We all see lots of negativity on these forums, so bear with me for a longer post about the positive things that happen.

Oh how I love the north! Yep, the trails are great, but it's the people who really make the experience. We just got back from a few weeks riding around and we met some amazing people. The trails were great, Timmins, Cochrane, Kap, Hearst and everywhere in between, but the people made the memories. The folks in the restaurants, the hotels, the locals we met on the trails, and the old friendships we renewed, just great folks.

We had a sled failure on one day, my wife's sled went dead on the trail. We got it going again (blown fuse), but it soon died again. We towed it back to the closest road point and began to see what we could do to get it to our dealer in Kap. We were at the Timmins gas station in Mattice at that point. One of the kitchen staff, Darquise, noticed we were making a lot of phone calls and asked if everything was OK. We told her we had a dead sled and were trying to get it to Kap to a dealer. Well, she went off on a mission. As she said "when you live in a small town like this, we all help each other. I'll find someone to help you". Long story short, after numerous phone calls and texts, another local named James arrived with an enclosed trailer to get us back to Kap. We loaded the dead sled with the help of 4 other locals who were having coffee at the gas station, got my sled into the trailer and started heading for Kap. A short way into the journey, the trailer blew a tire. James was completely unphased. He unhitched the trailer and went back and got another one so he could get us to Kap before the dealer closing time. We found a place to park the trailer with the blown tire and got everything loaded onto the new one. Heck, one of those locals who initially helped us load the dead sled came back with James to make sure we had enough man power to get it onto the new trailer.

We arrived at Gaston's Sport and Marine 45 minutes before closing time on a Friday and they brought the sled in right away. Kevin at Gaston's knew exactly where to look and voila, a wire that rubbed bare was arching and causing a short. A heat wrap over the wire and some padding where it was rubbing and problem solved. We were back on the trails. What did Gaston's charge for that....$0. Wow. They were out of the fuses we kept blowing, 15A minis, so I went across the road to see Nathalie at Raxfin to see if they had any. "How many do you need" she asked? Three or four if you have them, I always like to have spares. She handed over the fuses and when I asked how much, "don't worry about it". Yep, I bought my sled there and I get all my service done there and I know Nathalie, but still. They know how to keep me as a loyal customer.

Add to that seeing my buddy Patrick (who runs the Magpie Relay in Dubreuilville along with being the President of the local club) at the Companion Inn in Hearst and talking about our planned trip that included a stay a his hotel. The realized our trip through Dubreuilville over to Chapleau wasn't going to happen due to a trail closure and Pat letting us cancel our hotel room inside the cancellation window at no charge, man, the folks up north just march to a different beat.

To all the clubs in District 13, 14 and 15, and to all of you up north who we call friends, THANK YOU. Your kindness and friendliness keep us coming back time after time.

Oh how I love the north!

Story and Photos Provided By: Peter D.