Lac Roxton Ice Track

 

 

 

THE EVENT

 

 

Today’s undertaking was just one of more than 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link:

 

 

Randy’s Complete Track List

 

 

If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report.  It’s very easy to do.  I’ll try my best to respond.  Thanks!

 

 

I sometimes see two or more tracks in a single day. When I do I will commonly combine my observations from both tracks into a single Trackchaser Report. Today I am combining two tracks I saw over the same weekend. I thought you would enjoy reading about this epic adventure more if I did it that way.

 

 

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES – PART 1

 

 

 

Editor’s note:

For the reader to best understand and appreciate what is written in these Trackchaser Reports please consider this. I go on trackchasing trips with one primary purpose. That purpose is to see new racetracks to add to my lifetime totals. Trackchasing is about “counting”. I routinely travel 5,000 miles or more on virtually every flying trip. I do not want to waste my time or my money if I can’t see the racetracks and add it to my track count. The obstacles I faced on this trip nearly prevented me from meeting my primary trip objective. Finally, when the trip is finished I often times have non-trackchasing commitments that mean I have to get going. I hope this helps you better understand the context of my writing.

 

 

 

 

I travel a lot.

I travel a lot with my trackchasing hobby. Why do I do that? There’s just so much to see in the United States and the world. I don’t want to spend all of my time at home. There will come a time when I won’t be able to travel as much as I have over the past 15 years. When that happens I’ll just sit back and enjoy San Clemente even more than I do now.

 

 

In most years I will trackchase about 100 days a year. In my biggest years I’ve gone trackchasing 115-120 days in a single year. It is not uncommon for me to travel more days overnight when I am not trackchasing that when I am.

 

 

It seems as if we are always in a busy travel season.

Carol and I are in a busy traveling season right now. Last week we spent three days in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The weather was wonderful. The food was fantastic. We had a great time.

 

 

This extended weekend will have me trackchasing in Quebec, Canada. Quebec is one of the few locations in North America that’s getting weather cold enough to support ice racing.

 

 

From Quebec I will meander around North America until I end up in Maui, Hawaii. Carol will join me somewhere along that adventure. We might even have to meet up in Maui before we see each other. It’s nice to know I have a spouse that can get herself to Maui without my assistance.

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY

 

 

The more obscure the travel method the more fun it is.

Over the years I’ve taken just about every form of transportation that anyone could imagine to get to the tracks I see. I’ve ridden tuk tuks, seaplanes and motorcycles. I’ve ridden ferryboats, speed boats and cruise ships just to get to the next track destination. This weekend’s trip would begin with a wide range of transportation methods.

 

 

I began walking toward Quebec from home…just about.

Carol started things out. She rode along with me in the Carol Lewis owned and MFunds sponsored Lexus RX 350. It was a short trip…just one mile. She would be dropping me off at the San Clemente North Beach train station. I really wanted to walk there from our house but she wouldn’t hear of it. I thought it would be cool to say I started my ice racing trip by walking toward Quebec!

 

 

I had chosen to board a 3:49 p.m. Metrolink train from San Clemente up to Union Station in Los Angeles. The one-way trip would cost me just $14.75. That was probably less than the cost of gasoline would have been had Carol driven me to LAX. The round-trip up to LA and back is 130 miles.

 

 

I love riding trains.

It’s always fun to ride the train. As a matter fact Carol and I have a train trip planned with our grandbabies coming up. Astrid and Mitch will join us in Austin, Texas for a train ride to Los Angeles. We have a sleeper car reserved. We will be on the train for two nights.

 

 

Cars, then trains and now a bus.

Once I got off the train tonight in Union Station I looked for the LAX “Flyaway Bus”. The flyaway bus departs Union Station every 30 minutes 24 hours a day. It takes train travelers to the airport. I always like to say “Don’t be at the airport when your ship comes in”.

 

 

The trip from the train station to the airport is supposed to take 35 minutes. However tonight we were in the middle of rush hour. It was raining. The bus ride took an hour and 20 minutes.

 

 

Once at LAX I was going to be boarding a plane to Seattle, Washington. Clearing airport security was fast and easy. I had intended to buy my traditional double cheeseburger from “The Habit” in terminal six at LAX. The traffic and rainstorm put my “Habit” opportunity in jeopardy.

 

 

Cheeseburger or airplanes?

Tonight I had a choice. I could buy the cheeseburger and miss my flight. Alternatively I could bypass the cheeseburger and make my flight. I chose the airplane.

 

 

Where would I sleep?

My plan was to arrive in Seattle at about 10 p.m. I would stop in the Alaska Airlines Board Room for a couple of hours. The Board Room closes at midnight. When they close I will sleep in the airport terminal for five hours until the Board Room opens again at 5 a.m. I can have snacks, drinks and light food in the airport lounge.

 

 

Information power requires data usage.

A few days ago I worked with our son J.J. who manages the families AT&T phone plan. I told him I wanted to buy a $30 international “data package”. This would allow me to use my phone as a GPS unit in Canada. Heck it would let me use my phone just as if I were in the U.S. except that I couldn’t make free phone calls. International calls would be one dollar per minute. I didn’t expect to be calling anyone. For thirty bucks I would get 120 MB of data. That’s not much but I could make it work by watching my data usage closely.

 

 

Our current plan allows us unlimited data in the United States and one gigabyte of data per month in Mexico. That includes unlimited texting, phone calls and Internet. I can watch YouTube videos 24/7 in the U.S. if I want at no extra charge for data.

 

 

This was really good news.

Good news! Tonight J.J. was texting to tell me that we now have a 1 GB per month data plan for Canada. That saved me $30. I also wouldn’t have to “watch my data” very closely as I traveled through our northern neighbor’s country. I will be able to text, make phone calls and be able is my phone pretty much just as if I were in United States. One GB of data is a lot. Normally I only use about 10% of that amount per day.

 

 

I want to travel like I’m on a corporate expense account.

When I make these trips I want to get a good values. I want to keep my expenses as low as possible. However, at the same time I want to enjoy all of the benefits and perks of a business traveler who is traveling on a fully paid company expense account. That’s what I was accustomed to doing during my 30-year business career. For the most part I have been able to lead that lifestyle in retirement. I just don’t pay the prices the corporate traveler does.

 

 

A risky move.

Tonight I will sleep in the Seattle airport. However I did something that I don’t normally do on trips like this. I reserved three hotels with Priceline.com in advance. I normally don’t like to do that. If a transportation leg falls apart or a racetrack changes its race plan that creates a problem. I could get stuck with a nonrefundable hotel reservation at a place I can’t stay.

 

 

For the next three nights I am booked in Syracuse New York, Val-d’Or, Quebec, Canada and Doral, Quebec, Canada a suburb of Montreal. I got great rates that were 25–60% off of the best nightly rates at some higher-quality hotels. You can’t beat Priceline.com if you know what you’re doing.

 

 

The trackchasing plan.

I will be seeing ice racing on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. It’s pretty unusual to have to leave on a Wednesday night in order to accomplish that plan. However when I wake up tomorrow morning I’ll have a straight flight into the greater New York metro area.

 

 

It’s going to be about a 13-hour drive from the Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey up to Dupuy, Quebec, Canada. Dupuy might be as far north in Canada as I have ever trackchased. The other night temperatures were about 30° below zero in the tiny hamlet of Dupuy. I don’t think they will have any trouble with global warming.

 

 

Wednesday is finished. All was going according to plan. Sadly, the plan would soon begin to fall apart.

That about wraps it for Wednesday. My objective was to get to Seattle without having Carol drive me to LAX. A few days from now she’ll drive our car to LAX on her way to Maui, Hawaii. With any luck we will match up at an airport somewhere on that trip!

 

 

 

THURSDAY

 

 

C-10 is the place to sleep.

I woke up this morning at 4:15 a.m. in the Seattle-Tacoma (SeaTac) International Airport. My favorite sleeping spot is near gate C-10 just across the hallway from Starbucks. Please don’t go sharing that around except to your closest confidants.

 

 

This general area is a favorite spot for airport sleepers. As a matter fact one young mother and her three-year-old son brought their sleeping bag to enjoy the accommodations. If you need more information about sleeping overnight in airports I highly recommend the website www.sleepinginairports.net.

 

 

Trying to keep the plan simple.

My overall objective, which began last night, is to get myself from San Clemente California to Dupuy, Quebec, Canada. I want to do this as rapidly as possible but always with my mind on being cost-efficient. I don’t want to sacrifice on quality at the expense of price. I want everything to be safe.

 

 

Let’s think about it sleeping overnight in an airline terminal. A place like that is about as safe as you can get. Everyone in the terminal has been screened. None of the bad guys has a gun. You won’t get that situation at very many places.

 

 

Day #2 – 13-day trip.

I am on day number two of what will be a 13-day trip. The first few days will find me in frigid Quebec watching various forms of ice racing. Then I will miraculously turn from a ski bum and join Carol for eight days in Maui, Hawaii. It’s a rough life style. It’s a stressful lifestyle. However it is my lifestyle.

 

 

O.K., already! I was just kidding when I said this is a rough or stress filled lifestyle. However, those words make for a better story but really are not true. My lifestyle is just a laid-back way to go through life. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t plan it this way.

 

 

The Board Room is just what I need on these adventures.

When I woke at 4:15 a.m. I had just completed about four hours of pretty good sleep in a quiet environment in an airport terminal. By the time I got myself unlocked and organized and splashed a little water on my face it was 5:05 a.m. That meant the Alaska Airlines Board Room was now open for business.

 

 

The Board Room provides lots of benefits to me. First it gets me away from the hustle and bustle of the airport pedestrian traffic. I also can feed myself at no additional charge. Today I downloaded several iTunes movies onto my Apple MacBook Pro with the club’s free Wi-Fi. Those will come in handy during the long flights I’ll be having over the next several days.

 

 

Lots of logistical stuff to get me in position.

It wasn’t long before I was boarding a jet airplane for a trip from Seattle to Newark, New Jersey. The flight time would be about five hours. Additionally I would lose three hours in time zone changes. When I landed in Newark it would take me another hour or so to get situated and pick out my rental car. That meant the whole process of waiting to get on an airplane, flying and getting my car at the end of the trip would take about 10 hours. That amount of time will pretty well eat into your day.

 

 

The National Car Rental Company has been my long time trackchasing sponsor. I am allowed to pick virtually any car they have. Today I chose one of my favorites the Hyundai Sonata.

 

 

I am estimating my trip’s driving mileage will be about 1,750 miles. The Sonata I chose had a grand total of 94 miles on its odometer when I first opened its door. I was planning to put about 20 times as many miles as the car had in its entire existence. I was looking forward to the 32–33 miles per gallon I expected to get. Unfortunately, this part of the plan would hit a snag.

 

 

 

My Canadian fuel strategy.

About 1,100 of those driving miles will be driven in Canada. Canada typically has higher fuel prices by as much as a dollar a gallon than what I would see in the U.S.

 

 

My Canadian fuel strategy would have me filling the car’s tank to the brim just before I crossed into Canada. Then I hoped to have the car’s gas gauge on empty just as I crossed back into the United States on Sunday evening. If all of that worked out as planned I would only have to fill up one time in Canada even though I would be driving 1,100 miles on Canadian soil. 

 

 

Randy, what about food?

I had not really had a formal meal for breakfast or lunch today. Therefore when I landed I was hankering for a local favorite. I’m talking about a Philly cheese steak. It’s probably better to get a Philly cheesesteak in Philly but today Randolph, New Jersey was going to have to do.

 

 

I let my iPhone app Yelp! direct me to a highly recommended Philly cheesesteak opportunity. Actually there were two such opportunities. However when I approached the first location I found it to be closed. Bummer. Nevertheless the Randolph Grill and Pizza outlet was nearby.

 

 

They serve up a good chicken Philly steak sandwich. Fries come with their offering. The fries were excellent and the cheese steak was very good as well. I would come back to this place if I ever find myself in Randolph, New Jersey. I don’t expect that to happen but one never knows.

 

 

Where were the blonde-haired people?

In some ways I felt as if I had arrived on another planet. There are not a lot of blonde-haired people on the East Coast. As a matter fact black-haired people dominate the East Coast. The Randolph Grill and Pizza looked like it could have been part of the TV series The Sopranos. The proprietors and their patrons looked as if they just walked off the Soprano set. I hope none of them reach my Trackchaser Reports. I don’t want to have my knees busted.

 

 

O.K. this weirds me out a bit.

Traveling in these little East Coast towns and the east coast in general weirds me out just a bit. First of all when it’s 7 o’clock here and getting dark it’s 4 p.m. and sunny in San Clemente. Today the temperature was 20 in Randolph, New Jersey and about 80 in San Clemente.

 

 

You have all those black-haired people saying things like fugeddaboudit – forget about it (forget about it) or how ya doin’? – how’s it going? (how are you doing?). You could see why I could easily be taken aback. Nevertheless these are Americans and behind their gruff exterior they have the heart and brain of warm tapioca putting. It’s just that this form of tapioca pudding had a little crust on the top.

 

 

Syracuse was tonight’s stopping point.

I left the airport at about 5 p.m. I would have a four-hour 250-mile drive from Newark up to Syracuse, New York. I’ll be staying the night there. The Friday night traffic wasn’t all that bad. I was a little tired after just four hours of sleep. A 12-minute power nap as well as a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew and a package of pop tarts kept me going.

 

 

As mentioned just last month son J.J. spearheaded a move to an unlimited data plan with our cellphone carrier AT&T. Now I can watch all the videos I want and listen to all of the SiriusXM satellite radio broadcasts on my iPhone as much as I want. I no longer have to be concerned about using too much data and incurring extra charges.

 

 

I spent most of the drive listening to the Can-Am Duel 150s from the Daytona international Speedway. These are qualifying races that will help determine the lineup for this coming Sunday’s Daytona 500. I recorded that program on TV. I won’t be home to watch it live. Don’t worry I will watch the Daytona 500 when I get time. Tonight, with nothing else to do, I will listen to the races on the radio. I was aghast at the number of commercials that interrupted the broadcast. I don’t do commercials. In my “normal” life I watch everything on a recorded basis.

 

 

 

What do MBAs know? Lots.

J.J. went to UCLA for his MBA degree in the early 2000s. He worked on a special project there. The project’s output concluded that in five years a large number of people would watch all of their TV on a recorded basis. At the time I thought that was an absurd conclusion. However, for me, it was 100% right on. I watch 95% of my TV programs after the fact. Sometimes five minutes after the fact and sometimes five months.

 

 

My plan was to get into my Doubletree Hotel in Syracuse, New York by 10 p.m. eastern time. The UCLA Bruins would be be playing host to the Utah Utes in a Pac-12 basketball match up at 10:07 p.m. Eastern time. I would be able to catch that on the TV in my hotel room. Want to know who won that game? Google it.

 

 

Good stuff cheap.

I paid just $50 plus tax on Priceline.com for my Doubletree Hotel by Hilton in Syracuse. The hotel’s website listed its lowest available price for one traveler at $129 plus tax. I would be saving $80-$90 over the hotel’s best price. Priceline.com rocks.

 

 

We do it differently.

I would also have time to give Carol a quick phone call. We needed to confirm our upcoming travel arrangements. I still had to tell her what airplane she would be taking to Maui, Hawaii. There is no doubt about it we live a most unusual lifestyle.

 

 

There is no way my mother or grandmother would have been comfortable with a Maui vacation with our plan. Would the people you know be O.K. not knowing their flight details for such a long trip three or four days out? Carol trusts me. It took a long time to gain that trust. Sometimes she can be skeptical. However, she knows I will come through for her.

 

 

We are in the midst of taking six trips to Hawaii in the space of about eight months. Not too many people are fortunate enough to do that. Not very many people plan a Hawaii vacation and don’t have much idea about how they’re going to get there just four days before the trip. Yes, we do it differently.

 

 

Tolerance for ambiguity!

I pride myself with having a “tolerance for ambiguity”. What does that mean? I am most comfortable with not knowing exactly what the outcome of my plan is going to be. I just know that I will end up with a good outcome if I am patient enough to let the plan develop on its own. I am more than willing to have “tolerance for ambiguity”. You’ll be hearing more about this in the future.

 

 

 

FRIDAY

 

 

Continuing the march.

This morning I continued my march into northern Quebec, Canada from the sleepy little seaside village of San Clemente California. The night before I slept overnight in an airport terminal. That meant that sleeping in a quality hotel bed last night felt very good.

 

 

I think I have finally gotten into a groove of exercising nearly every day. I started this trend in October, 2015. Then I was trying to make my combination trackchasing/exercising goal. They say in order to form a habit you have to do something for a long time. Then it becomes a more normal course of action. This morning I spent 45 minutes on a quality elliptical trainer overlooking the Doubletree hotels indoor swimming pool. The pool was overlooking a cold and snowy Syracuse, New York exterior.

 

 

I didn’t pack what?

Today was day three of my super winter international ice racing trip. I had a great surprise in store for me. I found out that I did not pack any underwear in my carry-on bag for the trip. I could have sworn I pulled several pairs of underwear out of the drawer. That meant I was on day three of my current underwear. I had just completed a 45-minute aerobic exercise with those very same shorts. Too much information?

 

 

I take such things lightly. Remember I had a tolerance for ambiguity. This wasn’t going to be too big of a problem. I had time to do some shopping. I simply asked my iPhone to take me to Costco. Soon I was walking in the door of the Costco in a nearby Syracuse suburban.

 

 

I love Costco.

I absolutely love shopping in Costco. They have two things that can’t be beat. What would that be? High quality and low prices. If you see something in Costco you know you’re getting a good deal. The per-unit price compared to virtually anywhere else will be lower. The quality will be good.

 

 

Underwear and big screen TVs.

However before I bought any underwear I first had to check out their big screen TV selection. Just three days ago I purchased a 65-inch curved for 4G TV. I bought it at my local Costco in San Juan, Capistrano. The only challenge was delicately informing Carol of the purchase.

 

 

I was anxious to see if the Syracuse Costco location stocked that TV. If so would the price they offered be the same price I paid. They did stock that TV. The price was identical to what I had paid. I guess I was happy with that information.

 

 

From there I found the underwear section and selected a three pack. I was a little uncertain about getting the correct size. The only way to know for sure was to check my current underwear. I had bought only one pair on the trip. I was wearing that pair. Checking the size didn’t seem prudent given the situation.

 

 

Dining at Costco.

If you are a Costco member you know these things. You can buy a very large hot dog plus a 20-ounce fountain soft drink for just a dollar 50. That was the price when Costco first started. They say that it will never ever ever change. That’s a pretty good deal.

 

 

I am nearly famous.

Did you also know that the company I am retired from, Procter & Gamble, is an $80 billion firm? It’s about the 10th largest company in the world. Procter & Gamble has nearly 30 individual brands that each do $1 billion or more in sales. One of those brands is Olay. I’m proud to say that I sold Olay into what would later become Costco’s very first store for the very first time. That’s right. Olay was never ever in a “club” store until I sold it in the first time. That means that the names “Costco – Olay – Procter & Gamble – Randy Lewis” are linked forever and ever.

 

 

I would have lunch at Costco. First I started off with a large slice of freshly baked cheese pizza. I had a fountain drink and a berry smoothie. A little bit later I couldn’t resist a one dollar churro and another slice of cheese pizza. I planned to take that with me for the road. This entire concoction of edibles cost me less than $10. The quality was excellent.

 

 

I passed on the Costco gasoline priced at a dollar 67 a gallon. I’d seen other stations in Syracuse at a buck 69 so there wasn’t much savings there. At home Costco is priced $0.20-40 cents cheaper than the competition. I would wait until I was nearly at the Canadian border to fill up even though I did end up paying a dollar 89 a gallon.

 

 

NASCAR…watch and learn.

How long will I be in Canada. Some folks might measure their stay in days. I think about things differently. I’m going to be in Canada for about two full tanks of gas . Every drop counts when filling the tank. Every drop counts when running the tank down to near empty. Yep, I learned just about everything I know from somebody else. I learned this little gasoline trick from the boys at NASCAR.

 

 

Randy, you are a romantic fool.

When I am traveling I am constantly texting messages and photos to my family and friends. I texted a panoramic picture (above) of my lunch to Carol. Included in that photo was the package of underwear that I just purchased from Costco to Carol. Yes, I know what you’re saying. “Randy, you are a romantic fool”. Yes I’ve heard that before. Why is this noteworthy?

 

 

I commonly refer to our home back in San Clemente as a “modest seaside cottage”. Actually the place does have a good deal of square footage. I am constantly amazed by something Carol does. If I move the smallest little item in the biggest house that we have ever owned Carol will notice that movement within a couple of hours. Her skill in this area is beyond amazing. Heck I haven’t even BEEN in all the rooms yet and we’ve lived there for nearly 15 years.

 

 

Shortly after I texted the picture of my multi-item lunch as well as my underwear I got a text back from Carol. She was bringing to my attention that all of the underwear that I had bought from Costco in the past was XXL. The underwear package in the picture, which you can see above, was sized XL. Carol has an iPhone. That gives her the capability of expanding any photo she receives. She had expanded the above photo. She did this to confirm the size I had bought. In her text she was getting back to me to remind me that this might not be the size for me. Talk about attention to detail. Carol is an amazing and wonderful woman.

 

 

After my visit to Costco it was time to get driving. I was planning to stay in the small town of Val-d’Or, Quebec tonight. That village was going to be about 7-8 hours driving up the road.

 

 

Hello Canada.

I crossed into Canada in the province of Ontario. Where was the border crossing? I have no idea. I follow my GPS system religiously. Do you think Catholics question the Bible? I follow the word…the GPS word.

 

 

Over the years I have been with friends who either had not been introduced to GPS or were just learning of GPS capabilities. They simply could NOT give up the paper map. I encouraged them too but they couldn’t. Remember, I have a “tolerance for ambiguity”. I know if I have good systems and good hardware the plan will work. I don’t need paper maps from the 20^th century as a pacifier. No disrespect to my friends in these examples. I like my friends because their behavior entertains me.

 

 

I would be passing through Ottawa, Canada. I figured I needed to give the “underwear purchase” another try. Carol could always take back my incorrect purchase to Costco at a later date.

 

 

I soon found a Wal-Mart. It was nearby. I would have preferred Costco but it was now snowing. Their nearest outlet was too far out of the way.

 

 

Surprises.

I was surprised to see the store signs inside Wal-Mart were first in French and then in English. I had not thought of Ottawa as being primarily French speaking. I picked up a twin pack and was soon on my way.

 

 

I was now leaving city confines of Ottawa. I was going to have a four-hour drive on a two-lane road out in the middle of nowhere. To add some adventure it was beginning to snow heavily and the winds blew strongly.

 

 

No nothing.

For almost all of this four-hour drive, after dark, there were no small towns, no restaurants, no gas stations, no nothing. I had plenty of gas after filling up just before I crossed the Canadian border. I had enough snacks to make it through.

 

 

I was surprised there were no snow plows on the road. The snow on the highway was beginning to build up. The fastest I could drive safely was about 35 MPH. In my normal driving I would say I pass four cars for every one that passes me. Tonight I didn’t pass a single vehicle in four hours of driving. However, the Canadian drivers flew past me. How can you drive 65 MPH on a two-lane snow covered road in a driving and blinding snow storm? Crazy!

 

 

This drive required a good deal of concentration. The snow was so heavy most of the time that I couldn’t see much of anything with my bright lights on. With my bright lights off the car’s headlights didn’t provide much illumination. My Lexus has some of the brightest headlights I have ever seen.

 

 

I was being extra careful. I listened to my podcasts to help the time pass. There were no highway rest areas. When “nature called” I had to guess when there would be no traffic coming and make a “quick pit stop.” Again, too much information?

 

 

Dang. I made the wrong choice.

When I was just 30 miles from my destination I had a quick decision to make. I made the wrong decision. In the blinding snow I noticed what looked like a divided highway coming up.

 

 

If it was a divided highway I certainly did not want to go left. That might put me directly into a traffic pattern where everyone was going in the opposite direction of me. That wouldn’t be good.

 

 

I didn’t know for sure if this WAS a divided highway. I was coming up on I choice I had to make quickly. I chose to go right at the divide. In hindsight I now know the “right turn choice” was an off-ramp to a rest area. In the dark and the snow that was not obvious.

 

 

I wasn’t sleepy. I wasn’t messing with me phone. The weather conditions combined with the darkness of night compounded the problem. If I had it to do all over again I might have made the same choice.

 

 

I had driven slowly all night. I still wasn’t driving all that fast, may be about 40 MPH. However 40 MPH is not the speed you want to be taking a curved off-ramp with a road covered in 2-3 inches of snow.

 

 

As they say in NASCAR before they hit the wall…”I knew this was going to hurt”.

It soon became obvious I was not going to make it through the situation without some hurt. When I hit the brakes the car slowed some but it wasn’t enough. I made it around the turn but I could see tall snow banks coming up quickly. Imagine what happens when a NASCAR driver blows a right front tire just as they enter the turn. The car drives straight into the wall.

 

 

At this point I was out of control. My car slid into the snow bank. The left front tire hit the snow with a strong thud. It almost seemed as if I had contacted a hidden curb inside the snow bank. This didn’t sound good. I hesitated to see what the damage might be.

 

 

I thought at a minimum I would have a flat tire. I suspected a broken wheel and body damage. When I exited the car there was no flat tire. There was no body damage. There was no damage to the wheel. Had I escaped this adventure with zero damage? It seemed so. Off I went for the last thirty miles of my drive to Val-d’Or. The car drove fine. There was absolutely no alignment problem at all.

 

 

They don’t plow the city streets?

In Val-d’Or I was surprised with how bad the roads were. In some places there might have been six inches of snow on the city streets. To get to my hotel I would have to drive straight up a hill. That hill might have been 100 yards long. It was covered in snow on a street that had not been plowed.

 

 

I almost made it.

I made it almost to the top of that hill. Then my momentum stalled. The car’s front wheel drive wheels were spinning now. They were spinning fast. I had to rock the car back and forth a time or two. Finally with me hitting the gas and the rubber burning I cleared the hill.

 

 

Just as I made a left hand turn my GPS system told me my destination was only 700 feet ahead. Whew! I had made it…or had I?

 

 

Suddenly it felt as if I had driven over a huge clump of snow. The car became hard to steer. Was this big block of snow lodged inside the wheel well? I stopped the car to see what was up. I was in the middle of a heavily covered snowy street.

 

 

This was a game changer!

What I saw was going to alter this trip a good deal. The entire left front wheel assembly had collapsed. This car was not going anywhere with me driving it again.

 

 

In a way I felt most fortunate to be just 700 feet from the hotel. I got my gear, most of it anyway, and started drudging through the snow. It was nearly midnight. A young man saw me and offered a ride over the short distance to the hotel. That was nice of him although the walk would not have been all that long. At least now I could add “hitchhiking” to my list of transportation methods.

 

 

This changed everything, absolutely everything.

This was a sudden change of plans. Not having a car was a VERY BIG DEAL. I had big plans for the Hyundai Sonata I had picked up with just 99 miles on the odometer.

 

 

I did not fully realize at this point what a hassle I was in for. If you continue reading you will get the full story. I was suddenly facing a big problem with very limited options. One of the things I dislike most in life is not having options. What is the ultimate lack of options? Death.

 

My new friend Joyce was trying to help.

I was lucky to meet a very helpful hotel desk clerk at the Quality Inn. Her name was Joyce. She spoke English well. As a matter of fact she grew up in an English speaking family in Quebec. How likely was that in Quebec?

 

 

Joyce and I strategized. She suggested I rent another car. You know I had been thinking the same thing myself. However, just two rental car companies service the Val-d’Or Regional Airport. It was now Friday night at midnight. The websites I checked told me BOTH rental car companies and ALL rental car companies in town were CLOSED on both Saturday and Sunday over the weekend. What?

 

 

In one sense I was lucky to be staying in a small town that was big enough to have a commercial airport. However, that wasn’t of much use to me if I couldn’t rent another car.

 

 

Three objectives….all in jeopardy.

I was facing trouble. I really had three time-specific objectives that would make this trip a success or failure. First, I had to be at the Dupuy Ice Track on Saturday at 1 p.m. Then I had to be at the Lac Roxton Ice Track on Sunday at 10 a.m. Finally, I had to get to Maui, Hawaii by late Monday night.

 

 

Folks, I pride myself on getting the job done. If you’ve read these reports very often you know I am frequently faced with difficult logistical issues. I almost always come through.

 

 

However, I was in a small town in Quebec. Most people speak only French here. I couldn’t get a rental car. I couldn’t get an airplane ride (it was spring break in the area and the few flights they had were booked). I had problems. Not the least of which was the fact my car was still stuck in the middle of a city street.

 

 

Joyce was trying to help me.

Joyce, the hotel desk clerk, suggested I might be able to use her car for the five-hour round-trip ride to Dupuy tomorrow morning. She also thought maybe her brother-in-law might drive me up there…for a fee. She would be getting off the graveyard shift tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. She suggested I come back at 6:30 a.m. to see if any of those ideas might work. She also thought her colleague who was coming in at 7 a.m. might have more ideas. I needed to be on the road by 10 a.m. so there wouldn’t be much time to waste in the morning.

 

 

What was I going to do about my broken rental car?

Next up I had to deal with my disabled car. It had been the better part of an hour since I had left it in the middle of a snow-covered street. I bundled up with all my winter clothes and began the walk from the hotel to the car. I wasn’t the only one looking for the car!

 

 

Please say hello to the French Canadian police.

I could see a French Canadian police car with its lights flashing right behind my car. I don’t know if I was lucky or not. The Val-d’Or police station was located in the 700 feet between my car and the Quality Inn Hotel where I was staying. How’s THAT for luck?

 

The police officer was about 30 years of age and wearing a bullet proof vest. Luckily he spoke enough English for us to work together. His partner stayed inside the police car. The officer asked for my driver’s license. The policeman told me a towing service had been called. Things were moving fast.

 

 

It was now past 1 a.m. Soon the tow truck driver showed up. That driver didn’t speak much English. The police officer told me the towing charge would be $80 Canadian or about $50 U.S. It could have been worse. In reality, later on, it WAS worse much worse.

 

 

When you rent a car you never want to see this.

Soon I was seeing my brand new rental car loaded on a flat bed tow truck and moving away. Quickly it was out of my site. The cops moved on after offering me a ride back to my hotel. I declined that offer. I trudged through the snow the “700 feet” to the Quality Inn.

 

 

One of the most frustrating parts of the trip.

I made some phone calls to National. Could they get me a replacement vehicle on “crash and burn” timing? There was a lot of problems talking to the right people at nearly 2 a.m. about a car I had picked up in the U.S. and that had now become disabled in Canada. This was a very frustrating process. I was on hold more than I was talking to people. Nobody could really help me. Some of the offers for “help” were so comical it made me cry. It reminded me that lots of people don’t listen well. If they did how could they make such goofy recommendations?

 

 

I finally made it to bed at past 2 a.m. I had not solved any of the problems I had created. Trust me, I had not forgotten who had made the big mistake…me. I needed to be up and at the front desk by 6:30 a.m. to see what Joyce the desk clerk had come up with.

 

 

That meant I would not be able to sleep late in this nice hotel. I had planned on that. That was a lot of uncertainty as I flicked off the lights for the evening.

 

 

It good have been worse but it was still bad.

I was personally safe. That was a good thing. All through the “spin out in the snow” I never felt personally in danger. I think my limited race driving experience helped with that.

 

 

However, all of my plans were now in jeopardy. The trip could be ruined in so many ways at this point. I hadn’t even given much thought as to my financial liability. The answer to that question would come down the road a good ways.

 

 

 

 

SATURDAY

 

 

I was pretty much back to square one….no real good solutions.

I woke up at 6 a.m. after just four hours of fitful sleep. I needed to head down to the front desk. Joyce, my hotel contact was getting off work at 7 p.m. She had promised to come up with some ideas on getting me to today’s racing in Dupuy, Quebec.

 

 

However, Joyce seemed to have cooled on her enthusiasm for this project overnight. I don’t think she wanted to lend me her car anymore. It sounded as if her brother-in-law was not going to be interested in driving me to the track. I don’t blame her on any count.

 

 

Here was a new idea. This might save part of the trip.

However, her colleague who was replacing her this morning had a new idea. The Val-d’Or airport is home to just two rental car companies. Both Joyce and I had checked them out separately. Their websites both clearly explained they were open only Monday-Friday and closed on the weekends.

 

 

However, Marcel, Joyce’s replacement knew that the Budget Rental Car office at the airport was open on Saturdays…..for one hour. Apparently they were open to meet an incoming flight.

 

Finally some light at the end of the tunnel.

That was my opening….for Saturday’s race at least. I made a quick call to Budget’s toll-free phone line. Soon I had a full-sized car at a price of $86 Canadian for the day. With the current conversion rate of one Canadian dollar for 72 American cents that came to about $62 U.S.

 

 

But wait. There was more! I would also have to pay a “kilometer charge” for all kilometers driven over one hundred fifty. I almost never accept a rental car contract when “excess driving” comes with a financial penalty. However, today I was behind the eight ball. I had no choice but to accept their terms.

 

 

I would end up driving this car about 400 KM. Each KM over the 150 would cost me $0.27 Canadian or about $0.20 American. That was another fifty bucks for a total of about $110 for the day’s worth of rental.

 

 

I normally pay $30-40 U.S. for a full-sized rental car and often times less. Although I was paying three times my normal price I was happy to get the car.

 

 

Of course I had to ride a taxi out to the airport to get the rental car. That was an extra $20 Canadian. Yes, my mistake in judgment last night was costing me more as each minute passed.

 

 

I could have been an axe murderer.

I went to the Budget Rental Car counter to finalize the paperwork for my car. There I met a young woman who didn’t speak much English. She was expecting me. I told her my name. She handed over the paperwork and car keys. She didn’t ask for my driver’s license or any identification whatsoever. That was unusual but I wasn’t going to pursue the idea.

 

 

I walked out to the rental car parking lot. I found my car covered in several inches of fresh snow. Cars up here include a snow brush and ice scraper for obvious reasons. I soon found out I had rented a dark blue Hyundai Elantra. Off I went toward Dupuy, Quebec.

 

 

I had plenty of time to get there. The one-way drive would be a bit more than two hours. I drove over two-lane highways and through several small towns. It had snowed last night. Everyone was out with their snow blowers and slow plow attachments. They were removing the snow from their driveways and the like.

 

 

I felt like yelling at the top of my lungs.

I felt like stopping and yelling at the top of my lungs, “Stop! By the Fourth of July all of this will be melted. You’re wasting your time. Go back inside your house and have some hot chocolate”. However, I didn’t. These folks speak French and never would have understood what I was saying.

 

 

Meet Dupuy, Quebec.

Today’s destination Dupuy, Quebec is a little bitty town. Its population is just 910. The place was incorporated back in 1918. According to the 2011 census 100% of the people speak French and 0% speak English as their primary language. Wow! Hou la la!

 

 

I didn’t know what food if any would be offered at the racetrack. That’s why when I saw a McDonald’s 10 KM south of Dupuy I pulled in.

 

 

These Americans should not be allowed to leave the country.

I think any American who eats at McDonalds to either save money or be “safe” with their food consumption should never have left America in the first place. I really believe this to be true. However, I had two reasons for stopping at Mickey D’s that I found acceptable.

 

 

First, I didn’t have a lot of time. I couldn’t go hungry. With other circumstances I would loved to have stopped at a totally French Canadian eatery. Secondly, I secretly knew that McDonalds offers poutine in locations like this. I had never tried McDonalds poutine. I will stop at international McDonalds to try offerings not on the American menus of the world’s #1 fast food chain.

 

Apple Pay speaks French.

I was in an area where 100% of the people spoke French. Nevertheless, I was able to use Apple Pay to pay for my meal. I could tell the tall female counter person was rather proud of herself for being able to understand what I wanted when I spoke English.

 

 

The poutine was served in a cardboard box. I found that a bit strange but effective container. By the way, for the uninitiated Poutine is a concoction of French Fries, brown gravy and white mozzarella type cheese. I love it.

 

 

This was unusual.

It was interesting to note how many older people were sitting at the tables inside the restaurant. Some were reading the paper. Others were doing crosswords puzzles. I’ve never been into crossword puzzles. It frustrates me too much when I can’t figure them out.

 

 

 

THE RACING – PART 1

 

 

Dupuy Ice and Snow Track – Dupuy, Quebec, Canada

 

 

I was fully prepared for ice racing.

From there I drove the last 10 KM to what would become my 2,195^th lifetime track. I was there some 45 minutes before I expected the races to begin at 1 p.m. Usually I am early to these events.

 

 

I could tell this was going to be rural environment. I parked on a side street in front of a local home. I was less than a block from the track.

 

 

I sat in the car for a few moments organizing my ice racing gear. Carol had just given me a very thin insulated t-shirt for cold weather environments. I had long underwear, both tops and bottoms. I had winter woolen socks. With higher than normal temperatures I had not brought along my toe warmers.

 

 

I had a lightweight sweater. Then there was my heavy duty ski jacket. I have a complete head sock like race drivers wear to protect themselves from fire. I have a serious pair of REI ski goggles. Then there was my stocking cap and Nike sunglasses. My gloves are multi-layered to protect against the cold. I had hand warmers as well. My shoes are slip on boots from REI sized 14. I also have “ice cleats” that fit over my boots. I didn’t use these today because I would be walking primarily on snow. The ice cleats are best used on ice. With all of that stuff it was time to head to the track. Ain’t ice racing fun!

 

 

The least expensive race ticket I would buy in all of 2016?

Today’s admission price was just $5 Canadian or about $3.50 U.S. This might be my cheapest ticket price in all of 2016 not counting the places that don’t charge the World’s #1 Trackchaser anything to get in.

 

 

I understood enough French to know when the driver’s meeting was being held. This is a bit weird. It’s weird to see what looks like a traditional driver’s meeting with non-English speakers running the thing.

 

 

Today’s ice and snow track was pretty much a tri-oval. I’m going to say it was about ½-mile long. The backstretch was situated a good 40-50 feet or more higher than the front stretch.

 

 

They had a good P.A. system. However, all communication was in French. That was to be expected. Nearly 100% of the local residents speak French as their primary language. There was also an indoor concession area and “washroom”. A nice 4-5 high wooden grandstand had been constructed over the length of the front straight.

 

 

Were these racecars driven to work last week?

Today the crowd would be seeing “junk cars” race. Some of these racing machines looked like they might have been “work” cars last week! There were not a lot of racing modifications added. I don’t think any of the cars had roll cages.

 

 

Can we just be obvious?

Today’s ice and snow racing surface covered a dirt surface and was not part of a frozen lake. That seems like a pretty smart idea considering most ice racing clubs are cancelling their races for….wait for it….lack of ice.

 

 

Some would call a race over ice and snow that covers a dirt surface a “dirt oval”. I call it an ice and snow or ice oval. Why? You’re not gonna believe this one. It’s because the cars are racing on ice and snow and not dirt. That’s right. I try to keep life both simple and real.

 

 

Bad math or good plan?

There were about 15 cars racing today. The first three races had 6-6-3 entrants. I don’t know if there were different classes based upon engine size or whatever. I don’t speak French. Maybe the race director was just bad at math.

 

 

They ran a series of about eight races with these fifteen cars. Each race was run quickly one after another. I had no idea how many races were on the agenda today. I had no idea if today’s races were heat races, features cancelled from long ago and re-run today, last chances races or what.

 

 

When I saw a significant part of the crowd heading for the exits I figured the races might be finished or about finished. I know I had seen all I needed to see to say I had seen the “Dupuy experience”. Don’t miss the photos and race video from today.

 

 

Today’s temperature was -1 degree Centigrade. That’s about 30 degrees for you folks who live in America. However, there was a steady wind. It’s always the wind isn’t it?

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES – PART 1

 

 

Teaching those youngins’ a thing or two.

After the races I stopped at McDonald’s again. I am generally against eating at McDonald’s on foreign trips. However, there are some exceptions to this rule as mentioned previously.

 

 

McDonald’s can always be counted on for good restrooms and free Wi-Fi. I like trying items that are only available in foreign country stores.

 

I had some more poutine. It was good. The two kids taking my order were absolutely blown away by my Apple Pay usage. I love it when a 67-year old is leading the way in technology usage with teenagers!

 

 

This doesn’t happen without an iPhone…and a data plan.

I was back in Val-d’Or by 6 p.m. I had a lot of work ahead of me tonight. I used my iPhone continuously. I was working on things that were going to make the rest of this trackchasing trip a success after my early setback.

 

 

I had regretted something on this trip. I didn’t have enough time to eat in local sit-down restaurants. If Carol had been with me I would have made time for that.

 

 

However, my mind was on more important things than eating local food. Local food eating is important. Nevertheless, it is trumped by track counting. Virtually everything is trumped by track counting. Trackchasing is a very competitive hobby. The hobby itself is all about track counting.

 

 

I had a million things going through my time.

I had lots of things on my mind. I needed to find a way to get down to Montreal for tomorrow’s 10 a.m. race time. I couldn’t drive my Val-d’Or car to Montreal. Budget Rental Car would not allow it. If I did drive it to Montreal I would have to return it to Val-d’Or. If I did that I would never make it to Maui on Monday night.

 

 

I had checked earlier with the Air Canada rep at the airport. He told me the local schools had just gone on spring break this weekend. Everyone was leaving Val-d’Or for their vacations and the flights were overbooked. I would not be able to catch a flight out of Val-d’Or flying standby.

 

 

I had another issue to resolve. I couldn’t leave Val-d’Or for Montreal with my damaged rental car sitting in a Val-d’Or storage yard. I needed to get that car to the airport. That way the National folks, when they came in next Monday, could close out my contract. If the contract wasn’t closed I couldn’t rent another National car. I had a reservation with National in Maui on Monday night when Carol and I arrived in Hawaii.

 

 

I had an idea.

Folks there was a LOT going on. I didn’t want to pay another $80 Canadian to have the folks who did my first tow take the car to the airport. I had an idea.

 

 

I would call AAA. I’m a member and have been for thirty years. I would have them go to the towing yard where my car was parked. They could pick up my broken rental car and flat bed it out to the airport.

 

 

However, that would be easier talked about than done. While I was driving back from the racing in Dupuy I called the AAA people. Could they meet me at the towing yard at 5:15 p.m.? No, they didn’t normally make “appointments” like that. However, with a little cajoling things might work. The more than helpful AAA rep told me she would try to make my request happen.

 

 

Translation please.

Then I called the towing yard where my car was located. They don’t maintain an active office there. O.K., let me be a little more specific. I actually called the front desk at the Quality Inn hotel. There the very helpful front desk employee CALLED the towing yard and asked them to meet me and the AAA guy at 5:15 p.m. I knew they only spoke French at the towing yard. The hotel clerk could translate things for me.

 

 

It was now a little past 4 p.m. Everyone was telling me that both towing companies would have people meet me at 5:15 p.m. I thought to myself. What were the chances all of that would happen?

 

 

With my GPS unit working overtime in a foreign country I arrived at the towing yard at 5:15 p.m. In a miracle of all time the two tow trucks drivers showed up at about that time too. I never would have believed that.

 

 

Pay me know or you don’t get your car.

First, I would have to settle the bill with the towing company that had taken my car to their yard on Friday night. Heck, that was less than 24 hours ago but seemed as if it was more than 24 days ago.

 

 

Recall, the Canadian police office had told me in English the towing bill would be $80 Canadian. Wait. I think you know where I’m going with this.

 

 

No NOT $80 Canadian.

Yes, the towing charge was $80. However, there were some “extras”. They were charging me $20 each day for storage. Yesterday, my car had been in their yard for about one hour. Nevertheless I was charged for a full day. Then there were two separate $40 charges. The first 40 Canadian bucks was for the tow truck driver to come out and make the tow! I guess it was $80 for the truck and another $40 for the driver. Then, when I left $20 worth of underwear and a travel neck pillow in the car, I asked if I could come to the yard and get that stuff. Yes, I could I was told.

 

 

I paid a taxi driver $20 round-trip to take me over to the towing yard. I was met their by the tow truck driver. I received my stuff. Now I was being charged $40 for the driver having met me there. That’s right I paid $40 Canadian to pick up $12 U.S. worth of underwear!

 

 

All of this added up to $200 Canadian. But wait. There’s more. There was Canadian tax to consider. That added another $30 to the bill.

 

 

My car had been towed once and been in their lot for about 18 hours. I was facing a $230 Canadian bill. I protested. The tow truck driver brought in his girlfriend to act as a translator. We got the boss on the phone. He only spoke French and would not negotiate. I paid the $230! However, I left them a nice little “review” on Yelp!

 

 

From one flatbed to another.

Now I had to have my AAA tow truck driver put my rental car on HIS flat bed. Mind you all of this was going on in windy cold Canadian winter weather.

 

 

Soon we were all set. I hopped in the flat bed tow truck. Off we went with my rental car. Folks, this is not how I return most of my rental cars to the airport!

 

 

Deserted.

I think the tow truck drivers did more damage to the car’s front end each time they drug it up on the flat bed. When we arrived at the airport the whole place was shut down.

 

 

There were no passengers. There were no more planes coming in on a Saturday night. There was no one at the rental car counter. Except for a couple of security guards the place was a ghost town.

 

 

It was interesting talking to the AAA tow truck driver. I value these interactions with local people. We unloaded the damaged rental car in space #18 of the snow covered airport parking lot.

 

 

What else could I do?

I went inside the airport. I wrote a quick note explaining the situation. I folded my note around the car keys and left everything on the rental car desk. Hopefully, when they came in on Monday morning they would see what I had written. I asked them to close on my contract. That way I could rent our car in Maui.

 

 

I have one more major issue to solve this evening.

I was still facing one major issue. I had to get down to Montreal, a seven hour drive from Val-d-‘Or, in time for tomorrow’s ice racing. My options were limited.

 

 

There were no flights available. There were no rental car options from where I was in Val-d’Or. It was now 7 p.m. What could I do?

 

 

Golf mirrors life.

Folks did you know that “golf mirrors life”? It does. When I was a more active golfer my common phrase was “keep flying the airplane”. What did that mean? Don’t give up until you crash and die.

 

 

That’s good advice for virtually every situation you encounter in life. I remembered that Joyce the Quality Inn desk clerk had said somewhere in our conversation, “You could take the bus”. That didn’t seem all that realistic at the time.

 

 

I had not given that much thought at the time. It was 7 p.m. In 15 hours I needed to be standing on the frozen ice of Lac Roxton. It was a 7-8 hour drive from where I was to Montreal. It was another hours drive from Montreal to Roxton Pond.

 

 

Never say never.

I pretty much figured the only way I could make it is if there was an overnight bus to Montreal. Who would want to ride a bus for seven hours overnight. I didn’t figure anyone would.

 

 

However, I let my fingers do the walking on my iPhone. I soon found there were three daily bus trips from Val-d’Or to Montreal. Somewhat astonishingly one of them left at 11:30 p.m. It was arrived into Montreal at about 7 a.m. Wow! Hou la la!

 

 

I quickly called the bus station. Yes! There was a bus leaving in 3-4 hours for Montreal. I booked some space. I made a quick stop at Tim Horton’s for my evening meal. Some Canadians have told me that Tim Horton’s is not that highly rated by Canadian nationals. I have always liked “Timmy’s”. However, I am starting to see the stated Canadian point of view.

 

 

Next, I had to return my Budget rental car to the deserted Val-d’Or airport. Remember, this was the SECOND car I had rented on this trip. I went inside and wrote a note to Budget. I included the car keys. Now I had two sets of car keys and two sets of notes at the vacant rental car desks of the Val-d’Or airport. I was the airport’s best customer!

 

 

Then I had to call a taxi. For ANOTHER $20 Canadian I got a ride from the airport to the bus station. I was early by about two hours for the 11:30 p.m. bus departure.

 

 

What do you think the one-way bus ticket would cost. Remember it was a 7 ½ hour one-way ride. I paid $90 Canadian, a $16 savings, because I had reached the age of 60 without having died.

 

 

I don’t think Carol really understood what I was going through.

I called Carol to tell her how the trip was going. Had she been having a glass of wine while sitting on the deck watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean? I sensed she really had no clue what it was taking to make this happen the way I wanted it to happen. Not to worry. I didn’t want to worry her.

 

 

At 11:30 p.m. I was joined by about 10-12 twenty-somethings. They were riding the bus to save money and have a big time in the big city.

 

 

I quickly grabbed a seat in the first row of the bus. They say the best students sit in the front right. However, as we began our journey what I saw from the front row frightened me.

 

 

I had a perfect few of the 40-something female driver. What frightened me? From time to time she put on her reading glasses to read stuff from her phone. Mind you we were barreling down a two-lane snow-covered highway in a Greyhound bus at 65 MPH.

 

 

At the next stop I asked her if it was O.K. if I changed my seat. I got the O.K. I went back about five rows. Ignorance in bliss right? Now I didn’t worry as much about my bus driver falling a sleep or crashing because she was reading a text.

 

 

Every time I had seen her read something from her phone, she had to tilt her head to the left. I could literally see the inattention to the road. It reminded me I had best be careful reading anything on my phone while I drove.

 

 

Soon I dozed off the best I could. I might have slept for 4-5 hours. On schedule we arrived into the Montreal bus stop at about 6:30 a.m. For $10 Canadian I bought a ticket for a shuttle to the airport. There I would rent another car and this trip would be back on track.  

 

 

 

SUNDAY

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES – PART 2

 

 

 

I rode the bus from Val-d’Or to Montreal overnight. It really wasn’t a bad ride. They were only 10-15 passengers mainly people in their 20s on board.

 

 

I arrived into the Montreal bus station at about 7 a.m. A couple of quick questions yielded a shuttle ticket from the bus station to Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. The fee was only $10 Canadian or about seven dollars U.S., quite reasonable.

 

I also exchanged a quick $40 U.S. for a about $48 Canadian. That would give me a safety blanket if I had to use Canadian cash much more this weekend. I had not planned on spending so much cash, any really, on taxis over the past few days in Val-d’Or.

 

 

By 8 a.m. I arrived at the Trudeau airport. I quickly picked up my Alamo Rental Car. That seemed like it might be the last hurdle in achieving all three of this trip’s objectives. Those would be 1) seeing a race in Dupuy, 2) seeing a race in Roxton Pond and 3) getting back in time to join Carol in Maui.

 

 

I was minorly concerned that Alamo might not give me a car. Alamo, National and Enterprise rental cars are all owned by the same mega corporation. With National Car Rental you can’t rent a car if you still have another National car on an open contract. My Newark originated National rental car was still technically on an “open contract”. I had returned the car last evening on a flatbed truck to the Val-d’Or airport. But since the Val-d’Or’s National counter doesn’t open until Monday it my car wasn’t officially checked in yet.

 

Nevertheless Alamo gave me a brand-new Buick Regal for my trip down to Newark, New Jersey’s Liberty International Airport. My one-way rental fee was about $60 U.S. That was a steal for a one-way rental.

 

 

Both Alamo and Enterprise had very inexpensive one-way rates. However if they wouldn’t give me a car because my contract was not closed out on my National car I could spend a lot more money. The other car companies were charging $150 and much more for the same route today. I couldn’t believe my good luck in getting a one-way rental that would take me back to Newark. If I hadn’t gotten this rental and a way back to New Jersey Carol and I would have had to make alternate plans for getting to Maui, Hawaii tomorrow. I certainly didn’t want that to happen.

 

 

I know you hear me speak frequently about managing technology. There’s one thing that’s kind of funny or maybe ironic about the use of technology. People get used to some new technological advantage. I believe they then seem to think of it as having been there all the time. It becomes difficult to imagine what life was like before the new piece of technology came along.

 

 

Here’s an example of how technology worked for me today. When I hopped in the new Buick I quickly “paired” my iPhone with the car’s audio system. Now all of my podcasts and SiriusXM satellite radio programs etc. could be heard not from my phone but through the car’s better speaker system.

 

 

I’ve been using GPS for well over 10 years. It took me a long time to convince other trackchasers to try GPS. Not I’ve got to guess most people are now working with GPS. I pride myself in being an early adapter with most tech opportunities. Often I am encouraged by our son J.J. to try these new ideas and products.

 

 

Of course when it came time to get some lunch today I immediately consulted Yelp! I was in the market for poutine. If you’re in Quebec, Canada it’s not difficult to find poutine. However, I wanted to find the most highly recommended Quebec restaurant serving this delicacy. I want “good stuff” in life. I did that and I’ll tell you about it soon.

 

 

 

THE RACING – PART 2

 

Lac Roxton Ice Track – Roxton Pond, Quebec, Canada

 

 

Always planning ahead.

When I pulled into the Lac Roxton parking lot I quickly did a GPS mileage search. I wanted to find out how long it was going to take me to drive to Newark, New Jersey after the racing this morning. I noticed that I could arrive around 8 p.m. I would have to leave the hotel at 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning. That meant I would have enough time to get a hotel room tonight. That was a good piece of data. It was especially good considering I had slept overnight on a Greyhound bus last night!

 

 

So here I was in Quebec, Canada. I would need a hotel tonight in Newark, New Jersey. Using my iPhone’s Priceline.com app I quickly secured a room at the Ramada Inn in Newark for a daily night rate of just $64 U.S. That was a great rate for the area.

 

 

I would also need to check in for tomorrow’s airline flight from Newark to Seattle. Of course I could use my iPhone to do that since I was within 24 hours of departure. I added the check-in boarding pass to my “apple wallet” app. Now I’ll just flash my phone at airport security when I’m in the TSA Pre-Check line. I can’t help but smile when I think of one of my more technology challenged buddies. He once told me he “would never ever go to the airport without a paper ticket”. He also told me that texting was “for teenaged girls”. Folks, please don’t get old before your time.

 

 

Of course there were the appropriate texts and later on in the evening phone messages and phone calls to family. I can even text them pictures of my poutine adventure so their mouths will water.

 

 

Improving life.

Technology is there for folks to make their lives more productive and easier. Look at the many things that I mentioned above. Do you think tech made me more productive and made my life just a little bit easier today? I think so by a wide margin compared to years ago or maybe even last year.

 

 

The last ice race of the year?

Today’s ice racing at Roxton Pond, Quebec will likely be my last ice racing adventure of the 2016 season. Based upon all of the standing water on today’s frozen lake I suspect it may be the last ice racing in Quebec this season as well. Today’s temperature was about 35°. With the wind and my standing on the ice all day that was still cold but nothing like it could have been.

 

 

Welcome to Roxton Pond.

Roxton Pond is a small village of just 3,786 residents. Some 96.3% of the folks living here have French as their mother tongue.

 

 

Today’s racing was being held on frozen Lac Roxton. The lake is 123 meters above sea level. The lake has a surface area of 1.9 kilometers.

 

 

Yesterday I paid five dollars Canadian for a very rural ice race. Today I was being charged $20 Canadian which was on the steep side although that translates to about $14 US.

 

 

Today’s racetrack highlight.

A highlight from today’s racing activity was the PA system and the lively music they played. I need to get that soundtrack to motivate me during my powerwalking trips. It was noticeably upbeat and much of it was in English. That’s odd considering Quebec is a strong French-speaking province within Canada.

 

 

Not so much focus on racecars today.

Most of the seventy-five ice racing tracks I have now visited featured automobile racing on ice. However today’s program seemed to focus as much or more on motorcycles and quads as they did with cars.

 

 

 

Ice cleats.

Today I was using my newest addition of “low-tech” ice racing gear. I’m talking about “cleats” that attach to the bottom of my size 14 REI acquired boots.

 

 

I buy most of my “stuff” from Amazon.com. I love reading the reviews and comparing one product within a category against another. I’m never 100% guaranteed I’m going to like whatever it is I buy. I figure I can always return things if they don’t work.

 

 

The ice racing cleats I bought a few weeks ago are made of soft rubber. There are five studs around the ball of the foot and four cleats around the back or heal area. These cleats are easy to apply to my boots and easy to take off when the job is done. For less than 20 bucks they are a great addition to my ice racing apparel arsenal.

 

 

You all know that water freezes at 32°F. I don’t fully understand what type of cold is needed to create ice on a lake. I do know that lakes or other bodies of water that have a strong current are the last to freeze if they ever do.

 

 

2016 – A big bust!

The 2016 ice racing season is going to go down as one of the bigger busts in the history of the sport. The ice racing clubs in New York and New Hampshire haven’t been able to hold a single event and today is February 21. Even Wisconsin and Minnesota, the coldest places I have seen in the continental United States, have had much of their ice racing season canceled.

 

 

The “official” ice racing season runs from pretty much from the first weekend in January through the last weekend in February. I don’t know think I’ve ever seen any ice racing done in December. Once in a while if the winter has been colder than normal ice racing will continue into March.

 

 

Most ice racing clubs require a minimum of 10-12 inches of ice for them safely to hold a ice race. They also have to have good ice from the shore out onto the lake. This way competitors can bring not only their race cars but their trucks and trailers, etc. onto the ice.

 

 

Most ice racing groups race with studded tires. The bigger the studs or spikes the more the ice is torn up. In those circumstances sometimes as much as 18 inches of ice is needed if 4-6 inches of ice are going to be used up in a single racing afternoon.

 

 

How thick was today’s ice?

I have no idea how thick the ice was today. The competitors had all of their trucks, trailers and racecars on the ice so there must not been any problems with ice thickness today.

 

 

All of the PA announcements today were made in French. Therefore I didn’t really know what was being said. However previous research told me I would be seeing racing with motorcycles, quads and cars. I was here to see the cars race but enjoyed the other racing as well.

 

I would have to say the motorcycle racing was the most entertaining of all the classes running today. Those guys had heavily spiked tires. They laid their bikes nearly on their sides as they sped through the turns of today’s ice racing road course. The quads were good too and the cars weren’t bad.

 

 

I did all of my race watching well out onto the lake. Most of the spectators actually sat in grandstands and watched the racing from the shore. I guess those were the “safe” seats but much further from the racing action. It’s very unusual to see grandstands at an ice racing event. Quite often the racing takes place far out onto the lake so viewing from the shore wouldn’t be a practical idea.

 

 

After every couple of races they took 10-15 minutes to groom the track. They had a series of eight or ten snowplows that went out and smoothed the course. Luckily the temperature reached 35°. With not all that much wind these grooming delays were not much of a problem. Had the temperature been 15 degrees below zero it would have been another story.

 

 

As far as I could tell from what I had read about this event before coming to the races things were set to begin at 10 a.m. with feature events at 1 p.m. The best car race featured eight racers. You won’t want to miss the video but you might find the motorcycles to be the most entertaining.

 

 

After seeing all of the competitors race in the morning session I didn’t see any a great need to hang around for racing in early afternoon. I would have a seven-hour drive back down to Newark, New Jersey. Recall I had begun my trip in Newark. I had been standing on the ice for a couple of hours. I had scratched my ice racing itch.

 

 

Always something new.

It is interesting to see the different things people wear to an ice racing activity. I went with the layered approach today given the fact the wind chill was probably 25°. On a cold ice racing days in these parts wind chills can get down to -25 to -50°F. I’ve been there on such occasions.

 

 

I saw something today I hadn’t seen much of when watching ice races in the past. Some fans had small boards to stand on. These created an insulation between their boots and the ice. It must work. Several people were using this approach.

 

 

Foreign track ratios.

When all was said and done today I walked off the ice having seen lifetime track number 2,196. For many years I’ve studied my foreign track ratio as a percentage of the total tracks I have seen. Somewhat surprisingly that number has always stayed between 14-15% of my all-time total.

 

 

Today I was seeing my 133rd lifetime track in Canada. I have now also seen 34 tracks in Quebec. That’s not bad considering I live almost 3,000 miles away.

 

 

Quebec is the only province where I really feel like I’m in a foreign country when in Canada. Why is that? They speak exclusively French in Quebec. The remaining Canadian provinces almost always speak English.

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES – PART 2

 

 

No poutine today?

As I was heading out of the track’s parking lot it dawned on me that I hadn’t eaten any poutine today. I was in Quebec for gosh sakes. If you’re in Quebec on vacation you should be eating poutine at least once a day.

 

 

The number one most recommended poutine restaurant in all of Quebec by Yelp! is the Cantine Ben La Bedaine restaurant. It was less than 5 miles away. How could I pass that up?

 

 

This was a very popular place.

When I entered the restaurant I noticed there was a line up some 20 people waiting to get their Quebec favorite. There was even an employee standing about midway in the line to take advanced orders so everything moved quicker. I probably didn’t wait as much as five minutes despite being in the long line.

 

 

By listening to people ahead of me I discovered I could order “extra frommage” (cheese) for my poutine dish. “Frommage” is one of the few French words I know. My entire bill was about seven dollars for a very large serving of excellent poutine and a drink. I enjoyed the experience greatly and was happy that Yelp! was on my side.

 

 

Time to get serious. Next stop Maui.

Now it was time to get ready for the serious business of driving more than six hours to Newark, New Jersey. My trip originated on the east coast in Newark. I flew there because airfares were supported by my sponsors. It did involve a good deal of driving but I didn’t mind that a bit. I would not be returning in the same car I had begun the trip with.

 

 

Not every trip goes according to plan. Most don’t.

No, this trip had not gone according to plan. Most trips do not. That shouldn’t surprise me but it often does. However with the trip plans falters the life experiences begin. That’s what makes this fun.

 

 

My original plan was to land in Newark on Thursday afternoon and depart Newark on Monday morning. That part of the trip looked like it was going to happen just as I had drawn it up. However I had expected to rent only one car.   I ended up renting three.

 

 

I booked three hotel rooms in advance on Priceline.com. I didn’t get to use the last one and therefore simply forfeited the fee I had paid. I had not expected to ride overnight on a Canadian cross country bus but I did.

 

 

Recently I found a three word description for how I like to look at life most of the time. I consider myself as having a very high “tolerance for ambiguity”

 

 

Tolerance for ambiguity.

Tolerant means accepting. I am accepting of ambiguity. My rough definition of ambiguity is an unknown outcome as long as it’s the best outcome that can be expected from the situation at hand. I am tolerant of ambiguity. Another way of saying it is I am accepting of uncertainty with the outcome.

 

 

Lots of people don’t want to take a chance because they fear the uncertainty of the outcome. As long as I know the outcome is within a certain range I’m willing to take that risk that even though things may not work. I play the odds. If the chances are favorable but not guaranteed that I will get a positive outcome I’m in. That’s right. I have a “tolerance for ambiguity”.

 

 

I came back into the United States at the Canadian/American border crossing. Where was that? All I know is it was some place in New York. There’s really no need to know more than that. If I needed to know more I would.

 

 

You don’t get if you don’t ask.

During the ride back to Newark I made a very important phone call.   I had made a good contact in Newark’s National Rental car office. The young lady was most helpful I had spoken to hear three or four time during the weekend. Today she suggested, at my reminding, that National might “help” me with the towing charges I had incurred.

 

 

I have “juice” with National. I rent 50 or more cars from them every year. I’ve done that for well over twenty years. I would have to talk with a supervisor. Bring it on baby.

 

 

Soon I was talking to a young man. I could tell he was an east coaster from his accent. I also sensed he probably got his share of “negative feedback” being in his position. Lots of people who don’t like what they are hearing from one person “ask for a supervisor”.

 

 

You catch more flies with sugar than vinegar.

I took a 100% different tact. Everything I said was true. I told him the young woman who had helped me through the weekend was the best. She truly was. Now I was gaining traction with the supervisor.

 

 

I told him I had paid $230 Canadian to have my car towed. He asked how much that was in U.S. dollars. I told him “about $150”. With that he made me an offer I could not refuse.

 

 

How about if?

How about if I give you $80 off your $180 rental costs? Then I will also give you two “free days” for future rental car use. I use “free days” on one-way rentals. Those rentals, when I use them, replace rental days that would cost a minimum of $75 per day.

 

 

Time for a recap?

O.K., let’s recap. I paid about $150 U.S. to have my car towed. Now National was giving me about $230 U.S. in “stuff”. That was a good deal.

 

 

Mind you this was the FIRST offer the National supervisor gave me. I am 100% positive I could have asked for more and gotten it. However, the guy seemed real and sincere. I didn’t want to take advantage of him. Yes, even the shark can have a soft spot in his heart right?

 

 

Later I would be able to convince, accurately so, National that I had really “returned” my car after just two days. My contract had called for a four-day rental. This changed my expense from about $180 to around $120. That was another $60 savings. Now National had given me $290 in savings when my cash outlay had been only $150 U.S. I didn’t end up buying any high-priced Canadian gas for that car either.

 

 

We weren’t done though.

I had just one more outstanding “debt” to National. Someone somewhere would soon be seeing a 2016 Hyundai Sonata with a pretty messed up left front wheel suspension problem. Who was at fault? Who would pay for the repair?

 

 

If I ended up having to pay for that problem, and why wouldn’t I, it would be expensive. The tow truck driver estimated the cost of repair at $1,000-$1,500 U.S. I thought it would be more. I would have to have my normal car insurance pay for that. I didn’t know if my deductible would be $500 or $1,000. My insurance rates might go up too. All of that would be resolved later.

 

 

Two most unique things about getting gas in New Jersey.

With any luck I was going to get all the way back to Newark before I needed to get gas for the National Car Rental Racing Buick Regal. There are two very unique things about getting gas in New Jersey.

 

 

First, New Jersey is one of only two states in America where customers are not allowed to pump their own gas. The gas is pumped by law by a station employee. I guess the unions got to the lawmakers on this one. Where’s the other state that prohibits customers from pumping their own gas? Oregon!

 

 

Secondly gas prices are lower than average in New Jersey. Therefore I would have somebody else pump my gas at a low price. That didn’t seem like such a bad deal.

 

 

 

MONDAY

 

 

Sunshine was on the way.

Today’s plan, now that my ice trackchasing weekend is complete, is to fly to Maui, Hawaii. Trackchasing’s First Mother and I will be vacationing there for the next week.

 

 

The plan for me is to fly from Newark, New Jersey (EWR) to Seattle, Washington (SEA) to Portland, Oregon (PDX) to Maui, Hawaii (OGG). Carol will take a 6 a.m. flight from Los Angeles, California (LAX) to Portland, Oregon (PDX) to Maui, Hawaii (OGG). If I don’t make my flight from SEA to PDX I will simply fly from SEA to OGG and meet up with Carol there. Do you understand why I call the two of us “active seniors”?

 

 

Sorry.

I am not a big fan of the East coast. Sorry. I’m committed to telling it like it is in these Trackchaser Reports. If I didn’t you wouldn’t have the interest to read them.

 

 

As a generality the east coast is stacked with crumbling infrastructure. Everything is old. Sometimes old is good. Old infrastructure is not good.

 

 

Although I have several good eastern located friends far too many people in this part of the country are simply “old” before their time. They are skeptical. They throw off a crusty and gruff persona. None of that appeals to me.

 

 

Let me be perfectly clear. Not all people on the east coast fit the above generalization. However, more than the statistical average do. I still love and admire my eastern based friends!

 

 

I had some experience living in the east.

I have lived on the east coast. Back in 1979-80 (15 months) we lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Ridgefield was/is an affluent suburb of New York City. I didn’t see much of the phenomenon I described in the previous paragraph in Ridgefield. Yes, Ridgefield was an old New England town. However, is that situation “old” was considered “quaint”. There is a major difference between old and quaint.

 

 

Newark is a “hole”.

Last night I stayed at the Ramada Plaza hotel in Newark, New Jersey. I got the hotel via Priceline.com as I normally do on these trips. The road system around that area is congested, torn up and confusing. A bright spot is a paid just $1.53 per gallon for gas. I saw prices as low as $1.43.

 

 

I wasn’t too happy about having to pay $16.50/day for parking at the hotel. That sometimes happens with Priceline hotels near airports or located in downtown city locations.

 

 

What a treat!

The hotel desk clerk, a middle-aged lady, was totally incompetent. It took her forever to simply accept my payment for the parking charge. I must have been at the front desk for 15 minutes just trying to get that settled. It was nearly 11 p.m. when I arrived at the hotel. My wake-up call would come at 5 p.m. Every minute she wasted was one less minute of sleep for me.

 

 

West coast speech compared to east coast speech.

I tried to be nice as I nearly always am to people. I figure folks are just doing their job. They don’t need to have me offering a less than positive attitude. However, I finally couldn’t take it anymore. Even at that point I pleasantly commented “This simple thing seems to be taking a long time”. That’s a west coast person talking.

 

 

A more aggressive, dare I say easterner, would having been pounding his fist and yelling, “What the #$%# is going on. Are you such an incompetent @#$%@ person that you can’t make one simple ##$#@ charge on my credit card. Let me talk to your ##%(@$( boss right #$(@@ now. O.K., I’m getting a little riled up.

 

 

I just keep hitting the wrong keys.

After I had pleasantly asked why things were taking so #$*# long she came back with a classic. She looked up and smiled and said, “I just keep hitting the wrong keys”. There was no apology. There was nothing. I just shook my head. She should have been locked up for “gross incompetence to the general public” (me) and sent to the penitentiary that sits right next door to the hotel.

 

 

Worst ever?

I wasn’t done with the east coast however. Getting to my gate at the Liberty (Newark) International Airport was a “worst ever”.

 

 

You will rarely, if ever, hear me speak critically of our TSA people at the airports. I figure they are there to insure my safety to the greatest degree possible. I must tell you that 9 out of 10 comments I do hear about the TSA are negative. I’m not sure why that is. You won’t hear that much from me.

 

 

However…..the at Newark are a different breed. I was flying out of terminal A today. As luck would have it Newark does not offer TSA Precheck in terminal A. The line was long and slow and I was in the first class line. I must have been in line for 15 minutes. I don’t know of any major airport that doesn’t offer Precheck in each of their terminals.

 

 

Adding insult to injury.

Then to add insult to injury they had to go through my carry-on bag. With all of my ice racing gear the bag was as overstuffed as it ever has been. The woman checking my bag was as sullen as ever. She was also ugly and overweight. I doubt she dates much.

 

 

She took her sweet time. She pulled EVERTHING out of my bag. When she was done it looked as if a tornado had gone through the bag. I told her I would repack things myself. At the same time, and independent of my bag check, ANOTHER TSA agent was running my laptop through a “bomb check” test.

 

 

I’m willing to “go with the flow” with most of this. My bag gets checked like this about one time out of a hundred or even less. My computer is checked this way even more rarely.

 

 

Revenge is sweet.

Soon I was repacking my bag after the TSA agent’s unsuccessful attempt to find something frightening. Just at the point I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was the fat and ugly and sullen TSA women. She had another person’s bag. She was about ready to have them submit to the mindless delay I had just experienced.

 

 

The table being used to inspect these bags was just large enough to examine one bag at the time. As the TSA agent shifted her weight back and forth she clutched the bag she was holding with two hands. It appeared to be quite heavy.

 

 

She would have to wait until I got my bag organized before she could sit the heavy bag down she was holding. Folks, you can bet your sweet bippy I took my time getting my bag back together. I handled my winter scarf and held it high. Then I began to fold it as if I were folding the American flag at sunset. I poked around in my bag. I moved on thing here and another thing there. After nearly five minutes of getting everything “just right” I zipped up my bag. I could tell the ugly and overweight girl was seething and possibly getting a hernia. I smiled at her and moved on. This all made me feel really good.

 

 

Attitude.

What gets me about ALL of the above is the attitude of the employees. They all had a sullen “I don’t care” attitude. Granted it was Monday morning at 6 a.m. They weren’t going to Maui today. I was. I’m going to tell you this. Maybe my attitude is WHY I was going to Maui and they were not. Why would I say that? Because I believe it to be true.

 

 

It seems as if it might be rarer and rarer for a company to get employees that care about the quality of their work and how the customer is treated. Good help is apparently hard to find.

 

 

Good customer service companies.

One of those companies that has customer service that is above and beyond everyone in their industry is Alaska Airlines. Why believe me on this? I’ve flown more than THIRTEEN (13) million miles. I should now about such things.

 

 

Who does this?

Quite frequently an Alaska Airlines captain will stand at the head of the plane before we take off. He (I have not seen any “shes” do this although I am certain they do) will explain the flight’s details over the P.A. system in full view of all of the passengers. When was the last time you saw that?

 

 

 

Today the captain stopped about every five rows on his way from first class through the last row of coach. He interacted with everyone, “How was your weekend? Where are you from?” etc. He told us how long the flight would be, what we would be flying over and such. Have you EVER seen that when you are flying?

 

 

Then the flight attendant reminded everyone that the plane’s Wi-Fi would not work when we were flying over Canada. Much of the flight plan had us over Canada. The flight attendant wanted to make sure that no one wasted their money buying Wi-Fi when it would be inoperable for much of the flight.

 

 

On many airlines the flight attendants serve you as if they are doing you a favor. In most industries it’s difficult to see a major difference in customer service. However Alaska Airlines flight attendants are cheery and helpful. They will come through the aircraft with two or three services when other airlines come through only once. They truly are the best flight attendants of any domestic airline by a factor of several.

 

 

Who else has great customer service?

As I think about it there are a few companies that offer above and beyond friendly competent customer service. In no rank order these places come to mind as sterling examples of great customer service: Chick-Fil-A, Waffle House, In N Out Burgers, REI, Lexus and Apple. Much of the American working staff just doesn’t have their heart in it. It is not surprising that so many folks are not on an upward path in their lives.

 

 

O.K., we’re done with that rant. Despite having some rental car problems (100% my fault) I consider the Canadian trip a rousing success.

 

 

Thank you Hamish.

Originally I wasn’t going to consider trackchasing this weekend. We needed to be in Maui on Sunday to begin our vacation. However, a few weeks ago I got a message from an ice racing buddy up in Manitoba. His group had scheduled a last minute race up in that province for Saturday of this weekend. He was inviting me to come up and watch.

 

 

If I went to Manitoba on Saturday there was no way I could get to Maui on Sunday. However, that got me to thinking. What if I could see a race on both Saturday and Sunday (which I ended up doing)? Granted I would get to Maui a day late but I would be able to see TWO tracks. This was an especially good idea since these two tracks were both “hard to get” locations.

 

 

Therefore I have Hamish Donaldson to thank. Thanks Hamish. Your idea gave me my idea. By the way virtually every idea I get came from someone else in one way or the other. I have very few original ideas.

 

 

Meeting Carol in Maui.

Carol and I would end up meeting in Portland, Oregon on Monday afternoon. From there we flew to Maui, Hawaii.

 

 

I looked around Maui. These folks didn’t look as if they had ridden on a bus for seven hours to Montreal. They didn’t look as if they stood out on a frozen lake that often to watch cars race. That’s O.K. This world can accommodate a lot of different approaches to life.

 

 

Carol and I would go on to have another nice time in Maui.

 

 

Aloha. Au revoir. Good-bye.

 

 

 

 

Province

 

 

The Je me souviens (I remember) province

This weekend I saw my 33^rd and 34th lifetime track in the Je me souviens (I remember) province, yes the Je me souviens (I remember) province. I wonder if anyone has seen racing at more locations in Quebec than I have?

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

World’s #1 Trackchaser

Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member

Quebec sayings: Y’est-tu fin le chum à Marie? (Is Marie’s boyfriend nice)

 

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Seattle, WA (SEA) – 958 miles

Seattle, WA (SEA) – Newark, NJ (EWR) – 2,398 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #1

Liberty (Newark) International Airport – trip begins

Val-d’Or Regional Airport – trip ends – 739 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #2

Val-d’Or Regional Airport – trip begins

Dupuy, Quebec

Val-d’Or Regional Airport – trip ends – 392 kilometers (245 miles)

 

 

BUS

Val-d’Or, Quebec bus station – trip begins

Montreal, Quebec bus station – trip ends – 525 kilometers (328 miles)

 

 

SHUTTLE BUS

Montreal, Quebec bus station – trip begins

Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport – trip ends – 24 kilometers (15 miles)

 

 

RENTAL CAR #3

Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport – trip begins

Roxton Pond, Quebec

Liberty (Newark) International Airport – trip ends – 610 kilometers (381 miles)

 

 

AIRPLANE

Newark, NJ – Seattle, WA (SEA) – 2,398 miles

Seattle, WA (SEA) – Portland, OR (PDX) – 130 miles

Portland, OR (PDX) – Maui, HI (OGG) – 2,564 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #4

Kahului Airport – trip begins

Kahului Airport – trip ends – 147 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Maui, HI (OGG) – San Diego, CA (SAN) – 2,540 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #5

Lindbergh (San Diego) International Airport – trip begins

Los Angeles International Airport – trip ends – 134 miles

 

 

 

Total air miles – 10988 (6 flights)

Total rental car miles – 1,646 (5 cars)

Total bus miles – 343 (2 buses)

 

 

Total miles traveled on this trip – 12,977 miles 

 

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Dupuy Ice and Snow Track – $5 Canadian

Lac Roxton Ice Track – $20 Canadian

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $25 Canadian (about $18 U.S.)

 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS 

The three most important trackchasing comparisons to me are:

 

Total lifetime tracks seen

Total “trackchasing countries” seen

Lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

 

Total Lifetime Tracks

There are no trackchasers currently within 525 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,196

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 70

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.47

 

 

 

That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

 

Click on the link below to see the “Video Plus” production from the racing action today.

 

 

 

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Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day.  You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure.

 

The trip to Dupuy….a real doozy!

 

Dupuy ice and snow track….and the debacle….yes a real debacle

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Then down to Lac Roxton for racing and poutine

 

Ice racing from Lac Roxton