Day 1 On The Trail: Don't Sweat The Small Stuff...Like Fuel.

Currently we have poor internet connection, and food poisoning for the writer, but let's start from the beginning of the day...

We were all ready and ON TIME for our 10am departure from Mont Luarier yesterday.  Surprising, because even with such a late start, somebody is always late.

Most of the sleds registered a 3/4 full gas tank, so the decision was made that we only had about 80 miles to go, and only 30-40 miles until the first opportunity to get fuel on the trail, so let's just head out.  As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot Big Al flagged me down saying his gas gauge dropped to under a 1/2 since moving, and "what should I do? Should I get gas?" My response was, "you'll be fine, don't ride like a dink and you will be ok".  Off we went.

The trails were surprisingly good, considering the reports we were getting, and improved greatly into the familiar Quebec trails we've always enjoyed.  As long as we stayed on the marked snow mobile machines that is.

Our first stop of the day was at Devil's Mountain.  There there is the Sultans Clubhouse, the local snowmobile club's trail side place to get a cup of hot chocolate, coffee, soft drink, or an adult beverage if your so inclined.  Usually there is a great view looking over the wooded valley, as you are 2000 feet up.  However, no view today.  We had a steady snow shower all day, which made the ride even more enjoyable.  It's always warming to snowmobiler's heart to see more snow on the horizon.

The first question a couple guys asked when we pulled in the clubhouse was "do they sell gas here?"  Nope.  You could see the anxiety building.  We do carry gas on the sleds, but nobody wants to be that guy, because if you use somebody's fuel, your buying the bar tab that night.

When we left the clubhouse, we were headed a short distance to Windigo. A usually busy place, where we were going to fuel up the sleds.  Problem #1: they are closed and boarded up!  Now the anxiety is building.  We now have 2 Sleds on 1 bar of fuel, Big Al and Jamie Elfstrom.  From there we continued on, and somewhere we inadvertently got onto an ORV trail.  While our leaders were following this trail to get the Team back to the snow trail, we did pass the local ORV clubhouse. They were less than thrilled to see 13 snowmobiles on their ORV trail, as they ran out the door as the pack was going by and quite clearly gave us the International Salutation of their displeasure.

We finally came out to a road, and Connecticut Jim and Action Dan ran the adjoining snowmobile trail to be sure there was gas nearby, while the rest of the crew sat on the side of a road.  The logging trucks going by were not thrilled to see 11 sleds sitting on the side of THEIR road, and they also blew their air horns at us, and saluted as they went by.

And just as this story was getting juicy.... our trusty blogger 'Stick' lost wi-fi connection.  So from the Command Center located here in Michigan here are some pictures I received throughout the day of January 28th to hold you over until what I am sure will be a VERY interesting FrostByte tonight!

Mrs. Mitchell at Command Central thank you for a job well done on picking up my broken pieces, now for the rest of the story...

Action Dan & Connecticut Jim quickly solved our fuel problem, and we jumped on the adjoining snowmobile trail to head to the gas station.  On the twisty snow trail, Tina Bear blew a turn, rode through some thickets, or traction as Skinner Bell says, and was back on the trail with minimum effort.  When pulled over to do a once over, her flame, Metro Dave, complimented her on her recovery and asked what she did.  Her response was "I closed my eyes and hit the throttle!"  Dave responded, " Well you did good, but let's work on keeping your eyes open!".

After fuel and lunch, we were back on the trail.  Everybody was obviously still getting their sea legs, as around the 70 mile mark of the day, my wing man's, RS, headlight disappeared from my rear view mirror.  I pulled over and waited my customary 1-2 minutes to see if he was coming, and he wasn't.  I flip flopped and headed back about a 1/2 mile to find RS in a 6 foot gully filled with snow on the right side of the trail, sitting on his sled with his helmet in his hand with big grin on his face.  When I asked just what exactly are you doing in there, his response was it was a good time to test his new skid plate.  Metro Dave and Jamie showed on the scene next, and with Jamie taking pictures, Metro Dave & I, more Metro Dave, extracted RS from the gully and back on track we were. 

We arrived at Meekos around 4:30 pm, refueled, claimed our rooms in the big lodge, and Big Al, the good trail rider he is, went to the main lodge and came back with a case of tasty Labatt Blue for the team.  

This is where things went sour for me.  Shortly upon arrival I began feeling funky, and by the time dinner came at 7:30pm I was in the rest room with, apparently food poisoning.  I chose to eat my dinner in the bar area, away from the rest of the Team, just in case it was the flu or something that we did not to expose the rest of the Team to.   I awoke around 5:30am this morning tip top, and started this blog again while everybody at the lodge wasn't hogging the limited wifi bandwith.  That ended around 7:30 am  as everybody was showing up for breakfast, hence the delay for yesterday's blog.

I am now at dinner at the end of Day 2, at Real Masse.  I will, hopefully, be doing today's FrostBytes shortly there after.

One time in the Bush Bush...

Cheers,

Stick

Frost Bytes Jan 27/2016... Issues & All We've Done is Un-Load The Sleds

What's a Darkside Adventure if we don't have issues.  Just usually our issues arise after we are the furthest point away from our base, and much more expensive.

Today we arrived at the Quality Inn in Mont Laurier, QC.  This is our regular landing spot where we leave the trucks and trailers, and do our 10 day circle around the Bush of Quebec.  The proprietors Michel and Renee' and now their daughter Mariane & son Marc, are the best hosts you could ask for.  They convert our American cash to Canadian mulah, which happens to have a very good 135% exchange rate, in our favor, and sell us our Quebec Trail Permits. One stop shopping.  The restaurant here is also top notch with a 4-star meal and a solid 4.5 star out of 5 ONION soup (Vinnie and I have our own 5 star rating system for the ONION soup, and today's onion soup at lunch was only a 1.5 star; Nice presentation but poorly executed).

Pretty uneventful ride in the trucks here.  Our convoy was 3 trucks, 3 trailers, and Stick & Bob bringing up the rear with a single pickup.  Some ask with all these vehicles, there's not room for you?  Yes, matter of fact Vinnie the Driver drives RS's truck and trailer while RS & I peacefully enjoy our ride up together, without the 2 motormouths  and a hick rambling on all the way (Junior Trail Boss Jamie, Big Al, Vinnie). Video Mike was about an hour behind us with his truck and trailer, as he had a meeting with the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, to set up a future promotional tour with SnowTrailsTV.com.

We arrived around 2:30 pm, and brought our gear in to warm up for use in the morning.  Dave Josselyn- Young and Kristina "Tina Bear" Young unloaded their sleds upon arrival. And that's where the issues begin.  They decided to be Safety First and, before leaving MI, installed new skid plates underneath the front of their Ski-Doos' to protect vital components.  Well, after unloading their machines, they realized the digital displays are now not working, and the DESS light is on (Digital Encoded Security System).  After checking a couple of electrical connections and the dash power connector, without success, they ran up the road about a mile to the local Ski Doo dealer, who is very familiar with our group as there has been at least one rental there each of the last 4 years!

After trying a couple of their quick suggestions, no dice, still not working.

So, the next step is to call Grace Performance back in Port Huron MI, where the sleds were purchased, and see if they have a solution. With no luck from their suggestions, Mike Minjoe (from Grace) kindly got us on the phone with Bill from Ski-doo Tech Support.

After that call to Ski-Doo Tech Support, there was one suggestion..."When you put your digital dash cluster back together, did you put the correct cluster on the correct machine?"  "Huh...? Let me check that" Metro Dave responds.  Voila, problem solved.  Apparently Vinnie the Driver was assisting with that skid plate project and mixed them up while he was playing mechanic's assistant.

Every body feels good, Big Booty Moody Judy is at peace, and we are now in the Quality Inn Bar on the 3rd floor busting up the responsible parties with an adult beverage, and warming up for our 7pm dinner call.

Tomorrow we only have about 60 miles to ride to get to Meekos (again, anyone that followed us in the past, all 7 of you, will be familiar with Meekos).  We usually plan a short run the first day as a shake down run, making sure your equipment is good, then get on with the run the next day.

Time for me to enjoy my evening, tune in again tomorrow night as we push our way into the bush... humma humma goosh goosh...

Cheers,

"Stick"

Traveling Side Show is LIVE from Ontario...2016 FrostBytes Begins Now!

It's been 351 Days since our last Adventure update.  And it came from the exact same spot I'm sitting in now.

There are 10 of the 13 Darkside riders gathered hear in Kingston, ON, at the Courtyard by Marriott.  We've got familiar faces, and a couple new ones (we'll profile the probationary riders later in our trip).

We've gotten smarter about our snowmobile adventures; We used to just get up early and drive the 630 miles straight from Flint, MI to Mont Laurier, Quebec. Now we leave a day early and drive the 375 miles, as the crow flies, to Kingston, layover at some comfortable lodging with a lobby bar and a Boston Pizza next door, and have an extra 2 vaca days on your trip (you get 2 when you do it each way!)

Video Mike of SnowTrailsTv.com notoriety will be joining us soon, and tomorrow the 11 of us will arrive at the Quality Inn in Mont Laurier, probably between 2:30-3:30 pm.  That leaves time to unload our sleds, do last minute preparations, and have a delicious bowl of ONION soup ( I am that guy that always says French Onion soup, but when you are in french speaking territory it is just ONION soup, as Vinnie the Driver always so politely reminds me) with our opening night banquet.  We will also catch up with the other 2 riders, Connecticut Jim and his buddy Rob. They have been riding locally around Mont Laurier since Saturday or Sunday, I don't remember.

The 10 here in Kingston are as follows: Craig Willour and Jim Olender, our leaders and trip coordinators, Vinnie the truck driver, Action Dan, Junior Trail Boss Jamie Elfstrom, Big Al Young, Rod "Stick" Campbell, RS Young, and the probies, Dave Josselyn and the first ever, wait for it..

Female Darkside Rider, Ms. Kristina Young.  Rest assured, the addition of Tina Bear will not inhibit the usual shenanigans that take place over the next 11 days.  Big Al is itching to make international headlines.

Connecticut Jim has given us a scouting report that the snow is a bit sketchy right now around Mont Laurier, but a few inches of snow is expected over the next few days.  Hopefully by the time our ride begins on Thursday, trail conditions will be somewhat similar to what we have become spoiled to over the last few years.

Doesn't really matter, we are here, we will make the best of what we receive. A bad day in Quebec is better than a good day at work!

That is our report for today, be sure to check in often...

Cheers,

"Stick"

Frost Bytes, Day 11... It Comes to an END, but NOT before we catch back up!

Our Thursday morning started with a 9am departure time, that was supposed to be a firm departure time, because we had 230 miles to go! But, its never that easy.

Vinnie's Polaris was having sputtering issues periodically thru out the day on Wednesday, and considering we were going into remote parts of the Bush, and it was too cold and laborious to try and tow a broke down sled, we decided it would be prudent to have it checked out at the Polaris Dealer before leaving town. 

To begin with, the dealer, who is mentioned in earlier posts by Command Central (I can't remember names at this time, as it's 3 days later, and I'm just trying to wrap this blog up for another season), was incredibly generous and accommodating.  Gino, the owner, drove us to lunch at one of his favorite local restaurants, then gave us a tour of his private Land Rover collection.  The Polaris repairman Remy, after a quick test drive and tear down to change plugs and the fuel filter, discovered a vacuum line that had a hole wore thru it from a clamp.  Quick changes/repairs and we will be back on the trail.  It's never that easy.  It was around 1:30 and the guys all suited up and made our preparations to depart the dealer.  We had already changed our destination to Relaise 22, about 130 miles up the trail, but this would still keep us on track to make Parent by Friday evening.

After being suited up for about 30 minutes, and still no sight of Vinnie coming out of the repair bay, we undressed again.  The test ride after the vacuum hose repair wasn't the problem.  Further investigation was required.  Around 3pm, Remy thought he had the problem fixed.  Now the sled wont even idle.  RS Young made a snap decision, ship the sum bitch to Mt Laurier, Vinnie get on Action Dan's 2-up sled, your riding bitch.  By 4 pm we were on the trail. 

We arrived at Relaise 22 around 7:15. It was freaking cold.  -18 when we arrived, and an hour after we got there it dropped another 10 degrees!  Poor Vinnie riding on the back of a 2 Up sled with no hand warmers, nor real protection from the elements other than his gear, was froze to the sled. We chiseled him off the back seat and placed him in front the wood burning stove with a hot chocolate to thaw.

We were supposed to have dinner at the dining table in Relaise 22, but we all sat around the horse shoe bar for adult beverages and never left. They just served us our choice of steak or chicken right there, and a great time was had by all.

Friday morning, we were on the trail to Parent by 10am or so.  Nothing really exciting happened on the trail, finally. Well, nothing out of the ordinary.  Ole took out a bridge warning sign and had to be dug out of a drift, but that's just normal day to day happenings. We arrived in Planet Parent around 5pm.  Our friend Sylvie, who owns the Hotel Central in Parent, had a happening bar and restaurant that Friday night.  Pre dinner happy hour, dinner and post dinner cocktails and conversation, and another great evening was in the books.

Saturday morning, we were leaving Parent for Club Gatenaeu. Connecticut Jim and his wingman Rob needed to head back to MT Laurier.  A winter storm heading for Vermont/Connecticut made them head back home a day early so as not to get caught in a bad ride home. Don't feel bad for them that they left a day early... they also arrived 3 days before the rest of us, and rode by themselves for those 3 days!

We love having Club Gatanaeu as our last over night. Mark and his wife Natalie, the owners, are just super duper great hosts, tolerate our shenanigans (and often join in), and are just great people to visit with! Plus, its only about 60 miles from there to Mt Laurier. So when the great hosting runs late into the night, as it usually does, and we leave later in the morning, it's not a long day at all to get back to the trucks!

We are now sitting in Kingston ON, with Action Dan and Video MIke from SnowTrailsTV.com (remember twit him and like his facetube page), myself, RS, Vinnie and Donkey, and our trip coordinator Craig Willour and Bullet Catcher Jim Olender, at the hotel bar.  Laughs and stories are still rolling out.  Another great trip guys! Can't wait til next year.

I need to send a special Thank YOU to Mrs Mitchell back at Command. She covered me during our "dark" periods with blog updates and pictures.  We also want to think the dealers mentioned in this blog, as they were integral and gracious in getting us back on the trail.  A special thanks to the people we met on the ride, like Iceman and the boys from New York that stayed up late and played with us last night at Gatanaeu!

While it's happy trails for us, for now, we are currently tossing ideas around for next years ride. If you think you may be interested in exploring Québec with us, contact Craig Willour at 810-629-1299.  We are always looking for our next victims!

Thanks for following, hope you enjoyed.  While this is a pain in the arse for me to do each evening, when it's completed I do feel a sense of accomplishment... not to mention it often starts a spirited conversation during our evenings!

Check in often, make comments, watch for updates for our future adventures, or just read the blog and go on with your life...

Cheers

"Stick"

Day 8/9/10.. Breakdowns & Freezing!

We're having a hard time getting wifi.. and keeping sleds running in this cold.  After spending Thursday morning trying to keep the polaris running we decided just to have to mechanics put it back together and haul fingers crossed she'd make it.  It did, and the ride was FREEZING.  FREEZING like you've never felt in your life.

This is what the temp was as we took off on morning 9 Friday.. again FREEZING.

Since wifi is limited.. enjoy the pictures from our on-site photographer RS.  This morning Saturday Day 10 we spend trying to Big Al's skidoo started.... Hopefully we can make it down the trail to our next destination and get a signal good enough to get Stick back on the blog!

Over and out - Darkside Crew

Day 8 morning... Why we aren't going anywhere!

Just wanted to give an update to those who are wondering why the trackers are NOT moving... we have another sled broke down.

The awesome team at Centre Du Sport are working their butts off right now trying to get us back in gear.  As for now we are going out to lunch with the very nice owner and determining our game plan on where we will be heading given todays ride was supposed to be a 200+ mile day that doesn't look like will be happening anytime soon... check back later for our progress!

-Darkside Crew

Day 7; Early arrival to our Hotel= Tom Foolery

Day 7 started with a late night for most last night, like Bruce Springsteen sang: Monday morning ran into Sunday night.  Big Al signed the International Peace Treaty with Ms. Québec; Video Mike spent too much time trying to Video Ms. Québec, and forgot his video camera in the bar last night, and the rest hung around to see the outcome. (Big Al has requested to be called "International Playboy"; not gonna happen Donkey)

Breakfast was at 8am, a later than usual 7am, because Ole had to wait until 9am to call the Ski Doo dealer to find out the condition of his sled.  Finally, around 9:45, with the rest of us badgering him to make the call, he finally relented, and was informed his sled was trail ready.  The departure time from the hotel, with full gear on & saddlebags ready to be mounted on your sled, was quickly issued to be 10:15, and 4 taxis would be ready to transport us back to the Ski Doo Dealer.  Right now is an appropriate time to commend and praise the prompt attention and solution and repair to get Ole's sled back on the trail the very next morning.  Equipment Villeneuve Inc. provided superior service and assistance to get the DarkSide Team back on the trail! Thank You Equipment Villeneuve and your top notch staff for exceeding our expectations!

We were on the trail around the 11am hour.  A quick 130 miles on some long, straight and fast trails with a lunch stop around 2pm and we were into the Hotel du Jardin around 4:30pm. Hotel du Jardin is a 4 story hotel in St. Felicien, with a 4 star rating by the Québec Tourism Department.  A little bigger and upper scale than we are used to, but we will make do.

Not a lot of excitement or drama on the trail today.  So this would be a good time to introduce you to Rob Sheehan. Rob is on his first DarkSide Adventure. Rob is the riding partner with Connecticut Jim, and they have been riding together in Vermont for about the last 4-5 years out of a cottage they share.  This is Rob's first saddlebag tour; Quite a way to start saddlebagging Rob!  He says he is really enjoying his first saddlebag ride, but the company he is with is questionable?  It only gets better Rob.  Rob started riding about 15 years ago with his wife Tammy. Tammy has been a life long snowmobiler, and got Rob started when he couldn't ride his Harley in the winter.  Back home Rob rides a Yamaha Vector LTX, and usually clocks 2-3000 miles per season.  He says he can't wait for his next saddlebag tour, so look out Tammy, I think you might be doing something different when he gets home! Tammy, don't worry, he is fitting in just fine and we are limiting him to Jack Daniels only on odd numbered days! j/k

That's about all I've got for tonight... We've got approximately 220 miles to travel tomorrow, and have a prompt start time of 9 bells. Per protocol, we are sitting in the hotel bar/restaurant waiting for me to complete this blog.  Dinner is at 7pm. Tomorrow's overnight is a lodge/outfitter Kanawata. I have no idea if internet service will be available or not... tune in to find out...IF you see a post we have service, IF not, then we don't.

Cheers...

"Stick"

Frost Bytes Day 5/6...Ground Hog Day...We are doing it over.

..ALOT has happened since our last edition.  It's Tuesday the 3rd of February and we are currently back in Chicoutimi at the Hotel de Congress, the same hotel we left yesterday morning (Monday 2-2-15). 

To pick up where Big Al left off Sunday night,  Ole's sled had electrical issues Sunday upon our arrival into Chicoutimi.  It literally died on the trail in front of the gas station, about a mile from our hotel.  The rest of the riders fueled up for the next morning, and we put Ole's sled in the corner of the parking lot to work on the next morning (Bad decision, as you will see, but it was -22 degrees, 8pm and 11 hours on the frosty trail, we were ready to get in vs. towing it back to the hotel).

We got into the hotel about 8:30 pm, just in time for the Super Bowl half time. We had dinner, a couple drinks, and finished watching the game in the hotel restaurant/bar.  We were all pretty tuckered out, so we all retired shortly after the game.

The next morning, Ole and Big Al took a taxi to the Ski Doo dealer (Big Al's heated helmet shield wasn't working so he got a new one) to get Ole a new battery for his sled. We were hoping it was just a battery.  The taxi brought Big Al and Ole back to the hotel after their shopping excursion, and Ole had the taxi take him to his sled back at the gas station to replace his battery and solve all our problems.  It's never that easy.

The Darkside Team was ready to leave the hotel by 930 am. However, Ole returned to the hotel via the same taxi he departed in?  Whatsup Ole? The local police department saw his "abandoned" sled in the gas station parking, and promptly had it towed to their double secret impound lot, thinking it was stolen and abandoned.  The Team decided to leave Ole to his own devices, get his sled outa hock, and he made arrangements to transport it and himself to the next overnight, Auberge 31, an outfitter in the middle of nowhere that is powered by a generator.  Problem solved.  Recall: It's never that easy.

Our ride yesterday was 194 Ski Doo miles, through some beautiful mountain terrain, and a ferry ride across the Saugenay river.  We arrived at the ferry station at 4 pm, just as they were loading the ferry for it's next trip across the river.  There was a couple semis, a few passenger vehicles and our 10 sleds on the open deck ferry, that took about 10-15 minutes to cross the river.

We arrived at Auberge 31 around 7:30pm. Ole had arrived with his sled, via transporter, around 4:30, and he was well oiled at the bar by the time we got there.  However, his sled was still having issues. Apparently the stator was DUN (that's like an alternator on a car) and his sled was just running off the battery until the battery dies.  It's never easy, you recall.

Today was supposed to be another day/overnight at the Auberge 31.  We were just going to do some local riding, and explore the beautiful terrain, and let Video Mike get some footage for SnowTrailsTV.com ( I was going to stay at the lodge and have a pajama day, but that didn't work out). Instead, around 11am this morning, the decision was made to head back to Chicoutimi, and take his sled to the Ski Doo dealer for a proper repair, as we've got alot of miles to go still.  We departed the lodge at around 1:15 today.  Craiger, one of our leaders, said it was about a 100 miles back to the Ski Doo dealer.  Uh?  It took 194 miles and 10 hours yesterday, how is it only 100 back?  Because we took the long way to ride the ferry and make a day out of it! 

We arrived at the Ski Doo dealer around 3pm today.  Pleasantly surprised that it was only about 45 miles! (next time when it's -20 all friggin day, how bout we just take the 45 mile route, make a couple wrong turns, turn it into a 120 mile day and call it good, Craig?). They started working on his sled right away, and hopefully it's ready by 10am tomorrow (Wednesday 2/4/15) But remember, it's never that easy.  At the ski doo dealer, we found out that we couldn't ride our sleds back to the hotel, because there was no way to cross the river in town.  We called 3 taxis, and crammed our gear, and ourselves in full riding gear, in to the small taxis, left our sleds at the dealer, and will reverse this procedure tomorrow.

We are now back in the restaurant where we watched the Super Bowl Sunday evening, and getting ready for dinner.  Some of the guys got lucky and hot tubbed while I diligently wrote this evening's edition. (I hope a tourists 5 kids peed in that tub before you got in.)

Before closing, I would like to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful wife Julie, back at home!  Happy B'day, sorry I missed it, but keep watching the mail, I tried to prepare before I left.

I think I heard somebody order a bottle of wine... I'm outa here.

Until the next internet connection... Cheers!

"Stick"

BTW: Big Al is currently doing International Relations with an attractive blonde that he met in the hot tub, as she is now at the dinner table with us. Tune in tomorrow to see if there is an international incident.

Frost Bytes Day 5... Media Day!

Command Center here, the Darkside bloggers didn't have internet connection at their destination last night for their post on Day 5 (yesterday Feburary 2)... so here are all the photos they did forward on when they had service throughout their day!

If you were following along on the Tracker yesterday you'd see that part of the journey including crossing the St. Lawrence Seaway by ferry.

Let's hope FrostBytes returns to recap Days 5 & 6!

-Darkside Command Center

Frost Bytes Day 4...BURRRRRRRR

Hello All,

Its the FNG here reporting to you live from a long eventful day on the trail...  Our day started out an hour earlier as we had a 200 mile run to make from La Tuque to Chicoutimi our stop tonight.  

Our run began with -18 temps (Not including the wind chill) but at least it was sunny and not a cloud in the sky.  We meandered through tight winding wooded trails for about 40 miles before stopping off at an outfitter to refuel and take a much needed warm up break in front of their fire. 

That's just about when the trip started picking up, it started with Bob getting sucked off the trail into deep powder and having to be yanked out.  A short while later while caught in a day dream it happened to me, luckily team rodbob was there to pull me out, while my wingman Vinny the driver was 9 miles ahead on the trail before he realized I was not behind him.  After  some "positive" reinforcement we were settling down for lunch. 

We had lunch overlooking Lac Saint Jean which is a enormous lake here in the bush. I half thought pulling up we had got to the ocean (duh salt water can't freeze).  We had a quick lunch and fuel stop and were back on the trail..  

In the middle of our 97 mile leg from lunch to hotel we had several mishaps.... the first was rob falling off the side of the trail and pinning the ski of his sled on a tree (rule of thumb if its smaller than 3 inches its traction, if its bigger than 3 its a tree!). This was all tree!  So after getting out his hand saw and sawing it down we had him free and back on the trail.  About 30 miles from town my heated shield stopped working, mix that with dark, snowdust and frigid temps..it will make 30 miles feel like 60.  So after toughing it out and staring through a quarter sized hole in my mask we finally got into town.....  Thank God!  Turns out it just couldn't be that easy, our leader Ole's sled quit. As luck would have it we were right in front of the gas station!  We jumped his sled got it to the pumps while we all fueled and warmed up inside.  OK now we can make it to the hotel and shed all this gear, Nope! His sled quit again that was one time to many, we left him there to get a taxi while we worked our way to the motel.  As we arrived and got checked in he was there to meet us.  After unpacking and hot shower we are all sitting down to a well deserved dinner. All in all it was a long day with cold temps and fast trails!

If you have any topics you would like discussed mention them in the comments!

-Alex