Getting read for the last race.......

One of the many ski runs that we saw on our travels over the last 2 weeks 

 This by far was the largest of all the ski areas we saw - it looked to be bigger even than those in Colorado

 This mountainous region is the Laurentians - not quite as big as the Canadian Rockies but really big!!!

 This was the first time I looked at the "Dog Handler of the Year" trophy and was happy to see my name there from 2004 ...............even though they spelled DeKuiper wrong...............

Boy was it a good thing that we trained yesterday and Tuesday- it is a howling (20mph) blizzard out there today!!!!!  The kind that you think is going to blow you away when the wind catches the door!!

The trip home to Charrette went perfect (didn't make any wrong turns, the mountain scenery was beautiful and it was perfect driving conditions!) UNTIL.............we got to my favorite little city, Yamachiche (it's a narrow street town with red brick houses decorated with quaint Quebec decorations in white lining both sides of the main street - I hazard to guess circa 1900?) and we heard a "bam", stopped, and sure enough, another flat on the trailer!!!!!  This time we stopped soon enough that nothing got wrapped around the axle, thank goodness - the sidewall blew a hole in a 2 year old tire!!!!!  So while I was trying to call our insurance company to make sure about out coverage, an very nice young man stopped to ask Randy if he could help, ended up going home to his house and getting a "professional" jack to pick up the trailer and helped Randy put the spare on - there are for sure really good people in this world!!!!!!  Restores your faith in human nature.....

Tuesday nite we had dinner at Bellerive's and as always, had a great time!!!!  For an appetizer we had something new for us..........a 5 inch diameter seashell filled with a seafood variety in cream sauce topped and baked with cheese!!!  At first I thought it was baked in a crust so I was unsuccessfully trying to cut it with a knife.............ha ha ha!!!

So trained on Tuesday and Wednesday we also went out for a short run to try 2 new dogs from Claude - we already are using a leader for the last race and this coming weekend so Island (5 year old female) is "purchased" and we will see what happens with the other 2 - Claude has fewer dogs this year than he ever has (only put in 31 dog coops when he re- built the dog barn) so he doesn't have as many to sell.  We also went yesterday to the same place we got the truck aligned 2 weeks ago and bought another tire for the trailer - only $280!!!!!! 

The storm is only supposed to last today so tomorrow should be good for driving to the last race at Riviera Ouelle - about 4 hours from here.  That is,,,,,,,,,,,,,unless it all turns to rain and wrecks the trail because it is raining a half hour south of us!!!!