Friday-the Last Day of Riding

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When I decided to make this trip, I really wasn't sure how long I would stay. I thought maybe I'd leave Thursday. That would have given me 3 days of riding. Then as the snow began piling up, I told Sandy Krupp that I would leave Friday. On Thursday, with snow wrecking driving conditions and the forecast for it to continue to snow until Saturday morning, I asked Sandy Krupp if I could stay until Saturday morning. Too late; they were filled up for the weekend. The other places to stay in Twin Lakes were also booked. I guess that everyone in the Midwest saw the weather reports. So I asked Sandy to let me know if there were any cancellations and she called that afternoon to say that the Wyandotte Cabins had a cabin open up so I planned to move in there Friday morning. I packed up my stuff, loaded the trailer and drove the 1/4 mile or so through a foot and a half of unplowed snow and got moved in.

I took off on the sled down the Bill Nichols Trail to Mass City, gassed up and continued east and south toward my destination, Hoppy's Bar in Kenton. Those of you who ride with me won't believe this, but I rode right by the Rousseau Bar without stopping in! I did take a couple pictures. I continued on to Hoppy's, a ride of about 45 miles from Twin Lakes. I was hoping that Jane, the owner would be working and she was. Hoppy's is another of my favorites and I try to get in there several times a season. Jane is another big supporter of the trail system and I like to patronize those businesses as much as possible. I had her specialty, a "Sloppy Hoppy," a cheeseburger filled with all kinds of goodies and barbecue sauce. It's always good to talk with Jane. She has a sarcastic side to her, but I think it's just part of the entertainment. She proceeded to tell me that business has been good. She had a very busy deer hunting season and was on pace for a better year than last year, which was good. It's really nice to hear that. You get kinda tired and depressed hearing about how bad the economy is. It may be naive on my part, but I believe that if people were more positive and confident, it would start to improve the economy. After all, I believe perception is probably 90% of reality when it comes to the economy. If everyone thinks it's gloom and doom, by God it will be. Enough preaching for now.

I had a real nice visit with Jane and after that, I rode 15 miles to Bruce Crossing and gassed up for the trip back to Twin Lakes. The trail from Bruce Crossing to Rockland was a little wet and bumpy and the Bill Nichols trail was a little bumpy, what with it being Friday afternoon and a lot more machines on the trails. But all in all, not bad. If you can go 45 mph on a trail in relative comfort, it ain't too bad. I put on about 450 miles totally on the trip. No records there. Especially when some guys like to rack up 200+ miles a day. But, it was just fine for me. I had some phenomenal conditions. The only real problem was riding alone, I missed out on some playing in the huge areas of powder because I didn't want to stick the sled and have to dig out by myself.

I loaded the sled on the trailer for the trip home the next morning and went to the Parkview for supper. As I and many others have often said, the best part of travel is the interesting people you meet. While eating supper at the bar, I met a young guy from southern Wisconsin, Jonathan Preiser. He runs a very successful aftermarket snowmobile accessory business, mostly skis and traction products. He was an intelligent and articulate guy and he and I talked for a good amount of time. It made for a most interesting evening. You sledders should check out his stuff. Here's a link to his website:

Thursday evening, I met another interesting guy, Dan DeForge at the Mosquito. Dan's a very good artist and his specialty is hand carved doors. His business is called Huron Mountain Doors. He's made them for some famous people, Ted Nugent for one. Dan's a native of the area and we shared some good times that night. When I got home, I checked out his website and he wasn't kidding. His work is beautiful. You can find it here:

I obviously didn't get around to writing this until today, Tuesday. With no internet connection at the Wyandotte and my need to start for home Saturday, I didn't have the time. Anyway the trip home was nice and easy. Even the Chicago traffic was bearable, since it was a Saturday.

I'm looking forward to more trips this year and getting to ride with my friends. It was a very nice start to winter and the riding season. Here's to meeting some of the same people again.

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Photos

It Never Stopped
It was like this every morning

Firesteel Tressels
During one of the few breaks in the snowfall. These are 3 old railroad tressels that go over 3 branches of the Firesteel River just north of Mass City.

Roussseau Bar Icicles
They always have a good collection.

Hoppy's Bar-Kenton, MI
From a previous trip. Hoppy's has been there continuously for 64 years. Jane's planning some celebrating next year when they hit 65.

Comments

[Sandy]

your travel blog
Hi Bob: Sure enjoyed following thru on your travel blog. Glad you had a good time-conditions gave you some new snow every day. Luck was with you to stay for Friday when Christy let me know she had a cancellation. Guess you can tell that Twin Lakes works together. Thank you again for your time with us and hope you have more good times snowmobiling this year.

[Snowhawg]

Twin Lakes
Thanks for the nice comment, Sandy. You and Richard are the best. Thanks for everything.