By: Paul Mondor
www.paulmondor.com
Jan 23rd 2008 – Feb 2nd 2008

Click Here for Part 4

Jan. 23rd
Leaving Baie Comeau
Weather -20 Damn…It is warm

It has been a good night! See below! I get up at 8:00 Am to get ready and go! But first things first and I let Los Tabarnacos know that WE are having breakfast at Tim Horton’s and that I will leave from there!

After a good breakfast and a good cup of black plasma I suit up, say goodbye to Rene and head down the road. Even though the road is a lot nicer than what I have been on for the last 5 days what makes it easier is that it is a balmy -20C. YooHoo! Finally! Spring weather! There is obviously more snow around now than there was when I came by. Which tells me that after all, weather wise speaking; the weather is following me just like last year! Might just be my colisse de paranoya?? (I am French! What’s your excuse?)
Anyways! As soon as I get to Outardes the wind joins me in my treck but?? It has decided it is going the other way! In these parts of PQ the altitude is like the possibility of a politician screwing you. It goes up and down but mainly stays up. And at times my speed goes down to 60 km/h. the roads are clear in some parts and in others the snow drifts are everywhere.
I am keeping an eye on Frosty as she is losing quite a bit of oil through the air box and vents no damage here and she is purring, but I make sure the oil level remains high enough. The vibration caused by the sprocket crown bearing going into retirement remains the same and I keep an eye on this as well! That is the only thing the TLH has damaged. Considering the savage beating Frosty took for over 1200 kms of roads (TLH) that have been so many times harder on her than the rest of the Cross Canada trip all together; she is doing unbelievably well! Nothing so far has broken! Like I said before; “I am convinced that NO OTHER bike would/could have done it. I am sad to think that they will not make the 650 GS anymore. I know that this was their best bike. I have had all of their models and I can tell you that I am trimming my stable down to one bike and it is Frosty. I catch myself thinking/hoping that BMW will realize what mistake they are making by not making the small GS anymore and start again next year! The new 2008 F650GS is a twin cylinder 800cc engine. It is not a 650 and even though it is based on the F800 engine which is damn good, many people including me do not see why more than 650 is needed? You will have an impossible time trying or even dreaming you can convince me or others who have travelled on the 650 singles that more will be better.
I have crossed the country twice on my faithful Frosty and in conditions that are insanely hard on a piece of hardware. And I have done many other long trips on her.
Except for riding at 120 mph all day, there is nothing she cannot do that the big adventures do! I know I have those too.

Anyway! I am sad to see that we will not be able to get some more Frosty.

Back to the trip to Joliette! The trip to the Tadoussac ferry is a mix of high winds, hills, snow drifts and covered roads in higher altitudes. When I got on the ferry there was a bunch of sledders there as well.

Without getting into details I can tell you that their display of manhood got seriously dampened by the arrival of a little 650 cc motorcycle in their winter world. They would not look at me, talk to me or even approach me. Maybe it had something to do with someone (Not me) making the loud comment! “Man that was funny! I was parked beside them as you were coming down the hill toward the ferry and as I was talking to them they literally quieted down as they saw you and went back to their machines. Suddenly their “We own our winter land” behaviour completely stopped and walked away!
They heard this fellow say this on the boat and that was it! Well you know? It was funny in a “you had to be there” way.

After pictures were taken, addresses exchanged and hands shaken we al parted and I kept on going.
The weather got progressively worse as I crossed little village after another. But the scenery was nice when the weather would break and give me a chance to enjoy the scenery.

When I hit Baie St-Paul, that was it. Winter was in full gear. Nothing but wind, snow and drifting squalling white stuff everywhere! But i still enjoyed it as it was not nearly as cold as what I had seen lately. And with all the people around and quickly realized that I did not react the same way to my environment!
Something I will have to work on. As I went up the hill coming out of Baie St-Paul the snow was everywhere. Traffic had really slowed down and it got slipperier.
I went up and across these parts at about 60 clicks and just scooted along.
When I got to the downhill side of it coming into St-Anne de Beaupre it was pretty much the same and it stayed this way as I went across Beauport, Quebec and through Donnacona and Trois Rivieres.
I stopped for about half an hour in Louiseville at La Porte de la Mauricie. This is a stop area/ truck stop i stopped at many times in my trucking years. And foolishly enough I willingly took 10 years of my life by having an A&W chicken sandwich. This tasted good, but I always wonder if what they serve is really coming from anything that was once part of the animal kingdom!
I always say I do not mind eating anything that had a face or a mother at one point. But I am sure if you read what these places put in their sandwiches there are very few if any ingredients which name does not have numbers in it.
You see stuff like Water, agua, sugar and preservatives and then stuff like Holycrapnite 259, livakilla1, stronggasite378 and whatdafukarium2098.

I cannot remember the last time I ate in a fast food burger joint. Probably has something to do with the time when I was trucking and stopped at one of these service plazas along 401 and bough 2 burger king burgers. One for me and one for my Dog Breaker (Bless her soul! I still cry when I think about her!)
As I ate my burger she was sitting on the double bunk in the sleeper in front of the burger, looked at it, walked away and laid down in the back.
To make along story short, 30 minutes later I had to call dispatch and ask them to send a driver. My girlfriend at the time drove 500 kms to come and get me and after going to the hospital found out I had food poisoning!

Here is a hint! Give a bite of whatever you are about to eat to your loving do! And if does not eat it??? Neither should you!
Anyways! After this I made to my mom’s house where she almost got into complete cardiac arrest as she saw my walking up the stairs and knocking on her door! I guess once a mom always a mom! She does not care if I am 2 or 47! I am still her little boy!

Had coffee at moms and then went to my brother’s where they were happy to see me again!
Now I am ready to put myself, them and Frosty through another 5200 kms of winter riding before I finally make it home.

Frosty should be ready around Friday! So I am getting a lot of (needed) rest. I will be ready when I take off!

I heard they have reopened the TCH around some of the Great lakes! Hee! Hee! It will be fun!!

Iceman out tabarnac!!!!

Jan. 24th

Well! It was weird today to see Frosty leave home on a flat bed to the dealer.

Here she is without her skin freezing in the driveway as she awaits her Chariot to take her to the dealer where she will for at leasrt a wekk while she gets some TLC. She is ok though! I also need some rest before i return home.

The reason why she is leaving on a truck is because yours truly is spent. I need the rest and cannot ride one more hour without intense rest.

Jan. 27th
The Confession

Ok! I have to fess up here! After talking to Melanie yesterday evening and drilling her as to how she is hanging on through all this and finding out that she is ok. Well! As ok as one can be when they are looking at their loved one daily, taking chances with his safety for way too long over way too many days, I came to the conclusion that she will and so will I, be ok only when I get home. As for her that is a given! As for me? Weeeeelllll! I am sometimes a threat to myself while standing still.
Anyone who knows me. I am really knows me! Knows this. I can out of nothing, create something that will make anyone go “what the F&^%$#!!

Blame it on my 2 brain cells! BTW these 2 cells conversations these days consist of “Colisse! On aurait du proceder au trou du cul de sincreme de caribou!
For Fu^%&*%# we should have proceeded forward with this dead caribou’s ass!!

Where was I? Ah yeah! Turning my life into a fire breathing, mind numbing, Holy shit producing time bomb!
I have proven many times that with only 2 brain cells that I can make choices that will make someone go “HMMMMM! Should we put the stray jacket back on? For our own sake! Anyway a nice example is this trip. Even though a lot of us do not know each other and have never met, we somehow, through the internet, connect. By connecting like this we end up caring and by caring we……., well you know the rest!
Because I know you care, I did not want to worry you, and by not wanting to worry you I kept a couple of things away from this tread.
The road around Fire lake immediately after Fermont coming east which last a whole butt puckering 65 kms I think was the home of not only 1 close encounter with a truck but 4. It was also the birth place of not 1 but 3 snow bank divings. Out of the 65 kms of road between Fermont and the end of Fire Lake I might have actually seen only, maybe half. The rest was auto-guiding Frosty and pointing her in the right direction.

Each time the trucks appeared in a curve and each time neither of us was to blame.
I still have a piece of missing material in my underwear that was sucked in by the great powers of the pucker Gods.
Well! You know! The dead caribou has my head up his ass and my ass got the arctic fleece. All is fair in the war of tension.

I chose not to write about it because I thought that I would hear too many “paul! This is stupid! Turn around! And that it would make me turn around! Like I said I like to push myself in ways that sometimes defy my own understanding. This was THEE biggest time of them all.
From my own perspective it was a good call! From the point of view of some of you it might be too! From Melanie’s looking back it was then but she wonders now why I do something like this.
Beside being able to create and invent some new swear in my mother tongue as I see a Kenworth W900 with a “wide Load” sign on its front bumper carrying 4 huge tires, and each one being able to swallow me in threads and not leave a mark on the actual carcass like OAHhhh Tabarbac moman! Heille colisse ca passe pas tu sais bain Sincreme de colisse! Qu’est ce que j’ai pense maudite crisee de mule ensoleillee? St ciboire de calvair the pretre fiffi d’crisse ca va tu faire mal en sacraman! Whhoo! Whoooooo Whooooahhhhh!
Soeur blindee de colissee que ca là passer proche. Paul tès bain codingue colisse d’epais d’osti! St eucharistie d’crisse reveille ou bain sort du ch’min!!!

So looking back! This road was absolutely, insanely unsafe and just downright freaking dangerous! Like Wayne said in Wabush! “This road is dangerous in day time on a clear summer day with no traffic! I just do not want to think what it will be like for you on 2 wheels today!”
And to think that asi sat on that snow bank freezing whatever balls I had left at that time thinking it was still safer to sit here and freeze for 20 minutes (Which I did!) than to go on and still decide to move on because I believe that when your time has come you will go. I chose to do what I wanted. If it was now I had to go. Well dammit I will go doing what I love!
I am in a way saying “I am sorry” to those who worried about it and really believed what I was doing was foolish.
But the truth is! I AM NOT! Because I still see this fateful moment on the 18th of June 2006 take place in front of my eyes. When my best friend Ian Anguish ahead of me on his bike doing what he loved so much, on a perfect northern California day at slow speed with no obstacles and nothing blocking his view, lock the front binders because he thought he was about to hit this little fawn that came running. He never hit it. His SV1000 flipped, he broke his neck and the tailpiece of his bike rammed in cervical spine making sure this was his last day.. I had enough time to say “Oh shit No! Ian! NOOO! And crawled by his side in enough time to hold his hand and feel him go home

It was his time. It was his to go home! He could have chosen to stay home with his family, he could have gone to work or he could have mowed his lawn. The truth, at least my truth is that he would have gone at that precise moment at 11:13 AM on June 18th 2006 no matter what he was doing.
Instead? The switch went off while he was doing what he loved, in an environment he dreamed about and with his buddy. Painlessly and quickly.

So yes! I did what I did because I needed to feel this again! I needed to remind myself that I can push so far, my mind will freak and still go on because if it is not my time, nothing will happen! I felt Ian riding with me and I felt dad! Melanie was with me and so were so many others.
So yes I lied! To prevent those who don’t believe in what I believe from worrying too much. Would I do it again the same way? Yes! But I would not lie about it like I did!
Because by hiding this, I kept many from feeling all they could feel. And end up at the end of the day saying things like “Holy shit Man!” and giggle as you sit back in the chair.
Feeling that raw mind numbing, heart stopping, gut wrenching fear the way I did to the point where it paralyzes you and stops you in your track, to the point where you have only 2 choices. To keep going or turn around! I chose to keep going! I chose to let the absolute fear in my mind and heart dance with my faith in the music of my beliefs, and the giggles brought on by the sheer conflict of these emotions dancing together was all i could hear.

I literally could see Dad and Ian by my side! This is not a figure of speech! I could see them and feel them traveling every life sucking kilometres of this road with me and guide me.
I talked with them, laughed with them afterward, and cried with them. And at every steps in between when i felt like like surrendering to the fear of going on so many times i just stopped and listened once more, againmore again, knowing that they would tell me `Go on Paul!

I might have said this before and I will say it again! But make no mistake about it. Every time I make a choice that takes me places I have not been or scare me out of my comfort zone (The place I hate the most on earth) this “Need to feel” thing will kick in.
I just hope that if you choose sometimes to do it and push through, that you will have the same kind of co-riders and passengers I had with me.

Just be happy I did not have to shove your head up a dead caribou’s ass!

Feb. 1st

Well! I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Frosty is ready and super healthy. She was cleared with a super clean bill of health.

The bad is news is 2 fold.
First! The storm is on us and it looks like at least here it will be here for 2 days. I do not mind riding in this but in this with Quebec drivers is suicide. So I have to wait till it clears. So I am getting Frosty brought back to me on a truck.

Second! By the time I leave and will hit home I will have been gone 2 months. Too freaking long. So it is with a great sadness that I have to say that the iceman is flying home.
2 weeks stopped has taken my desire to keep going to the ground.
I have crossed Canada and made it through the TLH and back with a total of over 8500kms.

I am happy! Riding back and doing a C2C2C would have been great but I have a life.
I will come back this summer to pick up Frosty.

Feb. 2nd

Even though I am so damn happy and proud about what I did, I can’t help but feel I have let myself down. These almost 2 weeks was not planned here and I was looking forward to have Frosty back and get back on the road.
But I quickly felt that I was losing my game. Last year and this year before I left I left, I spent months preparing myself by talking to myself and psyching myself too..

I know it! I can feel it and I would be lying to myself if I pretended it would be safe to leave right now, I was looking forward to do the C2C2C and was also looking forward to get home after it. Today when I woke up after the big snow dump I went outside and I was dreading being out in the cold. Not that I was cold but was resenting being exposed to the elements. Not a good feeling to have when you have to go across over 5000 kms of frozen land.
In a mood like this it would have meant that I would have not only mad plenty of mistake and putting mys3elf at risk for nothing but also putting others.

I miss the road and I miss the fun we had. I miss the tabarnacs, sinciboires and soeurs blindees d`appocalypse de crisses!
I already miss the feeling of Frosty cruising down the road silently over the snow covered road having only the sound of her engine for music!
And my goodness! What a sound it was! The snow covered trees dancing by, the frozen lakes that made me think ¨Hmmm! It would be so much fun to go on this sheet of ice at 100 km/h and hit the breaks.
I miss the looks of strangers looking at me like an alien, not because of pride and vanity but I knew that most of the time the conversations where about to start would be remembered on both side for a lifetime.
I miss in many ways the TLH where at times, all I wanted to do was to hit the 911 button and wait to be picked up because I thought I could not go on for another second.
I miss the feeling of life saving warmth I felt after I barely lit up the burner on my heater, wrapped myself in the tarp and felt it warm up not only my body, but my soul. It was one more victory achieved after a mind numbing battle with Mother Nature’s personality.
I even miss the 20-30 minutes of shaking with stress and transitioning going outside after staying inside with my friend’s warmth. My bowl of soup! When my teeth were chattering and my hands had trouble putting the key in the switch I was shaking so hard. This was not because I was cold! But only because of raw it all felt. I suppose anyone who has been in cold environment can understand! The feeling of the frozen air hitting the passage way as it warms up and makes its way down to the lungs.

But of all this, what I will miss the most will be to com back in the room, grab a shower and turn my laptop back on and chat with my friends. As much as the solitude was healing most of the time, our chats were the highlights of the day.
A giggle, a joke, a wise crack or a compliment! All this is again, what made this ride what it was!……………………………………Our ride!

I am done with winter trips. This is why I am sad and disappointed that the C2C2C will not be on my list of accomplishments. But I will have to learn to let this go. Because I follow my dreams like we all strive to do and as some of you know, I bit in life with merciless abandon!
My plans now call for other things! My dreams are pointing in places where the only cold place might be the cooler holding a cerveza. I am going around the world in 2010 and this will take us around 5-7 years if all goes as planned. Melanie and I will go on a trip that we are blessed enough to be able to turn into a reality. And during this trip we will find another country that will become home. A country, where we will ride all year long! A country where nothing in our closet will have long sleeve and where ALL OUR FRIENDS WILL BE ABLE TO COME AND VISIT.

But you must know this and make no mistake about it.

No matter where the roads take me, my name will always be Iceman (Thanks to you).
Part of my heart will always be on a frozen road somewhere in my memory, riding with 1000`s of pillions and co-riders.

Finally and most importantly, my head will always be, somehow, no matter what I do, no matter where I ride and no matter what amazing vistas will fill my eyes and mind, up a dead caribou’s ass.

Iceman out

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