Northbound

This was matane this morning. I think everyone who tried it came back.

Just  for everyone's information  , Saguenay  Bill has this afternoon been honoured by FCMQ , saguenay snowmobile club and area tourism in naming a trail after  him .
Congratulations Bill well deserved  , we were let into the big secret before we left last Thursday. It is a well deserved honour  for all the work you do to promote the area.
Enjoy the day very best wishes    Gary and Pat..

Congratulations Bill. You and JD have welcomed so many to the HI now Delta over the years, you truly deserve this recognition. You are a true gentleman.
       Your friends, Jeff snd Sandy

BTY a big kudos to the skidoo dealer down from the hotel. We had a frozen clutch on one sled. After several galant attempts, not wanting to destroy a belt, I gave them a call. They were down here within 15 minutes with a tracked quad runner and towed it back to their shop to warm it up. They called a couple hrs later said it was warm, they rode it and everything was ok. We went down to pick it up and they said N/C. It would be hard to find service like that, at least where we're from.  Thank you
 
 

This was matane this morning. I think everyone who tried it came back.

BTY a big kudos to the skidoo dealer down from the hotel. We had a frozen clutch on one sled. After several galant attempts, not wanting to destroy a belt, I gave them a call. They were down here within 15 minutes with a tracked quad runner and towed it back to their shop to warm it up. They called a couple hrs later said it was warm, they rode it and everything was ok. We went down to pick it up and they said N/C. It would be hard to find service like that, at least where we're from.  Thank you
 
 

BTY a big kudos to the skidoo dealer down from the hotel. We had a frozen clutch on one sled. After several galant attempts, not wanting to destroy a belt, I gave them a call. They were down here within 15 minutes with a tracked quad runner and towed it back to their shop to warm it up. They called a couple hrs later said it was warm, they rode it and everything was ok. We went down to pick it up and they said N/C. It would be hard to find service like that, at least where we're from.  Thank you
 
 

This was matane this morning. I think everyone who tried it came back.

bonsoir gutz !!!
 
glad you love it !!! i had that tape in the machine.....so ...lets do  a joke !!!
back from grooming tq 5 ....woke up at 2 30 am....still snowing like crazy ...so ,waited til 5 am...left at 7 am .....13 hrs run ...-5c !!! 50-60 sleds !!!
 
jean-guy

hi gt rider and mrs gt rider !!!
traffic started late yesterday ....i was in ste marguerite around 11 am ...saw first sleds there....most of them going east during the day ...
if going east ...it ll be bumpy ...warm yesterday ....and when i came back ....'' at the school bus ''...i saw that guys from albertville came ....with no drag ...
at least colder today 
that deer walking alone....he was exhausted....going east ...just before crossing the road for ste marguerite...then exit for the auberge...
 
jean-guy

We staged from there a week ago. Truck parking across road, but not fenced. I think they had cameras and said it was "patrolled". They did take down your info at hotel and gave you an identifying tag to hang on your mirror. Maybe enough room for 10-12 rigs strategically parked.

JG
  Very sorry to hear of your loss. Our thoughts are with you.
        Your friends, Jeff and Sandy

JG
  Very sorry to hear of your loss. Our thoughts are with you.
        Your friends, Jeff and Sandy

Day 6,    To Sept Iles. Caught the 8am ferry to Godbout. Nice smooth ride over with breakfast onboard. This trip, sleds were on first and off first, nice. 
   I hate to keep rubbing this in if you're not up here, but today was another nice mild, sunny day.
    7 other sleds crossed with us. When we all off loaded and took the local to the 3, everyone turned right.
     The first maybe 10 miles was still wide single track, but from there on everything was very good to freshly groomed.
    We stopped for gas and a soup at Tims in Port  Cartier.  From my room at the Quality Inn, looking across the parking lot I can see a St Hubert. I've  got an idea for supper.
     Jeff and Sandy
Sorry for all the boat pics, but I thought somebody out there may not have seen it  before, and it is an impressive boat.

It was last Tuesday morning and I awoke early at Riviere du Loup. This was the day to make Squatec in time for breakfast at Belle Autofois, best crepes in Quebec. I suited up and went outside to my sled, it was time to awake the 90 Mouse Power under the hood of the 900 ACE.
I opened the side panel and there are all 90 mice,  wide awake and alert. They looked somehow bigger on this morning. Mice must have ESP and knew we were making the annual high speed run for crepes, the little buggers stayed up all night popping steroids for this run. My little buddies!
I looked again and gasped. They were all cross eyed, their tails were straight up. They looked mean. They looked like wharf rats.
They were all sporting man buns.
About the time I saw a brass pole under the hood, I heard a high pitched giggle. I reached under one of their beds and pulled out a young female pole dancing mouse.
As I grabbed her she was terrified. I asked her name and she said Delta. She begged I let her go so she could return to her home in Jonquiere.
I suddenly realized the mice were not high on steroids, but worse, Viagra.
I then remembered a picture I saw on Quebecrider. A member had tied a monkey to his front bumper. The monkey had no expression, he had drawn the short straw and this was his fate, forever.
I had an idea. I doused Delta in perfume and tied her to my front bumper. Suddenly the 90 mice came alive, tails again in the air. They could not see Delta but sensed she was only inches away, and she smelled great. Delta had an expression on her face of sheer horror.
I jumped on the sled and gave some throttle.  Delta started screaming. The mice heard the screams and got more excited. Their tails went high.  Up trail 526 and then down trail 85, past the RDL club house. When the trail turned into the rail bed, I gave it all it got. The ACE quickly got up to its usual 85 mph top end and settled in. Delta's screams were now in a fast rhythem of scream, pant, scream, pant. I could hear all 90 mice squealing with delight as they heard Delta. Suddenly the sled was doing 90, then 95, 100, 110.
I arrived in Squatec with time to spare and the crepes did not disappoint.
Later, upon returning to the hotel, I placed Delta in my truck and drove her to Monro's and dropped her off. I told her a lot of Quebecrider members come to this place and they would take good care of her.
I returned to the hotel and quickly got on the phone to the SkiDoo factory. I told them how I got 90 mice to do the work of 150. SkiDoo said this was the best invention ever. They said the invention would be a new machine next year called the 900 ACE Turbo. They wired me a million dollars.
I returned to the hotel and told my little buddies to get spiffed up, we are going out.
We then drove to Monro's. When we walked in there was Delta at the brass pole. She was summonsed over to our table.
I told them how we were now all rich and all 92 of us would split the million bucks. 
THE MORAL OF THE STORY:
There is no moral. 90 mice have no morals, they hired a hooker. Delta has no morals, she is a hooker. And I have no morals, less than the mice, I doused a mouse in perfume and tied her to the front bumper of my sled.
THE END OF THE STORY,,,,,    OR,,,, DO FAIRY TALES HAVE HAPPY ENDINGS:
 89 of the mice went to work for SkiDoo as lab mice. SkiDoo gave them all kinds of pills and all kinds of injections trying to make them perform like 200 mice. This top secret project at SkiDoo was called project Sidewinder. The project failed, and all the mice ended up with was two tails. And the tails would no longer point to the sky.
Bruno, my head mouse in charge of the engine compartment,  became a bouncer at Monro's.  He went on to father hundreds of children from various pole dancing female mice. He lost his fortune to child support.
Delta became SkiDoo's Vice President in charge of recruitment and training. She scoured the world for pole dancing young female mice. She then trained them to ride the bumper. These young ladies would go on to be known as bumper thumpers.
I used my share of the money and Snow Checked a new Polaris after hearing Polaris uses neutered chipmunks.
ALMOST THE END:
Years later I went to Valcourt to the SkiDoo Factory and met with my little buddies. We sat around all night drinking beer and laughing.
Then Carlos raised his glass and said, "To Squatec". We all hoisted our glasses,  drank, and cheered.
Next, Omar raised his glass and said, "To Crepes". We all hoisted our glasses, drank, and laughed.
I knew I had to join in. I hoisted my glass and said, "To Delta".
The room fell silent. Wh, where's Delta I asked, blood draining from my face.
My little buddies, tears in their eyes, told me Delta's fate.
Every year for one day Delta would leave SkiDoo headquarters and spend a day riding the bumper. Last year while riding the bumper, an on coming sled passed by. Tied to the pretty blue Yamaha was an expressionless monkey. For Delta it was love at first sight.
Later in the day her driver stopped at a club house. While waiting on the bumper, Delta looked around and saw the pretty blue Yamaha and saw her monkey love still tied to the front bumper.
She hopped off her bumper and jumped up to her monkey. For both it was immediately love. Delta tied herself next to the monkey and in a few minutes the monkey's driver returned and off they rode into the sunset.
Delta was at once fired from SkiDoo. She didn't care, she was now a Yamaha bumper thumper monkey humper.
And as for the monkey, he is no longer expressionless. He and Delta happily ride down the trail. The monkey flips the bird to other monkeys and never stops smiling.

Day 3, Sunday, March 11th 2018, 202 miles.
We woke to blue skis and it stopped snowing, yeah!  With only 200 miles back to the truck we weren’t in a big rush.  Mont Vilian does not start breakfast until 8:00AM, a bit of a pain under normal conditions.  All was good with the food and the cabin but the poor to no internet is a show stopper for me.
We were expecting the worse as the last 5 miles in was all ice and no fresh snow.  As soon as we hooked a left towards Alma we could see they had gotten plenty of snow this last storm.  It was perfectly fresh groomed and we were first tracks all the way to Alma!  Best I have ever seen these trails.
We crossed the bridge, meandered through town and stayed on the 23 all the way into Mont Apica.  The trails were in really nice condition and the traffic was not too bad.  A few of us grabbed a splash of gas and off the Le Tape for food and gas.  I think overall better food and much quicker service.
23 to Le Tape was a tiny bit bumpy in the turns but mostly really nice.  The side trail to Le Tape was very good considering the traffic as we got closer.
After lunch we grabbed the 369 back to Route 3.  I would say the 369 may have been the best I have seen it ever.   It’s amazing what a pile of new snow and grooming will do.  We did jump on the 304 to avoid the last twisty part of 369 through the mountains. We were dreading Route 3 but it was totally fine for a warmish Sunday afternoon all the way back to the Hotel. 
High 5’s and hugs all around and a successful 780 mile trip in the books. 
No sled or rider issues.  Gas, oil and go, just the way we like it. 

forgot..... can t confirm ....i was talking with a friend yesterday ....he told me that cross point groomer...kaputt !!!....down  !!!
i believe that ...looks like there s not much action on their side since a week  !!!
forgot to walk on their side this morning !!!
 
first tourists on my way to main steeet ..just before 4 am !!!
 
jean-guy
 
 
 

bonsoir iceman !!!
 
forgot ,the one at the starting gate...also from ste genevieve !!!
back from grooming at 2 30 pm ...left a bit before 3 am ...already sticky a bit in  town....once at logging road ..ok ...
6-8'' in town....10-12'' at logging road and up !!!
+1c at city hall on my way back....
 
jean-guy

bonsoir !!!
snowing since 4 pm !!!
4-5'' right now...still snowing heavy !!!
-5c....
 
jean-guy

Towing, 
   Great pictures, and it sounded like a great trip, even with the trail "texture".
Thank you for sharing and have a good summer
     Jeff and Sandy 

hi northbound !!!
forgot about lackey ......maybe jones you re talking about is mike jones from pa...saw that guy a few times in pq ..
in 85 when i went to binghamton ,ny ...took pics of broc glover ( yamaha )...with a 8.95 $$ camera ....sent them to yamaha in california...replied to me a few months later..he was gone in europe for sx races !!!
few pics from canadian riders ...back in the 80's and 90's !!!
 
i was at the clubhouse before noon.....rain ...snow...windy right now...still grey sky !!!
 
jean-guy
 

bonjour !!!
 
back from grooming tq 5 + ste florence....
started around 1 45 am.....-5c ....back at 3 pm ...+7 c at city hall ...
woke up with nice sunrise ....then weather kaputt ...grey sky !!!
still traffic...medium ...
trail was a disaster......'' king kenny  ''...'' fast freddy ''....jeremy mcgrath and bob hannah could have crashed !!!
too busy ... 3 pics today !!!
 
 
jean-guy

GT, 
   Great report as always, thanks for spending your time to share.
   Jeff and Sandy 

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

 
 

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😉.