Trailers, Buses and Snowmobiles(another account of Revrnd's "2012 Northern Blastoff")

[30cal4me]

Not quite being the computer live-in as brother Revrnd, this report has taken a little longer to compose. Here is a day-by-day report of Revrnd's "2012 Northern Blastoff". I will try not to repeat what he has said and offer new reading for everyone.

DAY 1(trailer to Gowganda)

Left Peterborough @ 6:00 am. Picked up 4th rider in Uxbridge. Stopped by Muskoka Airport @ Skyways Truck Stop for a good but expensive breakfast. Fueled up in North Bay and New Liskeard before heading west to Gowganda Lake Lodge. Got to GLL @ 2:30pm. Very nice place. Ron and Giselle know how to treat people. Cottage was clean, warm when we arrived and spacious for the 4 of us. After a beautiful hot dinner incl dessert (delivered to cottage), we retired early.

DAY 2(ride to Cochrane)

Day started with a good breakfast in the main building(store). Headed east of Gowganda.Trails ranged from very good to poor up to Kenogami, where we stopped for gas @ Macpherson's. Mac is quite the character(very witty). We had a trailside snack on a beautiful day north of Sesekinika(sp).

Trails ranged from poor to good up to Cochrane. This may be contributed to amount of snow, warmer than normal temps(trails not setting up as they normally do in N Ont), or amount of riders.

Had a beautiful Rib dinner @ Lillabelle Lake Resort. Even though the place is up for sale, Rod and Kim have not given up and still do everything they can to make your stay enjoyable.

DAY 3(ride to Hearst)

On the trail after a good breaky. Trails very good.

Corners a wee bit bumpy in places. Passed the Smooth Rock groomer east of SRF. Had lunch @ Moonbeam, before taking local trails south of Hwy 11 west to Opasatika. These trails hadn't been groomed since close to 4" of snow had fallen(still smooth though). Back on the "A" trail to Hearst and the Companion for the night.

Walked down to the Pizza Place restaurant. Excellent food and good variety offered.

DAY 4(ride to Dubreuilville)

Trails excellent heading west out of town. Met the Hearst groomer just east of Bambino's(Mooseland). "A" trail from Bambino's to Hornepayne not quite as good but still very ridable.

Got gas and had lunch(@ Kayla's) in Hornepayne. Food was very good at Kayla's. D108A to Hornepayne a little rough until we caught up to groomer just north of D'ville.

5 miles out of town wife's jackshaft/bearing puked resulting in a tow into town. Big Reg(A & S Services) thought he might have parts, but had a person who would truck sled to dealer if no parts around. Reg had no parts so a ride was setup to take sled to Timmins the next morning.

Stayed @ Dubreuilville Forest Products apartments They need to be snowmobilerized. By this I mean putting shelves up for helmets, and hangers/pegs for suits. There was not a single hanger in the closet. One baseboard heater was uncontrolable(couldn't turn off) and there were no blinds on 2 out of 3 of the windows.

Had a good dinner @ Le Sports Bar @ Grill.

DAY 5(ride to Wawa incl. local trails)

Had a good breaky @ Le Sprots Bar and Grill.

I took wife's sled to Timmins(in truck) while she took my sled on to Wawa with others. Dubreuilville trails were not quite up to their usual high quaility. Wawa's trails better.

Just a 53 mile day as Revrnd's sled is acting up.

Wawa Motor Inn let them check in before normal check-in. Dinner was not enjoyable. Main course brought almost immediately after appetizer. Main course quailty not great either.

Revrnd decided to truck his sled to dealer, so it's just my wife and our buddy for the rest of trip.

I got sled to Mikey's(Timmins) and parts had arrived from another dealer. No chance to look at it today tho.

DAY 6(ride to Chapleau)

Breaky at Motor Inn was OK. Snowed 5" thru the night. Colder. "D" trail north to D/F junction same as day before. "F" trail from junction to west end of Dog Lk was brutal. Dog Lk was a welcomed sight as it was smoother than the trail. Gassed up @ Ernie's.

F trail between Dog Lk and Dalton was better than west side of Dog Lk. 9 miles of rocky, plowed road before they hit an access road which was good.

Closer to Chapleau trail got a little gnarly. Signage limited for both businesses and corners.

They stayed @ Valentine's B & B. Very nice place.

Ross shuttled them over/back to Aux Trois Moulins for supper. Supper was very slow but good.

I had a sleepless night in Timmins(Travelodge). I decided to try and get back to my truck in Gowganda.

I called Mikey's and told them to not bother fixing sled. I would just pick it up.

After numerous attempts to find someone in hotel going towards Sudbury failed, girl on front desk suggested the ONR bus. A call confirmed they had a bus leaving Timmins @ 11:30, arriving @ the Watershed Truck Stop on hwy 144 @ 1:20. I called Ron @ GLL to see if he could come and pick me up. No problem. I arrived back in Timmins around dinner time and hooked up with Revrnd @ Cedar Meadows.

DAY 7(ride to Timmins)

Wife and buddy had a very good breaky at Valentine's. They rode 54 miles of freshly groomed trails leaving Chapleau heading east on C101F towards Foleyet.

Foleyet's trails were better on the west side of town than they were on the east side. Stopped for fuel at Foleyet General Store.

Trails continued to be choppy until they got to the outskirts of Timmins.

While Revrnd and I were loading up trailer, I found a crack on frame that was not to my liking. A trip to a local fab shop resulted in a band-aid for the trailer.

Wife and buddy met up with us @ Cedar Meadows. We are finally a group of 4 again.

Wife and buddy are OK with loading sleds on trailer instead of riding the last day to Gowganda.

We had a good dinner @ Cedar Meadows. Tried to go down to have a hot tub after supper but declined when told it was $25/person to enjoy the facilites. I've had enough extra expenses this week.

DAY 8(ride to Gowganda)

This day was planned to be our last day of riding from Timmins to Gowganda. With 2 sick sleds, a sick trailer and a successful venture into single-handedly propping up the Northern Ontario Economic Action Plan, I had decided to skip the night in Gowganda and head to Peterborough.

Stops in New Liskeard and North Bay for fuel, before dropping buddy off in Uxbridge found us back home in Peterborough around 7:00pm.

Band-aid on trailer had barely survived, itself cracking 3/4 of the way thru.

SUMMARY

I would like everyone who reads this to not be afraid to go to the north as we have had many enjoyable trips up there in the last 10 years. This year it just seemed like everything that could go wrong did.

The list of people we would like to thank for their help in desperate times is long but I thank them all.

This will not deter us from going back. We have learned as we should from everything we do.

I hope I did not bore you with this.

[slomo]

30cal - thanks for the great story and pictures. Even more interesting as to how you guys coped with your various problems. Next year will be better for sure, although the scenary and trails you show look pretty good.

[revrnd]

Slomo, the riding was great. I think our comments about the trail quality is more to do w/ the temps. We never rode any trails that were "hard" in the morning. The state of TOP A NE of Elk Lake I think is typical. I don't think A108 north of Earlton doesn't see the traffic as I've never seen it as rough as TOP A usually is.

[Turbo Doo]

Great report, and pics..

[catinental couch]

Sounds like your trek was full of disasters as was ours but at least you got more riding in.We plan to try this again next year because we can't get any more time off this year to make another attempt.Thanks for the reports 30cal4me and revrnd

[Shivesy]

What make was the sled that puked the jackshaft brearing? Is that bearing able to be greased/serviced? If so did you grease it this season? Sorry about your mishaps. I'm just trying to learn from you so maybe stuff like this dont happen to me. Thanks

[white dragon]

great report & pics...sorry to hear about all the troubles...that is sleddin tho...always next year...thx

[revrnd]

What make was the sled that puked the jackshaft brearing? Is that bearing able to be greased/serviced? If so did you grease it this season? Sorry about your mishaps. I'm just trying to learn from you so maybe stuff like this dont happen to me. Thanks

It's a '07 MXZ (REV Chassis). No it's not greasable. We've always put a lot of miles on our sleds over the years & this is the 1st jackshaft bearing failure we've suffered. W/o the proper tools, I'm not sure how easy it would be to R & R the bearing.

[Wildbill]

It's a '07 MXZ (REV Chassis). No it's not greasable. We've always put a lot of miles on our sleds over the years & this is the 1st jackshaft bearing failure we've suffered. W/o the proper tools, I'm not sure how easy it would be to R & R the bearing.

Not too bad but these bearings are prone too failure on ALL MAKES AND MODELS. $#!T happens glad you have enjoyed your other trips.

[30cal4me]

Not too bad but these bearings are prone too failure on ALL MAKES AND MODELS. $#!T happens glad you have enjoyed your other trips.

I can just see the picture now. Snowmobile manufacture needs to cut costs in these bad times. Says to "Acme bearing Co." , we cant afford to pay you $.90/bearing anymore. Acme says give us some time. They don't want to lose the contract to supply them with bearings(might be their biggest/only) contract. Acme designers/engineers come up with a plan to make the bearing cheaper to satisfy the purchaser and still maintain a profit for Acme. This might be less/different grease, cheaper metals, or different heat treating processes.

No where in this equation is the end user(us) considered in these decisions. We just literally get the shaft.

I guess this is reality but it sucks big time.

[The Groomer Guy]

The week you guys came up we had problems with the groomers, we would fix one and then pull one out the other would need repairs, and also the fact that I've been trying to train new operators, they are finaly getting the hang of it, not easy trying to teach them 16years of grooming in a few runs out, I'm the only groomer op that has experience so my guys are still learning, its been hard getting groomer ops this year but I think we finaly got our crew now and we will be back on track, next season will be better as those guys have joined the club and wil be around to help out.

Hope you guys have better luck next time.

[revrnd]

Luc, sorry we missed you. How did you enjoy snowmobiling in the "south"?

[The Groomer Guy]

Luc, sorry we missed you. How did you enjoy snowmobiling in the "south"?

it was fun, very diffrent, lot's of riders, trails change fast, by the hour, it can be good one hour then be bad the next. I was suprised on the amount of snow some areas get. I would do it a again.

[catinental couch]

Sorry to have missed you Luc.When we were at your store you had left for Missinabi.We did have a nice chat with your mother(nice lady).We will be trying this trip again and hopefully will meet up with you then.

[Abitibi]

great pics and great report. . . .

I guess things can't get any worse for next year - did I just say that?