| Peuf peuf peuf...

I haven't seen such a rad start of the winter since 2004, snow keeps piling up and again we have to dig it all up! Not even Xmas and we went snowskating many times under some of the best conditions in a long while. It's quite a funny sight to look at all the cars buried in the street until you try to get into yours, hoOo well this is life in Quebec :)

It took about an hour to clean this mess...

| White dump...

Today i was awake early because of the kids upstairs running like crazy, one of the many problems of the old wooden houses here in Montreal. Anyway outside was a pleasant surprise, about 30 cm of fresh powder and it is still snowing. However it's always fun the first few dumps of the season, but it will soon become annoying especially when you have to dig your car out for the next morning -___-

| 1ere fois...

Last week we took the van for its virgin trip without planning and it was epic, right in the middle of this years' first snow storm, by -11°C and strong winds and, as we found out... no open campgrounds in Estrie :) note to ourselves: next time, leave early, book a camp and check the weather channel!

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Le WE dernier nous avons pris le van pour son 1er test sans aucune réelle préparation et ce fut un drôle de périple a vrai dire! Nous voulions passer 2 nuits au Mont-Orford et faire un peu de marche mais le temps de se lever, d'aller faire quelques courses et de s'y rendre et voila qu'il faisait nuit noire, tempête de neige (la 1ère de l’année ça tombait bien) et des routes glissantes balayées par des vents violents.
Bref, le Parc était ferme et on s'est arrêté un peu plus loin dans une halte routière ou nous avons passe la nuit sur le parking a l'abri d'un gros camion, le tout par -11°C et oui, un gros fail en quelque sorte! 
Malgré ça c’était le bonheur, l’intérieur est petit et se chauffe rapidement grâce au chauffage Webasto relié au réservoir d'essence (~220 ml/h), le problème est qu'en plaçant le rideau du pare-brise et de la cabine, j'ai accidentellement ouvert une fenêtre, donc ça aurait pu être encore plus "cosy". On a encore pas mal de choses a apprendre hein et ça va venir tranquillement. C'est étonnant le sentiment de liberté lié a ce véhicule, on va ou on veut, quand on veut et on se gare n'importe ou... avec la banane.

Le lendemain on a laissé tomber les plans de randonnée car nous n'avions pas de vêtements assez épais, il faisait vraiment froid je rappelle, ceci dit je conseille le Parc du Mont-Orford a tout le monde, surtout pour faire de la raquette ou profiter de leur station de ski. Nous avons visite Magog qui est une ville vraiment sympa avec plein de restaurants de qualité, des boutiques partout et une belle vue sur le lac Memphremagog. Ensuite retour Montréal, en passant par St-Jean-sur-Richelieu pour dire bonjour aux parents de Nhu, puis faire une halte salvatrice a la Maison Kam-Fung = pétage de ventre! Et voila, une belle façon d’étrenner notre p'tit condo roulant :)

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| Expedition interior...

What a nice day for some shots of our van's cosy interior, as you can see it's well equipped and has most of the amenities found in the larger motorhomes, there is a porta potty in place of an enclosed bathroom and no "proper" shower per say, however you could use the sink faucet and extend it to the entrance doors and voila, quite an ingenious shower but mostly possible on warm days.

I read that the majority of RVers end up taking showers outside anyway, because it isn't really fun to stay in those super tiny quarters and it makes you realize how much space is wasted within an already confined environment. The New-West experience shows and they have done a great job of designing efficient and comfortable floor-plans, but i have some ideas on how to improve some little things here and there.

The license plate is now mounted and this little thing can cost a lot, thanks SAAQ je m'en souviendrai! We've finally started to bring stuffs inside so it feels more like home; plates and glasses, cutlery, camping gears, rum...etc.

| 11.11.13 New-West...

Yipeeee here it is, my amazing little house-on-wheels, a New-West Expedition 2013. We left Montreal very early this morning to go pick it up at the factory in St-Nicolas near Quebec city and we were very excited.

After almost 3 years of passionate research we finally found our RV and here is our bad-ass van based on a Chevy Express 1500 AWD!

Now unfortunately i got sick on the way back probably because of all the junk food ingested during the trip, there was a lot of snow at the beginning and then pouring rain towards Montreal, so we had to drive carefully along the scenic route 132-O.

i definitely can't go to the MIGS party tonight where i was supposed to go help Anthony and his crew from Syn Studio to do some live speedpaintings... all apologies guys and have fun!

| REVIEW: BF Silk Infinity...

Et voila, another late bike review :-) this time it is about the stunning Silk the latest addition of custom folder goodness from the Oregon's based Bike Friday. I still have the Tikit (for sale!) but thanks to its previous review, BF asked me if i was interested to participate in their Beta-Test Program concerning a new secret model, well what do you think... YEAHHHHH of course i was!!!

So after a few emails with Eric Fischnaller, NDA, and approval from Hannah Scholz herself, i received the first photos of their prototype which was very interesting and exciting, the concept was clever, how to bring a new rear frame to the Pocket model (the original bike i wanted to buy from them) in order to offer different Carbon Belt Drive configurations?

• CONCLUSION:

WIP...

| After the End of the World...

I wish y'all a Happy New Year 2013... and to all of us, survivors of the 5th Sun 2012 has been a wake-up call! in a world of greed, power, segregation, destruction and global revolution; it is time to change the terribly broken system that we still call democracy, and to put down those merdias, banksters and so-called leaders that were originally supposed to serve us, it is time to dream, to evolve and to grow-up, don't you think so?