MrsGTRider

Monday 28 February continues 
 
We arrive at the junction of the local orange trail and rejoin TQ93 we are smiling ear to ear in our helmets both agreeing it’s good to be us right now. We turn left toward Lac a Jim, time for a nice stop for Lunch and we will continue this glorious run. 
 
Well 12km from Lac a Jim on this outstanding trail, I hear it. I dismiss it at first as maybe an Iceberg as this Apex like all others processes ice and alot of it. But I quickly realized this was not an iceberg. I pull off and stop. Waiting for David to appear. He arrives and I tell him I think the fun is just about to start. 
 
I say this because there is no sense in drama. Got no time for that. When issues arrive and the always do, be it something minor like a bad cord for your shield, or something major like your track being finished. It’s all part of the game and we been down all these roads before. How you deal with these setbacks and what moves you make next determine the quality of your team. And your experiences together. On trail, off trail(hotel, relais, bar...etc.) is what it’s all about. 
 
So we run the sled ahead and find the offending flap. Nice tear, very impressed with my handy work. I take out my trusty knife, usually for slicing up sausage, pepperoni and cheese for happy hour, but she cuts the flap just fine. 
 
Off to Lac a Jim. Go Easy is not in my playbook but I had to make it there. So easy it is. Pull into Relais at Lac a Jim. What’s a couple of gentlemen of leisure to do?
Have lunch of course. 
 
We forward some pictures to the shop at Moto Thibault, I knew the response before it came. It was suggested if I continue with it like that, I should not go far from the road. LOL. 
 
Over lunch we brainstorm and I chat with the two wonderful ladies there. One says her brother lives right there and is retired, should be home and can take us to Dolbeau. We call Gerard the brother but his wife says he’s gone ski dooing and not sure when he will be back. Almost a home run. 
 
We had already secured the 15’ U-Haul in Dolbeau so time for plan B. The woman is almost done we are the only people there now and it’s 3pm. She agrees to drive David to get the U-haul. This will work merci. He left at 3:45 40 minutes to Dolbeau paperwork and gets truck back at Lac a Jim at 6:00.. 
 
I had been searching for a good snow bank to load up the sleds but found nowhere great, plus one sled needed to go in backwards as it aint wide enough for 2 side by side. In the parking lot is an enclosed trailer with an awesome rear door ramp. I find out the owner is at one of the chalets there at Lac a Jim. I find the guys friend but the trucks owner is not there. He agrees to come see what he can do for us. No way we are lifting the Apex with just 2 of us. Anyway he opens up his friends trailer we use the Ramp and load up the sleds. 6:40 on the road southbound. 
 
We’re not sure at first but it becomes clear this is a one way ride to Shawinigan we are going all the way tonight. Playhard gets us out of the bush and ice road down through Normandin and onward thru St Felicien then Roberval to Chambord we stoo for Gas and snacks in Lac Bouchette then I take the wheel for the final run down the 155 dry road no traffic. Love it. 
 
Into Chez Ice at 11:37. Pretty good time. 
 
Not our first adventure together in a U-haul and surely not the last and I am OK with all of it. 
 
It’s all Snowmobiling.
 
Today we slept in. Visited with Mrs Ice then decided we should get my sled to the doctor. My sled is probably finished for this season. I would have changed the track but try to find an iceripper see how that goes. Maybe he said Maybe he can find one we shall see. But either way its getting the works when they pull that track. All new bearings in chaincase and everything else he feels like should be done. They will get er right.
 
Dropped off U-haul in Trois Riveres and we are set up for a final ride for this ride, tomorrow local from home. I had to ask the mrs. nicely if I could ride my sled. She thinks the Blue sled is hers but it’s not. But I gave her the courtesy of asking. But I was taking it regardless of the answer. She still cannot walk so I am definitely able to outrun her stlll for another week or so. 
 
Ride on people.
 

We're in Gaspe tonight. Came from the south up the 597 and took the local you're talking about. It seems I remember people referring to it years ago as the "bailey bridge cutoff"? Maybe from an old map? Everything was sweet today
 

Late departure, as usual, in search of poutines and club houses today. Stop and had poutines and club sandwiches at Relais Saint-Adelme.
Shortly after leaving and after putting on 50,000 KM with the MRS, she’s finally put her in the rhubarb. Into the trickle trunk, pulled out the bungee-sling shot. It worked a little better than we expected, pulled the machine out and processed to flip it over. It works really well, highly recommended finding a spot in your sled for one of these.
 
Continued on to Sélectôtel for the night. Drinks, dinner & bed…the Moores woke up to the news that they became grandparents for the 4th time. 

Decide to spend a second night at Sélectôtel. Woke up planning to do the 587 loop down to the bottom and back up to the top. Make a wrong turn which turned out to be a good thing, ending up meeting The Groomer Guy and Lindy Sled Girl. Shoot the breeze and then turn around and head down the 587, gassed up at St Francois then back to the new shelter for a picnic lunch. Nice ride Back to the hotel.
The 587 did not disappoint.

Saturday woke up at Auberge Carabou being Saturday, on the Gaspé, we started looking for reservations. After 45 minutes of phone calls and numerous wishes of “good luck”, we did finally find a spot at L’Auberge Seigneurie des Monts.
Left around 11, stop and had a picnic lunch, a little bit of sight seeing, but our main goal today was to find an SAQ. M&M tours runs on high test and we were out of brown liquor and running very low on rum….we didn’t want to develop rod knock. We did make it to SAQ just at closing time!

A little extra effort to get to Auberge Seigneurie des Monts but totally worth it.  Amazing accommodations, great food, and soft fuzzy bath ropes. 

Yes, those are the Mummy's. That first picture by Chris is the best by far. Hard to get full sun up there. These are mine but not as good.

I picked a few from the many 1000's I have 😉

How about the story to go with the pic?  Speaking of Alain, I met him on top of Mount Albert while in the Gaspe. It was funny because I recognized his sled and Krikri so I stopped to say hi and snagged this pic 
 

I probably have well over 1000 snowmobile photos and less than a dozen are true "keepers", almost professional looking. I have had to work hard at it over the years and still nowhere as good as say Towing is. 
I found this today over on HCS Quebec website today. Some guy who lives in "western Quebec" took this (or his friends did) this past week in the Chic-Chocs.
It has my vote for best snowmobile pic EVER SNAPPED. Does it have your vote too?  
Feel free to post what ya got on here (good, bad, ugly) and we will try and keep it going.
If that was me in that pic I would have it made on an 8x10 ft piece of wallpaper to put in my bedroom no matter the cost.

Sunday 2/27
 
These gentlemen are at it again. After the down day to regroup back at HQ. We decided to take it to the Lac. LSJ it is. We really wanted to get up North. With the go around last week it just had to be. Playhard arrived at 8am. His sled was resting in my barn. We bagged them sleds up, Sent the tracking links and sent em out the driveway before 8:30 am.  I know what your thinking, 8:30 is far from a leisurely departure by comparison with last week.
 
Don’t get used to it. 
 
It was Sunday and while we understood full well that with our earlier start we stood a chance of getting up to Lac Edouard at a decent hour and being well on our way. We realized we would be faced with everyone who stayed in La Tuque last night now heading down for the end to their weekend rides. Dodging bullets. 
 
TQ3 from home beautiful freshly surfaced. I love the combination of diesel powered hydraulics along with a skilled operator. Grooming is good. It’s early but it’s the time to get it. Peeled off 3 onto local to sectaur St Goerge. Just before river in Grand Mere grabbed the gas. 
 
Onto the River. I for one have never been a big fan of this run up to St Roc de Mekinac on the river. I get it, its gets you there. For me to have come down it Friday and go back up it Monday tells you something. It’s in surprisingly great shape not whooped out at all. That said it’s mindless following sticks but the KM are free. 
 
Off the river and oh the memories of great times at Auberge Mekinac one of these days gonna just stop and knock on the door. 
 
Local up to 360 is big and fast. Nice conditions here. We run up to join 360 take a break and two sleds behind us come up. Damn I hate following anyone. Well its ok they are headed toward Mattawin. C-ya.
 
Up to 360/355 the 360 was nice, a bit cream cheesy  but i will take it. 355 from jct with 360. I have seen much worse but was the worst section of trail all day. The trail all the way to to jct with 351 was rough. Used and abused. At the warming hut can see groomer came down from La Tuque and turned here to go back up. Love that hydraulic machinery. Traffic light so far but as we cruise on up toward the train trestle, business is picking up. All well behaved so far. At trestle 2 big groups. All stopped and southbound. 
We move on it’s a gray day with sun peeking out slightly followed by big snow squalls then repeat. Not cold. Got jacket vents zipped open. 
 
More and more southbounders but we knew it was to be. This part of 355 is in great shape. To the LT1 and its stellar as well. Only 2 sleds headed down from this side as we arrive at TQ73. Its flat but roto tilled like loose sugar with a soft shoulder. 
 
Very nice all the way back to 355 and beautiful run staying on the trail and not taking the Lake to the Co-Op for gas and Candybars. 
 
Lots of locals gassing up two big groups. We take a small break then hit it. We continue past post office and take the shortcut (not groomed) up to rejoin 355. 
Beautiful ride all the way to Lac Bouchette. We pass on this gas stop and zero in on the target, Roberval. I am shocked how well this whole trail has held up for a Sunday. Great ride all the way from Auberge Eva right to the door at Roberval. Some drifts in a few fields near hotel. That’s life up here. 
 
BTW front door is now temporarily the back door at Chateau Roberval as they are renovating the lobby and pool/hot tub area. Bistro pub is closed for renovations as well but restaurant is open. 
 
Spectacular day. 
Lots and Lots of snow up here. It’s deep.
Also on a side note. Today my mother is 87 years old. Happy Birthday Mom.
Born on 2/27
so maybe it’s coincidence maybe not. David and I check into hotel just after hanging up from singing happy birthday to Mom and front desk hands me my room card. Room #?  ......227

#SpaLife Auberge Drakkar Style!  Sorry, I couldn't take pics outside with the fire pits around the hot tubs.  Nancy and Reggie and Pascal really did an amazing job setting up this amazing space. It just works.

But there was a young family out back, and the little kids were a bit freaked out. Something about an old dude with a robe looking like some kinda monk clansman being anywhere nearby.
 

It is that time of the year where I am putting the sleds away even though it pains me to do so.  As always I will try to be as detailed as possible with everything this year... trails, covid, food.  Both trips we did our normal stay around the Saint-Michel-des-Saints/Saint-Zénon location.  We normally stay at Real Masse but with them being closed we had to find another location.  We got an AirBnb since it seemed easiest for us with covid and the quarantine stuff.
This post is gonna be super long so thanks for reading taking the time to read it.  If we passed you while riding or said hello at a stop it was nice to meet you.
Trip 1: Jan 29th - Feb 5th
The first trip of the year started out with a bang as PA/NJ/NY where getting hammered with snow.  So driving through the snow was fun just added some more time on the drive but it was worth it.  Stopped at the border around 12:45PM with barely any line.  Gave all information and it went smoothly except for the the arrival app to freak out and say we had a third passenger.  Thankfully that person was from the previous car and the person realized that.  Was kind of expecting to get selected for testing as my father works in a hospital.  We weren't which shocked the crap out of me and went as quick as possible so they didn't change their minds.  Got to our destination super late which sucked because I wanted to get a quick run of our new sleds.  Thankfully we were one of the lucky ones to get our new 2022 Polaris VR1s in time to ride this year.  Did 1190 miles for the week, went almost everywhere in the region to just see all the sites we missed.  
Jan 30th:
Trip Summary - overtop dam, then towards Koubec Trip Length - 182 miles Trails - 345, 360, 23, 33, 350, local trails Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Jan 31st
Trip Summary - Repos then to Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 243 miles Trails - 33, 345, 360, M20(local trail to Riviere-Mattawin) Trail Conditions 9.5 out of 10 Feb 1st
Trip Summary - South Saint-Cuthbert, Saint-Paulin, La Blanc Trip Length - 197 miles Trails - 63, 23, 3, 350 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 2nd
Trip Summary - Saint Donat Trip Length - 185 miles Trails - 63, 33, 310 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 3rd
Trip Summary - Riviere-Rogue Trip Length - 182 miles Trails - 63, 33 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 4th
Trip Summary - Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 200 miles Trails - 33, 360 Trail Conditions 9.5 out of 10 Trip 1 images:







Trip 2: Feb 19th - Feb 25th
Second trip of the year was just as great as the first trip.  Driving up was a little easier until Montreal as it was almost white out conditions.  The moto of the trip was smiles not miles.  We weren't concerned about putting a ton of miles on this trip but more enjoying the last time until next year.  We were able to meet some locals and ride with them as well meet some friends from down home.  Put on 960 miles for our 6 days and couldn't have asked for a more.
Feb 20th
Trip Summary - Up to Lac Tauruea resort and back down to Saint-Michel.  Coin-lavigne to meet friends and get a bit to eat. Trip Length - 140 miles Trails - 63, 33 Trail Conditions 7 out of 10 (it was the free weekend it was busy) Feb 21st
Trip Summary - Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 220 miles Trails - 33, 360, M20 Trail Conditions 9 out of 10 Feb 22nd
Trip Summary - Riviere-Rogue & Labelle Trip Length - 180 miles Trails - 63, 323, 325 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 23rd
Trip Summary - Koubec (freezing rain over night Tuesday, waited for trails to get rode over before riding) Trip Length - 110 miles Trails - 63, 33 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Feb 24th
Trip Summary - Riviere-Mattwain  Trip Length - 200 miles Trails - 33, 360 Trail Conditions 9.5 out of 10 Feb 25th
Trip Summary - Koubec then overtop dam Trip Length - 120 miles Trails - 345, 360, 23, 33, 350 Trail Conditions 8.5 out of 10 Trip 2 images:







 
Will post some videos of riding whenever they get uploaded.
 
 

Spending the night with new friends. Just got done eating Chinese and sugar pie. Heneikens galore and Starlink Internet wahoooooo
as the crow flies.....2 miles from Giraldo dam

You guys were really just in my backyard! Trailside meeting would have been really great but I unfortunately was at work on job, rushing to close this damn week. I had enjoy seeing you guys having fun in my neck of the woods, thanks for taking us with you along with the pics and writing(love your pics PLAYHARD!)
So as now, I am on vacation! it's my turn to enjoy the white gold and I am taking black trail tomorrow to Mont-Joli for a week sledding in Gaspesia!
happy trail!