All riders arrived safely at Chateau Roberval at 5:15 pm. It was another blue bird day, with clear sunny skies and mild temperatures.
Our call time was 7am for breakfast, and 8am, ski’s up for departure. We had an estimated 230 miles to get in tonight. The breakfast menu did offer an extra couple options this morning, we could have, naturally, the eggs over easy or scrambled, a cheese omelet, French toast, or the crepes., with bacon or ham and of course dices potatoes. I chose consistency, and went with the over easy eggs, bacon and white toast.
While most of us were gathered at the appropriate time for our group breakfast, we were awaiting a couple stragglers, so Chip Nasty became assertive and told the polite young man taking our orders, and probably also cooking the food, that “we don’t have to wait for everyone to be here to order, we can get started.” I
chuckled a bit, and replied “so you make toast one day, and now you’re the Breakfast Captain!” He chuckled along with me.
My Ski Doo engine temperature gauge told me it was -4 degrees when I woke her up this morning. So the difference between a Yamaha starting in the morning or needing a bucket of cold water to warm it up is about 4 degrees (reminder: it was -8 the morning the two Yamaha’s needed water poured over the engines blocks to “warm” them up). I am sure that was a relief to Yamaha Kevin that his sled fired up without assistance this morning, albeit it did struggle a tinge.
By 8:05am, we were headed out. And by mile marker 1, we had already made a wrong turn. Action Dan got to the trail head off the main/only entrance to the lodge, and promptly turned left. We were supposed to turn right. We went another mile the wrong direction, and Connecticut Jim jumped thru the pack to converse with Action and get us back on track. Remember, it takes a village out here.
And then, at mile marker 2, Robere’ stopped the pack behind me, and let Connecticut Jim know that he had to run back to the lodge we had just departed. He forgot his phone. And in fairness to my UN-Edited UN-Redacted policy, I must convey that I had, unknowingly at this point, left my phone charger and plug behind as well, which he dutifully brought along with him. It takes a village out here.
The trails in this region are wide, smooth, soft bending turns, and just easy peasy, and joy to traverse. And when you’ve got 230 miles and 13 sleds in the pack, that’s what makes your day. Beautiful scenery ALL along the way. Our views were a mixture of open areas still recovering from forest fires years ago, to trails lined with birch trees, to trails lined with Pine trees, to trails lined with a combination. Going thru the open areas really reflects the beauty of the region, as well as the vastness of the area we are within. It really is beautiful country.
Our first gas stop was around the 90 mile mark. Nothing really to report. We stopped a couple times for old man breaks along the trail a couple times. At one of those breaks Connecticut Jim talked to Orange Helmet and Action Dan about a persistent trouble light that keeps flashing on, on his Yamaha dashboard. He let them know that when we get to Reliase 22 for our scheduled fuel and lunch spot, he and Wiki Rob will just be fueling, and moving on to Roberval, to see if they can get assistance at the local Yamaha shop. No Darkside trip is complete without a prerequisite stop at a Yamaha shop, just saying.
The group arrived at Relaise 22 after about 140 miles, at around 1pm. We fueled, and went inside one of our favorite overnight locations when in Quebec. It’s rustic charm, desolate location, and good food and service always pleases.
They were very busy for lunch, and an Olympic hockey game was turned up loud in the dining hall, and we settled in by the window table for a lunch of cheeseburgers, hotdogs, vegetable soups, and my wingman and I had the chicken wings. As we waited for our food the window seats gave us a great view of the heavy Friday traffic of sleds arriving and departing.
By 2:15pm, the now 11 riders were on their way down the trail. Pretty uneventful ride in. A few old man stops and a stop at a local warming hut for a split second, and we had 230 miles down, and fueled for tomorrow, and checked in the hotel by 6pm.
Well, there was one incident earlier. When the group of eleven was leaving Relaise 22, we failed to inform Farmer that Connecticut Jim and Wiki Rob were splitting off for the afternoon. After about a mile after our departure, as a good sweeper at the back of the pack, he noticed that we only had 11 riders, not the 13 he expected. He dutifully U-Turned, and as he straightened out, the Mail Man asked him “what’s up?” He stated his concerns of the missing riders, and Mail Man brought him up to date with the situation was. Good sweeper action right there. It takes a village.
I am sitting in hotel dining room/bar, enjoying a tasty cold blue mountain, and patiently awaiting the 8:30 dinner call. As I stated earlier, it is very bust here tonight. Probably 150 sleds in the parking lot, and the dining room is full.
We will have, finally, a very diverse menu available this evening. I still will not be able to have the Onion soup I generally love to have when in Quebec, because I really don’t care for their Onion soup here. I’ve tried it twice before, and it just doesn’t do it for me.
Just got a report from Connecticut Jim and WIki Rob, they actually got in about 40 minutes behind us, at around 6:15pm They got an extra SIXTY miles for their day, as the Yamaha dealer was 30 miles on the ‘wrong’ side of town from where our hotel is this evening. They had their second near 300 mile day in the last 3 days! Apparently, it was a moisture issue in the oil sensor gauge. They lubed it up to prevent moisture penetration, changed his oil filter, and he’s a happy rider once again.
That pretty much sums up the day. I have pretty decent wifi here, so I am going to attempt to upload a collage of pictures from the last few days below. If you see them, you’ll know I was successful, if you don’t see them, then I wasn’t.
Tomorrow’s destination is Auberge du 31. Another favorite location of ours in the Bush. I have no idea the expected miles as of yet. I think I recall decent wifi there, so if we are in for the night at a decent time, I’ll do my best to keep you updated.
We shall see,
Bye for now
Stick
