James Bay and Trans Taiga Road 2017 - Day 9

We get up early, pack up the bikes again, fill the tanks and off we go to Mont Tremblant State Park. It should be smooth sailing all the way and we decide to hit the road and get breakfast somewhere along the way.

We picked up quite some mosquitos yesterday on the trip to Matagami - revenge is sweet !!

This is the most boring ride of the entire trip, what looked to be a road with some "twisties" is a well paved stretch of asphalt, but hey, we have to do around 450 miles today, so no complaining.

To make things worse the rain starts and stays with us for most of the day. We stop a couple of times for coffee, ice cream and other treats that were not available where we came from.

After the last miles in heavy rain, we finally pull into one of the gates to the State Park and luckily the rain stopped long enough to put up the tents.

Just in case we put a tarp over the picnic table to keep our gear dry.

It's George's turn to get firewood at a service center close by the camp site. It's getting dark and starts to drizzle again when he returns - no firewood!
I am checking out the vicinity, hatched ready, but most of the deadwood around was soaked or too  much exercise to cut at this point of the day. In addition they reminded us several times about "not feeding the wildlife and not cutting any trees"....
"Sad Puppy Look" all over again; quick talk to our friendly neighbors after which US-$5 and a bundle of firewood is exchanged.

Probably the last freeze-dried dinner for a while; I don't think I will become a fan of it, but it's light weight, stores small and all you need is hot water and 10 to 15 min patience.

Tomorrow somewhere in Montreal we will split and head home in different directions. Sitting by the camp fire we reflect over a beer or two on the trip we are about to complete. Last years Trans Labrador Trip (see earlier blog) was already a great experience, but the remoteness and distance covered up in Quebec raised the bar for any future excursions.

Ontario or Manitoba would be the next logical destination, but I yet have to find an interesting motorcycle destination.
The BDR team (Backcountry Discovery Routes) has some Eastern US section in their plan, or shipping the bikes to the West could be an alternative. Since planning the trip is half the fun, let's not rush to a decision.

Please use the comment function for any ideas or suggestions that you have.

Thomas

Odometer reading

Today:                        454.9 miles 

Total:                         3073.6 miles