RoadRunner

Great trip guys, you got a good taste of what we enjoy about the back country in the hinterlands of Valin great reports👍 RR

Two uneventful days in a row! Back to the Econolodge in Forestville yesterday. The boys had a fun ride down with new snow on most of the trail. It got increasingly more, the further west they came Trailblazer and I brought the shuttle truck down from a Sept Isle, so definitely an R and R day for us. Ranato, at the hotel had an awesome band at the bar here last night , so we all had to enjoy them into evening after a great dinner. Due to almost everyone here running a somewhat different trip, due to back tracking, Break Dow’s, runs to Mary’s Harbor for some on our flex day , ect. We averaged 1750 miles or .....so as a group. The high miler was F3, ....with somewhere in the range of 2250 for his adventure! We all enjoy these types of adventures Home today to begin dreaming about the next run! Happy Trails RR

Mike R, I think that just might work, we would have to verify that it has a mini wine cellar option, if so it’s sold!😉

We had dinner last night with Trailblazers cousins Serge, he is an engineer on the Quebec Northshore Labrador railway. A very nic conversation with Serge and a few interesting factoids. The ore train that they run will way 33,000 Tons! When at full capacity it is 1.8 Miles in length and the grade change elevates from sea level to 2600 feet. A very unique railway for sure. Only One person operates this train on the run from Sept Isle to Lab City. We could have talked with him all night about the experiences on this rail line. some pics from their web site

A smooth, uneventful ride in from Havre to Sept Isle yesterday! No breakdowns, the winter storm warning only provided high winds and occasional snow blasts, than sleet, that limited visibility, for a few sections of the trip.. We have three snowmobiles that were disabled during this trip at the Ski doo dealer here, two have been repaired but The 850 with the blown motor is not ready. Infamous Quebec guide Yves will be staying back in Sept Isle waiting for the engine which was delayed by storm related road closures between Baie Comeau and Forestville. That engine issue we found out was due to an oil injection pump failure. The last leg today is onto Forestville, just an inch of new snow here in Sept Isle this am, we suspect that will change as we head west😉 Yours truly has offered to bring the vehicle that Coutter and RR Jr used to catch up with us on the first day, back to Forestville so these two can run that section of trail, as they missed it on the first day due to a suspension failure. Trailblazers sled will be ready at 9 am, It’s a big day , so the gang will head out, I will bring T B in the trailer down and intercept the boys at a road crossing for TB to finish his ride in. An excellent meal last night at Bistro Blanc. Infamous trail guide Yves lined up this location for dinner and treated all of us to various selections of wine! we are trying to broaden RR Jrs taste buds and introduce him to other fine dining experiences 😉 Happy Trails RR

Some great morning pics of Harrington Harbor and the crab pots that provide the income for the Island

Reflecting upon this ride so far, and BackCountry 603 and I got chuckle this morning to the above comment I made last night. we reflected back to last year and the quote made than: 2017 White Road Lab Loop “Of the 8 sleds that left, we had 4 sleds that made the loop and we're ridden every day, albeit minor repairs. Those sleds were the 3 Freeride 154s and a 146 standard back country.” How soon we forget about last years carnage on that adventure ride! So We are thinking the White Road Gremlins really do exist😉 Onto Sept Isle today, Oh and what is today’s weather🤪 ❄️❄️Warnings❄️❄️ 4:34 AM EST Friday 09 March 2018 🚫🚫Winter storm warning in effect for:🚫🚫 Baie-Trinité area Sept-Îles - Port-Cartier area A major winter storm is expected. Another adventure day Happy Trails RR

As TB implied, this morning it was RR Jrs turn to feed the Gremlins and oh did he feed them well! We were 10 miles out of Harrington harbor 8:30am , when Jr says I got a bad vibration. Now, kind of like yesterday, but this was worse than breaking down in la Tabatierre! We are 100 miles, the short way, from a highway and we are heading west. We do a quick fact gathering session, and determine that if we go into Chevery, grab gear lube, grease and anything else that we can pack that might make this trip easier when the inevitable comes, that’s about the best we can do! We have two 20 wides (aka tow trucks) in inventory and “ one “ has a recently replaced used track. We are in great shape! for what appears to be a drive system issue. we head west for the nearest road. We use “in reach” to contact our central contact, Tom, from Moosehead Lake Maine and give him the facts, we most likely will need a transport once we get to Kegaska to haul this sled to Sept Isle. He is all over this and calls Ruth in Kegaska to get things in motion. We are near 100 miles out so no hurry! RR jr runs 10 miles and says it’s getting bad, well, only 90 to go, but if someone in La Romaine can fix it that’s shorter! We hook the 20 wide with the “new used track” on and send Back country and F3 to get things lined up in Romaine. Trailblazer, with the other “Tow truck”stays back to help if my 20 wide lays down. ..... hours later we roll into Romaine with Jr in tow, a no go here, no parts, lots of natives! and nothing happening here! we unhook JR and say ....run it until it quits , ....he goes 27 miles and the secondary implodes 3 miles out of Kegaska. We rehook on, and drag him into Kegaska, onto a transport and off he goes to Sept Isle. the rest of us made Havre, later than we planned, but the club house coming in, provided spirit lifting refreshments All in a days journey we reflected over spirits how in many previous years we would run thousands of miles on and off trail without incident? Are the sleds getting weaker or....? Is it just the sled Gremlins😉 Happy Trails RR

From the living room window at Jeans Boarding House, Harrington Harbor

GT, We truly have been fortunate to have a group that, when assembled, all bring something significant to the table. From riding experience, to working thru adversity and MCIvering things together, to mechanical ability, and GPS and navigational expertise. We all bring something to the table for trip experience. The other noteable, are the people you meet along the way and how they will always help you out! We have found, that especially in these remote villages along the White Road and into Labrador, that the people are caring, kind and helpful. Truly makes the journey a much more enjoyable ride. You find people like Cletus and Jean all along the coast here ....On the White Road! Jean has a very nice breakfast set up for us this morning and than we are off to the. Next Town to see more friends that we have not met yet😉.

Very nice trail reporting and pictures, it was awesome that you were able to make that run in such awesome weather Happy trails RR

TB, after watching you and F3 this week, I suspect there may have been a few other times when the word “crazy” could be used to describe previous adventures. Just saying😉. You boys can get it done. A great adventure week for sure! Onto Havre 😊

We all celebrated the Team Maine victory today when we got the news in St Augustine. A great lunch there and than we hooked onto the WiFi from the store to get the results. Congratulations Rob, Andrew, Dixon and Scott on a well run race. The entire support team was awesome and a deciding factor in the win! Couldn’t have happened on a better day as it was Robs birthday as well! After that things got interesting again, seems to be a common happening on this trip😉. It started with RR Jr nearly rolling his led just outside of St Augustine, than a very nice stop at the fishing shacks, where we were treated to cod treats and a tour of the ice shacks. Than onto Harrington Harbor. We are making great time and talking about touring La Tabatierre and mutton bay on the way down. Than, just like clock work, the gremlins came out again. Yours truly was cruising along at about 40, when things started to go to pieces in a hurry. I could see parts flying coming out of both sides of the sled and we went from 40 to zero in about 50 feet. This is not gonna be good! , driven clutch, track ? Where are all the flying parts coming from. I walked out into the snow and picked up a piece, and it was a track clip. This really is not good. We are in the absolute worst location to break down on this trip. It’s a boat ride next summer to get this behemoth out of here, if we don’t get parts and wait for it, that could be days! We unwind the track that has the spring arm up through it and has torn a third of the cleats and rods out of it. Put it back on the snow and say let’s see if it will move. It did!, We Limped it in to La Tabatierre, about 10 miles, and found Cletus Gallichon’s garage, he brings the sled in as the track unravels, literally going in the door. He says it doesn’t look good but he has a used track he took out of his sled, it out in the snow bank, do I want to try it? Absolutely, how could this happen? The trail gods are doing a blessing now! Cletis, 603 Backcountry lead the charge, F3 and Yogi are also all over it, they have the track out and Cletis’s Track on, in 1.5 hours. This is pit crew time. We had to feed BC a mood enhancer as he was grease to his armpits, Backcountry does not miss a beat when he is turning wrenches, and the Wiff of Crown only speed things up, Yogi and F3 are right there too. Unbelievable! We roll out at 5 pm, call Jean At Harrington Harbor to let her know we will be a few hours late. Another day of adversity behind us. A great home cooked meal at Jeans boarding house caps the night. Off to Harve tomorrow! Happy Trails RR

Out operating in three separate groups on Tuesday, the half day country adventure that two time White road veteran Yogi Bear took us on yesterday, we were back to Base camp in Lanse au Clair early afternoon. In addition to running the DC high tension power line that will take the hydro power from the new Dam being built at Muskrat Falls near Goose Bay over to the Island of Newfoundland than into Maritime Canada and on into the US. Yogi did take us thru some scrub land bush riding, a few snow bowls and other “unforeseen” tactical maneuvers on our way back. All fun but the flat light blind riding diminished the joy a bit, as Backcountry 603 noticed when we stopped for lunch at Fast Freddies Burger’s in Lanse au loop, a great dstop for lunch! He had managed to drag down half of the entire forest in this region, all wrapped up in his front end parts. As you can see from all the scenery pics, half the forest is not much😉 ! The snow blindness was only verified by the stories we got from Trailblazers riding partner F3 and Coutter, of Coutters Quality Used Sled Sales on their adventure-to Marys Harbor. They managed to spend an hour in Mary’s Harbor looking for each other as they got separated going into Town. We suspect these two veterans have more to this story than they are telling , but photo evidence does reveal their ability to separate not only from each other but their sleds as well😉 We went to sleep thinking about Trailblazers stories of running the White Road Solo over slobby ,sketchy sea ice in the middle of the night, to his stop for fresh baked muffins , rolls and coffee, bright and early yesterday morning in St Augustine All is well that ends well. Wednesday AM we head back , at “full strength “ again, all eight are back together! Our destination, Harrington Harbor Happy Trails RR

The twins are together now, .....we went out a little bit in the north country this morning and played , the light was very flat so it didn't allow us to cover we wanted to, also gave us real feel for what the racers are running in and than we had a starter issue with RR Jr free ride so decided to run to the dealer to check it out, he had no parts for the 850 so we bought a pull cord handle to make it easier for the line start and than back to meet Trailblazer, on our way back there he was! We are reunited! Back down the white road tomorrow! Frank aka F3, and Coutter made the run to Marys Harbor for lunch, we meet us back here tonight. Happy Trails