Big Al has beat the over/under, still no Donkey. But true to form, the Dark side team missed the trail head, going to Saint-Michel-des- Saints.
We left Mekoos around 9am. We gained about 8'' of fresh powder overnight. The temperature was around 10 degrees at departure, but sure felt like it was dropping throughout the day. Currently the temperature is -0- degrees, with a forecasted low -18 overnight. According to reports, the temps are going to continue dropping for the next few days. I believe I heard a low of -24 and a high of -10 on Monday or Tuesday. Super Duper. Break out the heated vest and an extra layer.
If you are really dedicated to the DarkSide Adventures, I believe our Spot Tracker GPS is now up and working. You can probably hit the "Track Us" button on the home screen and click on either of our units to see where we are at during the day (Command Central, feel free to post a blurb if I misrepresented any of those directives). If you did follow us today, we made pretty good time, with few stops.
Our fuel stop was in Manawan, a small indian town. After a quick fuel stop, we ventured about 20 miles down the trail for lunch. But wait, it's just not that easy for us. A few miles outside of Manawan, we missed the trail head and went about 4 miles out of our way. We realized we were on the wrong path when we ran into some locals at the end of the road. That gave me thoughts of Deliverance. A quick turn around of the 10 sleds, back tracked the 4 miles, and we were back on the right path.
Our lunch stop was at the Outfitter Lac du Repos. The visit to Lac du Repos was much more pleasurable then our visit 3 years ago. At that time we showed up at the end of the lunch serving time. The little old lady that runs the place, like the Soup Nazi, was not very thrilled to see us at that time. The only thing left to serve us was soup, which is a very generous term. The soup was beef broth flavored water, with 2-5 chunks of carrot, and if you were lucky, you got a chunk of potato! This time however, we must have arrived early, because we had soup with plenty of fillings, and our choice of chicken fingers with fries, macaroni with meat (goulash) or a chicken sandwich. Much more filling this time, and the little old Soup Nazi was actually very pleasant to our group!
Big Al, is still Big Al at this time. He beat the over/under. But be patient, the Donkey is bound to make an appearance. It's inevitable.
It's now 7:10, I had the first version of this Frost Byte edition ready to post 25 minutes ago. But I lost my internet connection and my words. It's time for dinner. And somebody just had a bottle of wine delivered to our table... and I am DUN.
But before we sign off this evening, we would like to give a shout out to our Travelocity Gnome Tom "Tom Cat" Hughes. We know you are out there stalking us on the GPS tracker, and looking for our updates. We miss you Tom Cat, and wish you and your gang were with us!
Tune in again tomorrow, if I don't get totally aggravated with losing my work each evening, I may even produce another Frost Bytes at that time! ( these guys will ensure I do continue the blog, don't fret... all 7 of you!)
Cheers...
"Stick"