Ski Doo Matt loaded Rimel’s sled, we didn’t want Rimel to make Snowmobile Fails video
Welcome back riders,
We had a fabulous dinner last evening, exquisite actually. The best meal on the trail yet. Dinner was over by about 9pm, and a few convened back at the corner bar, afterwards, and your writer retired early. The scheduled mileage for today was between 180 and 200, and usually when that’s the range, it’s going on the over not the under.
Your writer forgot to pack his power cord to his tablet, so hopefully there’s enough charge to finish out this blog. Speaking of being charged up, the glimmer twins, The Wanderer Dylan and Wingman Rob, had no place to run wild at last night, and were stuck within the confines of the lodge.
This morning’s call time was the standard 9am, and we fueled up on site with the most expensive gas in the Bush. We didn’t get on the trail until around 9:30 however. Rimel has a swollen leg, and lucked out and paid for a ride from the Lodge to Pont Rouge, with his sled. The Ontarians Cousin Bill’s Yamaha wouldn’t stay running, probably water in the fuel, we suspect. The decision was made that they would stay behind, again, and try to resolve their problems so the pack could advance forward.
With the smaller pack and the type of trails we had, wide, smooth, and soft bends that didn’t’ slow us down, we were able to make good time. By noon we had close to 90 miles down. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.
The only hicup we had, was the fuel stop. There was a detour on the trail and we had to go 10 miles out of our way to fuel, and back track those 10 miles to stay on course. There wasn’t a restaurant open in town, so we grabbed snacks and more of the plastic wrapped ham & cheese sandwiches, and had a picnic in the parking lot, on the sleds. The weather and temps have been very nice today, I don’t have a specific number, but nobody was cold today.
The pack ran hot today, we were not spread out, and we busted thru the heavy snow dust on the trail like a well oiled machine.
About 40 miles out, a lone snowmobiler on a Yamaha waved at us as we were crossing a major road. Action Dan quickly realized it was Connecticut Jim! He had landed at the Bon Air early this afternoon, and had rode out in our direction to catch us on the trail. We pulled over on the trail on exchanged high fives, and Ski Doo said “Ok, lets go, we can talk at the motel with a beer in our hand!”. And down the trail we went. The horses were headed to the barn.
Connecticut Jim, The Wanderer Dylan and Yamaha Rob are continuing their ride in Quebec thru Thursday this week.
The rest of us are headed back to Michigan and Indiana in the morning. The weather forcast looks favorable for a straight ride in, and that’s what we are planning at the current time.
Today’s ride was about 208 Ski Doo miles, and for the trip Craig says he has about 1525 miles.
There’s not really a lot to write about today, we carried the mail and got in by 4:30, had our sleds loaded in the trailers by 5pm and they opened the bar for us at 5:30pm, and here we sit, again.
Even with all the “issues” we had with the “Virus” and other “mishaps”, it was another excellent adventure. We have a great group of friends that enjoys our outdoor activities and the company we keep. While we are not shy about busting somebody up when they give us the opportunity, we are also there for each other when a situation arises. Great friends and great times, thank you my brothers!
Thank you to Fearless Craig for taking the time to plot us out a course, and contact the lodges for our reservations. It is a thankless job, I am making a motion to double his pay next year… What is 2 x 0? Oh well, we both are compensated the same, memories of a lifetime.
It was also great for us to be able to get back to our stomping grounds in Quebec. The country offers over 20,000 miles of groomed trails, and a variety of casual to rustic, to exclusive accommodations on the trail, that we have missed since our last ride here in February 2020, Pre-Rona.
Our UN-Authorized Ski Doo Tech on the Trail
And that’s a wrap for the Darkside 2023 Ride thru Quebec. To my seven followers, if you’re still there, thanks for following along. While I complain loudly and often about writing this blog in the evenings, I am happy to have the digital memories archived for future look back.
Bye for now,
Stick