Good roads, good weather, almost to the border !!!

Had breakfast with Bellerives and then headed out at 11 am and made it all the way to almost the border at Sarnia/Port Huron!!!  Got 4 new dogs which tells me "the race is on for 2019"  More later!!

Last race day of 2018!!!

Sad...........but true!!!  will leave tomorrow morning after breakfast with Bellerives --



Today was even colder but sunny - Randy thought he had gone slower but so had everyone else - we think maybe alot of dogs used up their energy on Saturday because it was so fast.  But indeed, he did even better today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now in 8th!!!!!

I am having trouble posting the picture I took of the results so will do it later but these are pictures of the ice hotel we went into last nite!!!

First race day at Valcartier

 Today's results!!!  Randy was happy with it because it was so darn fast and scary and the dogs went as fast as most of them could go!!

 Last weekend on our way to the race - waterfall frozen in the backround - Randy driving in the foreground............

 still driving........

 still driving...........

 No it's not a new eyeliner look.....happened when the step flipped on me getting into the trailer!!

 Part of the outdoor waterpark at Valcartier

 Suzanne and Mario getting one of their 2 6 dog teams ready to go

 Randy helping Suzanne and Mario with his Alaska "get-up" on - extreme cold and wind today!!!!!  It is like putting on a down sleeping bag and soooooo warm!!!  Thank you Jan Shaw!!!

The start line and finish at the race = those arches are snow/ice!!!!!

Well you saw the pictures and know it is extremely cold but sunny and that Randy wold have loved to do better but it was so fast some dogs couldn't keep up - don't even know how Rejean Terriern can average 21 mph + going on that trail!!!!  Tonite we go out to dinner for our 20th anniversary with Mario and Suzanne and get a tour of the "Ice Hotel" they have here - they gave out free "$25" tickets when we registered to race!  Lots of pictures for tomorrow!!!

Race Day at Valcartier!!!

Arrived in 2 hours with only a small delay getting off the expressway in Quebec City due to an accident- got here to find Simon Douin in the beautiful, flat, snowcovered parking lot (he is the owner of the resort here) so we parked our trailer next to his dog trailer (funny but since we started using a trailer for dog racing, almost all of the open drivers do...........)  It is much colder than it has been for a month or maybe 2 months!!!  In the 20's with lots of wind!!  Went in to the "inscription" (draw) in the hotel in the Tahiti Bar which overlooks the indoor water park from one floor above - watched lots of people surfing the artificial wave - Simon visited for awhile and we told him Randy used to surf when he was stationed in Norfolk Virginia  when he was in the Navy so he challenged Randy to go down and surf with him - when we said we didn't bring bathing suits he said we could just go in after hours cause he has the key!!!!!  Didn't take him up on it!!
Randy drew number 11 to start today - not as good as he would like but the trail is hard so it shouldn't make as much difference going out later as it does on a soft trail where the teams before you chew it up.......
Spent the evening talking with Jim and Kim from New York state (half way between Rochest ger and Buffalo) and Mario and Suzanne (our primary "help" this season - we help them with their 2 6-dog teams and then they help us.)  Mario is just getting to the point that he feels comfortable trying out speaking English to us - Suzanne speaks very well.

Woke up to very cold and clear weather - it's only 5 degrees now!!!!!  Randy will have to bundle up especially since they have the unlimited class scheduled for 11!!!!

The last week.............

Trained Tuesday with the team that Randy is going to use this weekend at Valcartier (about an hour north of Quebec City at a ski and tubing resort!! with lots of restaurants!!)  He is still questioning whether Frodo can keep up if the trail is fast - which it should be = Simon the owner of the resort, has a beautiful trail groomer and his trail is ususally the best because they keep it groomed for cross country skiing - and Randy already knows how the trail goes because this is our 3rd year there - so no scary parts (though he says there is one pretty sharp corner - it will be a good test of how the Danler sled handles!!!)

Yesterday was a rest day and only cleaned house and cooked....
Today was training for fun so went 5 miles with the same team - Frodo looked good so I guess he will get to race at least the first day!  Also cleaned boxes again................it seems like more of them are peeing in them more.......like in protest!

So tomorrow final departure for racing from the Bellerives - tonite we are having dinner - it's ususally a pretty sad event - the time goes by so fast and it seems like we never have had enough time to spend together - they have been especially busy with work and the centennial that Melanie directed in February.

I will update you on trail conditions when we get to the race site tomorrow afternoon!!

Back at our "Quebec home"

Had a good ride home from St. Felicien on Sunday nite – it snowed some but the roads were clear all the way – didn’t get back to our Quebec home until 10 and then had to drop and get ready for bed – with the “jumping ahead” time and taking teams up and down the hills for 2 days it really caught up with me!!! Had to lie down after breakfast Monday morning and slept for 2 hours!!!  We went in to Shawinigan again because (even though the generator store had put a larger/more strong solenoid and a new battery in the generator) when it ran out of gas on Saturday morning, and Randy shut it off to fill it, it wouldn’t start with the key………..again………..for like the 10^th time!!!!!  So that was that- loaded it up and took it back and got our money back!!!!!  Thankfully they didn’t give us any problem getting a refund –

Then we went to Walmart and had McDonalds lunch and spent a whole bunch more money!!!  Food is at least twice as much here – Randy said that if Cindy, our daughter-in-law had to buy food for a week here she would spend $600!!!!

Tomorrow training – Randy has gone out and dragged the trail twice today because it was soft and needed smoothing out –

9th place final!

We got at least a foot of snow in 4 hours!!!!  Deep again this morning to drop for breakfast - with more snow the trail was even slower and that was good since the trail was so curvy - had it been fast there might have been dogs or people having problems................  Randy's team worked their hearts our but just didn't have the same energy as Saturday - so he was happy to have them work hard but did get passed/caught up with the team behind him - so moved down to 9th - still very good!!!

Saturday at St. Felicien/Lac St.Jean

For enquiring minds that want to know!!!!!!  8^th place today – no problems but had a yearling in the team that didn’t work all the way – All the racers ahead of Randy in the standings are the teams that win on a regular basis so he felt pretty good about it in general – the crazy thing is that he said it was a “scary” trail because there were so many curves in it sometimes the front of his team was going 180 degrees from the back of his team  and that was only 12 dogs for 9 miles!!!  Still snowing for all day so at least the trail was slower because of the new snow –

2nd to last race weekend!!

Thursday was 5 loads of laundry up at Bellerive’s house –

Friday morning up at 7:30 (the dogs new wake-up time………..) and before we left I fed dogs, washed my hair, fed Randy, made tuna salad, packed a lunch, washed dishes,vacuumed the house, got water, got my bathroom “in order” and got myself ready to go and dropped the dogs by 10:15!!  Whew!!

The gps on the phone said it would be 3 hours 45 minutes to go up to St. Felicien near Lac St. Jean – so I knew it would take us over 4 hours – we did get there by 3 – and the trip was beautiful – clear roads and the whole route follows along a river with high cliffs on the other side.  The snow held off until we arrived but then came in earnest……….we have gotten at least 8 inches of new snow since we arrived!!!  We are situated on a hill (which means it’s downhill to the start line and then up hill bringing the dogs back!!!) and overlooking a ski area with about 5 hills and a chair lift.  I really wanted to go skiing but not only did they not have any rentals, but I decided it wouldn’t be good to get injured when we have this and one more race to go – Randy wouldn’t do well handling dogs all by himself!

So we were hoping for a good draw (the only good one he had was the first race and that got cancelled!) but he got 14^th out of 18 teams!!!  That means the trail will just be chewed up more by the time he gets out!!  We race at 2 and have to help our friends with their 6 dog teams so more later!!!

Wednesday update

Trained with the new sled on Monday - Randy noticed a big big difference - instead of sliding around icy corners (which the whole trail is because it's still cold but no new snow for over a week) the sled actually turns around the corners!!!!  So if it saves him from even one wipeout it will be worth it!!

Tuesday went to Shawinigan thinking they would be done with our generator because the company owner called Monday to say it would be..............got there and they had not received an new solenoid yet so it wasn't done!!  Did go out to lunch at St. Hubert's - a specialty chicken restaurant - I had Bankok salad and Randy got his favorite Quebec dish, Poutine!!!  gravy and meat and cheese with gravy over french fries!!!  Also went to Walmart and gave them a bunch more money-  I have to be careful what I buy what with the freezer not working and keeping most of our food in the truck boxes to keep it cool enough without the fridge staying cooler than 50 degrees.......  so mostly stuff I can eat pretty quickly...

Today we trained again and went 5 miles to take the edge off the dogs - it still didn't take it off - they barked most of the afternoon wanting it to be dinner time............

Should do some laundry tomorrow so we will have clean outerwear for the race this weekend - we are waiting for Melanie to let us know for sure where the race site is - I can't get the info to come up on their website, and the explanation is in French!  I do know that it will take us about 4 hours to get there if not longer - quite a bit north of us by Lac St. Jean - more later!

No training today - just helped Claude with his dogs

Did, however clean 15 dog boxes and the house today!!  Randy bought the Danler sled from Claude so he is out in the barn right now modifying if for him with his own snow hooks.  Not much happening - we are going to train early tomorrow morning before it gets to be warm again!!

OH my goodness.................

Ready for a report on more bad luck????................  The week has progressed relatively well- trained twice and took the generator back to the store we bought it from on Monday – Friday we were all set to go to Quebec City (about 2 hours drive) for me to get permanent eyeliner applied by Valerie Fuchs – she is a 6 dog driver that we help all the time and that is her profession – I had tried to make the appointment myself but every time I call the salon they didn’t speak English and they hung up on me!!!!  So Valerie ended up having to call and make it- Randy even delayed training dogs for me to have the appointment!  So we got on the road and about an hour into the trip Randy noticed the same symptoms appearing on the truck that we had when the serpentine belt went out in the UP by Newberry!!!  No power steering, no lights, no battery charging!!!!  So he had me find the nearest Chevy/GMC dealership and it was 22 miles once we got off the expressway – and it was all curvy roads through little towns with lots and lots of left and right turns!!!!!!!!!!  Can you imagine trying to turn that truck without power steering?????!!!!!    So after much frustration and short temper we get to the dealership- and thankfully the guy at the service desk spoke English!  2 hours and $176 later we had a new idler pulley and serpentine belt-  if Randy had not purposefully bought an extra serpentine belt before we left Michigan the guy told us it would have been until Monday that it would have been fixed!!!!!  So it was the other idler pulley that is on this truck that broke this time (if the idler pulley breaks then the serpentine belt goes………..)– there are only 2 so maybe we won’t have this problem again – just in case Randy had the mechanic at Bellerive’s business order another one to have with us.  Also I had been trying to call Valerie and the salon to tell them I wouldn’t make my appointment and again, every time I called she hung up on me!!!  So, very nicely, the guy at the dealership called the number for me and told them in French that I had truck problems and wouldn’t make the appointment.  The enjoyable outing I thought I was going to have treating myself to a perk and seeing some of the City of Quebec turned out to be 7 hours of driving and sitting and for naught……….  The only fun thing we did see was driving by a farmhouse….there were about 6 chickens on their front porch!!!!!  I don’t know as I would like to have all of the extra “presents” they would leave on the porch!!!

Today we trained in 37 degree weather – only went about 3 miles – just to take the edge off the energy of the dogs and have a fun run - they pretty much need to run every other day at least!

Randy has decided to buy an sled from Claude – it is a Danler which is the sled that 99% of sprint racers are using – he has been holding out not wanting to spend the money not knowing how much longer he will be racing but since Claude is selling off Melanie’s it’s a good time to try it and see if it corners better than his Gatt sled that he’s had for 18 years – actually he’s had 2 of them and when I was racing I used the older one – They were good for their time but there must be something about the Danler sleds that work better or so many people wouldn’t be using them – I guess if he doesn’t like it he can always sell it…………..

Tomorrow Claude is training his teams (one for him and his back-up team run by Hermel)  Oh I don’t think I mentioned it before but if you want to see race results or pictures of Randy from the races you can go to the sled dog club of Quebec’s website - http://www.cacqsecretaire.com/classement-du-cacq-2016.php