover

Truck Driver Brian and Ski Doo Matt with their new furry beaver mittens

Breakfast was amazing! We had a continental breakfast and they even had pate served in a plastic solo cups in a coca cola refrigerator, what could go wrong there. It was interesting to note that everyone overserved last night got right to getting their trays of food, the well rested ones sat patiently waiting for the service to take their orders. They figured it out after 5 or ten minutes. As a seasoned veteran of continental breakfast, Craiger had to settle Rimel down by asking him if he’s ever been to a continental breakfast before.

Many took the time to take advantage of the wash, dry, and fold at the kitchen supply store down the road…??? Don’t ask me. Brian and Matt found a store that sold beaver pelts and beaver mittens. They will both be sleeping comfortably tonight with their arms elbow deep in beautiful black beavers mittens. I also fulfilled a dream of mine buy getting the perfect beaver pelt to cover my snowmobile seat so that I can ride beaver all winter.

Dan, Craig, led a group on a great loop in perfect conditions. We hit a roadblock on a railroad crossing due to a train plow putting a 10ft wall of snow that we couldn’t get over. We identified the problem and found the solution. We went around to the road, bypassed the problem and continued. Shortly after, we came across a groomer that was heading in the opposite direction. Captain obvious, acting Dan, let him know about the blocked trail. He probably saved the trail system with his quick thinking. Kelly and his crew, like renegades, broke off for lunch around halfway. When we got back, we hung out told story’s and had couple beers and Action Dan was in his element. His face was shining bright with a smile from ear to ear. Think the sun on the Teletubby’s.

All in all, the hotel has been great aside form a couple wiki leaks last night and a mouse nibbling some of the candy left out. Dr. Rob set a trap and assured us the problem has been eliminated. We are all settling in to prepare for our long journey back to the mainland. Chibougamau has been a surreal experience we all may someday remember.

PS I did go off trail today and got minorly stuck.

To infinity and beyond!!! ,

The Wanderer

3 Comments

Frost Bytes Day 6, 2/21/2023...

February 22, 2023

Welcome back riders,

It is a brisk morning in Roberval, my snowmobile engine temperature was -17 when it begrudging came to life this morning.

Today we are headed for Chibougamau, approximately 200 miles to the north. Our morning depature saw a few small glitches right of the bat. Rimel went missing in action for a bit, until we discovered he had gone to the local automotive store to purchase a 2 gallon gas can for today’s ride. Truck Driver Mark also purchased a 2 gallon gas can and bungee strapped it the rear of his sled, but we will get to his debacle a little bit later. All of the other riders came prepared with their mounted gas cans, and others were creative in their jerry can’s mounting technique (see below for clarification).

NFG Kelly’s brother Chris’s rigged up fuel program

After Rimel was accounted for, Dylan had issues with his helmet shield. The heated shield was not operating correctly and it was fogging up pretty good, and made for obscured view for the day. And Stick’s sunviser in his helmet came detached, and had to be packed away in the saddlebag.

We still departed pretty much on time, around 9am. We traveled about 40 miles to top off our sleds, and to fill the jerry cans for the 140 mile run thru the Bush of Quebec. After a quick warm up, restroom break and last chance for snacks and drinks at the gas station and we were off. I grabbed a premade ham & cheese in a container sandwich out of the cooler for my trail lunch.

About 5 miles from the gas station and the pack in front of me is pulled over on the right side of the trail. I see Hedge Hog and Truck Driver Brian handling Brians gas can. I pulled up to inquire what the situation was, when it was explained to me that the cap of the just purchased gas can had come of, and gas was spurting out as he was going down the trail. So the gas can was set on the side of the trail, still with fuel in it for the next Southbound rider headed to Roberval could top off their sled, if need be.

This kind of excited me, for my own selfish reasons. If I have any new followers, I affectionately refer to my sled mounted gas can as “Bar Tab”. It is open for anyone to use should they need it, however fuel on the side of the trail comes with a price. You have to pay my bar tab that night, AND re-fill the can for the next unlucky individual. I just may have a customer today!

Anywho, back on the trail we were. The stops were at a minimum, as the temps were well below zero thru-out the day. And there just weren’t places to stop. Now I get asked often if I get cold while on these trips. Generally no. But if I do get cold, it’s usually at rest stop, standing on the trail. When you’re riding you’re moving, plus you have your heated hand grips, and some of us even have heated seats! But yes, I did get cold today at the infrequent stops, but was able to warm after being back on the trail for a short time. Further, if you check out our Tracking button, you can there were long distances between the Spot Tracker way points markings.

Somewhere around the 190 mile marker, and after about 150 miles since our last fuel stop, we came across the long awaited for gas station. Most of the Ski Doo riders, myself included, never added fuel at any point along the journey. This was our opportunity to really find out how far our sleds could go on a tank of fuel. The riders that did fuel along the way, did it at one of the few rest stops we took, before they actually ran out of fuel on the trail. And a few added the extra fuel they were carrying for assurances, into their tanks along the way, just to off load some weight off their machines. I came in with one “bar” left on my electronic fuel gauge, and a couple others came in, in the same situation, or their “low fuel” light had just came on.

After fueling, and using the inside of the gas station store as a warming spot, we were back on the trail with only about 8 miles to go. Yea right.

With Action Dan out front, we were headed to town. But a mis read of the well marked trail sign, and we turned right, down a local club’s local trail in the area. After about 4-5 miles on this loop around the city, Dylan flagged down Action Dan and Craig, and shared with them his thoughts about how tis loop is going to add about an hour to estimated arrival time. Fortunately, after they all laughed about the situation, they determined “Maybe we should turn around take the direct route…”.

After about 209 miles for the day, we were in to the Motel Nordic. It took a while to check in, as the language barrier was in full effect. The desk clerk could not come to terms that Craig was paying for all 8 rooms on his credit card, and part of our package. Most of us loitered in the lobby, taking advantage of the warmth, while a few followed Ski Doo Matt and Truck Driver Brian into the nearby bar. Eventually the mis-understanding on the room situation was resolved, with the assistance of some Google french to english and english to french translations taking place.

While I have been to this motel prior, about 10 years ago, like most of our destinations, I never recall the rooms, or the meals, and really not much about the town, unless something exciting and memorable occured. Craig likens to its always like a new trip for me. I can assure you I will remember this location, if for nothing more than the shower! It is 4.25 on the trail. And not because of any outlandish decor or layout, just a good old fashioned motel on the road shower but with a Spray Handle shower head and gobs of hot water, and separate thermostat for the bathroom itself, to keep it warm for those middle of the night trips, without over heating the main room with the beds!

After an exageratingly long HOT shower, utiilizing the handheld wand in all forms of obscenity, it was time to catch up with the gang in the lobby bar. The Midevel themed bar, with double swinging doors, and, horse shoe bartop and iron circular light fixture over head completing the theme.

Dinner was supposed to be at 7pm, and it was 6:15 by the time of my arrival. I gathered with Ski Doo and Dylan around the horseshoe bar, and the discussion turned to the fact that we have to walk about a 1/4 mile down the road to the restaurant, as the hotel didnt’ have dinner accomodations for us. This was frowned upon by our small group, and the friendly bar maid made the suggestion that she could order food in for us and we could stay right there at her bar and enjoy dinner. Now, I am positive she was being a good hearted soul, that was just interested in our health and safety, not wanting us to walk outside in the -15 temperatures and along the road where loaded down semi rigs were hauling their loads southbound, without much regard for what was in there path. And the fact that it would bolster her nightly tip income would have no bearing on her gracious offer (Ski Doo will definitely disagree that she didn’t have ulterior motives, as she kept trying to charge him twice for a single drink order).

Fortunately, the group was all in on having dinner brought in, and it was a very good dinner indeed. I saw several lasagna and Ceasar salads served, a couple hot chicken dinners, and several orders of poutine (if you don’t know what poutine is, google it).

Dinner was served out of Styrofoam takeout containers

As the evening passed, the riders slowing filtered out, and back to their rooms for the night. The long cold day had taken it’s toll on the group.

Dylan, Stick and Wingman Rob were a few of the stragglers in the bar after dinner

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is a layover day on the trail. We will be at this location for 2 consecutive nights, and use the extra day to explore the area, and see what this remote area has to offer, if anything. Usually I take advantage of these layover days, and have a pajama day and catch up on the blog, but I just may go out and take in the sights tomorrow.

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick

Frost Bytes Day 5, 2/20/2023

February 22, 2023

Documented a rarely and elusive Northern Snow Turtle in the wild

Welcome back riders,

We find ourselves in the far northern town of Chibougamau, QC. Look it up on our tracking button to see just how far north we are. And it’s cold…-2 during the day cold, and -34 at night cold.

But lets get back to where we left off. We abandoned the notion of re-mounting Ski Doo’s crown, he wasn’t a real fan of the taste test of the JB Weld. We will continue to plot a strategy in that concern, and I will keep you updated accordingly.

We were last in La Tuque, and the morning after our sidewalk/parking lot party. We convened in the hotel dining room for the snowmobiler breakfast, and we were scheduled for a 9am departure. The best I recall, that went off without a hitch.

Dylan & Wingman resting in the warming hut, along the trail

Our path was trail #72, with a stop for lunch at one of our favorites of the trail, Relaise 22. Relaise 22 is quaint, for lack of a better term, “lodge” in the middle of no where. I believe it is powered by a generator, and it is definitely off the grid, Action Dan took Wingman Rob for a tour of the chambers, and came back to us with the news that they had done some upgrades to the rooms, they now have bed frames, instead of just a mattress on the floor!

Stick was able to get an 8 minute nap while the crew was finishing their lunch

Lunch was a simple menu to choose from, hamburgers all dressed, chicken sandwichs or chick a’la king. I opted for the chicken a’la king. They had unique twist on this entre, instead of chicken and a thin gravy with peas & corn over bisquits, like my mom used to make, it was simply diced chicken over a bed of pasta, with a thin gravy and few diced green onions thrown on top. Not what I was expecting, but it did the job.

After lunch I believe we had about 80 miles to go. The trail was smooth and fast, and we were headed for Roberval. Not really much excitement on the trail for the most part. Until there was. About 10 miles from the Hotel Roberval, I came around a corner, a group of about 6 sleds were stopped on the right side of the trail. They were all looking to the left side of the trail, where Rimel had gone off trail, and his sled on it’s side, and he was stuck in the thicket of small scrub brush/trees. Naturally, after I checked ot be sure he was not injured, I snapped the requisite photos for your viewing pleasure. Naturally, he cursed me the whole time. It was more difficult getting Rimel out of the ditch than his sled. His jacket had gotten poked, and stuck on one of the thickets and it took us a bit to get him detached.

Chip Nasty retrieved his snow bungee device so we could hook it to the front ski, and with Old Man Ron giving a couple of tugs on the bungee, and some throttle, we had the sled back on the trail. It wasn’t quite as easy to get Rimel back on the trail. As he was trying to climb up out of the deep, loose, snow filled ditch, he lost his balance and fell back in to the scrub brush. Naturally, more pictures were required, and more cursing spewed from Rimel’s mouth.

Onward we went, with no further issues on the trail. We checked into the large hotel, showered, and I saw some of the boys, including Hedge Hog, Craig, and Chip Nasty, headed thru the lobby in their swimsuits to the pool and hot tub. Quite a site for the locals, I am sure, as it was quite a sight to myself.

Ski Doo Matt, pointing out the dam we just rode across on the trail

I retired to the bar, with Ski Doo, Truck Driver Mark and a couple others to get busy on my nightly duties. Dinner was scheduled for 7:30pm, and we were ready when the dinner bell rang. For such a nice dining room and bar, the food is not much to write home about, so I won’t. Same goes for the buffet breakfast and the scrambled eggs out of a box, the next morning.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. We have about 200 miles to traverse. And there is no fuel station or rest area, or warming hut, for about 140 miles. And it is going to get below zero as we head north.

We shall see…

Bye for now,

Stick

Frost Bytes Day 4, 2/19/2023...

February 20, 2023

Dylan and his onesie snow suit, or as he calls it his “bunny suit”

Welcome back riders,

This morning we all, as in everyone, convened in the dining room for the Snowmobiler breakfast around 7am.

After breakfast, we fueled our sleds on sight, where they were really proud of their fuel. I don’t know the gallon equivalent of the litres we got, but it was stiff. As we sit here and try to compute it we are coming up with around 7$ per gallon. But this is bar math, after a few drinks. Just trust me, it was pricey.

We were gathered out front of the lodge around 8:45am, and just waiting for Old Man Ron. Chip Nasty went to check on him, and found out Ron was in a panicked state, he couldn’t find his wallet. He finally found it nestled under the comforter of his bed.

And on the trail we were at around 9am. Mostly an un-eventfull day, until it wasn’t. Somewhere before lunch, at a break on the trail, Yamaha Rob realized his saddle bag was coming de-tached from this sled. He blamed it on a Ski Doo rivet, on his Yamaha Sidewinder. Why he’s running a frankenstein operation for his saddle bag attachment is beyond me, but a couple bungee cords solved his problem.

We were in for lunch by 1pm, at the Marineau restaurant in some town none of us gathered in the bar at this time, can recall, Lunch was decent, Dylan & Wingman ordered the same meal again, this time the cabbage rolls. They were happy, again. I saw wings and burgers flying around too.

Back on the trail and about 80 miles to go. The trails were anywhere from good to bad. As daylight was dwindling, and the number of miles were, as well, the trail got especially rough. This slowed down a couple riders at the back of the pack, and got 6 of us a bit separated from the front of the pack. We were about 15 miles back actually. We finally caught up with the group at an intersection and after an attempted hit and run a bit of a verbal lashing from Stick to the rider that didn’t check his mirrors, (Wingman Rob). we were finally back together and headed to the barn.

We were in, again, around 6pm and after dark. And now it gets’ good again. We are all gathered in the parking lot outside the entrance to the night’s motel, and Craig goes in to check us in. But…they don’t have his reservations. He is livid. He called the week before we left all of our overnights’ to verify our reservations, but some how this location didn’t have any record of our stay when we showed up. And… the attached restaurant and bar is closed on Sundays! You can’t make this stuff up. It took us an hour to get checked in, and fortunately it was a warm winter evening as we loitered in the parking lot joking and laughing about our circumstances.

The problem was quickly solved when Action Dan, Ski Doo Matt and Wingman Rob headed out on sleds to the nearest gas station for a couple 30 packs of cold blue mountains and ordered us 6 pizzas, delivered please. Apparently Action Dan and Ski Doo rode 2-up and Action Dan gave them quite a ride back, with the head light gleaming off the night clouds, instead of the trail ahead of them.

This turned out to be one of those nights that we will always remember. We decided to make it a sidewalk party outside of Craig and Action Dan’s room. We pulled the end table out of their room and on to the side walk outside their room , set up the 6 delivered pizzas, wings and mozzarella sticks on the table, and threw the beer in a snow bank. Now I wish I could say, all went well from there, but you do recall this is the Darkside, correct? The pizza joint didn’t cut the pizza into slices, and we didn’t have a knife to cut it. Our neighboring motel room occupant arrived for the night around this time, and was generous enough to volunteer his box cutter knife in exchange for a slice and a beer. No problems, only solutions. His only words of advice were “ I’m a mechanic, you may want to wash the grease off it!”

After 4 double doubles, this is the most I can recall from yesterday, and also I am at my limit of the amount of time I am alotting this stupi blog this evening. But before I sign off, an update on that crown replacement I did for Ski Doo Matt the other night. It made it about 18 hours with super glue. We are going to try JB Weld tonight, after dinner. I’ll keep you posted.

Ski Doo Matt’s crown and my tools of the trade, just missing the JB Weld

Bye for now,

Stick

Frost Bytes Day 3, 2/18/2023... Welcome Back Riders

February 20, 2023

Welcome back Riders,

Yes, I have been off the grid the last 2 nights, we have had some late arrivals, and poor wifi. We are now in Roberval, QC, and we actually got in at a decent hour, around 5pm. Could have been about 20 minutes sooner, but Rimel would have none of that!

Anywho, lets back up and get this back in chronological order. Last we spoke, we were gathering in the bar at the Bon Air. Dylan and Rob arrived right after my final writings, and the group was together. Dinner was excellent, as usual.

I understand that a couple of the boys whipped it up pretty good that night. I wouldn’t know, I retired directly after dinner. But I do know that NFG Kelly and his crew from Ontario didn’t make the call time for departure this morning, at 9am. I understand there departure time was closer to 1pm, and they made the 150 mile ride as the three of them. They did leave later than we did, and arrive to the destination before us, I’ll give them credit for that! However, in all fairness, they did take the 75 mile direct route, instead of the scenic tour we took.

Our first stop was about 15 miles down the trail, for our obligatory stop at the local Ski Doo dealer. Hedgie, Wingman Rob and Truck Driver Brian had to get mirrors mounted on their sleds. Quebec requires a mirror on the left side of your sled or its a $500 (Canadian) fine.

After about 45 minutes at the dealer, and we were back on the trail, fully legal… as far as we know. Pretty uneventful day, really. It was a busy Saturday on the trails. We passed A LOT of sleds today. Around 2pm, and about 80 miles, we stopped for lunch at Bar Brasserie 500, in Saint-Tite. Pretty cool place, 2 stories, and looked to be the hot spot in town for evening entertainment. A few bowls of soup, a couple hamburgers, some nachos, and lunch was D-U-N, done. Back on the trail to Pourvoirie du Lac Blanc in Saint-Alexis Des Monts.

For only being a 150 mile ride, we sure dragged it out. It was about 6:15pm at arrival, and even with the extra hour of sunlight, due to our later than usual travel dates, we still come in after dark! Craig got us checked in expeditiously, and Wingman & I lucked out with a room attached to the main lodge, room number 17. This is where my excitement for the day comes in. I rode around to the side of the lodge to the entry door that I was familiar with, and Wingman was waiting for me at with his luggage. That door did not go to any chambers (that is French Quebec for “room”). Ok, Wingman wait here until I find our room. I rode around the back of the lodge, climbed the short flight of steps and found room 17. However, in the pale moon light, and my old eyes, I saw “4” on the room key and not “17”. Ok, if this is room 17, room 4 must be down at the end. Nope, that’s the dining room, going farther down the outdoor elevated walk way. So I hop back on my sled, ride past Wingman telling him to just hold on. I drive completely around the building, and can only find room 17. At his point I suck it up and go to the front desk to ask where is room 4? The friendly young lady looks at the key chain and says, Oh, room 17 is at the end… I exasperatingly say/ask, that is room 17?!? I know where that is!!! Back around the building again, and we are now finally at our room, again.

Anywho, it was late now, and it was International happy hour. I met a few of the boys in the lower level bar, as dinner was not until 8:30, as it was a busy Saturday night at the lodge. The wifi was poor, and I took the night off.

Dinner was excellent. Wingman Rob and Dylan had the Osso buco, and Wingman claimed it to be one of the top 5 meals he has had. Dylan did not concur with this rating but did say it was very good. The Onion soup was a 2.75, not bad, not great, not to salty, not enough melted cheese, but still good. For dessert, there was quite a few vanilla ice creams’ with chocolate sauce ordered. It was close to 10:30 when dinner was over, and the group pretty much retired directly after, so far as I know.

Call time in the morning is 9am, with our destination being La Tuque, QC. Supposedly around 150 miles again.

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick