Day 4, we are all in, and safe, at Club Goudin, and only 137 miles today. But let’s back up, and catch up.
Yesterday morning, as you may recall, we were responsible for preparing our own breakfast. Fortunately, we didn’t have to raise the chickens, or slaughter the pig, and there was eggs and bacon and white bread in the fridge for us to prepare our typical Snowmobiler Breakfast. Your expansive choices were scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage and white toast. Farmer Sean, the early riser he is, cracked the eggs early, while Steve prepared the bacon and sausages, and Chip Nasty was assigned to the toaster. Thank you gentlemen for your service, we were all fed well!
After breakfast I saw Connecticut Jim cleaning the dishes again. As the group was shuffling in and out of the lodge to load our machines, the Lady Proprietor entered the lodge. She was thoroughly impressed with our merry band of misifts. The dishes were clean and stowed, and she said she usually comes in to a sink full of dirty dishes, and she was very appreciative! Way to go guys, we finally made one good impression on the trail. I’m still curious if we were supposed to wash the sheets and make the beds…
Some or our trail discussion amongst the group at one of our 30/40 miles trailside breaks, was that it was probably good that we got to make our own breakfast. We were all pretty much gathered by 6am for breakfast, and decided that with 280 miles scheduled for the day, lets get an 8am start on the trail. We didn’t have to wait for orders to be taken, and food to be prepared. Worked out great!
Under any other circumstances, Stick would be very vocal, shall we say, about having to do 280 miles in a day. But with the new version 2.0 Stick we have these days, all he expressed was his excitement that we only had 280 miles to go!
And by 7:52, we were moving down the trail, headed to Lac Faillon, about 180 miles down the way. Nothing exciting on the way, just chugging along stopping every 30/40 miles for an old man break on the side of trail. And after about 90 miles we came across a small indian outpost is the best description I have. There was smattering of homes, and a small store with fuel pump. We didn’t expect this on our path, but it saved us from backtracking about 8 miles for our scheduled fuel location, further down the trail.
On to Lac Faillon, we rolled. Nothing exciting yet. Rest assured folks, the excitement is coming, give this group until about day 6/7, fatigue will set in, nerves will fray, and the real Darkside will expose itself.
Speaking of such, I had a bit of a revelation the other night after dinner. While I was preparing this stupid effing blog at our 13 person dining table, Connecticut Jim noticed I had not made a plate of lasagna yet. He kindly offered to make me plate, which I politely accepted. After dinner, Wiki Rob (Formerly Yamaha Rob) offered to clear my place setting, as I was still typing away on this stupid effing blog, which I again politely accepted. And then in one of my mini breaks of typing this stupid effing blog, I needed to slide past The Mail Man, who was seated at the end of the table. And as I was approaching he said, I’m sorry “sir”, let me move. My revelation was, this group is being exagerently polite to me. Maybe my lecture and warnings that we are going UN-Edited and UN-redacted set it in. I have also determined that I have found out who the class suck ups are. There will be no favortism boys! Accept the consequences of your trail behavior.
We arrived at Lac Faillon after 180 miles, and right at 2pm. Pretty good for a group of 13 and still maintaining our normal break schedule. We fueled and grabbed a quick lunch. The lunch system here is as follows, you go to one of the stand up coolers and select your choice of pre-prepared lunch selection of lasagna, ribs, a cold cut sandwich, vegetable soup, etc, take it to the microwave in the dining section of the lodge, microwave it, and tell the young lady behind the bar our name, and items selected. You retrieve your food items from the microwave section, sit and eat, and pay your tab on the way out.
Fastest lunch we have had on the trail. We were full, bills paid, and ready to roll down the trail by 2:45pm, with only 100 miles to go!
The next 100 miles, sorry to disappoint my 7 followers, were pretty uneventful. We did stop at a scenic overlook about 1/2 way, took a small break, Action Dan tagged the warming hut with a Darkside sticker, and Chip Nasty and Steve rode to the top of the lookout point, where they said you can see forever. And down the trail we went. But just wait, things pick up once we get in.
We arrived at one of our favorite stops in the Bush of Quebec, Clova, at around 5:30pm. Not bad, 277 miles on the ticker, and we were in before dark! Pretty easy on these trails, this far north. They are wide, smooth, soft bends, and easy to make time on. There are no cross roads, rail road tracks, or any other trails to cross. At the half way point you are 50 miles either side of assistance or help on the trail, should it need be.
After fueling, we went and picked out our rooms at the converted school house, that now operates as a lodging facilities for snowmobilers in the winter, and sportsmen in the summer, for fishing and hunting. Robere’ and I, not to our disappointment, took the room with bunk beds AND it’s own bathroom. Only 3 rooms have there own bathroom/shower, and no one else is interested in climbing up rickety wood ladder to their bed. But I’m a whore for my own bathroom, and we did not hesitate to claim that room. And I’m the team player that took the upper bunk.
Dinner was at around 7pm, and we were all excited for the steak dinner. We had a great steak last year on our visit, and this night’s meal was just as good. Came with a small salad and a twice baked potato. Can’t beat that on the trail.
As I stated on day one, we have a former Darksider, that has returned for another ride. Dave Terrell last rode with us in 2013. We met Dave when Orange Helmet and Stick did the MichSkanSa Ride from Sault St Marie Michigan to Tok, Alaska snowmobile ride, back in 2010. Dave was the Team Leader of our group, and he and his group of riding freinds joined us for a couple of Quebec trips afterwards. Now to clarify, Dave made it all the way to Tok Alaska. Orange Helmet and Stick, and our old partners, RSY and Ole, “only” made it 9 miles inside of Alberta Canada, and we ran out of snow. Our group decided to peal off and head to Wyoming for a week of snowmobiling, but Dave and his team continued on, and they made. Great story to hear what they had to go thru to finish the trip, chasing snow, and the conditions they endured. Another story, another time.
At dinner, Dave was seated across from me, and made the mistake of telling me about his arrival to the school house/lodging. He was backing his Ski Doo into a parking spot in front of the lodge, and, according to Dave, the throttle “stuck” and knocked him off his sled, and the sled ran backwards into the building! He failed to mention last night that he also broke a window on the lower level. I had to notice that myself this morning. He is fine, but he gained a new Trail Name: Bent Bumper.
Dinner was great, the company and conversation was excellent, and a good time was had. Even a couple double double white russians flew around the dinner table.
The start time was established as TBD, as we only had 130 miles to go on day 4.
99% of the riders were gathered for breakfast at 7:30am for the snowmobiler breakfast. In case you were wondering, the breakfast was your choice of scrambled or over easy eggs, white or brown toast, choice of bacon or sausage links, and potato squares. We love the variety. The 1% of riders we were missing was The Grinch, Yamaha Kevin, who said he had “acid reflux”, or as I said, that’s a new definition of white Russian hangover.
It was cold last night, -8 degrees according to my Superior Bombardier Product temperature gauge. Too cold for a couple Yamahas’. Orange Helmet and Yamaha Kevin had to get a couple trash cans of cold water to pour over their engine blocks, to “warm” them a bit, so they would fire up. Another “known problem”.
At breakfast, 10am was determined to be the launch time. And we were all set and good for the on time departure. Except Ole Man Ron. He couldn’t find the power cord to his heated helmet shield. Again. Finally by 10:15 we were headed down the trail.
It was about 90 miles to our scheduled gas stop. The day warmed up nice, and we had a sunny, blue bird day all the way. At our fuel stop, which was only a couple hours after our breakfast, we just ate snacks out of sleds, and took an extra few minutes, before we moved on down the trail.
We thought we were going to get a moose sighting on the trail today. We came across one section of trail, and saw ALOT of fresh moose tracks on and along the trail. We slowed down and craned our necks looking for the opportunity. No moose. Action Dan says he did see a Lynx on the trail yesterday. It’s hard for us following Action Dan to determine if he is pointing something out on the trail or is he just pumping his arm to the rythm of the music pumping in his helmet, or is he having a seizure.
We arrived this afternoon to Pourvoirie Barrage Gouin, at about 3:15pm and after about 127 miles. This is a new destination for our group. I like it. It’s VERY rustic. They provide fuel here, and we were told to fill our spare cans we carry on our sleds. We may need them tomorrow. Not that we have a long day, but we may have a long ride to our first gas stop.
We have three cabins here, with 6 guys in one, 5 in another and our two princess’s, I mean Trail Guides have a cabin to themselves.
I got the short stick, so to speak, and Yamaha Kevin is in our 5 star cabin. He got the room with two twin size beds, to share with his wingman Bent Bumper. Connecticut Jim & Wiki Rob are also cabin mates. But the story is with Kevin. He gets into his room and needs a wall plug. The wall plug is on the entry door, and the head of his bed is on the opposite wall. Now, me, I would’ve just moved my pillow to the opposite end of the bed, pulled the sheets down, and been good. Kevin thinks differently. He felt it wiser to “just” turn the whole mattress in reverse, as is. In his mattress moving adventure, and I have to say I, myself, don’t understand why this plumbing feature is hidden beside his bed, but there is what we estimate to be a plumbing blow out line on that wall. And as he was flipping the mattress, he hit the gate valve, and a rush of water began flooding his, and Bent Bumper’s, room. He semi-quickly found the gate valve and solved the problem, but the damage was done. He used our shower towels to clean up their floor, and now just has the verbal abuse to endure.
Ok, it’s dinner time. Lasagna or Haddock fish are the choices. Not much diversity in our menu this year, but we are surviving. Beats the hell out of the alternative.
We have, I guess, about 240 miles on the clock for tomorrow. I have plenty of good pictures to share, but I don’t have the Wi-Fi bandwidth to upload. You’ll have to wait.
We shall see,
Bye for now ,
Stick