snowmaster2112

Here ....THE MAN himself. Andre Vennnemam from Parent. 
If you only have one contact in all of upper Maurice/Parent/Clova/Wemo area you better hope it’s this guy. BTW...he speaks better English than I do
Andre is one day older than me. We both turn 56 on March 1st & 2nd. 
http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2022_02/BDD2B3C1-9CE4-49F1-8997-594B04692774.thumb.jpeg.4cad5b08da8853617b09683cc908a18e.jpeg

Ok....this wasn’t fair to guess for anyone so here the story goes:
heading north on the Gouin trail I finally got to the road section and see plow guy coming up the road. I wave to stop him and was happy, happy happy when he pulls up and I see the sign on the door. Wait....I know who this is. Confirmed before we even speak I see the last four digits of the phone number.  2112  (imagine that)
Now this was just a worker guy for him but I ask...”is Andre at his camp and how do I get there”  YES, YES, YES...he replies...hurry he says before he leaves.
So ...I find it 3-4 miles away. JACKPOT...he’s still there. It’s been two years since I have seen my friend Andre & Jeanie. They own the hombre du Vent cabins and an awesome ranch house rental right on the other side of the bridge across from the depanneur. In addition André has 14 employees and plows all the roads up hear in the bush for the town of La Tuque (largest city in Quebec by kilometers)
Andre tried to tell me how to come to see his cabin (yeah right) some years back by way of road from Relais 22 but the weather wasn’t cooperating and we had to bag it.
so now I’m finally here. About 5-7 miles from the Gouin.
 

one more picture of lunch
it beat ANY club sandwich I have EVER had
jean-guy reports only two sleds passing by here today heading west around noon or shortly before

I somehow managed to have THE BEST low mileage day of my boring snowmobiling life today. Maybe 90-100 miles total. I don’t know as the digital read out on mon ami Andre’s sled stopped working yesterday. He says it goes out sometimes for long periods. I don’t need no “stinking dash” And for the first time in “ I don’t know when” I’m not running GPS
here 2km from Haltaparche at 10:15 this morning heading north on the Barrage Gouin trail.
and it kept getting deeper, and deeper and DEEPER.......all day
 

A little different this time leaving Haltaparche 

Leaving Kanawata now and heading to camp for my last night.
wont be able to post anymore
wishing everyone the best and a happy season ending (whenever that may be)
April riding will be a reality up here this year

Having another wing dinger of a day/afternoon 
i never made it to camp.......yet
i was at the Giraldo dam at 4:30 taking a break after riding straight from Kanawata.
i don’t intentionally do these things .....it just “happens”
might turn out to be another life changing moment
 

Leaving Kanawata now and heading to camp for my last night.
wont be able to post anymore
wishing everyone the best and a happy season ending (whenever that may be)
April riding will be a reality up here this year

Here they were back on December 29th

He’s only rented the yurts out a couple times so far and has a couple reservations. They are completely engulfed in snow now

I sat out there and took a nice long break. Didn’t leave Haltaparche till almost 10:30. While this certainly is not far away it must be 12:00 somewhere and also 4:20
not a breath of wind and the brightest blue sky you would ever see
i could help but close and reopen my eyes and picture Raymond Boulanger approaching on fumes and landing right where I sat that fateful day in November 1992
Here , Norman from Camp de Base with him back a couple years ago when he revisited Casey. This time not in handcuffs 

I made a little snow angel to watch over me on the last couple days of my trip
 

Casey airstrip a couple hours ago

A little different this time leaving Haltaparche 

And Ice......
I cristened the shack for all prosperity and eternity 

Inside Jean-Guy’s generator bldg (6 ft from the trail) this morning 

Well.....the sun even shines on a dogs ass some days. alliance du Nord finally came through for me this year. Should be SMOOTH sailing all the way back to Andre’s camp today.
lunch at Kanawata then south via 345/M20/M21
ill miss mon ami Jean-Guy and Haltaparche. If I didn’t have life responsibilities I would just stay here forever. Wouldn’t phase me a  bit. He turns 80 in a couple weeks and I hope he lives to 100. He is one of THE toughest guys (and nicest) you would ever meet. Quebec Bob and I are going to try and get up here this summer to go fishing.
 

We had some great vegetables soup he made for lunch too

Jean guy made us some fu$&ing DELICIOUS moose cheeseburgers and now we are snacking on some nice Orida extra crispy fries

Outstanding day off here at Haltaparche 
helped Jean Guy with some firewood, snow shoveling, took a nap and played with the dog and played gin rummy with him.
I was napping this afternoon and Jean guy reports 6 more sledders passed heading east. Perfect, I’ll take it for tomorrow’s run back to the camp
lunch in Kanawata 
here this evening 
 

I remember it as up near LSJ and the local rescue boys came and got them
i was running somewhere up here that time but can’t remember where

Drink one for me Andy
it must be bad

Earlier....

No just a little by the door so I could crawl over the rest to clear the Starlink dish off. We are having great vegetables soup Jean-Guy just made a big pot of. 
Sonofabitch if four sledders passed by hear at 10:15 heading west. Jean-guy spoke with them (French) and these crazy bastards started from the 22 this morning and are heading all the way to Senneterre. I’m guessing these guys don’t hang around with the ones from the Gouin