We got on to the highway following the GPS instructions from the in-car SYNC 3, which was programmed to guide us to our lunchtime rendezvous. Unfortunately, the GPS seemed to be off by 300-500 metre, which resulted in our missing the first instructed highway merge. The system was able to navigate us back on track and once we became aware of the slight miscalibration we were able to anticipate the turns and merges in advance — though we still ended up about a kilometre short of our destination and had to consult Google maps on my iPhone for a further assist.
The ten driving teams regrouped at our lunch destination, La P’tite Cabane d’la Côte, a lovely, authentic sugar shack about one hour north of Montreal, near Mirabel, where we enjoyed homemade French pea soup, home-cooked ham and of course, fresh maple syrup.
The lunch stop allowed each team the opportunity to swap vehicles and drivers. My driving partner and I moved from the Ford Explorer, which is a large, very nice-looking SUV, into the Ford Flex, which was everyone’s last choice of vehicle. If you haven’t seen the Ford Flex, it looks like a box on wheels. The Flex was fully loaded with the same advanced options as the Explorer but boasted more power, with a V-6 engine instead of the larger vehicle’s 4-cylinder engine.
While the Flex may appear unattractive, it is actually a comfortable, roomy vehicle on the inside and was a pleasure to drive. Here, I had the chance to try out the adaptive cruise control. I often use cruise control on my personal vehicles to keep to a reasonable speed, but it can be frustrating to constantly have to disengage and re-engage cruise control when traffic is moving at variable speeds. The adaptive cruise control senses the vehicle in front of you and adapts your speed as traffic slows, keeping you a safe distance behind. I didn’t want to attempt any rigorous testing of this feature, but for basic driving, it worked as advertised.
After another hour of driving, we arrived at the Estérel Resort in Estérel, where we turned in our vehicles, got checked in and registered for optional winter activities. Ford did an excellent job of making us guest drivers feel like celebrities with a welcome table in the lobby and a welcome basket in our rooms. I opted for snowmobiling as my first winter activity. Again, we were paired up on the snowmobiles and led out on a trail ride through the beautiful winter forest on the Estérel property. I lucked out as it turned out my driving partner only wished to be a passenger and I was able to drive both out and back. Our guide seemed to be nervous about his charges on the outgoing journey and did not allow the group to exceed 30 kilometres per hour. Once we’d proven ourselves, however, we were allowed to open up the large Bombardier machines a little and got up to 60 km/h on at least two open stretches. The snowmobile experience recalled memories of many excursions in my youth and reminded me how much fun the sport can be.
By the time we returned to the resort, Ford had prepared a special treat for us: an ice sculpting lesson with expert sculptor Nicolas Godon from Laurent Godon ice sculpting. First we marvelled as, using a chainsaw, a few small tools and a blowtorch, Nicolas transformed a large block of ice into a crystal-clear reindeer head complete with a rack of antlers — all in under 10 minutes.
Then, we were each presented with our own ice block and a chisel to fashion our own simple sculpture. None of our pieces matched Nicolas’ artistic achievement, but it was an interesting experience.