February 24-
I have two apologies.
First I am sorry for not keeping my regular schedule and writing on Sunday.
Second, I apologize that this entry is not going to be a particularly long
entry. Nora and I went out of town over the weekend and were a little busy
preparing for the trip most of last week, so I did not get out on the sled
or even much on foot. So I do not have a single picture to share with you
from this neck of the woods, but do have a few from our travels.
Our weekend travels took us to San Antonio TX. Nora and I
decided to add an adoption agency and they are located in San Antonio. They
had an orientation event over the weekend, so Nora and I flew out on
Thursday evening and returned on Sunday. I have a very unusual schedule in
that my day starts at around 4 am and I typically am in bed by around 8 pm.
San Antonio is on central time, so that means I was up at 3 am their time
and all the activity with the agency took place in the evening and we did
not get to bed until 11 pm. So Friday was a very long day. You would think I
would have had no problem sleeping in on Saturday, but not the case. I was
up at around 5:30 local time and then Saturday's activities started at
around 9 am and did not finish up until around 11 pm, so it was another long
day. Then our flight home started in San Antonio at 5:45 am, so we had to be
to the airport at 4:45, so we had to wake up at around 3:45.
So in a nutshell, I had three nights in a row with about
5 hours of sleep. I am not good at functioning with that little sleep. There
was enough in the weekend to keep my adrenaline going, so I was ok. However,
once home, I hit the wall. So I did not have the energy to write on Sunday.
Then yesterday was a busy day playing catch up and by the time I finally had
time to write, I was falling asleep, so just decided to put things off for
one more day.
Things went well at the orientation. Nora and I were
impressed with the organization and they have a great track record, so we
are excited for the new prospects. I did my regular work while down there on
Friday and then we did have the afternoon off so Nora and I did a little
sight seeing. San Antonio is probably most famous for the Alamo and their Riverwalk.
We were blessed with beautiful weather while down there. Friday it hit 74
degrees and was mostly sunny with very low humidity. Just perfect to be out
and about and enjoying things. As much as I love the snow and winter, I
can fully admit that it felt wonderful to be able to walk around without a
jacket on and to feel the warmth of the sun as well.
Nora and I had a nice lunch of Tex/Mex overlooking the
Riverwalk and then headed to the Alamo to see what that was all about. There
really were not too many folks at the Riverwalk. A few locals were out for
an afternoon stroll, but there did not seem to be too many tourists there. The
Alamo was a different story. Not that it was mobbed with tourists, but
there were still quite a few there. Nora and I enjoyed walking around the
grounds of the Alamo and taking in an important part of Texas and US
history. I was just surprised to read that the whole battle took place
because 1000 soldiers from Mexico showed up to rent a car and there was none
to rent.
Nora and I did go to see the puppies last week, but
forgot the camera, so I do not have any new picture of them to share with
you, but I can report that sweet little cuddly Millie was a regular tornado
of energy when we visited. All she wanted to do was to play with her dad.
The yellow male that is her dad (Tanner) is about 2-3 years old and just
loves children and puppies and he loves to play with his kids. He would lay
down on his back and them Millie would come running and pounce on him,
growling and laying across his neck. Then she would run off and play with
someone else for a moment and then return to Tanner to play some more. She
was playing so hard she had to stop to pant every once in a while. A big
difference from the little puppy that just wanted to lay in Nora's arms the
whole time we were there the previous two times. Huck was more laid back. He
was content to lay on a blanket or in mine or Nora's arms most of the time,
but did get up to play a bit as we were getting ready to leave. Nora and I
plan to go see the later this week for one final visit before we pick them
up on the 7th of March.
Well, I think that just about covers it for this one.
Just a head's up that there will not be a journal this coming weekend. I am
headed to WY to play for a week. Nora will be staying back and manning the
fort. She will be busy preparing the house for the puppies arrival and
hanging out with some family that will be staying here while I am away. So
it will be a bit of a wait for the next entry, but those are always doosies,
so until next time...
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-
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February 15-
Greetings! Before I
get into the events of the past week, I have just a few more items regarding
the Ride-In. I finished all the accounting work with it and we raised over
$7400 so far. I say so far because there are still a few donation buckets
out that need to be collected. I would say that they all combine a couple of
hundred bucks more, so it is probably safe to say that this years event
raised over $7500 dollars! That is just fantastic and I thank all that made
this happen. I did leave off a few names on the thank you list I put up last
week. One of the risks of making a list I guess. I have added them and
rather than risk leaving out the ones that I left off in the first place,
will not make a second list. But to those that were left off last week, I
apologize!
I also put together the collage for this years event and
you can see it here,
or follow the links from the main page of the site. If you want to send me
pics from the event, I will be happy to add them to the collage as well. The
dates for next year have been picked and they are Friday, January 29th and
Saturday, January 30th, 2010. Note, that is NOT Superbowl weekend. The
Superbowl happens later next year and is the same weekend as the MI Tech
Winter Carnival and there is no way I want to try and have my event happen
the same weekend as Winter Carnival! So mark your calendars, Jan 29th and
30th next year.
Now back to this week's events. The first item is a carry
over from last weeks big news that we will be adding 8 legs to the Dee
Household in less than 3 weeks. I have to admit that it is strange to know
that there are two puppies with our name on them, but yet they are not
living with us. Nora and I are both very excited to have them come live with
us and we just had to go and see them again this week, so on Wednesday we
drove over to pay a visit. They had all just finished eating when we
arrived, so all of the puppies were pretty calm. The owners asked if we
wanted to take them outside and it being a mild day, we said sure. Little
did we know that this was the maiden voyage to the great outdoors for the
pups! I was holding Huck and Nora had Millie. As soon as we stepped outside,
I noticed Huck immediately start sniffing. Really is something how scent is
such a huge part of a dogs world. Once outside, we set them down on the
ground to roam around, but the snow and ice made for a
strange world to the puppies. They really did not know what to make of
all that cold, white stuff they were walking on and spent a lot of time huddled
together for security. We let them roam around for a bit, but did not
force the issue or make their first experience with the outdoors an
unpleasant one, so after a while, I
picked up Millie and Nora picked up Huck and we brought them back into
their "den" inside the house. Little to they know how much they
will love the outside in just a few weeks!
They sure to love to be held!
Especially Millie, she just needs to be by someone at all times. Really
reminds me of Baileys. She was the exact same way. Even through her whole
life, she had to be laying by my feet at any time possible. Once we were
back inside, I laid down and the two came over and laid
down with me. The pic was a little blurry, but too cute not to post for
you all. Nora and I could have stayed there for hours with them, but did not
want to wear out our welcome, so we said thanks for letting us visit and
headed home, but not before snapping a shot of Mom
and Dad playing outside. We plan to visit once a week before we pick
them for good and I am already excited to see them again this week!
The big story for this week was the meltdown. Ours was a
whole lot more tollerable than the majority of the rest of the Midwest's
meltdown. We did lose some snow and that which still remained got very dense
and also very wet and not that is has gotten cold again, you can almost walk
across the top of it- almost! All told we lost about 10-12" of our
undisturbed snowpack and maybe an inch off of areas like the driveway or
trails where the snow was packed down hard. The main problem is that the
snow on the trails became sugar snow, which does not hold a grooming well.
So we will just have to wait for some fresh snow to improve things. We have
picked up an inch or two every day in the past 3-4 days and a mild
improvement is being made, but it would be nice to get around 5-7" of
dense snow to make the repair final.
The one bright spot to the warm up was that the shop
roof cleared all on it's own Tuesday. I was going to go an put some
heaters in the uninsulated portion of the shop to help the clearing process
along, but Tuesday morning while on a conference call with one of my
customers in Chicago, I felt the cabin shake and at first I thought we were
having a mini-earthquake, but then realized it was the shop roof clearing
all at once. Once I finished up with the call, I grabbed my camera and
headed outside to take some shots. I really wished that I had been able to
see it go, but was glad that I was not standing in the slide path! The force
of the snow was enough to shake the ground enough that I felt it all the way
in the upstairs loft of the cabin. Once the snow was off, it was piled
almost to the edges of the roof. Not that I'd want to, but if I needed
to, I could have just stepped from the snow pile onto the roof. The roof is
around 10 feet off the ground.
The next stop was to see the effect of all of my clearing
of the snow next to and off of the lean-to. I was presented with a pleasant
sight, with almost all
the snow being clear of the lean-to. So all my shoveling last week paid
off! I did have a little clean up work to do, with some of the
snow sliding onto my pathway to the wood boiler, but I was able to clear
that away without too much problems with the snowthrower. After looking at
the massive chunks of
snow that now lay on the ground, it was no wonder I felt it all come down
while I was inside the cabin! Some of those chunks were over 3 feet thick.
So now I have a clean roof on both the cabin and the shop. Well, there is
actually a few inches of snow on the shop already, but I am making a
personal challenge to Mother Nature. I dare...no I double dare you to make
me worry about how much snow is on the shop roof again this season. Go
ahead...I bet you can't! :) I'll keep you posted if she takes me up on my
dare.
On Friday we had a meeting to get the final details
worked out on the trip to Togwotee this year. It's coming up quick and we
needed to take a final head count and get persons and sleds situated for
transportation. We have a 6 place and 4 place trailers and two crew cab
pickups going out. I will be flying as usual and two of the regulars will
not be going this year, so it looks like we will have two that are new to
the experience. While at the meeting there were ideas of a ride for the next
day being tossed around and Dave, Teddy, Nick and myself all agreed to head
out for a half day ride yesterday. The snow is setup, so you can pretty much
go where ever you want with little to no difficulty. In fact you have to be
careful of giving it too much throttle while climbing a hill or other feat
as you will end up going too far too fast. Of course the firm snow
conditions also lend themselves to pulling some good wheelies as
Nick demonstrates here. Here is a
quick video of him doing another. After watching him do that I asked if
he was worried about the sled flipping over backwards on him and he said
that if he goes too far, then the rear bumper and rear of the tunnel hit the
snow and stop him from over rotating.
The impromptu snowmobile snow continued when the boys
found a nice little jump to catch some air off of. Here is Teddy
still trying to break in his new Summit. Here is Dave
catching some air on his M and here is Nick
flying the jump. Yep, that's right. No pick of me. Johnny doesn't jump.
At least not like that with a big trip to Wyoming coming up soon. No need to
wreck myself or sled before that! Chances are pretty good that you won't see
me doing that even when we get back! I suppose if there was around
12-18" of fluff to land in, I might consider it, but one broken leg
from jumping in my life is enough.
The group settled back down a bit and we got back into
the bush, riding logging roads and doing some exploring. That's one of the
upsides to conditions like this, you can pretty much go where ever you want
and we did. I know we places yesterday that we would never even dream of
going had the snow been soft. Anyway, here is a pic during one
of our breaks during the afternoon.
Even with the snow loss this past week, there is still a
lot of snow out there. In just about all areas we rode there was 3 feet
still on the ground and some spots I saw 4 feet still clinging to stumps or
downed trees. Here is a
hunting blind with about 3 feet of snow still on it. We have also picked
up some fresh snow in the past couple of days. Not a ton, but an inch or two
every day since about late Wednesday. Over time that all adds up and so far
it has been enough to flock
the trees and make everything look like the dead of winter again. I like
that. Especially when I do not even have to leave the comforts of my cabin
to take a picture like that last one!
I think that about covers it for this one.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-
February 11-
Sneaking in a mid-week
special here to give you all an idea of how things are up here. I took 7
pictures and will let them do most of the speaking, but the bottom line to
things is we survived the warm weather pretty good. We really did not get
much rain either. There was a bit of drizzle Monday night and also Tuesday
night we had some light rain for about 30-40 minutes, but the airport
reported only 0.04" of rain. Temps were the main culprit. We set a new
record high at the airport yesterday, with a high of 46. Temps went above
freezing by the early afternoon on Monday and have been above freezing since
then, but other than yesterday late morning through the afternoon when we
rose into the 40's, our temps have been around 33-35 degrees, so it has not
been a major meltdown. All told, I have lost about 10" of untouched
snow and maybe an inch off places like the driveway that were packed and
plowed.
So all told, we really did not get hit too hard. It could
have been a lot worse with more rains and temps being warmer longer. With
that said, we did lose some snow and right now conditions are soft. I just
got back from a short trail ride and they are still grooming and have plenty
of base. However, they are soft and even when it drops below freezing (by
sunset today), the snow quality will not be the best for holding a groom. I
also expect traffic up here to increase dramatically. The UP is one of the
few place with enough snow to ride in the Midwest, so our trails will be
busy with sledders. So the combination of lots of sleds and not the best
snow to groom will likely lead to the first bumpy trails we have had up here
this season.
Yesterday I had to run to Houghton/Hancock for some things, so
I grabbed the camera and took some shots of the trail from the road. Here is
the trail crossing
just north of Calumet near the Northgate Motel. A couple of sleds thrown
in just for the heck of it! This next shot is probably of the ugliest
conditions I saw in all of my travels yesterday and today. It is where
the trail runs along side the road in Hancock. Note that the dirt on the
trail is from sleds tracking onto the trail from the road and also from the
plows that toss their loads onto the trail right there. The base of snow in
that spot was about 14-18" deep, so you are riding on plenty of snow.
It is just a little dirty because the trail goes along side the road for
about 1/2 mile. I know folks are always wondering how the conditions are for
crossing the lift-bridge, so I drove down there and took a shot. Plenty
of snow on the lower level of the lift bridge. They haul it in there by
truck early in the season and the base there was over 2 feet thick. Dirty
snow, but still snow. I was going to take a picture of the trail leading
into Houghton from the road above, but figured I better concentrate on
driving and not photo taking, but it was in fine shape. Plenty of snow.
Today I got out on the sled. I did not go too far as
conditions really did not vary much at all in the 20 or so miles I put on.
Plus I did not have a ton of gas and wanted to get back to do this write up.
In any case, conditions away from the towns are fine as
you can see here. The snow is clean and the base on the trails is
anywhere from 15-18". Like I mentioned, right now the snow is soft.
They are out grooming right now and while not an expert on the subject, I
think that the grooming is actually doing more good than harm. I know that
there are those that will argue you should not groom when the trails are
soft like they are, but with the grooming, they are keeping big moguls from
forming and I know that the snow is not mush all the way to the ground. Only
the top few inches. So if they can keep the moguls from forming, they can
potentially keep that hard pack base further down in better shape. Just my 2
cents, but I think my rationale here is not off base. Anyway, here is
another shot of the
typical shape of the trails that I rode on today.
Of course I did not ride the entire trail system, but I
really doubt that conditions in about 95% of the area would be any different
from what I rode on today. The snow conditions before the warm up were the
same and the warm up has impacted all areas the same. So there is no reason
for them to be different. Of course you might find pockets where the terrain
or road crossings might cause conditions to not be as nice as they were in
those last two pics. Here is the
road crossing at the north end of Mohawk and here is a shot of a
small hill where the drag removes more snow from the trail during grooming.
Obviously with some traffic, more grooming and no new snow, that little 20
foot section may start to have some bare ground show through, but those
would be the extent of the problems you would encounter.
As far as the weather forecast goes. Temps will drop to
below freezing by sunset today and look to stay there through the
forecastable future. We will get a little light snow in the next couple of
days. No major dumps, but probably a few inches. So that could help to put a
bit of snow on the bare roads as well as freshen up things a bit. But it
really does not look like enough snow will fall to make too much of a
difference in the snowcover.
I hope that this little update will give you all an idea of how
things are. I did try and find areas that would show the best and worst and
the worst I saw was really not that bad. I guess my main concern is the
amount of traffic we are likely to see and the fact that the snow on the
trails are in a shape where they will not hold a groom for as long as they
would if the snow were fresh. So the trails are abt to get bumpy sooner than
they typically would.
Have a good one and...
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-
February 8-
I have a ton to talk
about, so I am getting an early start again. My first order of business is
to thank those that contributed to the success of the ride in. I do not have
the final numbers yet (still waiting for some bills), but just sort of
eyeballing things it looks like we made around $8,000, which is pretty
awesome if you ask me. The following individuals or businesses all
contributed to this years event and I offer up my sincerest thanks. I will
be working on the post-event portion of the web pages for the event and will
also be including this list there, but I wanted to get it out in this weeks
journal so my thanks to-
ArcticFX Graphics, Americinn-Calumet, Ash Trail Lodge, The Bluff, Budget Host Inn, Carmelita's, Castle, Centennial Cottages, Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce, Chances Hardware, Chicagoland Speedway/Ramblin Ray CBS Radio Chicago, Chris Burandt, Copper Country Rentals, Copper Crown Motel, Country Inn & Suites, Daily Mining Gazette, Dan Gardiner, Dan's Polaris, Dave Whaley - Deerton MI Groomer, Dreamland Motel, Dobson Entertainment, Eagle Harbor Inn, Everts, Franklin Square Inn, Gemignanis, Getaway Bay Resort, Goodwin Performace, Grandma Myrts, Heidi Reed and staff at the MI Tech Memorial Union Ballroom, John and Donna Stachler, Kaleva Café, Kathy Bonini, Keweenaw Motor Sports, Keweenaw Snow Expeditions, Klim, Krupps Mini Mart, Krupps Resort, LacLaBelle Lodge and Bear Belly Bar, Lake Effect Supply, Dave and Lori Sleeman, Mariner North, Northwoods Candlelight Inn, Parkview, Pat's Yamaha, Quincy's, Randy "Big Vin" VanVooran, Ron & Greg Videen - John Dee Store, Salon 1281, Skunkworks Vinyl, SledNecks, Sled Solutions, Superior Snowmobile Club, Superior Travel, Team Summit, The Library, The Pines, Tiges Bar, Toivola Lunch, Travellodge, Twin Lakes BP & Convenience, Vansville Bar, Wildlife Filling Station, Wildlife Refugee Cabins, WMPL/WKMJ, WLUC TV 6, Wyandotte Hils Golf Course, Yooper Lodge
The second order of business is to announce that the
Dee household has grown by two! Not via the human method, but rather the
four legged, furry variety! A few weeks ago when I was riding with Teddy,
Brian and Nick, we got to talking about dogs and Ted and Brian mentioned how
Ted's brother in law had some lab puppies that were just born and if I was
interested, we should check them out. I said how Nora and I were kind of
interested, but that we were hoping to rescue a dog from a shelter or other
rescue operation and that we also were waiting for spring when things
quieted down some. Then this past Friday I got a call from Ted's brother in
law asking me if I was interested in any of the puppies and I said I would
check with Nora and get back to him. Nora and I decided to head down and
have a look at the parents and the puppies this morning. Probably a silly
thing to decide to go and look at some puppies, then hold
them for a while and think you are going to walk away still undecided on
the matter. The moment got the best of both of us and we decided on not one,
but two puppies from the litter. This is Millie
and this is Huck.
We did not set out to get a black male and yellow female like Burt and
Baileys, we did not even know if we would get one or two, it just turned out
that way. They are only 4 weeks old, so they are still hanging out with
their mom and dad, but on the evening of March 7th, they will be coming to
their new home and Nora and I can't wait! I can only imagine all the stories
I will have to share with you all in this forum. We have already begun to
puppy-proof the cabin and will need to get to the store to stock up on
supplies before they arrive. Man are we excited!!!
One of the big weather stores this week was the dumping
of snow that took place in the Houghton and Hancock area. It was actually a
very small area of the peninsula that got hit so hard. If you traveled about
5-10 miles north or south, you got out of the heavy band and ended up with
around 3-6". However, within the heavy band 20-30" of snow fell in
6 hours. There were snowfall rates of 5-6" per hour at times. Here were
we live, the totals for the day were around an inch or two! Things then
quieted down for most of the rest of the week and we are in a bit of a snow
drought right now. I am actually a bit thankful as the winch on the ATV gave
out while I was plowing on Tuesday and so I had to clear the entire driveway
with just the snow thrower. So thankfully Tuesday was the last day I had to
move snow. I got a new winch ordered up and it arrived on Friday. So I will
get it installed and ready for the next round of snow moving.
We have also seen some warmer temps. Most of last week
was pretty cold, but then on Friday we rose to 36 degrees and on Saturday we
made it to 34. The air was very dry on Friday, so the snow did not melt at
all. In fact, I rode on Friday afternoon and the snow was powdery the whole
time. Yesterday the air was more humid, so the snow started to get
"sticky". By that I mean it was good packing, but really did not
melt at all. Right now we are flirting with the freezing mark and it looks
like we will run above freezing tomorrow and Tuesday with some freezing rain
or rain to fall as well.
With the warm up coming and the potential for some rain,
I decided to get some snow out of the way for when the shop roof clears.
This autumn I built a little lean-to for the boat and some other things and
the snow that cleared in late December was nearly piled up to the eaves of
the lean-to. So on Wednesday, I got out and shoveled snow off the lean-to as
well as removed some snow from the edge of it. There was quite
a bit of snow on it, probably close to 3 feet and all of that had
accumulated since December 26th when we cleared the roof when my mom and
brothers were up. About 2 hours and probably 1500 calories later, I had
things pretty much
where I wanted them to be. The snow may not all clear the lean-to, but
unless we have a really snowy rest of Feb and March, I think I will be OK.
It was Winter Carnival week at MI Tech this week and
Wednesday night was the all nighter, so Nora and I made plans to go and
check out the snow statues on Thursday and then have dinner in town. It
really is neat to walk around campus and view all the different statues.
They have two main fields, the all nighter, in which the entire statue needs
to be built overnight and then the regular field in which they can start
around a month before judging. Obviously the regular entries are a lot
larger and typically more detailed, but some of the one nighters are pretty
good as well. I think the weather might have played a bit of a role this
year as it seemed like the statues in general were not as detailed as they
have been in the past. All of them seemed to be lacking the detail to some
degree, so I figured the one common variable in them was the weather. Don't
get me wrong, there were still some incredible statues that were built and
all of the builders have my full respect for what they did. I know I could
not have done anything like what they did, it is just that both Nora and I
did not feel the level of detail in them was as high as we typically see. I
can only speculate that it may have been due to it being so cold that the
slush they work with froze so quickly that they could not mold things as
well. In any case, still worth the trip to campus and a walk around to view
them. I really do not know how best to display all of the pics I took, so I
guess I will just list them. Pic
1, pic 2, pic
3, pic 4, pic
5, pic 6, pic
7, pic 8, pic
9, pic 10 and pic
11. That last one was the grand daddy of them all. Three stories high in
spots and it had a lot of detail to it. I guess there was also one in
Hancock that was very good, but we did not go to see it.
One of the other activities to Winter Carnival is the broomball
games. Actually, I think they are played more than just during Winter
Carnival, but it seems like the activity on the rinks is at it's peak during
the week long event. Never been out there, but it looks like it could be
kind of fun.
On Friday I got to get out on the sled for a ride. I met up
with locals Bob, Gary and John and some friends of Gary and John's from out
of the area. All told we had 7 in our group which is starting to get a bit
large, but all went well, with no breakdowns or lost riders. All the riders
were fully capable as well and we were able to cover some ground. Bob and I
met up with the others at the Vansville and we took off into the bush from
there. I was chosen to be the leader for the rest of the day and we took
some familiar trails to some unfamiliar trails and ended up reaching a point
where things got a
little too grown in and a little deep too. A couple of stucks and about
30 minutes later and we were back on our way. After that first little jaunt
into the thick and deep, I decided to stick to the areas I knew for sure
would be ok to traverse through. We even found some untracked
snow to play in and with the sun out and temps in the mid 30's, it was a
perfect afternoon for a ride! I had forgotten what it is like to ride in
temps that are not really cold! Since December, just about every single day
up here, or at least the days I have gone out for a ride have been in the
single digits or low teens. It sure was nice to not have to wear a balaclava
and a bunch of layers. Plus the pit stops were very enjoyable too.
On Sunday, I tossed the M into the back of Old Blue and
headed up to Lac La Belle to ride with Troy and Zach. The temps when we
started out were flirting with the freezing mark and the air had more
humidity to it, so the snow was starting to get a little more sticky. Even
so, we had a blast riding yesterday. I think 3 or 4 is the perfect number of
riders for the backcountry. Enough bodies to get any sled unstuck, but a
small enough group to be able to keep on the move without much effort. Plus
you can travel through an area without tearing up every last flake of snow.
I know I have been behind some groups of backcountry riders up here and they
have a dozen or so in their group and by the time they are all through an
area it looks like an army of sleds went through. Not that there is anything
they can do about it or that they are doing anything wrong, but I just do
not see the fun in traveling with such a big group.
In any case, our plan for the day was just to explore.
The snow I like to ride in most is the over the bumper kind, but once the
snow starts to set up, it can lead to just as much fun because you can
really hit the back country and explore the deep interiors of the bush and
go places you might not venture into when the snow is bottomless powder. So
that is exactly what Troy, Zach and I did. We explored some unexplored
areas and even found a couple of new routes to use.
Since we were traveling some unknown routes to us, they
also ended up being unknown routes to others and we were treated to untracked
snow for much of the day. I don't know about most of you reading this,
but my true joy while on a sled is exploring. I don't care if I am heading
down a logging road or two track and it comes to a dead stop and I have to
turn around. My pure joy is to see new sights and that is what I saw on
about 80% of the trip yesterday. Troy and Zach new probably 50% of the trip
yesterday and we all knew our approximate location and always knew which
direction was which all day, but I got to see many new sights and like I
say, a few new routes to take in the future. So the day was a blast and a
learning experience- or in other words, perfect in my eyes! If that was not
enough, we even found a few play spots. Here is Zach
testing the suspension on his dad Troy's sled. Here is a quick movie of me
doing a little side hill and another of me
coming back. Here is a pic of us
getting ready to hit a new an unexplored logging road and to top off the
day, we even found a neat overlook
of the North Shore.
We made it back to Lac La Belle safe and sound. On my way
up to LLB in the morning, the bearing on the alternator gave seized and
ended up taking out the belt that runs things like the power steering, the
fan and the alternator. So before taking off on our ride, I called the auto
parts store in Calumet, had them set aside an alternator and belt, then
asked Nora if she could pick them up and then Troy's wife Cathy stopped off
to pick them up from our house on her way back from town. So once we got
back, Zach got to work
replacing the alternator and belt for me. He has worked in a garage in the
summer and knows his way around a Chevy small block pretty well and had
things swapped out in about 20 minutes. I told Troy he needed to change the
name of his place to the Lac La Belle Lodge/Beer Belly Bar and Grille and
Garage! Speaking of a garage. Troy had one
monstrous drift hanging off the edge of his! I said he really needed to
stand underneath it to give it some perspective, but he did not think that
was a good idea. For reference, the garage door is 10 feet tall.
So it's been a pretty busy week and in a little less than
4 weeks it will be getting a whole lot busier around here! The timing of the
arrival of Huck and Millie will be just about perfect though. March gets to
be a slower time for me with both the website and my regular work, so I will
be able to spend time with them, cleaning up mostly! Then they will be potty
trained by the time things start to get busier for me in the spring with my
regular work. Plus I will be so busy with them and excited to be with them,
I will hardly even care that the snow is melting! A perfect setup.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-
February 1-
Well, not much to talk
about in this one, so I guess I will just say a quick hi and close it
out. Just kidding. Have a lot to say, but am not sure about the energy
to say it all. The week was a busy one, working on the last minute details
to the ride in, but things went pretty smoothly and the event was a ton of
fun and a great success. There were tons of pictures taken and I will be
sharing some and will be putting together a picture page for this years
event and will put all of them in there. Plus, any that attended and want to
send me pics to be included in the picture page, please feel free to e mail
them to me.
There is also a ton of thanks to be made and we are
compiling the list of contributors to this years event and that will be put
on the page for the event and I will also be mentioning it in the next
journal entry. However, I really need to thank some special people that were
a huge part of the event: My wife Nora for her help in organizing the event
as well as putting up with me for the past few months! Lori and Kathy from
the Wildlife Refuge Cabins and Kathy's son's girlfriend Bobbi Jo. Lori and
Kathy are the prize gathering princesses, collecting dozens of prizes from
the local businesses. Then Bobbi Jo and Kathy ran the raffle and even
skipped dinner to make sure everyone that wanted a ticket got one. John and
Donna Stachler for handling the reservations, gathering some prizes and
helping out with things at the event. The JohnDee Store and Patti the
seamstress for producing the shirts. Matt from The Bluff/Chances Hardware
for collecting prize items from the Mass City/Rockland/Ontonagon area, Big
Vin for an awesome job of emcee and entertainer, all the guides that helped
with the back country tours and Heidi and the staff at the MI Tech Memorial
Union Ballroom. The food was excellent and Heidi and the staff made sure
that no detail was left out to make the evening a special one for all of us.
I realize that the Memorial Union Ballroom (MUB) is not as convenient as the
other two venues that hosted the banquet, but the food and staff at the MUB
hit it out of the park and I think we have found the new long-term home of
the banquet.
I also need to thank all those that attended the event,
because if it were not for you, there would be no event! A final thank you
goes out to those that could not attend, but took the time and effort to
send a contribution to the event. We do not have the final numbers yet as
for how much money was raised, but I know it is between 5-10 thousand
dollars.
So, back to my week...Monday, Tuesday and Thursday were
spent working on some last minute details. Nora and I met up with Lori and
Kathy to get the prizes for the silent auction and raffle organized on
Monday. After 4 years we finally have a pretty good system in place and were
able to get things done in under 2 hours. The only thing I wished I would
have done is to take a picture of all the items we had, as there was
probably close to 75 DVD's 6 high quality jackets, 2 pairs of skis, dozens
of certificates for free stays at local hotels, motels and cabins, discounts
on food, free sled rentals, etc. I know when Nora and I drove down to the
event to setup with Kathy, Lori and Bobbi Jo, the back of the blazer was
completely full with all the prize items.
On Wednesday, I got to play a bit. Friends that were
attending the ride in arrived on Tuesday night and then rode up from Twin
Lakes to hook up with me for an afternoon ride. I guess the surest proof
that we had a good time was that I only took two pictures the entire
afternoon. We were too busy having fun to stop and take many. My first
picture is actually of the main
trail between Mohawk and Phoenix. Pool table flat and that is the way
things have been the entire season. In fact, it may sound corny, but I have
actually forgotten what a bumpy trail is like. The backcountry is pretty
beat up and there are some spots out there that have some pretty decent
whoops in them, but as for the groomed trails, they are flat, flat, flat.
The other picture from the ride on Wednesday is of the
group taking a quick break. We were able to find some fresh snow to play
in, but things are getting more and more tracked up, that's for sure. I
guess what we have right now be more close to reality than the fresh powder
riding we had any day you wanted it from Dec 1 through mid January.
On Friday, I drove down to organize the back country
rides, help with handing out the shirts and poker run sheets and then had to
return to work as things in the weather business for South America and
hopping and I could not take any time off. After that work was done, I was
able to meet up with guides Al and Bob and relieve Al from his guiding
duties so that he could get back to his shop and take care of some work. We
rode the rest of the afternoon and all had a good time. Finished things up
around 5 and then I headed home to grab dinner and hit the hay to get ready
for Saturday's action. Nora had her brother and friends come up for the ride
in and they all
went out for a ride on Friday and Saturday as well.
Friday we were a bit thin on guides for the ride in
tours, but Saturday was just the opposite. We had 7 guides in all on
Saturday, so the groups that went out were all much smaller. I rode along
with Chris and Craig and we took turns guiding 5 others around. I split off
early so that I could get back home, cleaned up and then down to the MUB to
help with the setup.
After four years of doing things, the setup for the event
went smoothly as well. The room was already setup for us, with the tables up
and set. The sound stage was setup for Big Vin and we had tables setup for
the prizes. All that was left to do was to start putting out the prizes
for the silent auction and the prizes
for the raffle. As I already mentioned, we had some great prizes. A
jacket from Klim. Lake Effect Supply donated a jacket from tobe. We also
got jackets from
SledNecks and a special jacket from Chris Burandt. Castle stepped up to
the plate big time again this year and supplied EVERY
attendee of the banquet with a balaclava as well as about 4 dozen knit
hats and a bunch of helmet and gear bags. So every attendee went home with
something from the banquet and some had more than they could carry!
I had also received a
neat picture board from Robert Pettit, the wish child from last year. It
had a bunch of pictures from his time at the ride in last year as well as
pictures from his wish, which was a Disney Cruise. There was also a really
special letter from him thanking us all and telling us about his wish.
This years wish child was 3 1/2 year old Maddy from
Chassell. Her and her family were able to attend this years event and here
is a shot of Nora and
I with them. She is in remission from her cancer and it sure did show as
she was a little bundle of energy. Her favorite place to be while at the
event was right in front of Big Vin while he sang for us and called off
numbers for the raffle. Her wish is to get a fancy playground for her
backyard and once the snow melts and the wish becomes reality, then I have
arranged with her dad to get some pictures of her playing on her playground
and will share them with you all.
Before things got too late and folks started heading out,
we all got together for a
group photo. We had about 125 attend in all, which is pretty close to
the years past. I know I had fun and it seemed like I was not the only one.
So hopefully we have hit our stride with this event and can build on things
to make next years event even better.
I think I will hang it up for tonight, so I can rest my
bones.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-
