Sunday, Jan 7th: The Sleds will beat us to Tok, AK. Tony and I are flying out Tuesday 1/9/07. Portland, ME to Washington DC to Seattle, WA to Anchorage AK.  I still have to mail shotgun, leatherman, and other items that we can't take on the plane. Things with work and home are in pretty good shape. I am still trying to think of what I am forgetting?



If we land in Anchorage as scheduled we will take a shuttle to the Days Inn where the Bus (Alaska Bus Lines) will pick us up @ 6:00 am we will arrive in Tok around 3:00 pm Wed 1/10. Unless we sleep on planes we will be deprived! Plan to uncrate sleds on Thurs 1/11 get some groceries, shells for shotgun, gas for cans, and whatever it is that we DID forget. Hope to take the sleds for a 50-100 mile test drive with gear on before heading over the Top of the World highway.
                      
Day 1:  Friday, January 12th:   We finally got ready to go and headed out of Tok around 1:30 pm.  We decided not to fill up as we had 30 gallons with us.  We had one wrong turn on the way to Taylor highway.  Only lost about 4 miles.  The road up the Taylor was AWESOME!  Most of it we could hold 60+ mph.  There had been a couple vehicles that messed it up in spots.  We hit Chicken around 3:30pm.  We were out of gas and decided to see if we could buy some.  We saw smoke coming from a chimney so headed there.  The guy came to the door and invited us in.  His name was Gary Adkins and he lives there in a 10x16 shed.  Believe it or not he has all the comforts of home.  VCR,TV, outdoor freezer as it was -12 when we got there.  We couldn't get gas but decided to stay in one of the wall tents where Gary had invited us.  We didn't want to miss scenery from there out.  Gary fed us Caribou, beans, rice, hard tack biscuits, and even a fresh tomato.  We invited him to our tent for breakfast.  Tony and I got settled in and got a roaring fire going.  The tent was smaller than Tony's but still plenty of room.  Slept great it had cooled off a bit over night and was -22.



Day 2:  Saturday, January 13th:   Had Gary over for breakfast.  We had cooked up eggs, bacon, and english muffins.  Had coffee even.  Gary was really glad to have company as there are no visitors.  Only 3 people live there over the winter and they don't get together.  They consider themselves hermits.  They fly mail in twice a week if they can.  They all have generators and melt snow for water.  Heat with wood and do most cooking on wood stove.  No running water but an outhouse with a heater next to the
seat.  We finally took off from Chicken around noon.  The scenery from Chicken was out of this world.  No pictures can come close to describing it.
   We hit Boundary, AK an hour or so.  There was a family there ( the Pete's ) and they also invited us in.  3 kids too!!  The temp had dropped a little again and it was -32 F.  We were both very comfortable and didn't even use our hand or thumb warmers yet.  We are
saving that for a cold day.  When we went through the ( CLOSED ) customs station the wind was at least 30 mph and I bet gusts to 50+. My shield was malfunctioning and I had to ride with it open. ( BRRRR )  We hit the terrible terrace and it was everything it had been cracked up to be.  The road is cut into the side of the mountain but the wind
comes up the valley and even though there has only been 12-20 inches of snow there were drifts 5' +  of course we both had our machines on there sides once.  They are so top heavy with all the gear it is next to impossible to side-hill.  We cleared the bad section and sailed for about 30 miles.  I was up front and a small herd of Caribou scared the crap out of me.  We stopped and they ran up about 1/4 mile and posed for some pictures.
We came around another bend and it was all drifted again.  Then the real bad section was in front of us.  Tony was in lead and turned left down over the bank as the trail
looked drifted in about 12 feet high tapering to 3 feet at the edge of the road.  I got off to help him and we basically road down in to the gully about 200 yds and then headed back up to the road.  That is when we looked back up and saw my machine running and it became obvious that it was an avalanche and not drifted.  There was a steep slope behind my sled where the snow had come from. I headed back to my machine once Tony was in ridable conditions.  I had to stop three time to catch my breath the air is so cold and thin it was unbelievable!
We decided to try to just sidehill mine instead of going down into the gulch.  I hung on the uphill side like I was righting a catamaran and Tony walked it from the downhill side pushing up.  It was pretty daunting but once back on nearly flat ground it was great.  The
remainder of the highway was great we did miss a turn once and after a couple miles I looked at my GPS and it was obvious we were not on the highway.  Almost into Dawson City Yukon I saw a giant owl come down at me from the right and its wing actually whacked my helmet as I ducked. Tony was behind me and saw it as well.  The entire drive there were sections just trampled with Caribou tracks.  We are told there is a
herd migrated there from up north.
   The Ferry across the Yukon river doesn't operate for obvious reasons.  The road is plowed across the river for winter traffic.  We hit Dawson City around 7:00 pm.  Stopped at a Motel and went in to get some info.  The owner was very nice but didn't have food and we were hungry.  She gave us directions to the gas station as we both had low fuel lights on for the last 20+ miles (we did still have about 15 gallons between us left but prefer to use a pump when possible).  She even gave us directions to her competition that has a restaurant.  We filled up our tanks and cans and came down to the "Downtown Hotel"  checked in dropped some gear in room shedded a couple layers and went to eat.
While looking at the menu I noticed a paragraph about the "Sourtoe club"  Tony and I remembered it from our meeting with Mike McCarthy from the "Ride of the Millenium" back in 2000.  Tony decided to become a member.  It was a neat experience,  the waitress brings out a drink and then a chest.  Inside the chest there are 2 mason jars, one had the Toe in salt and the other had the rest of the toes.  You have to drink your
drink and the toe has to touch your lips.  The girl says it is real toes but not the original toe as someone swallowed one and someone chewed on one.  I guess people leave there toes when they die.  Tony was number 23,474 and yes they started with one.  The waitress says she does it 50 times a day in summer.  We will check the Dempster report in the morning.  The report the desk had tonight said " travel not recommended ".  That was for cars and we think it will be perfect for machines.  We let customs know we are
here and I also got my gun registered.



Day 3:  Sunday, January 14th
Left Eagle plains and headed up Dempster toward Fort McPherson.  We had planned on going up the Dempster to Inuvik.  When we hit Fort McPherson we gased up and the locals all came out to greet us and ask where we were from and where we were going?
One of the older men offered us his camp about 50 miles out of town on an ice road.  After questioning many locals. Where does the ice road go?  Are there forks or intersections we could get lost at?  How many miles is it to Aklavik?  We finally decided to go for it. 
At first it seemed to be a BIG mistake as the ice road was a mess. ( we later found out this road is not normally maintained but was plowed for relatives to visit over holidays)  The only way to reach Aklavik in Summer is by plane or boat.  The road quickly got better and soon we were cruising along at 70 mph.  We hit Aklavik around 4 pm and once again approached a local walking and he ushered us to a place that rents rooms.  There we asked more questions and found out where the gas was.  We decided to continue on to Inuvik as they had a restaurant.  We hit the Mackenzie hotel around 8:00 pm.  Nice hotel but very expensive.  We had a nice meal and hot shower and crashed after 350 miles.



Day 5:  Tuesday,  January 16th
Steve slept in as he didn't feel very well.  We finally got loaded up and headed out of town around noon.  We gased up and hit the ice road toward Tuktoyaktuk, NT.  About 20 miles out of town I heard a crunch sound and new it was bad.  I let off the gas and told Tony over the communicators that I had broke down.  I thought it was the chain and sure enough the brake rotor spun freely as though it were not connected to the track.(ie broken chain)
I began disassembling and Tony headed into town to ask for help and directions to parts.  He found a repair shop " Westwind Recreation"  and the owner sent 3 guys in a pickup to pick up my sled.  We unloaded gear and lifted it into the truck.  On the way back to Inuvik we saw 2 Moose on the river(ice road).  When we finished taking apart my sled we saw it needed chain and cover gasket.  Which they did not have.  I called around and the best I could get was parts overnighted from warehouse in Toronto to Edmonton Alberta then overnighted again to Inuvik.  We spent the night at the Eskimo Inn in Inuvik.  The room had more cigarette burns in the carpet and bathroom floor than the ashtray did.  Tony and I couldn't decide if we should just throw butts on the floor and step on them?  LOL



Day 6:  Wednesday, January 17th
We decided to check out and go winter camping while we waited for parts.  we had left most of our gear at the shop Westwind rec.  we went there and asked to borrow a tote sled to go camp for a couple days. I gave James Day the owner of Westwind the parts info and asked him to call Riverside Yamaha in Edmonton tom'w to confirm shipping address.  Then we headed out of town.  About 16 miles out there was a nice little brook off the ice road and it went around and a couple hundred yards from the ice road so vehicles wouldn't bother us or our stuff.  We set up camp and made Chicken Ramen, hot chocolate, and Snacks for dinner.  We got a roaring fir going and kept warm .  The Aurora was beautiful but petered out around 9 pm and we couldn't figure out how to get a picture of it.


Day 7:  Thursday, January 18th
We woke up to -34 F it was *^&$ing cold.  Neither one of us wanted to get out of our nice warm sleeping bags all cinched in the mummy hood.  We did and got the fire going again.We stocked up wood and decided to head into town after lunch.  We wanted to make sure James had gotten shipping taken care of.  We wanted out of Inuvik!  When we got to Westwind James said"  I never got a chance to call"  We flew to the ESSO gas station and I called the dealer to see if he shipped them out.  He told me he hadn't as he didn't have the address and the shipper had already gone for the day.  I persuaded him into getting them off that night so they would be on the plane for Friday.  We went back to camp, Made a fire and figured out cameras and night pictures.  The Aurora was spectacular all night till about 11:00 pm.  We crashed.  It was -26F.



Day 8:  Friday, January 19th
I called from the Sat phone to confirm the parts went out.  They did so we broke camp and headed into town.  When we got to Westwind James was not there.  His wife went to get him.  When he arrived around 4 pm he said the shipping company had called his house?  Call someone before they close?  We were really frustrated.  It is as if nothing matters up here.  I convinced James to drive to the airport and get the parts.  He returned around 5:15 and said there was nobody there.  ARRRR  James gave us a key to his shop and let us crashed there.  I asked him to go to airport first thing in am before coming to shop.  Tony and I cleaned all my parts and removed all bearings and seals and were ready to install new stuff.  We crashed in the office area upstairs.



Day 9:  Saturday, January 20th
James showed up around 10:30 with my package.  I had ordered some extra parts and of course they did not show. I did receive everything we had to have to fix it.  We got things back together and gear strapped on and ready to go around 1:30 pm.
We hit the ice road headed for Tuk our plan was Tuk-Aklavik-Fort McPherson-Eagle Plains  for the night.
We sailed up the ice road and were in Tuk around 4:00pm.  Once again some locals came out introduced themselves and asked us a bunch of questions.  One of the guys Chuck Gruben got the Hotel Tuk Inn to open up for us so we could get a meal.  He then escorted us to the gas station to fill up before it closed.  We headed back to the hotel/restaurant but the girl said the restaurant had closed last summer from the fire marshal.  So we went back to the gas station "Northern"  kind of like a mini Shaws with gas.  We got some food nothing great but better than nothing.  When we went back outside Tony noticed his Hyfax were worn bad.  We had to change them as one had worn through to aluminum rail.  It was -25 with a little breeze. Of course everything was frozen even Tony's torch.We finally got them changed and decided to head back carefully as we had no spare for Tony's machine.
The track was sticking to the sliders for some reason.  We stopped and Tony scraped the melted plastic from every track clip thinking that might be the problem.  This did not solve it and within a mile there was more melted plastic?  I had 2 spare bogie wheels for mine and got them out as all 4 of Tony's wheels were chunked up bad.  Thank God they fit his machine and we were on our way around 11:00 pm.  I was frozen by this time.  About 10 miles further now we are about 70 miles from Tuk and about 60 miles from Inuvik.  I lost Tony.  I stopped and noticed the Aurora and figured he had stopped to take some pictures.  After about 5 minutes I turned around.  Tony was on side of road and his machine had died.  We worked on it till about 1:00 am and decided to charge his battery from mine with cables and disconnect his lights, hand warmers, thumb warmers, heated shield and anything that was not necessary to make the machine go.  We rode side by side so he could use my headlight to see and finally got to Inuvik around 2:30 am.  We got a room and ordered a pizza delivered.  This is a town of only 3500 but they have 2 hotels, big airport,etc.  I guess it is the hub of the little communities up on the ocean.



Day 10:  Sunday, January 21st
Tony's sled had eaten the brand new set of hyfax in 130 miles?  Usually these last a couple thousand miles.  We called James from Westwind at his home and he agreed to meet us on a Sunday around 2 pm at his shop.  When swapped parts from my sled to try to diagnose the problem.  Everything seems to be working fine according to the Service manual and his Rectifier worked on mine just fine. No bad connections, grounds etc.  We headed back to hotel room to look up parts info on web as I have access there.  We are ready to call and get things ordered in the am when things open up.  Tony had worn one of the aluminum rails on his rear suspension badly so we will have to get one.  We are both going to get a couple sets of Hyperfax with teflon inserts for spares.  Hopefully we can figure out why his is not charging in the am.  We went to the shop tonight to take the Magneto out but decided to call some Yamaha experts in the am.

Day 11:  Monday, January 22nd
Ordered parts and got confirmations of availability and shipping.
Reviewed service manuals and consulted Yamaha technicians regarding charging system failure.



Day 12:  Tuesday, January 23rd
Final confirmation on parts.  Went to Westwind Recreation around 5 pm to begin dismantling Tony's sled.  Completed disassembly and verified the Stator was shorted to ground.  Cleaned up and headed back to hotel 10pm.

Day 13:  Wednesday, January 24th
Received phone confirmation of delivery in am.  To arrive between 2-5 pm.
Received parts from Riverside Yamaha( Tony's Stator, extra wheels, Oil, gaskets for engine) around 4pm.  Got RTV silicone on way to shop.  Reassembled Tony's sled.  Started and confirmed charging system is functioning properly.  Cleaned up and back to hotel ordered Chinese for supper. 

Day 14:  Thursday, January 25th
Still waiting for our final parts deliverys:
Steve- 2 new sets of "Hyperfax" coming from Hi Performance engineering which is a listed distributor for these.  Tony- 1 new aluminum slide rail  for his "Expert X"  rear suspension.  The part was received at AD Boivin on Tuesday 1/23 and expressed to Inuvik.  This is direct from manufacturer as there dealers don't stock parts but only whole suspension kits and some upgrade kits.  Tony- 2 new sets of "Hyperfax" Hi Performance didn't have the slide rail profile for his "Expert X" in stock so he ordered from the same place he got them back home. "Robertson's Power and Sports" received the new ones on Tues 1/23 from "Automatic Distributors" and actually arched them to fit under the length restrictions and then drove the package to Ogunquit, Maine to get them out from a certified site on a guaranteed delivery.  We sure are glad we get "Discovery" and "Speed" channels in the hotel room!!

Day 15:  Friday, January 26th
We called everywhere today getting tracking numbers and status of our shipments.  The girls at the front desk are getting sick of answering the question " Any packages for room 305?"  Steve's package was sent UPS red label overnight. The tracking number showed a hold in Calgary for customs but then released.  Status now showed "package being held for future delivery on dates requested"  The man I spoke with said it was scheduled for Mon 1/29 delivery.  I got a hold of the shipping company that subcontracts from UPS up here and they gave me the currier drivers cell number.  She didn't have the package but was heading back to airport to pick up more items.  My package arrived here around 4:30 pm.  There were additional  charges too!! Evidently they didn't collect sales tax so I had to pay the driver the sales tax on the parts cost!  Tony's packages- One is supposedly in Nunavit, North of Quebec then heading west with one stop before getting to Inuvik.  The other package "Guaranteed delivery"  was transferred to Canada Post and showed leaving Edmonton on Wed 1/24.  Nobody could explain why it isn't here?
Hope for Monday. 

Day 16:  Saturday, January 27th
Watched some X-Games snocross since we can't ride.  Went to shop and installed my new "Hyperfax".  Also installed a marginal snow wheel kit to the front of my skid at the bend in the rail.  One issue has been bothering me.  I installed an aftermarket  rear heat exchanger back home and with this heavy load the sled bottoms out.  Even though I have the heavy rear spring and have the preload at the MAX setting.  A couple times you could see that some of my studs had nicked the rear heat exchanger.  We have a length of heater hose to bypass it if it gets ripped open.  Anyway we added a piece of the old hifax as a shim under the rear tunnel protector.  Now the tunnel protector is about 1 3/4" from the face of the heat exchanger.  I will be much more at ease now if I hit a surprise drift or bump!

Day 17:  Sunday, January 28th
Just killing time today.  Talking to family back home, emailing pictures and updates.  Saying prayers for our final deliveries tomorrow!!  Maybe Monday we will be on the trail again.

Day 18:  Monday, January 29th
Made more phone calls looking for Tony's parts.  Canada Post can't tell us anything, only that it is on its way to final destination.  AD Boivin parts in Yellowknife, NT today but First Air only comes to Inuvik on MWF so they are transferring package to Canadian North for a Tuesday delivery to us.  We did receive the package from Robertsons today now all we need is the rail from Boivin!

Day 19:  Tuesday, January 30th
Confirmed package from Boivin got transferred to Canadian North and we shoulkd see it this afternoon.  We are preparing to launch from here as soon as we get it installed.
Unbeleivable!!!  The package from Boivin was one of two and we didn't get number two.  We are both BOILING over at this point.  First Air in Montreal says they both went through to Yellowknife.  Yellowknife says they don't know where it is.  Called Yellowknife back and they found it in Iqaluit, Nunavit.  The best they can do is ship it to Yellowknife for Wednesday and once again transfer to Canadian for a Thursday delivery.  We told them to plan this.  We called 3 different welders in Inuvik to see if we could get the worn rail repaired enough to get out of here and intercept the package South of here.  None of the welders called us back, not even the ones advertising 24 hour service??

Day 20:  Wednesday, January 31st
Tony got a call from Monty today in the Alberta Red Earth area.  Folks down there are working on helping us out and even accompanying us on there trails!  Confirmed the rail is heading to Yellowknife today.  Spoke with Heather in Yellowknife around 8:00 pm and she had it in her hands!!  She said there are notes all over it to transfer to Canadian North.

Thursday 2/1/2007 Day 21
We confirmed Tony’s rail was on Canadian North headed to Inuvik for 2:30-3:00 pm. Received the package and headed to Westwind to get things installed. We had a pizza delivered to the shop. Checked everything over and got Tony’s machine in tip-top shape. We decided to head out tonight and ride through the night to Eagle Plains for breakfast and gas.
We rode out of Inuvik on ice road toward Aklavik. Both of us were paranoid that we were hearing noises and something was wrong. About 50 miles out of town Tony stopped and heard a crunching noise. We determined that it was only ice. About another 3 miles and Tony had an engine light come on. We could not find anything wrong? Another mile or so and his speedometer was fluctuating all over. That is when we could smell burning plastic. The drive shaft bearing on the clutch side (opposite the chain case) had let go!! All that was left was the inner and outer races. The shaft had shifted back and melted his speed sensor.

Friday 2/2/2007 Day 22
At this time we discussed our options: Pitch a tent and one of us ride to Aklavik for help? Call James in Inuvik? Etc. We decided that parts would have to come through Inuvik as much as we hated to return it was our best choice. We called James Day around 1:30 AM and he got Gerard Chicksi and headed out to us with a tote sled to tow Tony’s machine back to town. They arrived around 3:00 am. We unloaded our gear into his Suburban and Hitched up the tote to my sled with Tony’s on top of it. The ski’s were touching the ground and caused the tote to swerve violently. Finally we put the spare tire under the front of his sled to get the skis off the ground. We arrived back at Westwind Recreation around 4:30 am.
We took things apart to assess the damage and see what we needed for parts. We then called Curtis from Riverside Yamaha in Edmonton AGAIN for parts. He did not have them in stock and once again had to overnight them to him before he could ship to Inuvik. Our best case was parts on Sunday but more than likely it would be Monday or Tuesday. We had breakfast at the Mackenzie and crashed in the upstairs of the shop.
Around 8:00 pm James’s son came in and said a guy was looking for us at the Mackenzie. It was Yves LeBlanc who is on a similar trek. He rode from Ottawa area and arrived in Inuvik. We went to the Hotel and met him and spent a couple hours with him talking about our journey and his. We decided to meet in the AM and talk further about our plans. He was going to get transport down the Dempster and we were seriously thinking this was a good idea!
Saturday 2/3/2007 Day 23 ( Riding day 6 148 miles )
Yves showed up at the shop around 9:00 am. He changed his carbide skegs and was going to ride the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk. He had a presentation with the 6th graders there. We decided to use the Mackenzie as our contact point. He was heading back south on Tuesday 2/6/2007. We were all going to look into transport and/or flights for ourselves.
Around 12:00 James showed and we called Curtis and he did NOT get our parts yet so it would be at least Tuesday now!! James asked why we don’t use a Polaris bearing and go? We didn’t know he had one that would fit. It didn’t have the attached collar and set screws like the Yamaha part but it did fit. We determined that the shaft was locked in place by the chain case and the collar only holds the bearing in place. James had 3 for us so we would have spares if it went bad. We put it in and decided to head out right away.
We left town around 8:00 pm and had decided to take the Dempster this time as it would save us 80 miles. We headed out on the ice road south planning on hitting the Dempster on the South end of town. After about 20 miles we stopped and asked some folks which way to the Dempster? They didn’t know so we proceeded and stopped at a camp about 40 miles from town. The Folks there were GREAT. They fed us ribs and Smokies on the fire and offered us some help with directions. The only name I got was Larry who said if we follow the East Branch Mackenzie river(which we were on) it would hit the Mackenzie. The Mackenzie is a huge river and the ice is all pushed up in 6-8 foot heaves and shards. They said to stay on the left side and we would go right into Tsiigehtchic ( si-git-chick) it would be about 20 miles on the Mackenzie.
We decided to go for it. At one point we found ourselves on a narrow 100 foot wide river and thought somehow we had strayed off the East Branch? We were following the left bank and had gone up a smaller creek. Our GPS showed we were heading away from the Mackenzie due East. We turned around and sure enough got back on track. This stretch was fun and our machine performed amazing as at times we were breaking trail through 2 feet plus of light fluffy snow. With the loads we had it was truly amazing!! This was a major work out but nothing like what we were headed for!!



Sunday 2/4/2007 Day 24 ( Riding day 7 137 miles )
Riding day At mile 68 we hit the Mackenzie and it was all it had been cracked up to be. We followed the left(East) bank and after about a mile found ourselves side-hilling through the same 2 feet+ of powder. With the Top heavy load I could not keep my machine on the hill and it kept wandering toward the giant ice outcroppings. I got stuck really badly and had to shovel out to get moving again. After getting out another 200 feet I was back in the same boat!! Exhausted, tired, frustrated, cold hands, sweating from the work out. I decided to head out onto the river. It was a mess and I had to negotiate in and out of these ice chunks often times over some as there wasn’t much room for passage in areas. Tony kept side hilling and we kept in touch with our communicators. All this time my heated shield was not working and I had to ride with my shield up. Fortunately it was only 10-20 below and not very cold. After about 15 miles I got stuck again and was facing a giant chunk of ice that I could not go over. I dug out and after a half hour or so got my machine out and going again. I got stuck again and Tony headed out onto the river to help me out. Of course he got stuck as well. This was the worst section yet and I finally got mine out and headed to the West bank. Tony got out as well and headed there with me. We followed that bank and it was OK but not very good. We had to weave on and off the river and times side hill too. We could see lights in Tsiigehtchic but it seemed we would never get there. Finally at 102 miles we hit an ice road which turned out to be the Dempster. We had passed the road to Tsiigehtchic and decided to head to Fort McPherson. It was now 3:30 Am and we were BEAT and THIRSTY.




We arrived in Fort McPherson around 4:30 am and of course nobody around and everything closed even the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) station. We found a Church and it was open!! We went in and layed our wet boot liners, glove liners etc on the radiator. We laid down in a Pew and were woken up by the Pastor around 10:00 am. We thanked her for the warmth and shelter and headed out. While gassing up our sleds a local offered us to come across the street for coffee. It was the owner of the gas station Susan Blake and her husband Richard. Susan immediately began cooking us breakfast ( Eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns ) We were SOOO grateful. We talked for an hour or so and asked many questions about life there. Then we headed out for Eagle Plains.
The Dempster was good going for a couple miles but quickly deteriorated. We found ourselves going 10-20 mph across the Tundra to keep our hifax lubricated and machines cooled. This was a SLOW difficult leg to Eagle Plains. By the time we were within 20 miles of Eagle Plains we decided to spend the night there and get some good sleep. We were both very sore from the workout the last 2 days.
While Eating the special for Dinner Meatloaf, potatoes, gravy, corn, and salad. All for $ 15.00 which after leaving Inuvik seemed like it was free! Bruce the chef made one heck of a good meatloaf! Some guys sat down beside us and we started talking. The only name I got was Russel who had actually seen us coming down the Mackenzie the night before! He lives in Tsiigehtchic and works a trap line of 100 traps. He told us how they build there dead fall traps with logs and design them according to what they are trying to catch. From Martin, Wolverine, Wolf, Bear, and Fox. Russel and his friends were at Eagle plains going Caribou hunting the next day. We asked how many they would take and they were hoping for 10-20 animals. They said the only thing that may get wasted would be the hide if they had too much meat and not enough room. It was very interesting and they had some great stories from there past. The Natives have no restrictions on hunting in Northwest Territories or Yukon. They only have unsafe guidelines for distance from the road that they can hunt being 500M.
Monday 2/5/2007 Day 25 ( Riding day 8 238 miles )
We had a big breakfast but both of us didn’t feel very good. The road was great as they had a recent storm of a couple inches and the edges of the road had not been scraped. We were able to cruise along at 60 mph but when we sped up to 80+ our rear suspension got too hot and we were afraid we’d burn through our hifax again. The scenery was as beautiful as we had remembered. It was nice to recall how great this trip is after such a long period of hard luck and frustration. Tony had a bad pain in his abdomen this afternoon and we decided to stay at Dempster corner at the Klondike River Lodge. We arrived around 5:00 pm, filled up our gas and got a room. We had a great dinner thank you Mike the cook. A hot shower to relieve the aches and pains and crashed for the night. We got good news, the Yukon Quest sled dog race is Friday and the trail has been GROOMED!! We are so anxious to ride on snow and not roads.




Tuesday Feb 6, 2007 Day 26 (No Riding)
    Tony's pain in his abdomen was really bad this morning so he made some calls and headed to the nursing station in Dawson City about 30 miles away.  His Doctor from Maine had already sent info to the station by the time he got there.  They checked him out and gave him a prescription antibiotic.
We planned on heading out the next am if he was better.
    We brought the machines in the garage and checked things over.  We changed Tony's Hyfax and found my two upper wheels had lost their seals and were not long for this world.  I kept the old wheels for spares as they were not gone but if snow and ice got in them they would probably fall apart.  Adjusted tracks and checked all fluid all set to go!


Wednesday Feb 7,2007 Day 27
Riding day 9   Tony 62 miles Steve 126 miles
    The machines didn't want to start this morning.  It was -28 F and we had started with no problems in colder temps before.  We had to put the propane heater under the belly of the machines to thin out the oil and coolant.  After an hour or so we were running.  We set up parts delivery to Athabasca for next week figuring they would get there before us and we wouldn't have to wait.
    The Road was sanded so we stayed on the bank best we could.  We took a side road Hunker Creek and it was snow covered with soft banks.  We found the Yukon Quest Dog Sled trail and headed down it.  The trail was broken but very winding with lots of switchbacks.  The views of the area were awesome.
    About 60 miles out Tony stopped in the middle of the trail.  I asked "What's up?" and he said he thought his chain broke!  At first that's what it looked like as when we turned the secondary clutch the track didn't move.  We had just checked chain tension and gear oil level the night before.  Now there was no oil on the dipstick!  Tony felt underneath the machine while I turned the secondary.  The drive shaft had broken under the first drive sprocket.
    We couldn't tow all our gear and Tony's sled with mine and if we camped out we wouldn't be able to arrange parts delivery etc.  We decided to leave gear on side of trail and move Tony's machine off to the side and ride into Dawson City on my machine.  We arrived at th Downtown Hotel around 7 pm.
    We asked for help at the Hotel and were told the owner Dick would be the guy to talk to in the am.



   
Thursday February 8,2007 Day 28 (No Riding)  
    Tony ended up ordering parts from Riverside again in Edmonton.  Dick Van Nostrand the owner of the Hotel found us a couple tote sleds, one for the gear and one for Tony's sled.  Eric Zalitis showed up at the hotel and after talking for a while he offered his Bearcat to go retrieve our stuff.  We planned on taking Erics sled and mine out each with a tote behind it.  One of us would tow the gear and the other would tow the Venture.
   
Friday February 9, 2007  Day 29 (No Riding)
    We walk over to the General store to meet Kyler who had a tote for us to use.  We met him and checked out his tote.  It was a heavy duty homemade one with hinged sideboards.  We put his Warrior on it to see how it would work for the Venture.  The skis would ride on the ground but we figured we could use logs or something to make it work.
    We got back to the Hotel and Dick took us to Sylvains to look at his tote.  He is the one that met the guys from the "Ride of the Millenium" back in 2000 up in Boundary.  Sylvain had two dog sled type totes made of white plastic, we decided the shorter one would work great.  The shorter one was still about 14 feet long and had room out back for two gas cans.
    We then drove up to Eric's to get his Bearcat and trailer.  Next stop the hotel to load up my sled, then to Kylers for the Tote.  Dick had a Suburban so he called his son Matt to come with his pickup to bring the totes along.  Once everything was picked up we drove up Hunker Creek Rd to the Yukon Quest Trail up at King Solomons Dome. 
    We unloaded everything and headed out.  We were going to call the Hotel when we were back and Dick was going to drive up to get us.  I would have to drive my sled and a tote back to town as the two place trailer would be full with the Bearcat and Tony's machine.
    Everything was just as we had left it so we got our rigs turned around and loaded up.  We lashed the left ski of the downed machine tight to the side of Kyler's tote.  Things went good for about 10 miles then the tote with the Venture on it broke free and went off the beaten path.  Fortunately we were not next to a big drop off!  The hitch pin was still in the hitch and just jumped out.  We reattached it and proceeded.
    I headed down Hunker Creek road with my machine.  The road was covered with snow and the banks were nice and soft.  Once I hit the Klondike Highway it was rough going.  At one point I was riding on the bank and got sucked down into the ditch.  There was about two feet of fluffy snow so I punched it and tried to keep moving and sweep around to go back up to the road.  As I turned the tote rolled on its side and I was stopped.  I had to dig out, unhitch the tote, and then noticed my machine was up on a two foot diameter boulder!  I dragged it off and trampled a launch strip to get back up on the road.  Once I got the machine up I decided to ride back down my beaten path and try to pull out the tote.  This was NOT happening.  The snow is so soft and does NOT pack.  I got the sled back up on the shoulder of the highway and put a strap on the tote hitch and tried to pull it by hand.  I eventually got close enough so I could hook the strap to my sled.  I gave a good yank and the tote rolled on its side.  I swung it around and righted it and finally got it up on the road.  I decided not to try the bank again.
    I thought Tony and Dick would beat me into town but I got back and unloaded all our gear and pulled my sled and tote next to the Hotel.  Dick called and they were at Eric's house dropping off the trailer. 
    That night we ate at the Hotel and then went over to "Diamond Tooth Gerties" with Dick.  This is an old barn that is a gambling hall, bar, and Dance/Entertainment spot.  They open it up for the Yukon Quest and then for the "Trek over the Top" which consists of three rides each of about 200 sleds.  These rides leave Tok, AK  on a Thursday and spend Friday and Saturday in Dawson then return on Sunday.  Gerties has Table games, Roulette, and even some slots.  They had a live local band and during busy times and summer they have Can Can dancers.



Saturday February 10, 2007  Day 30 (No Riding)
    We walked to the Post office to find out about shipping stuff home.  We decided to ship out our tent, sleeping bags, shot guns, and just keep essentials for the remainder of the trip.  We would box our stuff up and send it on Monday. 
    We did get a confirmation from Riverside Yamaha that our parts are in.  They were working on pressing Tony's drive sprockets on the new axle and would ship everything out on Monday.  We will not receive the parts till Wednesday and it will take most of the day to put the Venture back together.  We plan on departing on Thursday February 15th.
    We had dinner over Erics a friend from Anchorage had flown in for the weekend. Keith had brought king crab and Halibut with him.  We had a great feast and great company.  Tony and I decided to go back to the room and get a good nights sleep.



Sunday February 11, 2007  Day 31 (No Riding)  
    We went through our gear today deciding what we were going to ship home.  We are keeping a little food, my gasoline cook stove, tools, spare parts, clothing, snow shoes and shovels.  We are shipping our shotguns, sleeping bags, bedroll mattresses, tent, propane heater and propane cook stove.
   
Monday February 12, 2007  Day 32 (No Riding)
    We got some boxes from Dick Van Nostrand the owner of the Downtown Hotel.  We decided to see if Kyler (owner of the General Store) had some larger boxes.  We got everything boxed up and ready to ship.
    Loaded up the tote sled behind my machine.  My machine started fine and ran for a few minutes then died and wouldn't start.  We spent an hour or so trying to thaw it out with a propane torch which wouldn't even burn in the cold -30.  Finally got it going and decided to change my plugs that night.
    We shipped everything out, headed to Erics to drop off gas cans with Tony's sled, then to Sylvain Fleurant's to drop off his tote.  While on the way to Sylvains we stopped by the garage in town where there is a couple guys that work on sleds.  We were told that they would probably let us use their shop but there was nobody around.
    While at Sylvains he offered to let us use his shop and we took him up on it.  He has a homemade barrel stove from a 55 gallon drum.  We got a fire going and headed to the hotel to get a truck to pull the trailer down from Eric's.  Dick gave us the keys to his Suburban and we took off.  We stopped at Napa to replace Tony's ratchet and get some fuel stabilizer. 
    After dinner we headed back to the shop to change my plugs and start dismantling the Venture.  My plugs were a little worn and a little black but not really bad.  We cleaned them up and re-gapped them to keep for spares.  All fluid levels were fine and chain was adjusted good too.  I only need to replace the right ski when it comes tomorrow.  I will keep the worn ski for a spare in case we have a problem later.
    We started breaking down Tony's while we were in the shop.  We got the broken piece of the shaft out and broke down the chaincase.  The chain, gears and bearings look OK so we will keep them for spares.  The lower seal was gone (probably from the broken shaft) so it will be junk.  I still have my old bearings and seals from my chain episode in Inuvik.  Tony's chaincase cover gasket is still good too.

   
Tuesday February 13, 2007  Day 33 (No Riding)
    Today we will finish tearing down Tony's sled so we are ready for parts on Wednesday.  I want to take a ride around town and get some pictures of this place too.
    At breakfast Joanne told us they had a cancellation for Wednesday night so we won't have to sleep on a couch.  As long as we get our parts we will be on the trail Thursday morning.
    We did call Air North to confirm Tony's parts are in Whitehorse and will get to us Wednesday.  They informed us that we will have to pick the packages up at the airport as they were shipped freight collect.  So now we have to bother someone for a ride to the airport because it is about 10 miles away.

Wednesday February 14,2007 Day 34
No Riding, Parts day
Called Air North and spoke with "Buffalo" said we could pick up packages around 11:00 am at "Gold City Tours" his place of business. We got everything we ordered and even the spare parts I had asked for from my first order of my chain.
Headed to Sylvain Fleurants shop to get things ready to ride. Got everything ready, gased up sleds and picked up some more AA batteries and Duct tape. Packed gear to head out in the morning.

Thursday February 15, 2007 Day 35
Riding Day 10 208 miles
Had breakfast at the Downtown and when we started loading the sleds discovered someone stole 2 full gas cans off Tony's sled last night. Tony bought two more cans from the hardware store and we headed out. The first 60 miles we had already rode and were great. We didn't know that when they said the Yukon Quest trail was groomed that meant a couple snowmobiles had traveled on it. The next 115 miles to Pelly Crossing were really rough! The trail was one sled wide and if you caught a ski on the edge of the trail it sucked you off the side. After Stewart Crossing ( a checkpoint for the race where you cross the Stewart river ) the trail follows Scroggy creek this section caused us some problems. While riding this stretch there were sections where you could reach out with your left hand and touch the several hundred foot high slope. On the right side of the trail was a 20-30 foot drop to the creek with only an extra 6-12 inches to spare. Tony was in the lead and for obvious reasons we favored the uphill edge of the trail. Of course we didn't know about the strategically placed boulders hiden in the snow. Tony caught one while we were going about 12 mph and his machine flipped to the creek side. Fortunately there were some small trees and he saved the machine from going down to the creek below. We were much more cautious after this incident but of course we found another larger and perfectly pitched and placed to launch the sled to the creek. Tony caught this one and in an instant he was down over the edge. Once again there was a cluster of small 3-4 inch trees that caught him and his machine but this time he was over the edge and down about 5 feet from the trail.
We broke out the straps, block and tackles and rope and looked into hoisting it up onto the trail. There was a 8 inch tree up the slope about 40 feet so we tried to get to it. I kept sliding back down and decided to look for a way that was not so steep. In the mean time Tony made it up and got the rope tied onto the trees tap root (since the tree was hanging out of the rocky hillside and its roots were exposed). After about an hour we got it turned uphill and started the machine and between the track and the block and tackle we got it on the trail with no real damage.
From this point on the trail was 1-2 foot bumps about 3-4 feet apart. We could only go about 12-15 mph and that was brutal. We got to Pelly Crossing around 7:15pm and of course the store/gas station closed at 7pm. We asked a gentleman out walking if there was a way to get a room. He said "you should have got here an hour ago". He then walked us to a house up the street where he thought the guy that ran the motel/store/gas lived. This guy directed us to the back of the motel to find Bob. We found Rob in the back and he told us Bob was the one we needed and he was in the store still. We pounded on the door and heard "we're closed". Being exhausted and more sore than I can remember I wasn't accepting that answer. The guy mopping the floor of the store opened the door and got Bob for us. We got a room and convinced him to let us gas up so we wouldn't have to wait till 10 am when they opened in the morning. We grabbed some TV dinners and snacks and drinks since we hadn't had dinner yet.
My back was so sore I soaked in the tub for about half an hour. We got a good nights sleep as there were only 2 stations on the TV.



Friday February 16, 2007 Day 36
Riding day 11 197 miles
We headed out on the Quest trail toward Carmacks. The first 3 miles were great then the trail was as bad as yesterday. We didn't see any markers but figured they had picked them up since the dog teams had all passed this section. After about 20 miles of this we checked the GPS to make sure we were heading in the right direction. We were going South-Southeast and figured the trail would join back up with the Klondike highway at some point before Carmacks. You guessed it we were on a giant dead end! After beating ourselves and our sleds for an hour and a half we ended up at a set of cabins on a lake. We had made a wrong turn and took a trail to a "First Nation" camp. We had to go back the way we came an hour and a half almost back to Pelly Crossing.
We got about 2 miles from the camps and Tony said "something broke in my skid". I turned around and we looked it over. His overload springs had broken and his transfer rod had a crack in it. The Expert X suspension has this composite transfer piece and it was bend sideways pretty badly. Tony removed this part and heated it with his torch and straightened it. We made sure his springs were all maxed out as we were both bottoming out on this rough trail. We went about a mile and the same thing happened again. Tony's suspension was compressing to a point that it could not recover without the overload spring to help it up. We had to drop weight to get it back to town. We left 2 gas cans on the side of the trail and topped off our gas tanks to get the weight off the back. We then reconfigured his luggage to move the weight as far forward as we could. We asked several of "The Band" members (No this is not a music band but how the locals refer to the First nation members) to bring the cans back to the store in Pelly for us and we had three people say they would.
We got back to Pelly and started looking for someone with a welder and possibly a shop. We tried RCMP but nobody was around. Next we rode 6 miles out of town looking for Mike Brown as we were told he was a great welder. Finally we went to "The Band" to look for Gordon Clarke who we were told was the head of maintenance and could help us out. Tony spoke with a guy named Mario and he pointed out Mike Brown was walking across the parking lot. Mike had a nice little 110 MIG welder but no room to work because the garage he used had a tractor in it that couldn't be moved. Mike then suggested we see if we could use the other warehouse. We got in and they had an ARC welder there so we started working. Tony pulled his skid apart to get at the cracked piece. Mike's brother said he'd bring us the MIG back in 15 minutes but never showed. The guy who let us into the shop said he'd be back in an hour or so and he never came back (we were ther for 3-4 hours). I removed my rear shock to stiffen my suspension to try to stop it from bottoming. I installed the heavy spring last year but there is a circlip thet holds the preload adjuster in place and it has 3 possible locations. I moved this clip to the most stiff position. I used 6 hose clamps as a spring compressor and was able to get the spring back in and even preloaded half way. This made a world of difference in the stance of my machine. Tony ended up welding his transfer rod with the ARC welder with damp rods. Fortunately he knows what he's doing and made it work. His suspension still would go to that point it couldn't recover from.

Saturday February 17, 2007 Day 37
Riding day 12 292 miles
We decided to stay on the highway to prevent a repeat of the "Lowrider effect" on Tony's sled. Eventually we saw the Quest trail along the highway and got on it. This section was really great after what we were on yesterday. Eventually the trail went off the highway and to a checkpoint. There we asked for information and were told the trail was good to Carmacks. The trail went across the river and followed the opposite shore. We headed out about 3 miles and the trail was TERRIBLE! We decided to go back and ride the shoulder and ditch of the highway to save ourselves and our sleds.
We got to Carmacks around noon and asked at the gas station/store if anybody in town might have parts we could use and/or a shop. At this stop I noticed my hyfax were just about needing to be changed. I still had two sets with me. We got the name Corey Mayer and were told he would be at the Curling rink. This was a great find. Corey had just finished his games and took Tony in his Expedition to his house to see if he had some springs that would work. Tony came back with 2 sets of springs from an old twin track Ski-Doo Alpine and it looked like we could make them work! We headed to Corey's shop, he started a fire in the barrel stove to warm it up and even put on a pot of coffee. Tony made some brackets for these springs as the short leg wasn't long enough to reach the hole the existing springs went in. We then got a piece of plastic pipe for a spacer to keep the springs were they needed to be should they break. Tony bent the end of the long leg so it wouldn't interfere with his track when compressed. It went together and looked like it would work! I pulled my sled in and we put new hyfax on it in the shop.
We rode out of Carmacks around 4:00pm and were headed for Faro. Corey suggested we stay there and even told us where the hotel was. We rolled into Faro around 7:20 pm and of course the restaurant closed at 7:00 pm. Once again we had to convince Murray to feed us something. He got us a couple plates of buffalo wings which were the best I've ever had(maybe because we were so hungry?). At the bar we met a couple guys and asked a bunch of questions. We were told there was a back road from Faro to Ross River but in fact there is an old trail that nobody has been through in years. They said we shouldn't try that route because it isn't marked at all. We got some history of the area from Murray while we kept him after closing. He had gone to Faro in 1966 doing exploration for a mining company. In 1968 the town was born and grew to over 2000 residents mining silver and zinc. Eventually the company went under and the Town is now 200 residents. Here's the unreal part, they have an indoor ice rink and a curling rink with 4 sheets of ice! We are continuously amazed at the facilities these small towns have.
The room used to be a studio apartment and had a kitchen, table and chairs, couch and coffee table, and even closets. In the morning we had a nice breakfast and checked our sleds over real good. We hit the trail (road) around 8:30 am.

Sunday February 18, 2007 Day 38
Riding day 13 263 miles
We headed to the Robert Campbell highway and then toward Ross River. There had been an inch or so of snow and we were able to cruise along around 45 mph any faster and our hyfax overheated. When we got to Ross River we went to see Bob Dolan(his son Stewart was one of the guys in the bar last night) who was going to see if he could find some hyfax for Tony in town. When we got there he said he had no luck asking around. After gasing up we asked a member of "the Band" who had asked us about our trip if he knew anyone that might have some hyfax.(Tony's are fine at this point but we would like to have a spare set just in case), We then followed a guy to his house to see if he had some which he thought he did. He had some for a short track but they were too short. He told us to check with Ivan outside of town. We stopped in to see if Ivan had any and he also thought he did but after checking around we once again came up with nothing.
The road had been plowed on the way out of town but the left side wasn't so we rode there. Eventually we met the plow heading back toward Ross River and then we had to slow down and ride in and out of the snow bank. We were about 130 miles from Watson Lake and the road hadn't been plowed! There was between 2-6 inches of snow and we were able to move along nicely. We got to Watson Lake around 5:30 pm and decided to gas up in the morning. We got a room at the Gateway Hotel had dinner and asked for some information about the next length of the highway. Tony was told the Alaska Highway is terrible and the plows won't even be able to get out tomorrow. That just breaks our hearts.



Monday February 19, 2007 Day 39
Riding Day 14 308 miles
We had a nice Breakfast and a great Waitress. We asked her if she knew anybody that may have some hyfax for Tony's( so he'd have a spare set with him ) and she immediately called her husband and he came right down. It looked like they would work so we paid her for them and headed out. While loading up a guy pulled into the parking lot and said "you guys didn't waste any time getting here from Dawson?" I asked how he knew and he said we were all over the radio.
First stop the Hardware store to make a sign for the Signpost forest in the center of town. The folks at Handy Hardware gave us a couple nails, a piece of plywood and loaned us a hammer. We bought some sticker reflective letters and made a "Making Tracks 2007" sign. We headed to the forest to find a spot for it. After wading around in 3-4 feet of fluffy powder we finally found a spot to display our sign and nailed it up.
Next stop fill up on gas. When Tony went in to pay the guy at the counter said his phone has been ringing and people asking if we were in his town yet. He gave us a discount and wished us well. We were headed to Liard Hot springs and have been told by many that we must stop there. While on the road which had a couple fresh inches of snow on it we were able to cruise along nicely. We stopped a couple times and took some photos of the Bison on the side of the highway. The Bison didn't like Tony's back-up alarm and started running away from him, it was neat to watch them pounding through the snow.
We got to the hot springs around 2 pm and had some lunch. While in there a trucker said "you guys were cruising along" we asked how he knew and he said he couldn't catch us but had passed us when we stopped at the Bison. The folks there were once again Fabulous! They let us change up and leave our clothes there and loaned us some towels. We changed into our shorts and just put on our bibs and jackets. It was about 400m across the road on sleds and then a 400m walk to the springs. The undressing when it was -25 was the tuffest part. Walking across the ice covered floor of the changing room was harsh to say the least. Once in the spring we both said this was well worth the delay. The pool was about 150 ft long and 25 ft wide and about 3-4 feet deep. The water in the first pool(the one we went in) was around 103F folks said the upper pool was much warmer but we were very happy with the lower pool. There were some VERY hot spots as you swam around. The upper end of the pool was bubbling away and I guess that's where the HOT was coming from. At times I thought it would scald me. After about a half hour we got out. By the time we got out of the changing room our shorts and towels were stiff and frozen solid. The gal at the restaurant said we should stop at the Tetsa River Lodge which is about 75 miles from Fort Nelson. We planned to make Fort Nelson but thanked her for the suggestion.
The Alaska Highway deteriorated from this point on and we had to ride down into the 3-4 foot ditch at the edge of the road for lubrication on our hyfax. By the time we got to Tetsa River Outfitters we were starving and it was about 7 pm. We asked for something to eat and dinner was over but we got some baked goodies. Turnovers and danish that were fantastic. We decided to rent a cabin for the night. The cabins have wood heat no water in the winter and an outhouse around back. Cliff and Loryne Andrews have been there for 30 years. They do quite a bit of big game hunting and photographing trips in the surrounding area. They have Leased land all over with remote cabins and wall tents. Cliff started a fire in the cabin so when we went over it was starting to warm up. Loryne didn't charge us for the snacks and drinks and said to consider it a donation. The cabin was beautiful and we got it warmed up nicely after an hour or so. The outhouse seat was a little chilly in the morning but did the job. We were served pancakes for breakfast, fresh coffee and we each filled out a postcard for home. Once again they wouldn't take any money for breakfast or the postcards-Thanks Again!





Tuesday February 20, 2007 Day 40
Riding Day 15
We were off to Fort Nelson about 75 miles away and the road was pretty well dry down the center. We had to fight with the ditch again which made for slow travel. We arrived in Fort Nelson around 11:30 am and stopped at a Husky gas station to ask for directions to Redline Recreation. We had called them a week ago and my shield cord outlet had broken in the cold last night. I also needed to change my hyfax soon and would rather do it inside if possible. Folks gave us directions and we were within a quarter mile of it. We headed down the edge of the road and an RCMP cruiser pulled across in front of us. He asked us where our trucks and trailers were and when we said Maine he looked confused. Evidently you can't even cross a road in BC. You have to get off the machine and walk it and that is only if a trail crosses the road. After filling him in on our situation he told us it was a $598.00 fine each and the machines needed to be towed. He was in a hard spot as folks saw us talking to him and some of them may have already gotten this fine. I suggested that it would be a really nice donation to our cause 2 fines and 2 tow fees would be around $1300.00. Needless tyo say we would like to thank the Fort Nelson RCMP for there generous donation! The officer made sure we got off the road and told us he was going the other way. As soon as he turned the corner we headed back toward Redline Recreation.
We made it and went in to ask for garage use or just service. The owner Rick Rossi and his brother in-law Dwayne Thompson were awesome and let us pull our machines right in. Tony was happy to find out that this was also a radiator shop and the 2 fellow radiator shop owners had a lot to talk about. They had a heated cord outlet for my machine and we asked about hyfax for both machines. Upon further investigation we discovered the set we got in Watson Lake wasn't going to fit Tony's machine but might squeeze on mine in a bind. They got a set for Tony from someplace in town and had a single for mine(better than none). We told them we were headed to Rainbow Lake Alberta tonight and were told it was like 225 miles. The guy at the Husky station said it was only 100 miles +/-. We got some written directions and headed out of town( yes on the road for a couple more blocks. Almost all the machines in their shop were mountain machines and we figured out why when we headed out.
The trail in the ditch of the Sierra Yo- Yo road was steep and deep to say the least. We rode this for about ten miles braking trail off and on, then decided to go up the road instead. The road was scraped to the gravel for the first ten miles but finally turned into mostly ice with some snow on the shoulder. We rode 60 miles and conditions improved as we went along. We had supper at an oil camp kitchen called Kledons at Km 102. We were told this was an open camp and we would be welcome, but the people there told us that was not the case. They ended up making an exception and fed us a great meal and didn't charge us for the meal or the pocket full of goodies we took with us. This is just one example of the hospitality we have been treated to lately. According to our maps and the directions we've gotten the Powerline Road would take us from Km 92 of the Sierra YoYo straight to Rainbow Lake, Ab, so with full bellies we headed back and turned onto the Powerline Road for our next leg. This road is an ice road made and used by the oil drilling companies. We were told that the ground is soggy and will only support their heavy trucks when it is frozen so they cut a road through the woods and keep spraying it with water until the ice is strong enough to support the heavy loads they haul. Once on this road we soon found out that there are dozens of unmarked intersections that are not on our maps. It turns out they are making new roads all the time for oil exploration and when an area produces ample oil they connect a pipeline to it. This results in lots of choices and we took a few wrong turns that dead ended at an oil well site. We met up with a trucker delivering a load of water to a drill site and his directions sent us to another dead end. We wasted 30 or 40 miles of precious fuel and decided to go back to an oil camp we had passed about 15 miles back to try top get directions or a better map. There were trucks running in the lot but noone was up, so we went in with our maps and gps to warm up and figure out what to do next. While pondering the situation a man named Ken stopped in and helped us with direction and even escourted us to the turn we missed on his way out. He told us they punch new roads almost weekly so the maps are almost never accurate. Most people who work there are shuttled in and can't even tell you how to get out, and even the ones who drive in usually only know how to get to their particular job site. Thanks to Ken for the help and the fresh cinnimon rolls. Yummm We made good progress towards Rainbow Lake untill we were about 40 miles away where we again encountered a dozen intersections that all look the same. Our directions were to take a left at the end of the road where we would come to a Tee, but we never came to a Tee where the choice was left or right. The gps was great as a guide but in the end with so many roads that twist and loop around, trial and error worked in our favor. Most roads that appeared to go in the right direction were either dead ends or looped us back around. After exploring quite a bit we began to see the picture forming on the gps track log and were able to make better decisions at each new intersection. Looking back on this section we realize that if you were heading west it would be almost a straight shot. Fifteen miles from Rainbow we stopped at another oil camp where the cook verified that we were on the right path and also treated us to a hot coffee. She was amazed at our trip and wished us luck. We stopped at the security check point 3 miles out of town where the attendant called some hotels to get us a room and save us from riding around town looking for vacancy. We checked into the Rainbow Centre Hotel at 5 AM. Ahhh, long night. z z z z z



Wednesday February 21, 2007    Day 41
No Riding just sleeping.
    We got our sleds unloaded and took a hot shower and fell asleep around 6 am.  We were woke up at 12 noon by the maid wanting to clean the room.  She asked if we were staying another day and we said we just got here!
    We went to the restaurant to get a bite to eat and stopped by the front desk.  The owner Philip Chung was great and agreed to only charge us for one night.  We asked for information about the trip over to High Level but nobody knew.  That night we got a call from Monty Moore whom we had spoken to when we were up in Inuvik.  He wanted to meet us for breakfast.
   
Thursday February 22, 2007   Day 42
Riding day 16   146 miles
    We met Monty for breakfast around 7 am.  He told us the local club wasn't very active the last couple years but that there was a very active club in High Level and that we would be passing a Yamaha dealer there and they would have local trail maps.  Monty bought us breakfast. Thanks again Monty!
    We rode the ditch to High Level and found ourselves blasting through 3 feet of sugar snow again!  Our machines keep amazing us.  We didn't think they would go through that deep fluffy stuff with the loads we are carrying.  The road is only 85 miles to High Level but we were spinning and working the machines so hard that I ran out of gas about 2 miles from town.  We met some folks at the gas station that were from New Brunswick and they took our picture. 
    The dealer let us bring our machines inside to get rid of about 75 pounds of snow and ice that had accumulated on them.  Tony picked up some spare wheels and another belt as he had cooked one in the powder.  The owners son phoned Barry Toker and he came right down.  They have groomed trails which we were not expecting.  We rode out of town and headed to LaCrete which we were not planning on going to but were told we could cut through there trails and get back to Highway 88 only 100 km  north of Red Earth.  We rolled into LaCrete around 5 pm and phoned Brent Holick the local club president.  He came right over to meet us and help us through there trails.
    Brent asked when we were leaving as he wanted to get some guys to escort us in the right direction. 

Friday February 23, 2007        Day 43
Riding Day 16    290 miles
    At breakfast we met Jake, Bob, and Curtis and Brent came as well.  It was amazing that he got them there on 12 hour notice!  The guys were great and Jake even bought us breakfast.  We headed across the street to gas up as we were planning on making Slave Lake which is about 300 miles away.
    The Local company Neufeld Petroleum even donated our gas!  We were amazed!  We got our picture taken with the guys from the LaCrete Polar Cats club before heading out.   Jake and Bob escorted us through some 20 miles of field(they followed along in truck and directed us) till we got to their groomer which they were heading back to town with.
    From this point on the trail had been groomed!!  There had been quite a bit of snow in the last week so we were blazing through 8-12 inches of fluffy powder.  Thank god the trail had been groomed.  We got off the trail at one point and it was waist deep fluffy stuff!  We gassed up at the edge of the highway 88 which was nicely snow covered from a couple inches over night.  We were able to cruise along between 65-75 mph easy. 
   We got to Red Earth around 2 pm and called Steve at Grizzly Ridge Honda in Slave Lake to let him know we would be there later on.  It was 167 km by road to Slave Lake.  We figured it might take us a couple hours as we couldn't ride the shoulder because it had been scraped and sanded heavily.
    Boy were we wrong!  There was anywhere from 2-4 feet of snow in the ditch and only signs of one set of tracks about 16" of snow ago.  We were having a blast at first blasting through the fluffy white stuff.  This got really tiring and after several hours we were beat.  It started getting dark and we still weren't there yet.  We thought it might be another 10 miles or so but after riding another 5 miles we saw a sign that said 34km to go.  We both got stuck a couple times and muscling the sleds around in the powder is hard work.  By this time we were wet, tired, hungry, and sore all over. 
    About 3 miles from town I was trying to cross the highway and got stopped by RCMP.  He was nice and just warned me that it was dangerous. Like I didn't know!  When we hit town there were no more ditches to ride.  The road surface just sloped off to the trees.  At one point I was waiting for Tony and another RCMP cruiser stopped me.  This time I was told that In Canada you can't ride the ditch.  The ditch is considered part of the road.  I asked how much further to the Hotel and he said "You're going there by Ski-Doo?"  Obviously they don't have trails here.  I explained that I didn't want to ride the ditch and if he could show me a trail I would be there.  After explaining our trek he said "I'm not going to give you a hard time just be careful."
    We unloaded our gear and took our sleds next door to Grizzly Ridge Honda to thaw them out.  Every nook was packed with powder after the last couple days.
We ordered a Steak dinner delivered to our room and it was actually OK.

Saturday February 24, 2007      Day 44
No Riding
    Unfortunately Tony's order from AD Boivin was not complete.  The overload springs were the one thing we really wanted.  We got one and the other one is BACKORDERED! 
    I got to work on my sled, changed engine oil, changed gear oil, Changed hifax, carbides, fixed my luggage strap that had pulled off its rivet, and even polished it up with some spray Plexus cleaner/wax.  There was so much dirt in the snow on the side of the road that our machines looked like they had been trailered on an open trailer 1000 miles.  I also got to grease up everything and was back to the room around 6 PM.
    Tony needed a new track.  He must have hit something or possibly just the ice boulders in the banks at the edge of the side roads.  There were two really bad spots and they were only a lug apart.  He headed to the room to call some clubs in the direction we are headed to see if he could find a track.
    They guys at Grizzly Ridge were awesome.  Stephen Spencer  had gotten the parts for Tony and they let us have full reign in the shop.  Stephen even drove over to the Yamaha shop in town to get my hifax and some carbides.  He also checked around with everybody he could think of trying to find Tony a track.
    That night we decided to head out and take it easy on Tony's sled till we could get a new track for it.  We planned on changing his hifax, engine oil, and heading out.  We were going to have to wait till Monday to order a track anyway so we figured we could just go and try to get one around Nipawin Saskatchewan.  This would be at least a couple days ahead of us.
  
Sunday February 25, 2007      Day 45
No Riding
    We got to the shop around 9 am when Stephen said he'd be there.  We were still planning on heading out and thought we'd get things done and be gone by noon.  Of course things don't go as planned.  We discovered an exhaust leak on Tony's machine so we tore into it to try to stop it.  We thought maybe a bolt had loosened after we had the motor out.  This was not the case as we had used red locktite on everything.  The exhaust gaskets between the head pipe and the exhaust were just about gone.  We did our best by modifying the clamps to squeeze things tighter but in the end we will have to order these gaskets when we order the track.
    Before we knew it it was 2:00 pm and neither of us wanted to ride the ditch in the dark.  It is bad enough when you can see out ahead of yourself.  When riding at night the oncoming traffic takes away all visibility and gives us no time for hazards, culverts,  and steep ravines.  We decided to head out early in the morning and we will try to get 300+ miles.  We will hit some groomed trails tomorrow which will be a nice break.

Monday  2/26/2007  Day 46
Riding Day 17 287 Miles 
     We headed out early from the Best Western riding the ditch of highway 2 East.  This ditch was much better than the stretch to Slave Lake but still a ditch.  We hit a section of the Trans Canada trail from Flatbush East to Athabasca.  Once in Athabasca we had directions from the club in Smoky Lake.  We were to ride the ditch out of Athabasca to Boyle and eventually we were planning on getting on a pipeline that would take us into Smoky Lake.  There was some miscommunication here and we ended up wasting several hours and still never found a pipeline trail that felt like it was more than just some locals out playing.  Around 9 pm we hadn't eaten dinner and decided to get a room in Boyle and try again in the morning.  Of course there were no rooms available.
      At this point we decided to ride the ditch to Smoky Lake and then we could pick up the Iron Horse trail from there.  We secured a room at the Smoky Lake Inn and the owner Brian Jones agreed to keep out some chicken and pizza for us when we got there.  The ditch was OK going and the last 15 miles into Smoky Lake were really good.  The ditch was wide and flat and not even a barbed wire fence at the bottom!  We got in around midnight, ate some fried chicken and pizza and crashed.  The owner told us where we could get the trail in the morning.



Tuesday  2/27/2007   Day 47
Riding Day 18   235 miles
      We left the Inn around 7 am and headed to the ESSO gas station to fill up and get some breakfast.  The trail from Smoky Lake was in good condition.  The Alberta trail map and the Iron Horse trail maps on the trail didn't seem to agree.  We passed a groomer and were happy to glide along on an undisturbed surface for the first time this trip.  Evedently we missed a left turn in the excitement and ended up in St Paul.  According to our trail map we could either turn back about 10 miles or go around and the trail would meet back up to the Iron Horse rail bed around Bonnyville.  We decided to continue rather than to turn back.
      This turned out to be a mistake.  The Grenier Lakes trail had not been groomed in most places it seemed at all.  We got turned around following other tracks and were in a maze of pipelines, power lines, and narrow woods trails.  After once again burning several hours of daylight we found some trail signs and it seemed we were heading in the right direction.  This trail dumped onto Murie Lake and then seemed to disappear.  We asked a girl getting off a school bus and were told the trails were closed and we had to ride the ditch.  We found our way to the town of Bonnyville and saw a Yamaha shop and stopped to ask directions.  As it turned out we were only about a mile from the Iron Horse trail which took us straight to Cold Lake..
      Before we knew it we were in Cold Lake.  The trail just ended at a Fas Gas gas station/convenience store.  We went in and asked for directions.  We were told that there aren't any groomed trails and we would have to ride the ditch to get over to Saskatchewan.  After asking several folks we got a name and number for someone from the local club.  I called him from my cell and he guided me toward North Cold Lake then the Marina and eventually onto the lake and down the river.  He offered to try and find someone to help us get through this section.
      We stayed at the Best Western in Cold Lake, had some dinner, did our homework and went to sleep.  We will try to get well into Saskatchewan tomorrow.



Wednesday  2/28/2007  Day 48
Riding Day 19     268  miles
     We didn't get back in touch with Dennis Collins so we headed out with what I had gotten for directions.  We ended up at Four Wing Air base and I had written down that we would go past it.  I called Dennis again and he was at work.  We headed back into town to look for other options.  Everybody we asked said they didn't know how to get to the lake.  We did find the trail eventually but lost at least an hour.
      We got out on the Lake which seemed to be four times the size of Sebago and asked an Ice Fisherman for directions to the trail.  Guess what?  He had no idea and even said the river was not frozen which is where the trail is supposed to go.  He said it was about 4 miles from where we were and we ended up going another eleven miles till we found the trail.  This trail was only a sled width and looked like maybe a handful of sleds had been through it.   We came to a Golf course and I asked some guys that were roofing a new home for directions.  They said the groomer was broke and we had to ride the ditch into Goodsoil and the Trans Canada would start again there.
      We gased up in Goodsoil and asked again for directions.  We were told the river wasn't safe so nobody had been grooming.  The trail signs brought us onto a small river maybe 150 feet wide and there were loads of tracks down it.  We road the river for about 30 miles and even stopped at the Waterhen River Runners shelter where we found a great map on the wall with a "You are here" tag.  The river brought us to the town of Dorintosh where we stopped for lunch at Hazel's.  Here we were greeted by the Secretary of the club Gary Maimer (maybe spelled wrong).  We had a fantastic Hazel Burger with Fries and some good conversation and headed back out.  We found out we lost another hour in time change so it was now 3:30 not 2:30 like we thought.
      Our plan was to go another 150 miles ending the day past Big River.  The trails from Dorintosh through Meadow Lake toward Chitek Lake were fantastic and the winding trails to Chitek Lake were my favorite.  We hit Leoville around  Dusk and saw Ernies Service was closed.  We dumped our cans in our tanks which gave us each 5 more gallons.  Leaving town we followed some signs and were blazing across some really rough fields with deep powder and tracks everywhere.  Out of the blue Tony hit the brakes and I saw his sled sliding off what appeared to be the edge of the Earth.  This was a VERY steep hill about 300 feet high. At this point we figured these signs and tracks were just for some type of hill climb event.  Getting back into town Tony found a store with Gas that we had rode right past. We filled up and asked again how to get to the Trans Canada trail.  You won't believe it- NOBODY could tell us.  We headed back to where we had entered  Leoville and found a sign with an arrow on it.  The trail enters and leaves the Leoville within a quarter mile and only about a quarter mile from the store where we had asked for directions.
      When we got to Big River we asked for a phone book to find a place to stay in Canwood but they had no vacancy.  We then called the Debden Hotel planning on booking a room and getting there within an hour or so.  They answered the Phone "Debden Hotel" and I asked for a room and was told they don't have rooms.  I asked "you mean no vacancy?" and he said "No, we don't have rooms, only Liquor"  So plan "C" stay in Big River and head out early in the Morning.
      We woke Clarice Hunter around 10 pm at the Timberland Motel and she only had one room which was a single.  She gave us a foam pad for the floor and some blankets and sheets.  Tony got the floor!



Thursday  3/1/2007       Day 49
Riding Day 20       275 miles
     Clarice gave us a cup of coffee and even a muffin before we left "Thanks!"  Looking like a 300 mile day to reach Nipawin.  The trails were great so we rode hard.  Cruised through Debden and Canwood and on toward Emma Lake where we stopped for gas  The Alpine springs we put in Tony's skid back in Pelly Crossing in the Yukon finally broke after pounding on them for more than 2000 miles.  Fortunately he had an extra set so we stopped and put them in..  We got to Candle Lake around 1:30 pm and stopped for Lunch and Gas.
      We spoke with some Locals and got some good directions and even some trail conditions and a Map.  Tony called the Yamaha dealer in Nipawin and all the parts are there.  Gary offered to book us a room and we said we'd call when we got into town.  The trails were perfect for the next 130 miles and we rolled into Nipawin around 6:30 PM.  Gary had booked us a room at the Northern Greens Resort and after we got unloaded and shed some clothing he met us at the shop.  We put our machines in the shop for the night and Gary gave us a lift back to the Hotel "Thanks for everything Gary".
      Had a nice steak dinner and started on our homework-Log updates, downloading and emailing pictures, calculating mileagaes, replying to emails, and checking weather and trail reports.



March 2, 2007  Day  50
No Riding
      We had the free continental breakfast and got a cab to the Yamaha dealer.  Gary introduced us to the guys and set us up with space to work.  We each started tearing down our machines.  My Attak had a backfiring issue the last couple days every time I let off the gas so I decided to look into the exhaust leak.  Tony began removing his track first and then would work on his exhaust leak later.  I had burned up my exhaust gaskets so there was only a little wire left.  Luckily the mechanic had just replaced some and the old ones were in pretty good shape compared to mine.  Gary got me some new spark plugs as well.  I got my sled back together and started helping Tony with his.
      Gary invited us to his house for dinner even though we should have been taking him out to dinner we accepted.  We got out of the shop around 5PM and gased up the sleds for an early start.  We got cleaned up and called Gary and he came to get us.  He and his wife Candice were a joy.  They fed us a Rainbow trout feast with potatoes, green beans and salad.  After a couple hours of good conversation and relaxation Gary took us back to the hotel.
      Thanks again Gary and everyone at Nipawin Chrysler Dodge Yamaha.



March 3, 2007  Day 51
Riding Day 21 335 miles
     We left early and headed Southeast toward Hudson Bay.  After about 50 miles I stopped to tighten my track as it kept ratcheting when I accelerated hard.  I flipped it on its side to look things over and noticed I had lost a bunch of track clips.  There were a couple missing yesterday but now I had 14 in a row on the right side gone.  I guess we had ground them down so badly with all the sand in the ditches they just let go.  I also had my center rear wheel bearing gone too.  We met a couple guys on Artic Cats and one of them Ken Trip suggested we stop at Schrader's in Yorkton.  He told us to ask for Rick Bradshaw or Rick Schrader the owners.
      We stopped in Preeceville to gas up and had Subway for lunch.  I called Schrader's to see if they had rear wheels and track clips and spoke with Al.  It was 3 pm and we were about 75 miles away.  Al was going to look into the parts situation and we were going to head there regardless.
      We came to a shelter just outside Yorkton and it was 5:15 pm.  I asked some locals how far to the Yamaha dealer and they said maybe 3 miles.  When we left the shelter we headed on the Trans Canada trail East.  I thought Al had said they were right off the main trail.  After about 16 miles and no sign of any town we turned around.  Of course I ran out of gas and had none in my cans.  Fortunately Tony had a couple gallons in his.  We finally rolled into Schrader's about 6:30 pm and everything was locked up for the night.  Rick Bradshaw was there and came out to talk with us.  They thought we would have been there around 4:30 and hadn't heard from us so everyone had gone home.  I asked what time they opened in the morning and Rick said "you mean Monday morning?".  He then asked if we could do the work and we said absolutely!  After talking for a while and making Rick late for dinner he agreed to meet us in the morning at 8 am on a Sunday!  Thanks a million Rick!
      We got a room at the Comfort Inn and had dinner at Boston Pizza across the street.  

March 4, 2007  Day 52
Riding Day 22 156 miles
     After another free breakfast we loaded up, suited up and headed over to the shop to meet Rick.  Of course he was there waiting for us and even had coffee on!  Rick got me set up with a clip tool and clips and new rear wheels.  He helped me remove the rear axle and make a fourth wheel kit out of my factory spacers.  Tony had Rick and Sean look at his drive shaft and it makes no sense but somehow it is worn.  The bearing on the clutch side had not spun on the shaft and you could see the set screw marks had not spun yet the shaft was worn.  They did not have a shaft but Tony removed his and welded it up and then machined it down so the bearing was snug again.  We had a great time with Rick and felt really bad for pulling him away on his day off.  In the end Rick gave us a bill with a ZERO balance and said it was his donation!!  Thanks again Rick Bradshaw and Schrader's Yamaha.
      Back together and on the trail around 1 pm we were headed for the Manitoba border.  The plan was to ride late and get in a couple hundred miles to try to keep up the average. The trails out of Yorkton were in pretty good shape and signed but we were in white out conditions for the first 50 miles. We were glad when we finally out rode the storm and could see the trail and thought we'd still be able to salvage the day if the trails stayed good. We had about 40 miles of good going when the Trans Canada Trail turned into a twisty hilly goat path. It was so bad you wouldn't even want to walk it never mind sled on it. If it weren't for the signs being there we would have thought we were on the wrong trail. The goat path eventually turned into a ditch bang trail down the side of a highway and then eventually onto a rough and drifted rail bed that lead us into the town of Russel, Manitoba. We decided to call it a day and got a room at the Jolly Lodger Motel. We had some questions about trails for the next day and as it turns out the motel owner, Lois Wilson,  is an avid sledder and had some good info. She also called a friend from the sled club in Neepawa to see if he could help us the next day and we were given his number. Thanks Lois!
The plan was to get settled in the room and walk next door for a meal, but Tony sat on his bed and fell asleep. Oh well, no supper tonight I guess. 
 
March 5, 2007        Day 53
Riding Day 23        274 miles
              Riding out of Russel, the Trans Canada Trail was a rail bed that runs through large feilds. The wind blows constantly here in the Canadian plains so snow drifts cover the trails in most places. We came upon a freshly groomed section where we were first tracks and still had 3 foot drifts to deal with. We feel bad for the clubs here who work hard to maintane the trails only to have the wind drift them in so bad. Considering the drifts we still made good time to Neepawa where we had lunch and met up with Lois friend Perry Snedden. We have 3 maps that all show different trail info and Perry explained how to get where we needed to go. The trails out of Neepawa were again drifted and the sky was overcast. With no sun and white snow on the ground you can't see the terrain at all. We usually only get this situation for about an hour just before dark ( we call it gray hour ) but today it was most of the day. When this happens you can't tell when you're about to hit a drift or a bump, everything is just white. So we go along nice and slow over the bumps and drifts, then the trail is nice and smooth for a while and before you know it you gradually increase speed and a nice drift reminds you to slow down. We actually enjoy a good jump now and then but only when you plan for it. The surprise jumps are no fun at all.
             Half way between Russel and St. Claude we took a brake at an intersection in the middle of nowhere when a gentleman in a  pick up truck stopped to talk to us. We were on the R. D. Ramsey farm and he told us he plants 1000 to 1200 acres of potatoes for McDonalds french fries.
              We found some fresh groomed trails in the Spruce Woods Provincial Park that weren't drifted yet. What a nice ride. We stopped at a warming hut to check out the local club map and 2 local sledders talked to us about the trip. One of them offered to take us on a short cut across the park and put us on a trail towards Winnapeg. Thanks Steve! This trail was ungroomed and followed the ditch of a major highway. We rode about 70 miles and then lost the trail signs so we followed along rodes and through feilds and let the gps guide us into a small town called Brunkild, just south of Winnapeg.
               The gas station attendant recommended the only hotel in town, of couse, the Brunkild Bar and Grill. We went to the bar and were told they have no rooms. We decided to have a quick meal and ride on to another town and while eating we questioned the bar tender about a hotel that has no rooms. He eventually warmed up and told us that the provincial law is that if you serve liquor in a bar you have to provide rooms too. The deal, as he explained it, is that most bars say they are a hotel to cover the law but don't really rent rooms as a rule. Imagine that?  We told him we aren't to fussy and anything he had would be good enough and he finally rented us a room. Thanks Guy! It is the best $20.00 room I've seen in quite a while. The bar is opened until 2:30 and except for the man who played the slot machine all night and the occasional straggler we were the only ones there. We did a little home work mapping out our route for the next couple days and made a call to a contact in Ontario to get the latest updates on snow and trail conditions. Parts of  Ontario have had no snow this year and we are concerned that we may not be able to get across. We were glad to hear that the trails had just been opened yesterday. There is a 200 mile section in Ontario where the trails were closed 3 or 4 years ago and we were told that they have no plans of reopening them in the future  This is not good news and we will do some more home work to try to avoid getting trucked over this section. If conditions allow we may drop down into the U.S. or perhaps map out a cross country route where we can get through without a trail.



Tuesday  March 6, 2007  Day  54
Riding Day 24   196 miles
      Brunkild, Manitoba to Kenora, Manitoba
 We left the Brunkild Bar and Grill after having a nice breakfast.  The trails in this area are relatively flat and cross a lot of fields.  We had to ride another ditch but fortunately this one was fairly flat and actually a nice ride.  The ditch took us to Falcon Lake where we picked up a groomed trail that crossed the highway.  We stopped to fill up and asked for a local map and a place to eat.  The trail East was across the street and there was a Restaurant a block away. (the only one open in winter in Falcon Lake)  We had a few riders talk to us and give us some info on trails.
      The trails were in good shape and we got into Kenora around 5PM.  This area "Lake of the Woods" trails use the waterways and were groomed nicely.  We stopped at the Kenora Inn and Motel and had to call for service as they are on limited staff during winter.  Wally Domareski the owner showed up in about 15 minutes and gave us a deal on the room and also gave us access to the laundry.  We got a connection and checked trail conditions to see if we could ride through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to avoid trailering.  



Wednesday  March 7, 2007 Day 55
Riding Day 25   76 miles
      Kenora, Manitoba to Sioux Narrows, Manitoba
      We rode across town to the Yamaha dealer to get a spare belt for each of us.  They had only one so we took it.  Next stop the Tourist info center, where the girls were very helpful and one of them was even a snowmobiler!  They even called over to Sault Saint Marie Ontario to check on crossing by snowmobile.  We decided to head South toward Sioux Narrows.  Leaving Kenora the trails were smooth with fast straights on the water and twisty woods trails on the land sections.  The Lake of the Woods is approximately 80 x 100 miles and looks like many lakes but they are all interconnected.  The signage at intersections could have been better but we certainly could find our way.  These trails travel a lake for anywhere from 100 yards to 15+ miles then through the woods and back on another lake section.
      We got to Sioux Narrows and checked things over and found the bolt that holds Tony's slide rails to his swingarm was gone.  He thought he felt a difference in handling and ride height one lake section back so I turned around and went looking for it.  I had no luck and when I got back Tony had already got some info on garages in the area.  We ate some lunch at the Crystal Harbour Motel and the waitress Gale called around town and got in touch with "Paradise Point" who had a bunch of odd parts to scrounge through.
      After lunch we headed to Andrews Marine to see what we could come up with to replace the missing bushing and bolt.  Jim Andrews (the owner) was very helpful and dug through bins of old parts trying to come up with something.  Unfortunately the bolt was metric 12 mm and needed to be about 4" long.  Jim did have some nice spacers we could use for Tony's shock bushings though.  Tony took my sled to Paradise Point and there he made a bolt the correct size and thread.  He took an oversize bolt and ground it down and then ran a die over it to cut the proper thread in it.  He got back to Andrews around 5PM and we decided to spend the night and let Jim go home.  Jim gave Tony a ride in his truck and I took the trail back to Crysrtal Harbour.  We had a nice dinner there and crashed.
 
 
Thursday March 8, 2007  Day 56
Riding Day 26   258 miles
      Sioux Narrows, Manitoba to Cook, Minnesota
      We headed to Jim's shop for 8 AM when he opened and he had coffee on for us.  After getting the Venture fixed up we stopped back at the motel to pack up our gear we had left there and hit the trails South.  We were headed to Nestor Falls and would gas up there as the gas station next to the motel didn't open till 11AM and we were not waiting.  The trail to Nestor Falls was also excellent and we ghased up and headed for the US border.  The next stop was Emo Ontario and then on to International Falls Minnesota.
      In Emo we stopped at a store to get some info on trails and crossing to the US.  The store was also a Arctic Cat dealer and gas station.  The owner gave us directions across from Fort Frances.  He even pulled up a map from Google Earth and drew some directions on it.  When we got into Fort Frances the curling rink we were supposed to come out by had been moved and we had to ask a couple times for directions.  At one point we stopped at a daycare and one of the Dads was picking up his child and gave us some direction.  The plan is to cross the lake and go to the Rainy One Stop for info on the customs.  Eventually we found the lake and stopped to ask an icefisherman where the trail was.  He had a thick accent matbe Polish and kept telling us how to get to Canada.  We got to the One Stop and the kid at the counter thought we had to go to the bridge customs.  Tony called and was told to go back to the lake and there was a phone at Bohman's Landing to call in.  I saw what looked like an outhouse and it turned out to be Bohman's Landing.  The phone inside was a video phone and the gentleman asked for snowmobile registration numbers and dates of birth and then said we were all set.
      We decided to take the lake trail which then goes to Lake Kabetogama.  We saw a sign for Kec's Kove and headed there for something to eat and hopefully a better map of Minnesota.  There were a couple guys at the bar and when they heard what we were doing they had all kinds of advice.  After we ordered the owner Larry Kec showed up and we were told he was the one to talk to.  Larry is an avid snowmobiler and he called EJ from Five Seasons Sports in Eveleth about maps and a gap in the trail map there.  We made reservations in Cook at the Country Store and Vermillion Motel.  It was 8 PM when we left Kec's Kove and we were in Cook 100 miles away within 2 1/2 hours.  The trails were great and our machines were handling great too.  
 
 
 
Friday March 9, 2007  Day 57
Riding Day 27   391 miles
      Cook, Minnesota to Hurley, Wisconson
      We went into the Country store to get our complementary coffee and donut(NO JUICE) and hit the trails headed for EJ at Five Seasons.  About 40 miles out Steve was in the lead and headed up a hill and his machine popped a big wheelie. The transfer limiter is supposed to keep this from happening so we stopped to check things over. We found the front swing arm where the transfer rod and the mono shock attatch had broken in three pieces. One piece of this arm still attatched to the transfer rod was rubbing on the center belt of the track and had to be removed to ride without further damaging the track The shock mount was also completely broken on one side and the other side was just barely still attatched so we rode very carefully into Five Seasons Sport Center where we hoped to get a replacement part. As  it turned out they did not have the parts in stock and we had no luck finding a new or used one from any of the suppliers in the area. At this point we would have welded it to avoid a 2 day wait for parts but there was no welder availible. While sitting out in the parking lot pondering the situation, a customer came and unloaded an Apex to be serviced. We both noticed his machine had the part we needed. We looked at each other with that eye brow thing you get when you have a whicked cool idea. We got talking to Kyle Glennie, our brand new best friend in the whole wide world, and it turned out that he was done with his machine for the season and had no problem with us taking parts from his sled so we could get back on the trail.  We talked to EJ and he agreed to let us use the shop so we got busy swapping parts. It turns out that Kyle operates a lodge not too far from Kec's Kove where we had supper the night before. Check out his site at  www.ashkanamresortandlodge.com . The Ash Ka Nam Resort and Lodge in Orr, Minnesota looks like a nice place to stay if you're ever in the area. We couldn't thank Kyle or EJ enough and after 2 hours and a whole bunch of hand shaking we were back on the trail.
               There is no trail for five miles south of Eveleth so we had to ditch bang the side of highway 53 again to hook up with another trail. We were just about to the trail when my home made swing arm bolt snapped off. We called Five Seasons and they gave us the number for Fastenal Industrial Hardware in Virginia, Mn. I talked to a young man named Jim Haugen about what I was trying to do. He was very good on the phone and managed to find the bolt and even made me some spacers by cutting sections of half inch black iron pipe. I got spares of all these items  in anticipation of future problems. Jims boss agreed to let him deliver the hardware right to me on the trail. Life is good! The whole episode only took an hour and certainly could have been a lot worse. Thanks for the help Jim and for your managers generosity.
              EJ had told us we could find local trail maps at a bar and grill called The Dawg House in Canyon, Mn so we headed  south. At the Dawg House we found a couple good maps pinned to the wall but none for sale. As we were studying the maps a gentleman came to assist and ended up digging up some old maps he had out in the car. These were for the next areas we would go through so were of great interest. He gave us those maps and the bar tender also let us have the maps from the wall. Thanks!
             The trails south were very thin and we hit a few stumps and rocks with our skis. We were told by many people about all the snow they had down here and how great the trails were but the further south we went the thinner the snow got. Before we knew it we were riding on a thin layer of slush and it was getting warmer. We stopped at one point to take a rest and talked about how one more warm day like this and the trails here would be done. A man at a gas station told us that they had 30 inches just a few days ago and the warm weather was melting about a foot a day. That was when we realised we may have made a big mistake and could get stuck down here. We discussed it for a brief moment and decided that we should ride as far as we can to get out of Dodge before we run out of snow. The trail was a rail bed running east along the south shore of Lake Superior and we were able to make good time. As we went along the snow got even thinner to the point where we rode on bare ground for short stretches. We rode all night out of Minnesota, all the way to Hurley, Wisconson. This 391 mile ride put us within a mile of the Michigan border. Just before it got light out we both thought we were going to fall asleep on our machines but as the sun rose we got a second wind. We stopped in Hurley for a quick breakfast then changed Steves sliders and got back on the trail.    



Saturday March 10, 2007  Day 58
Riding Day 28   228 miles
     Hurley, Wisconson to Chatham, Michigan
               East out of Hurley we got on trail 8. This trail was good in most places and snow cover started to improve a little. We were tired but not to the point of falling asleep anymore and thought we would somehow stay awake long enough to get all the way to Sault Ste. Marie or even across into Ontario. We were doing great and making good time all day untill my springs broke again. They had been making that crunching noise that I've become familiar with for a couple hours. Luckily we still have those old Alpine springs so I installed them again and off we went. These springs are just about junk so we decided to get a hotel for the night and pack up anything we think we can live without and ship it home to lighten the load. The pounding we have given these sleds is just more than the parts can take. Every bushing is worn or missing completely and this creates a lot of stress on everything. We've been bottoming out a lot and we're amazed that the machines are holding up as good as they are. When you try to make 200 to 4oo miles a day you can't mess around and we know riding 40 hours practically non stop is not in the sleds best interest. We are glad that we've been able to patch them as quickly as we have and stay moving. Even with all this trouble we've been having, believe it or not we consider ourselves lucky and our big hope is that we don't run out of luck.
                We got a room at the Village Inn Motel in Chatham, MI. and picked up some  boxes from the local bar and grill where we had a quick supper. In the morning our host Bev Porter made us cinnamon buns and coffee and offered to help us with shipping our gear home. Thanks Bev.



Sunday  March 11, 2007  Day  59
Riding Day 29   317 miles
        Chatham, Michigan to Drummond Island Michigan
      Trail 8 had been very good to us so we decided to stick with it all the way to the border.  We were in a race against the warm weather at this point so we rode hard all day with very few breaks.  There were some bare spots and exposed dirt and rocks but for the most part it was good going.  The trails were wet heavy snow like mashed potatoes and with the dirt mixed in it was like the gravy.
      We stopped at Grand Marais on the coast of Lake Superior for some pictures and then decided to press on before taking lunch.  We arrived in Paradise and filled up with gas and also asked about parts as Tony was again on the Alpine springs this time with no spares.  They had a rental fleet and two milk crates full of old springs so we picked out a pair that looked like we could make work and headed across the street to the Berry Patch for lunch.  The owners were very friendly and when they heard where we were going they jumped to help.  They called around to find out about the crossing from Sault Ste Marie US to Canada.  We never did get any definite information and decided to just move along and dig into it when we got closer.  The trails were deteriorating FAST and there were sections of just water.  The rail bed section into Sault St Marie Michigan was like a long water crossing.
      We stopped at the sign before entering the city to decide which way we should go.  A couple pulled up and offered us some help.  It was Greg May and Melanie Henson.  Greg made some phone calls but it looked like we would have to ride to Drummond Island about 80 miles further.  Even though Ontario is just a stones throw away we couldn't get there by sled and we still refuse to be hauled.  Greg and Melanie escorted us into town to the BP gas station and I made some phone calls to find out about the crossing.  I first talked to Bob Vaught from the club in Sault St Marie Michigan and he confirmed that we needed to ride to Drummond Island.  Bob gave me the number to the groomer operator on the island so I called him next.  Dale Graves told me we had to ride to DETOUR, Michigan ( Just a little