Day 8 - Saturday, August 27 - Quebec << Index

Anticipated: Play golf at Club De Golf Val Neigette in Rimouski, Quebec

Travel:   Itinerary: Leave motel for 8:00 tee time at Club De Golf Val Neigette. After golf drive to motel in Bathurst, New Brunswick . casino   States/Provinces Played:

Actual: (Photos and text)

Click on the photos below to enlarge Professional, Richard Plourde and Jim Large sign on hillside by course Clubhouse Serge Fournier, Marie Ducheane and Jim Golf Course Scenes

Today we had an 8 AM tee time, so we were up and about at 6:30. Club de Golf Val Neigette is situated in the mountains about 10 miles south of Remouski, Quebec. The golf course is at the base of a mountain in the Neigette Valley, and most of the holes are parallel to the mountain. We thought that it would be difficult to walk, but the golf professional, Richard Plourde convinced us that it was an easy course to walk, so for the first time in the eight-day tenure of this trip we walked all 18 holes. There was an elevation on some of the holes (50 to 100 feet), but for the most part they followed the valley. We were again blessed. The weather was great, and the golf course was extremely beautiful in its mountain setting. The condition of the fairways and greens was excellent, and we really enjoyed the round. This was enhanced by the fact that we played reasonably well. Pat shot a 104 (CR = 66.5, Slope = 109, Yardage = 4703) and Jim shot 89 (CR = 68.8, Slope 123, Yardage = 6070). Our grandchildren will get a laugh from our actions after we left the golf course. We must have looked like a comedy scene from the movie “The Great Race”(we think that is the correct name). After golf we were standing in the parking lot next to our van talking to Serge Fournier and Marie Ducheane (they played in the foursome behind us--see picture) explaining our trip to them. We had our large loose-leaf notebook open to show them our route and some of the courses we had played and were to play. The notebook is “the bible” for our whole trip; all our plans, motel reservations, tee-times, verification sheets (sheets signed by the pro at each course verifying that we actually played) are contained in the notebook. Anyway, after they left, we put our clubs in the van, but apparently we put the notebook on top of the car as we were getting organized. A few miles down the road, I (Jim) noticed in the rear view mirror the notebook fly off the back of the van. Of course, when it hit the pavement, all the documentation of our trip (past and future) was scattered all over the road. We were very fortunate that I was looking in the mirror otherwise our trip would have been in shambles. Look at the picture again…you’ll see the notebook on top of the van! It must have been very comical to see two septuagenarians on their hands and knees picking up papers from the road and ditch. Several cars went by, and some of them slowed down trying to avoid the papers, but some sped by blowing the sheets every which way. We have tire treads on several of the sheets. We think we recovered all of our documentation, and we are very thankful that our bungling didn’t put a serious crimp in our trip. Can you imagine the recriminations when we arrived at our lodging and neither of us would have the slightest idea what happened to the notebook?? However, the picture shows us exactly where it was. Once we got ourselves reorganized, we had an uneventful trip (220 miles) to Bathhurst, New Brunswick, arriving at 6:00PM. There is a time change, so it really was 7:00PM. We would like to thank the golf professional Richard Plourde for his hospitality. We really enjoyed the golf and course. We highly recommend it to anyone should they travel east on the great St. Lawrence River to Rimouski, Quebec.