Wyman Pond Racing

I have learned that the trip has been chosen!  Many thanks to those that attended meetings and put the effort in to make the selection.  I apologize again that the meetings are more difficult than I had anticipated to attend.  For the record, I haven't even got my xmas shopping done for all the nieces and nephews and it's 2 days away.  The 10 day power outage and kids home from school really put a dent in my xmas prep timeline.

Anyway, maybe it was a forgone conclusion that we would go back to Gaspe this year.  Maybe not.  Honestly, if Mt. Valin got two trips out of us - this was kind of a no brainer.

I understand that going to the Perce Rock is a definate, this will dictate that much of our trip will remain the same in terms of the overall route.  It was making this point that defined much of the itinerary.  Although seeing the rock was a good goal to have, it certainly wasn't the highlight of the scenery for me; but I also understand that it is somewhat of a destination point.

Staying in top shelf hotels will be a fun change from the quiet back woods cabins of last year.  I guess that means we will plan to only gas at La Chance and keep blasting on up out of the pennisula highlands.  If we are talking 4-star hotels (i.e. Val de Neiges) then I am totally on board.  Requirements of each hotel should be superb dining and hot tub.  An adult bar is not a draw for me but the night life at the bar at say St. Xenon, the Casino or even the HI at Jonquiere was excellent and I would much prefer that.

We should each independently perform calculations for the miles of each day to determine which towns we will land in each night.  Are we going to start from Valga or a different location?  When #388, #10, #7 and I drove home via New Brunswick to I-95 at Houlton, ME; that was a very decent size highway and easy travel.  At first glance, it doesn't look like we would find something further south than St. Gabriel de Rimouski (Valga) that would be less driving and would allow us to start the loop further south for a change of some trails without needing to register New Brunswick.

Remember, even starting as high as Rimouski, our first two days were 250 mile days.  Days 3 and 4 could have been longer though so that's probably where we can make our adjustment.  I absolutly loved the 250 mile days and was not sore in the slightest.

Ok, last note, did I see that the Pres is predicting a 4 person turnout this year?  I hope he is not fooled by the poor meeting attendance.  I feel we should easily be 8 if members can make the dates work.  #3, with 2' of pre-xmas snow, there is plenty of opportunity to test that sonic blue bird.  I can tell you unless I moved by the holy spirit of snowmobiling (or have a fit of careless spending) and that XTX is still gathering dust in Lancaster, then I will be on my '01.  She'll be ready and willing.

It's still '08 and I'm already pumped.  I will begin to apply pressure to #10 to hold a February meeting in his second hang out over the garage to finalize hotels, trailering, and route.  In fact, I think he will insist on it!

#5