EXT

So sorry to hear about your loss JG! Having gone through this myself I can relate to your pain . My Dad said these words to me many times as I was growing up and I have said them ( already ) more than once to my 11 year old son - " It is an honor to bury a parent who lived a long and good life . . It is a tragedy to bury a child" !! Many times over the years I have thought about these words and frankly didn't realize fully what he meant until my son was born. Your Dad is at Peace now and your final honor to him is to lay him down for his final rest.

my 2 cents worth sent to the Minister today for what its worth!! I am very disappointed to hear that I will not be able to spend my winter tourism dollars in the Gaspe area this year ( and perhaps never again based on this foolish law). Many responsible snowmobilers have aftermarket studs in our tracks for safety reasons. Myself I ride a Touring 2 up sled and many times would have had to either turn around and try to find an alternate route ( if there was one ) or return the way I had come because of icey conditions. With studs I continue to be able to control the sled and ride safe . I suggest that running a sled these days without studs is very unsafe. Snowmobile trail conditions ( in all Provinces ) constantly change due to weather/elevation and traffic on them. Many times a nice smooth groomed trail can become icey overnight. Turns and some hills that are icey become treacherous for the sleds that are not studded. To enact a law that aftermarket anti-slide devices are no longer legal for road crossings is foolish at best. Was any consideration given by Gov't to even consult the Federation of Snowmobile Clubs ?? It appears not based on the press this matter is getting. Unfortunately our group has now cancelled our Hotel Reservations in Rimouski and other areas further into the Gaspe for our normal trips this year. We are responsible sledders and do not want the hassle of now being ticketed like common criminals at road crossings. We average $1000-1200 each for our 5 day ride. This is revenue for the Federation ( permit cost ) as well as hotels and fuel . We have been coming to your beautiful trail system for years and are normally a group of 5-6 x 2 times a year. It may not sound like much but to the local Hotels / Service Stations / Dealers etc it will be a tragic loss of Business. $10,000-$12,000 a trip will now be spent in NB instead of QC. This is from our little group alone. Taxation dollars are being thrown away by this little thought-out law! Just a shame that Politicians did not consult or do their homework at all before announcing this oh so foolish law !! Regards My full sig on the actual email. former Winter Tourism client

Hi JG We are hearing of a ban on studded tracks in QC (unless it is a prestudded track like ice ripper and such) ? Reports are that QPP are charging sledders at road crossings for having studs?? Any truth to this ? Supposedly Club Executives have been blindsided with this. Thanks EXT

60 years is quite a milestone. Congrats from the Nova Scotian's as well !!!

Bare ground and mud here in NS. But a Noreaster is coming overnight. 50 cm snow and 110 km wind gusts. Sounds like some road running tomorrow after driveway is cleared. Cant be any worse than coming out of Rimuski last week lol

Hi jg. We are in Edmunston. Fun run fr rimouski. No grooming done at all fr r to Edmunston. Your trails were very good and hats off to you for your efforts. Hope to see you next year. Amazing how much snow my turbo can fo through. Many BIG drifts. Feilds are marked well but stakes are hidden in some spots due to being burried in snow lol.

Fungoing so far coming out of rimouski. Lots of trail breaking going on

Hi jg. Thanks for waiting for us to arrive. Great to finally meet! 587 was interesting across the mountains where the wind mills are. 6 ft drifts and blowong like crazy ! Oh well we are here fine and had a great day of sledding. Obviously pre storm the trails had to be smooth. Other than the ovcaisional surprise ie we ha another drift all went well today. Tq 5 would have been alot worse. Thanks again and great to meet. C u next year. Hi jg. Thanks for waiting for us to arrive. Great to finally meet! 587 was interesting across the mountains where the wind mills are. 6 ft drifts and blowong like crazy ! Oh well we are here fine and had a great day of sledding. Obviously pre storm the trails had to be smooth. Other than the ovcaisional surprise ie we ha another drift all went well today. Tq 5 would have been alot worse. Thanks again and great to meet. C u next year.

Hi jg. Have fun at lake. We just arrrived at albertville clubhouse. Was an interesting trip fr plc via tq 5. Many drifts and got lost A few times lol. Getting something to eat then to rimuski.

Be in clubhouse Thursday fr lunch on way to Rimouski. Leaving Campbelton in am Be in clubhouse Thursday fr lunch on way to Rimouski. Leaving Campbelton in am

Hey JG weather permitting we will be at your club next Thurs for lunch.Then on to Rimouski for overnight. Next day to Edmunston and following day back to CAMPBELTON. HOPE SNOW HOLDS OUT. +10 forecasted for here tomorrow night and 40 mm rain. Will be finished and buggys will come out round here.

Hey JG It has been a hard COUPLE OF WINTERS. Weird things Mother nature has thrown at all who depend on Snow and winter for both fun and their livelyhood. Sit back drink some wine and relax for a bit. All jobs have their ups and downs. I deal with people's problems every day at work.Most can be helped but some not so much. There has to be some downtime or you end up Burnt!! Camping with family in the summer along with sledding solo in the winter does it for me. You have been at this for quite awhile from what I can see. Gilbert seems to be working well. Old Blue seems to be getting tired. Icey trails suck for riders as well as groomer operators but as we all know Mother Nature is a Fickle BITCH and does what she wants!! WE JUST HAVE TO GO WITH THE FLOW. Relax /get a Dr's note to get you off work a bit and then see how things are in a couple of weeks time. Many of your pictures are Professional quality. Perhaps set up some type of website and offer prints for sale?? Could be fun as well as profitable?? Good luck with whatever you figure out to do. Thanks for the reports and hope to hear from you in the future after things settle down a bit for you.

Hi JG. Trails are great. We are at your club while you are skeeping. PLC hadn't groomed Thurs so we did reverse loop. Hope to catch up to u in March. Graham

Wow. Lots of work to do but I guess thats what pays the bills. C U Thurs( if you aren't sleeping that is)

Same here . No panic. We will be on trails by Thurs. If we have to hit a few drifts so be it! At least no ice LOL. I expect locals as well as groomers will be hot and heavy to hit trails. By end of week should be pretty good.

LOL Its the life of a farmer. My riding partner(fatherinlaw) is a retired Dairy Farmer. Dawn till dark job to keep everything going. JG Hope to see you Thurs. on trail. Woke up to 2 ft drifts of snow here and Blizzard conditions. Rained for 2 days before this and pretty much wrecked our local trails. NS winter gotta love it. Now to finish off some work before VAcation Wed. EXT

Do your Majic on trails and send some pics along. We leave PLC Thurs am. Hope this fixes the low snow conditions. We just got 45 MM rain here overnight yesterday and today. Now 80 km winds and blowing snow. Gonna just be a mess in the morning. Graham

Beauty Will be there Wed .

Hi JG We are still on for this week. Unless you fellows don't get any snow in these storms we will be comingh through to Amqui Thursday. Hopefully this snow hits you and Edmunston area. Reports are hard to come by in that area. We are trailering fr NS to Campbelton Wed and hitting trail Thurs. Hope to see you on trail Thurs. Not sure which way we will try and get to Edmunston but suspect we will try and travel to Amqui via 5 fr PLC thenFriday fr Amqui via 587 to 579 then on 5 to 548 then 548 to 569 then pick which way to get into Edmunston ( either 185 to Moose Valley or direct into Edmunston.) Staying o/n in Edmuston and heading to Campelton via Moose Valley Saturday. Any help on trails in those areas would be appreciated. Hopefully see you Thurs. Graham

J G Hope to see u next week. Linda hope you are right. If not I guess we will just keep driving in truck and trailer till we hit big snow. Then find a place to stay and head out fr there. Winter Vacation is hard to come by . I cancelled once already 2 weeks ago as no snow. Total of 50 miles on sled this year. All fun miles with my 5 year old on front but I feel the need fr some nice long runs . Winter usually satisfy's my need fr speed. Not so this winter YET!

We are all hoping it will come. My group is booked into Campbelton NB for next Wed , Select Otel in Amqui for Thurs,Quality Inn Edmunston Friday and back to Campbelton for Saturday.Trailer back to NS Sunday. So far based on forecast we havn't cancelled but will have to make a decision by Tues next week I guess. Hopefully you will get this weekend what we got last weekend. 1.5 ft of snow. We had 140 km gusts with it here though. Hoping you just get snow. Hope to meet JG on the trail somewhere. We all need snow LOL. EXT

1.5 ft of snow here this morning. Wish it was there as well. Hopefully Mon/Tues gives you a dumping of snow. Rain for here Tues. Graham

Mr Coyote has seen better days LOL. We have a big problem with them around here. Many cats and the occasional small dog have been known to disappear. Best ones are dead ones in my opinion. I have yet to come across one while in the woods hunting with a gun. See many when out on sled. Usually come up on them fast on sled. Occasionally get a glimpse of em while out on 4 wheeler. The joys of living in a rural area I guess. Great pictures though. I just looked at our Weather Forecast and they are calling for + 8 and poss of rain for Monday after the Nor Easter hits. Just can't win with weather this winter it seems. EXT

Good one J-G. -25 last night here . Sounds like we are getting a Nor Easter ( not sure how to say Big F@#king snow and wind in French) tonight. Won't be moving far until it passes. I see no real amount of snow in your forecast yet. Hope it will change. Snow dance seemed to work around here but time will tell. EXT

My group is doing the same thing. Locally here they are calling for 30-50 cm on Saturday( South Shore NS). I would much prefer it land on TQ5 LOL. Snow dance is on for us. We were booked into Amqui for tonight but postponed trip till 20th. All are hoping for snow. 1 thing with all the cold weather and no snow coverage all flooding should be dried up/froze solid by then. They just need some packy snow to groom onto the cement base that is there now. PS It is a nice trip out fr Point La Croix. This is normally our starting point in QC . Anyone know if the River is froze safe to cross over fr Campbelton NB?