Wingman Rob feeling dejected about the washed out trail
We enjoyed a very good dinner last night, and we were pleasantly surprised to see Dylan had returned via his truck to join us. The Filet with cajun shrimp was delicious. The French Onion soup looked disappointing, I skipped it.
This morning breakfast was at 7am. Good thing Dylan drove his truck back to meet us for the evening. He generously offered to make two trips to the local diner a couple blocks down Main Street to get our group of 8 to breakfast.
The breakfast conversation was basically, we don’t want to ride in the rain. Especially on the trails we rode getting in last night. They will be slushy mud. Dylan, again, generously volunteered to drive 4 of the crew back to our trucks in Rangeley, ME. It was about 70 miles by road, and about 40 via the rough as hell goat path that we brought in many days ago. But first, we have to go to the Ram dealer about 40 miles from Rangeley to pick up NFG Kelley’s truck that had the fuse replaced for his air ride system.
By about 11:30 am we were back at the Saddleback Lodge where our trucks were parked. We dusted off what little melting snow that was on the windshields, gave them a quick warm up, headed to the gas station on the way out of town, topped off the tanks, and headed back down that blessed rough ass goat path back to Colebrook, NH. While we were beating ourselves mercilessly on that effing goat path, the other crew was hanging back relaxing, watching The Price is Right I would imagine, or napping, awaiting our return.
By about 12:50 pm, Dylan had beat us back by about 10 minutes, he had to re-connect his snow plow to his truck and see us off again. The rest of the crew began loading our sleds and gear expediently, as housekeeping was breathing down their necks to get our rooms cleaned for the next tenants.
It was now about 1:45pm, and the trucks were loaded. We decided to have lunch before heading back to Michigan. The usual lunch faire was ordered, burgers, club sandwiches, a bowl of chile, and of course Wingman Rob (He finally got the “W” capitalized in his trail name for some good act he did yesterday but I don’t recall what it was) ordered the poutine.
By 3pm we were on the trail, this time in our trucks and trailers. At least we don’t have to down that g damn goat path again. I’m serious. I have never been on a paved road that is that effing rough. It was just frost heaved, but ridiculously frost heaved.
We have landed in Brattleboro, VT at a Comfort Inn. Well, actually we are currently at the Ninety Nine Bar/Pub out front of the Comfort Inn. It’s been explained to us as an Applebee’s like local/regional chain. Anywho, we are at the horseshoe bar enjoying adult beverages. The roughly 3 hour, 180 mile ride here was a constant light rain with temperatures fluctuating between 36 degree and 39 degrees. Supposedly the winter storm that hit Michigan yesterday is moving in our direction. We shall see.
Not sure what call time will be tomorrow. We are not scheduled to return to Michigan until Saturday. I already missed my wife’s birthday today (that cost me dearly, Happy Birthday to YOU.), so there isn’t really a rush on our part. Safety first.
As I close this season’s Frost Bytes edition out, I want to thank all of the riders that participated and put up with my wise mouth and belittling conversations. I am especially thankful you all followed the golden rule: No Hitting (me). It was truly a pleasure to hang with you all again. Many of us haven’t seen each other since our last Quebec trip, Pre-Rona in 2020. We all clicked, and it was as if we never missed a beat. Lifetime friendships have developed, and I am looking forward to our group texts and continued belittling of each other via text. You all are a great group and I appreciate the fun we have on the trail. I’ll see ya when I see ya.
To my seven followers, hope you enjoyed the ride with us. Some of you are too kind with your words of encouragement. While we didn’t have the best of conditions on the trail, we made it. My conversations with Fearless Craig all along have been, well you can’t plan for the weather when you are scheduling a snowmobile trip in August, you get what the weather gives you. At least we have knocked Maine & New Hampshire off our snowmobile bucket list.
No telling where we will end up next season, but I am sure Fearless has his thinking cap on, and will call us with some hair brained idea in July to share it with us. You can count me in.
If any body has any interest in a saddlebag ride on the Darkside, reach out to Craig at 810-629-1299 or via email craigsrx@live.com to be vetted. This isn’t for everybody, you have to have a sense of humor and thick skin for this group.
See ya when I see ya and… bye for now.
Stick
