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Sometimes a heat gun on low will warm up the glue on the back of the sticker and makes removal a little easier. Jack & Sandi

The 900Ts are supposed to be quite the ride. I haven't tried one but from what I have heard they are "quick". I don't remember the last time the belt was changed on my 850. We have over 3,000 miles this season and I know it hasn't been changed this year. I don't even remember it being changed last year. Give us a report on the 900T. Jack & Sandi

Hi Terry & Molly, We love reading along with you. The trails this year have stood up very well after a grooming because of the low temps. I think this has been one of the best seasons for trail conditions. Jack & Sandi

The Godbout portion of trail 3 everyone should experience at least once. I give the groomer compliments to get thru it. You wouldn't send a new guy there. Thanks for the pics and enjoy your ride. Jack & Sandi

We made it back to Connecticut without incident. It was a pleasure seeing so many QuebecRider folks. Maybe we will get in one more ride to RDL. Jack & Sandi

It must be getting pretty bad when Groomer cancels. The wind just covers up all your work. Jack & Sandi

Hi Gowser, For some reason that I can't figure out, this past week it has been wicked windy around Jonquiere. North of the river and south on 23 or 83 it hasn't been as bad. Leaving the Delta in the morning and coming back in at night, wow! It feels like the wind is going to take you right off your feet. Jack & Sandi

Today is our last day of riding for this trip. Almost all the trails were groomed last night. We have some light snow in the forecast and big wind for today. I think we will stay in the woods. The open fields in Alma would not be our choice. We cross the two bridges one more time. 367 is fine as shown on the groomer map. In St Ambroise we turn left on 93 and again this is fine. We are on our way to Mont Vilain. Cruising along on 93 we turn right onto local 554. Hmm? I thought the sign at the beginning of the trail said 553 but the map says 554. The picture I took yesterday doesn't show the sign. We will call it 554 for now. Buzzing along and we slow down at Relais des Lac. Only a few sleds here and that one is Bill's. I can tell by the parking lights on it. That one is MichRev's. We weren't going to stop but we have to go in and see where they are going. Hi Bill and Dave. Just finishing up a coffee and water. Where are you going? Up to Mont Vilain. We are too. Sandi and I sit and have a hot chocolate. This is a short day so we can get back to the hotel and get the truck hooked to the trailer and do a few things to prep for tomorrow's ride home. Relax and chat about how good of a week of riding it has been. The four of us leave and go on 328 around the lake. Right on 553. The fields are drifted in some fields even though they were groomed last night. This time we take the local trail thru Lamarche and get on 373 to finish the ride to Mont Vilain. Not too busy during the week here. We order lunch and relax. It is snowing pretty good now. The wind is still strong. Over lunch we decide the best route back is the way we came up. Only a few fields. Most of the trails are in the woods. We get back on the sleds and u-turn. 367 to the local thru Lamarche and then 553 to 328. Around the lac and pass Relais des Lacs. No need to stop today. The temp is mild and we keep on riding. Left on 93, a right on 367 and cross the two bridges one last time. These are as bumpy as ever but after the bridges the trail is good. No need to gas up tonight and we pull into the Delta. Time to hook up the trailer and get a few things ready for the ride home tomorrow. It was great seeing so many QuebecRiders and riding with who we had the blessing to ride with. It was a great trip this past week. Thanks for reading along with us. We hope you got a few chuckles and enjoyment out of our posts. Is there one more trip this season for us? Home for a week and then we will decide. Thanks. Jack & Sandi

Thanks Terry & Molly. We will leave a little snow on the trails for you. Jack & Sandi

I didn't get a chance to post last night. We returned a little later than normal. So I'll wind the clock back. It is Thursday. The snow has stopped and the blue sky has returned. It is going to be fluffy out there today. A few trails were groomed but not all interconnected. Let's go on the north side of the lake. That had a little grooming. Today Sandi and I have MichRev as followup. The three of us head out and cross the bridges. Good 367 had been groomed. Soft on top. We had about 10-15 cm of snow. Quite different than the hard pack we have been riding on for the past week. We pass Le Geant Trailer and turn left on 93. Same here, groomed with fluff. The dust is kicking up in the air. We won't have any cooling or lube problems for the slides today. A few sled marks ahead of Sandi. Just before the St Charles cutoff, the groomer turned around. This is where the clubs change. The trail is still broke but not as nice. We knock off some more miles and get to the turn off for Relais des Lacs. The groomer has been here. Yea! The grooming was short lived. We are on the other side of Alma and the groomer has disappeared again. There has been traffic so the trail is broke and wide enough. The snow is a little deeper here. You can still feel the hard pack underneath though. We go thru St Henri and St Monique. The power lines are the same, traffic but not groomed. We turn left on 367 toward Peribonka. Now the trail is getting skinny. We are down to one sled wide. Six miles in and the trail crosses a river. Ah! On the other side of the river, this groomer has been out. Sandi is back up to speed. We get to Relais Vauvert. It's 11:15 AM. Should we eat or continue on. Let's see if we can make Relais des Buttes over in St Felicien. It's about another hour. We run 367 to 93 and turn left. 93 has been groomed but we notice that the snow is still getting deeper. We turn left onto local 901. Six miles in and the clubs must change here. Our groomer has u-turned on us. The trail is skinny and the snow is getting deeper. You can see up ahead that the trail is one sled wide. A little conversation and we vote to continue on. It turns out to be twenty miles to Relais des Buttes and all of the trail was one sled wide except for the last mile on 373 to the relais. Luckily we didn't meet any sleds in the skinny part of the trails. A few sleds here. Our hour from Vauvert to here turned into more like an hour and a half. Over lunch we decide to return the same way we came up. It is going to be a late day getting back but we know what the trails are like. We could continue on with a Tour de Lac but the groomer map didn't show much activity below the lac. On our sleds and we are on the return. Not so lucky on trail 715 with oncoming sleds. Everyone is out this afternoon. Two, three sometimes more sleds coming at us. You got to get off in the puff Sandi. I know she isn't thrilled and the snow is a lot deeper here. Snow flying up over the hoods. We turn on 701 and have burnt up a lot of gas. We stop at the little depaneur is St Methode. The gentleman pumping our gas speaks a little English. He is laughing and says they got the brunt of the storm. He measured 60 cm this morning. It definitely looks like it. We finally get back on trails that are wide enough for two sleds to pass. The sun is going down now. No breaks this afternoon. Sandi likes to get in before dark and we aren't going to make it today. As we get closer to Jonquiere, the trail is getting better. Maybe the groomer went back out or just more traffic packed the fluff down. The last hour in is a nice ride. A longer day than normal but it was fun. No one fell off the trail and there was a lot off dust flying. Jack & Sandi

Hi NickySkiDoo. You are rolling right along. What type of trails? A lot of flat land riding or is a mix? Jack & Sandi

We did stay in the hotel yesterday. A few folks went out though. The report is the morning wasn't too bad to ride in. Early afternoon was heavy snow and wind in some areas and some whiteout conditions. Tough sledding. This morning it looks like the storm has gone by. Time to check the map and plan a ride. Happy Valentines Day to everyone. I'm fortunate to have Sandi with me. Jack & Sandi

It is interesting. I bet most riders are within a few mph of the guesstimated 30 mph. If the machine idles a long time in the morning or like you, a lot of stops for pictures or scenery, that machine would be slightly less. On the other hand, someone that starts his machine in the morning and is off and running would be slightly above. Jack & Sandi

We may have a hotel day today. The forecast is for 15 cm of snow which isn't too much but the wind is nasty. I'm sure there will be whiteout conditions in the fields. Half of the snowmobilers went out and half are staying in. Be safe to all of those who are venturing out. Along the St Lawrence, Quebec City and Montreal are getting more snow than here in Jonquiere. Jack & Sandi

Time for a side note: How fast do you ride or what is your average speed? Comes up occasionally. The typical answer is around 30 mph. Which of course sounds slow. Everybody rides faster than that. I thought we rode faster too. Over the years Sandi and I will comment on a particular day or someone else's trip and it does seem to be around 30 mph. Yesterday the old 850 hit 400 hours on the meter. Now is a good time to check. 400 hours times the 30 mph should equal 12,000 miles. I took a look at the total miles and it read 12,018 miles. I couldn't believe how close it was to the 30 mph theory. I guess we are just a couple of average riders! Jack & Sandi