*We did not have Wi-Fi service at our location last night upon arrival. There was a construction crew working across the road, and the motel thought that was the reason. It is now 6:44am Sunday morning and the Wifi has been restored.
All riders arrived safely in Motel Mistral, in Rouyn-Noranda, QC around 4:30 pm. The day’s ride was right at 170 miles for the day. My math says we are around 2,294 miles down for the trip. And we have one last riding day to go.
Last night’s dinner at the Forestel was ok. The Onion Soup was a disappointment. 1.4 stars. Bland broth, barely cooked onions, and the croutons for were garlic toasties with a light dusting of cheese on them, floated on the top of the crock pot of soup. The big Beef Rib with frites was pretty good, and being a day and a half later, I don’t really remember the other items served.
If we were not impressed with the dinner served, we were definitely appreciative of the very nice hotel rooms, and absolutely divine mattress and pillow setup. After 11 or 12 nights of sleeping on not the best of bedding options, last night’s room accommodations lit up our day. I heard many positive comments about the pillows that were offered, so they’ve got that going for them.
The breakfast this morning was a $27 breakfast buffet, with the usual buffet items. Some additions to the buffet were banana breads, fresh fruits, yogurts and such.
Steve was looking a lot more fresh this morning then he was last night at dinner. He looked like he was going to fall asleep at the dinner table. I asked if he was getting wore out. He replied that the sled trip was fine, it was his lack of sleep from the night before. Apparently, his wing man Farmer had a couple double double spiced rums and sprite, and the snore factor went off the charts, keeping him up most of the night. Reminds me of the days with my old wing man, and before I had a life support machine (CPAP); When my snoring kept him up, he threw my own helmet at me to get me to roll over and quit snoring, or put on with the face shield down, so he could sleep.
At breakfast, Orange Helmet informed Bent Bumper Dave, (or should he be upgraded to Burnt Piston Dave) that he was going to have to find a truck to get his equipment back to the trucks and trailers, about 150 miles away by road. They started by asking the local workers if they had a friend with a pickup truck that wanted to make a few bucks, with no luck. He finally resorted to asking the front desk for assistance, and they found him a flatbed truck, for his last leg of this ride. Orange Helmet called ahead and secured Dave a room back at The Canadienne motel, and off he went.
Skis up time was scheduled for 9am. It was a cold morning. It may have felt colder due to the pretty steady wind that was blowing. It must’ve sleeted last night, as the machines had a thin layer of frozen snow on them this morning. Our departure was around 9:15, as Orange Helmet checked in on Burnt Piston Dave, in the lobby, one last time before departing. Too bad Burnt Piston wasn’t meeting us in Rouyn-Noranda this evening, Orange Helmet and Action Dan have been pumping us up about the great steak dinner we are going to have this evening. The steakhouse is off site of the motel, and is the whole reason we are even having an overnight stay at the Mistral Hotel this evening. We are all looking forward to it.
Not too much to write about for our day on the trail. The trails were in great shape; we passed a couple of groomers thru out the day. The trails were mostly wide, few sharp turns, and easy to make good time on, all things considered. And it never warmed up.
Around the 120 mile mark, we stopped at a gas station that we discovered last year on the trail. It was cold here last year too. We didn’t need fuel, as we had fueled at around the 65 mile mark, but we took advantage of the opportunity to go in and warm up and grab a snack. Action Dan reminded us not to eat a big lunch, because we didn’t want to ruin our appetites for dinner this evening.
After about a 1/2 hour of warming up, it was time to go finish out our day. Again not too much to talk about here. There was not more than a stop or two along the way, for a quick old man on the side of the trail stop, as it was just plain cold and nobody wanted to be standing around.
We arrived at Hotel Mistral right around 4:30. Orange Helmet went and checked us in, why Action Dan led the rest of the pack down the street to the gas station, so we were fueled for the next morning’s ride.
After we all had unloaded our sleds of our saddlebags, and were beginning our individual unpacking/getting settled in procedures for the upcoming evening, Action Dan was going room to room with a menu from the local pizza joint. And we need to hurry because they close at 7pm. Uh… what happened to our super-duper steak dinner, Action? He sheepishly replied, well, uh, it is Saturday evening and they are fully booked, we can’t get in. I, as politely as I am known to be, replied “Didn’t I mention 2 days ago that the super-duper steak dinner was going to be a Saturday evening, and with our big group you should, maybe, call ahead with a reservation?” and his response back then was “Oh, we will be fine!”
So, there were pizzas ordered, and a couple lasagna’s and 2 appetizer trays of cheese sticks, wings and onion rings. We gathered in the small bar, scattered amongst the tall top tables and the bar top, and enjoyed our final dinner on the trail.
Tomorrow is the last riding day, and the sleds will be loaded and gear packed to conclude another Darkside Adventure. Early reports are that it is about 151 miles into the trucks tomorrow. Breakfast is delayed until 8am, because the motel restaurant doesn’t open until then.
We shall see,
Bye for now,
Stick