markusvt

http://www.quebecrider.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2881&pid=32557&st=0entry32557

The plan was good, no need for plan B or C, because plan “A” was so awesome! A 3 day trip was the deal. Day one was to head out of Mattawan, then up to La-Tuque, then over to Windigo. End the day by going to Parent, and spend the night in Clova, (325 miles). Day 2 was to cross the reservoir via GPS, eat lunch at Barrage Gouin, then down to spend the night in Kanawata, (225 miles). Day 3 was to then head down to Repo, then M20, explore M21, play a bit, and then back to the truck, (180 miles). Day 1: As planned, we slept in IceMan’s town of Shawinigan. In the AM we trailered up to Mattiwan to start our journey. We headed to La-Tuque. The pipeline was awesome, and to our surprise the 6 mile road before the trestle was completely snow covered! Very, very nice riding. We took the shortcut just after the 355/73 junction to head into town, (1000 feet past it, take a left). It bypasses all of the roads and crossings, airport, the speed traps, the whole bit! We gassed them up in town and then headed up the 73. We took the shortcut to Windigo off the 73, (bypassing Relay 22). After about 5 miles on the Ice, Randy’s 2009 XR with 8K on the clock, spit the track completely in half and out the back with me behind him. He coasted for a thousand feet or more, and I ran over his track at 85 mph, (video to follow). It wadded up my front bumper and broke some of the plastic detail parts, but that’s it. So sitting on the ice, it appears we have a few issues, (there is no way plan ‘A” is going to work anymore). Jay stopped and picked the track, Dave towed the trackless Ski-Doo, and I rode double with Randy the remaining 4 miles to Windigo. Over lunch made by Martine, (they do not normally serve lunch here), we start to go over options. The best we came up with was to tow the sled to a parking area 1.5Km away, then the 3 of us ride back to the truck, and then come back to get Randy. Martine gave us a road map, on back roads it was 90 minutes from La-Tuque. We got back to the truck by 5:15 with 284 miles on the sleds. The conditions were very, very good. We loaded them up and headed to La-Tuque. We got a bite at McDonalds, checked into Motel 9, swaped sleds and trucks around, and then called Randy and told him to meet us at the parking area at 9:30. We used the great map we were given and headed out into the wilderness to save our buddy. We got the parking area at 9:30, and no Randy. We loaded up the trackless sled, got the cover on it and Randy pulled in riding on the back of the owner Daniels sled. The temps were now down to 15F. As it turned out Daniel decided to add 15 minutes to their arrival giving us a bit of cushion so they wouldn't freeze waiting for us. No cell service out here! We got back to La-Tuque and bed before midnight, yeah! Day 2: A quick breakfast and we were out of there. Once back in Grand-Mere we hit the rental location and got Randy a 2013 600 Etec X! We were on the trail by 9:30 against all odds. We left the truck there and hit the trail. We took the 19 miles of river to save some time and then the 345 into Mattiwan. It was thin in the 2-3 mile section of logging, but the rest was really, really nice with a lot of snow. We gassed up in Mattiwan, and headed out towards Kanawata. We took the M20, then went out to the end of the M21 to check it out, (very cool, tons of perfectly groomed snow). We even saw a few groomer’s out. I would say it got up to upper 30’s. It was very sunny and very light traffic. We got to Repos with 120 miles on the clock due to our playing on the M21. With the warm temps, the 600 TNT I am using ran out of gas with 1.5 miles to go, (so close). A quick tow and all was good. Good news is they had fuel, the bad news is the lunch service is still terrible. Hot chicken had nothing hot. Cold bread, cold chicken, cold peas and cold gravy! A disgrace to Quebec! We headed out and got to Kanawata in 45 miles. We were there early, so we headed out on the lake to do some more exploring. We found a shortcut across the lake that saved a ton of miles! We came back and gassed them up and check into our cabin. The dinner was very nice, and served super-fast. When our heads hit the pillow no one had any issues falling asleep. Day 3: After a very nice breakfast we settled our bill and got ready to head out. We decided to head across the lake and save the miles. We rode awesome trails all the back to Repos. No food this time just gas and go. We were out of Repos before the folks sleeping there were even up! Early bird catches the worm.... The groomers had been out and the trail to the M20 was wonderful, first tracks the whole way, (I hate that :^)). The first half of M20 was a bit bumpy, but the second half was great. The trail into Mattiwan was very good. We gassed them up and headed down to the river. The 20 miles of trail down to the river was all fresh groomed the night before, and perfect. 10 of a 10. We buzzed the river back to return the rental sled and load our own sleds. We rode 670 miles plus or minus, and the trails varied between a 7 and a 10, with most being 9-10. Get out while you can, there is a TON of snow still. The traffic was light everywhere we went. Mark.

The whole 5 miles was completely snow covered! The groomer ran down the side and made a trail, it was awesome!

When you go for 8 weeks, you bring a lot of stuff!

Yup, on our do not return to list, no real reason to go back anytime soon.

$0.

Bummer, hope he gets it figured out! Was in Quebec City yesterday. Very warm, 37F and raining. Ton;s of snow, but road crossings are beat. Lot at Berniers was completely full. For 3/14 you may have to start further north, but there should be snow. We will be up there this week-end.

https://www.biteharder.com/#header $59.99 + Shipping.

I have my glass home here in the freezer, it's perfect!

See you next Saturday, Friday!

Day 1: 245 miles. Saturday the 23rd. Low sleep for me as I had to go home and get the spare sled. The guys stayed in St Jean De Martha, a pretty nice hotel by the Subway. We were on the trial by 8:30 heading for St-Foy! All of the local trails were groomed up awesome, no issues at all. We planned to stay on 3, but got off it as much as possible on the orange side trails, and it was worth it. No traffic and super conditions! Got to St-Foy way early, and decided to go to the Ice Hotel. The Ice Hotel is maybe 1/3 of a mile from the Sheraton 4 Points hotel, which is just off 3 after you cross the highway and go along behind the huge shopping center This is about 20 miles 1 way north from the Quebec Inn. It was tough going as every sled and ATV ever bought in Quebec City was on the trail, you really needed traffic lights! The poor trail did not stand a chance. We tried some of the short-cuts to the Ice-Hotel, no dice. Just take the sign to the Sheraton, when you get into the lot, follow along the right of the main entrance road as if you are leaving the property and stay along the fence. You pop out right in the lot of the Ice Hotel. We did the tour, bought a shot each of "accident de snowmobile", very funny. Hung around a bit, had some sugar on snow and took a bunch of pictures. We then saddled up for the 20 mile trip back to the hotel, and for some reason it was much nicer than the 20 miles out. We ended the day in St-Foy with 245 on the sleds. In in plenty of time for a nice dinner and some local entertainment. Day 2: No rush to get out. A fresh 6 inches of snow on the sleds and the trail. We gassed them up and headed out. We took all of the orange trails again, all were in very nice shape. 1/2 way back a few guys warned us of local police giving out tickets for rolling stop signs, we heeded the warnings. After spending 2 hours with the police on my stolen sled on Friday, I had my fill. We got a bit messed up as we got close to St Jean de Martha as there are a zillion intersections. No big deal, we added maybe 5 more miles and got to come in a different way. Back to the truck by 2:30 with 210 miles on the clock. Loaded up and headed home after a super nice week-end! Happy Trails, 3300 for me this year, hope to push over 4000 in the next week. Mark.

Nice trip, nice reporting. At this point the poor shock deserves a break!

Nice run!

:clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

Bring your checkbook for Manoir Richelieu.......

There are enough recent examples of useless posts with no real direction except for getting your post count up.

Spot on!

Sleds and trucks have been stolen from At-Agathe, St-Zenon, St-Michael, Quebec City, Grand Mere, Shawinagan, Val-D'or, Mont Laurier, Jonquerre, and more I am sure too. It's hard to get anywhere in Quebec without passing through these places, unless you are being dropped in by helicopter?

Seeing how quick and bold they are, you are never safe. In the ATM, paying for gas, what ever. They will not deter me, we just have to amp it up a bit. Don't go into the dealer on your sled to get oil, don't let your stuff out of your sight if you can help it.

Last time we will ever stop there, and I know ever is a LONG time. Everything fully insured, no problem there. Remember to pay the $25 to insure your trailer for theft, your car and sled insurance in the USA does NOT cover it.

Nice ride guys! Perfect time of year heading way north, In January that run can be brutal!

The Police said thefts are very high this year. For me, at least I have another sled to finish out the season, and no lives were lost, yet.......

Yes it’s true! On Friday night, at about 8:30 PM, my girl for 2 years left me alone at the restaurant. It’s hard to believe for me too. You hear about things like this, but until it happens to you, you don’t believe it. The drama and impact is incredible. I’m in stages 2/3 of the 5 stages of grief, so I have a ways to go. I may get stuck in stage 4 for a while……… Denial (this isn't happening to me!) Anger (why is this happening to me?) Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...) Depression (I don't care anymore) Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes) I’ll get to the details in a minute, but first I have to start at the very beginning. We met in November of 2011, (I think). I took her home after the first time we met, and she had been here ever since. I had known of her well before then. I made up my mind on her months before, but we never actually laid eyes on each other until that fall. Up until this Friday, we had been loyal to each other, no fooling around. She never spent a night with anyone else, until now. I took excellent care of her, (she was a goddess to me after all). I greased her well before every ride, with only the best lubes. Sure, I rode her hard, but I never put her away wet, ever. I always made sure she was warm and comfortable. I never let her get dirty or salty. She had high respect for herself, and so did I. I always kept her covered and protected. In the beginning, like every relationship, I spent a ton of money on her. Got her everything she wanted or needed. I showered her with all the toys to stand out from the crowd. I have to say, when she was ready to go out, she looked dam good. I think she secretly liked the admiration, even though she was really shy. She had previously been rock solid dependable. I would have loaned her out to my buddies, no problem. She did not mind being ridden hard, as long as you took good care of her . She had no idea we were going to part ways this upcoming fall regardless of her opinion. Like most men, you get bored, and get drawn to the idea of trading her in on a newer, younger model. Everything is a bit tighter on the newer models with fewer miles on them. Yeah, they don’t have the experience, but they make up for it with being new and shiny. They know when to put up and when to shut up. A real bonus is the newer models also have so much less junk in the trunk that really accumulates over the years, (you have seen this I’m sure). I was going to break the news to her, but why rush, we still had a few months of quality time together, (or so I thought)? In preparation for the week-end, I had detailed the heck out of her. After all, I thought we had more than 1 night together. She got greased and aligned like always. I needed to make sure she could go the distance with no break downs. She even got a new pair of shoes. I was after all hoping to get a few more months out of her. With the days getting longer, I could ride her more now. She was eager and ready, like most week-ends. She was really meant for week-ends, and loved to travel. I polished her up nice before the trip. She really loved it when I gripped the throttle and leaned in to her, she would really let out an addicting growl that I will miss. So we loaded up, and headed north for another great week-end of snowmobiling, (2800 miles this year so far). Heading up the 40, right before Joliette there is the gas station and the chicken place, (Benny’s). We decide to stop for a quick bite to eat, 20 minutes maximum. We parked the 2 trucks and trailers just to the left of the entrance in the front lot against the snow banks. The trailers were locked to the truck and the gear bags were in the truck. We were under the main light pole with the security camera on us. Mine was in my buddy’s trailer with his sled. We went in, and got in line to order. We were in line 2-3 minutes, and my other buddy with the other truck remembered he forgot his money outside. He quickly went to get his money. Outside everything was normal. We ordered our food and sat down. While in line, my buddy noticed a black Chevy Avalanche drive by slowly. It raised his awareness, but not enough to do anything, vehicles can drive slowly if they want too no problem. We quickly ate, because we wanted to get to our destination about 45 minutes more north. I was the first one out the door and noticed the trailer was no longer on the truck, and the lock was on the ground. Immediately I felt the emotions and the impact of it all, 2 of us were going home early. Yup, she was gone, swiped out from under me. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. She was sleeping, and then, stolen, gone forever! I had her keys, so good luck getting her started and revved up, only I knew how her buttons worked. She could be finicky, and a real pain to folks she didn’t know. I hope the new men in her life get a taste of that side of her. The provincial Police came and filled out a report for us. We watched the video. It was actually worse having to watch the abduction in slow-motion. They drove in, (the black Avalanche) and drove to a few spaces ahead of us and parked. One guy got out, walked up to the hitch and cut the lock, (15 seconds). He then got back into his truck. They waited a minute; and then drove around the restaurant and parked next to our truck. They waiting while a bunch of kids crossed in front of them, (they might have even waved). Then one guy got out, hooked the trailer from our truck to his, got in and drove off, (45 seconds). They were nice enough to leave the cut lock on the ground for us. So now the insurance hassles start. Both a 2012 and 2013 XR1200 gone. Mine had 7000 very enjoyable miles on her, with more to come if I had it my way. The 2013 had less than 2000 miles, and of course the trailer. To make lemonade out of lemons, we drove home and I loaded my spare sled into the trunk, and headed back up after only 3-4 hours’ sleep. I then rode it almost 500 miles over the week-end, and had a ton of fun. I was spying every sled I passed, but in my heart, I knew she was gone. The moral is the same as always. Take the best precautions, and make your stuff harder to steal than the other guys. But in the end, these guys do this for a living, and they are better at it then you. If they want your stuff, they’ll get it, with or without you. Happy trails! Mark.

I have different coordinates depending on the services required.