Winter 1999-2000 Logbook

Recollections of Large's Winter

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December

Things once again this year got off to a slow start. We went through Christmas with about an inch or two of snow on the ground. The snow started around the 28th and myself, Tony, Trucker, Daren and Chad Blum did get one 83 mile run up by the John Creek hunt camp and towards the Windy Lake Motel. Came back on Chicago Mine Road to the truck. Very nice riding. The only other ride I got in before leaving to Kanata was New Year's Day through the Reserve to Simon Lake and as we put a few hours of fishing in on McCharles Lake. Had a great party at Dr. J's that night by the way that spilled over to Thompson's in the early hours of the morning.

January

No snow in the Kanata area in early January at all. Made a trip to Mount Laurier, Quebec on Jan. 23 with Grant and Colin from Stittsville. Almost a 3 hour drive each way but the trails were pretty good and there was no lack of snow. Put on about 95 miles. Check out the pictures here. Great restaurant in Mt. Laurier to eat at ... all kinds of stuffed animals, sleds, boats, moose, hippo head etc. scattered throughout the joint. Snowed most of the drive home until we got near Ottawa of course when if quickly stopped.

Went home to Black Lake the next weekend with Tim and Skwerl on a spur of the moment thing. Rode on a sunny Saturday with Peter Pearson up to Elliott Lake by noon via Agnew Lake and Birch Lake. Lots of snow up there. Down to Spanish for lunch and on the big water for a while. Could not see 100 feet on the big water because of fog so we headed back to the main land near La Cloche Lake. Drove into an accident scene by Cutler Lake and had to arrange an ambulance ride for an unlucky lady with a broken wrist and smashed up 2000 600 Ski-Doo Touring. Ended up at The Lodge for a social and then to Kiviaho's in Whitefish for dinner. Stopped at Vilgren's on Black Lake about 10 pm to help get rid of some excess wine he had laying around and woke up Sunday morning at home. 276 miles total for the day. Turns out this is the best day of riding I was to enjoy the whole season.

Went for a spin Sunday to Penage via the Long Lake trail. Has been re-routed and was in good shape. Left the sled on Black Lake and headed back to Kanata about 3pm. The body is feeling some pain from yesterdays ride.

February

Short 4 day work week and home Thursday night the 3rd of February with Ryan. Vilgren called me to go for 'a beer' at The Lodge and I relayed the message to Tony. Just happened that Stump was at The Lodge as well, what are the chances? The one beer turned into shooters, Nick fired it up as well and things lasted until 2:30 AM as we all stayed the night there minus Stumper. Woke up to a great sunny Friday morning. Pumped 120 bucks of gas to six Americans touring Ontario just before we left for the day. Tony and myself rode to Chelmsford, Fairbanks, Agnew, Nairn and back to Penage. All the trails were great and so was the weather, -10 and sunny, no wind, awesome. Home for dinner, a nap, some supplies and back out to The Lodge to cover my previous tab. Wouldn't ya know it, but Stump was once again at The Lodge! Had seven beers with him, Chris and Shane as I paid my bill and then headed over to the party at Scharf's(Barf )camp. Quite a crew there, most folks in fine form. I think I pulled the pin out of there and went home about 1 AM as I wanted to get some rest for the Killarney trip the next day.

Saturday was overcast with intermittent snow squalls. Met at Rantanen's and waited for Dave Kiviaho until noon, the damn slow poke. It was an uneventful ride to Killarney. 7 sleds in all I believe. We fired it up in our room and headed to the Dance at the Legion or School, I don't know what the place really is. A good time had by all. Went back to the KBI for last call at 2 AM. Tim and myself proceeded put ride the elevator with a couch for comfort for some time. The memory ends there.

Sunday was sunny and we picked up Vilgren and Rauteinen along with their girlfriends for the ride home. The Killarney trail has been straightend some and is quite enjoyable to drive now. We stopped for a social or two on the way back and I departed the rest of the group at the south end of Penage and headed home via Long Lake. The rest of the pack stopped at Vilgren's for another 'pop'. Another successful year in Killarney.

Back in Kanata we finally received some snow. Had planned to run in a Poker Run with Grant on the weekend of the 12/13th but things fell through. Then tried to take a bus to Montreal to go to a hockey game but there were not tickets left so I decided to try the local trails out for myself. I only drove an hour and decided they were too shitty to explore any more. There just wasn't enough snow yet. Ended up in Carleton Place at Cranston's for the night. At one point in time during the night I think myself and Mike had solved most of the worlds problems but neither of us could remember the solutions in the morning, too bad because I really think we had some great ideas!

The following weekend we did have enough snow to make a good ride happen. Met up with Dave at Leo's and met a few other guys, all friends of my roommate, The Big Russian. Had a few beers to smooth the bumps before we hit the trails and were off on a beautiful sunny Saturday. Rode down to Franktown and started heading back around dusk. We ended up losing Leo and Dave around Clayton and only Woody and myself were left after Vanier hit a small stump and was running low on gas. Stopped for a bever or two on the way home as it was a great night but the trails were beat from the days activity. Loaded up around 10:30 and home to bed. Was supposed to go into town on this night but I had no business driving around civilization and my body was feeling the effects of the days events.

The next trip to Lively was not scheduled until the Fishing Derby weekend in March but a phone call I placed on Friday afternoon on February 25 to Peter Vilgren ended up with me immediately leaving work, loading up my sled and hitting the road home. The party this night was at Marshall's house as Chris has finished school and landed a job in Toronto. It was a 70's dressup night and Jonny T. was in fine attire as per usual. Many laughs were had especially during the gift opening as Chris was his normal smart ass self.

Saturday morning I headed out to Stumps but he was at The Lodge to no ones surprise rather than at home. Gave him a hand to pump out his basement which was like a lake due to recent warm weather. Drove on the lake from Vildis' to the Marina and she was a wet one. Needed the wipers on in the truck and Stump didn't even have a sip of beer on the ride. Erie feeling driving on the lake in a foot of water. Headed down to Stoney Bay with Ogar, Jason Bois and Jake to meet up with the rest of the gang. Lake was wet but enough horsepower kept one on top of the water. Took a spin down to John Bradley's for a couple of beer before the fog set in and then back to Stoney Bay for a good party. Skwerl was in fine form along with a few others, take a look here. Man did it rain hard that Saturday night. Collected our thoughts and had a steak breakfast Sunday morning. I had to hit the road home to Kanata along with Skwerl and Tim, but the rest of them fired it up once again and made the most out a warm wet weekend. Actually Tim left early Sunday morning on his own. He woke up on the floor in a confused state of mind about 7 AM Sunday and decided it was in his best interest to leave the premises' asap.

March

Short four day work week and I was headed home with Skwerl by my side on Thursday afternoon for the great Fishing Derby weekend. Friday was bright and sunny as preparations were made for the weekend. Rance, Budgelll and myself were out at Tony's Friday morning to work on the my father's Indy Sport GT to get it ready for Kim for the weekend. The party started at Tony's Friday evening and headed up to The Lodge. Great turn out and a sign of things to come, take a look here. It was funny to note that Stump, Shane and Hobby could not handle all the action at The Lodge and called it an early night so they could rise early to fish. No shortage of fights on this night but we will just keep that quiet.

Headed to Vildis' Saturday morning with Skwerl and met up with the Vildis clan, Trucker and Budgell. Proceeded to tour the lake meeting up with Jewitt and Boudry, then a pile of folks at Crane Point and on to Vilgren's. Back to Vildis' later and then we trucked it to the Weigh In at 4. Things got ugly at the weigh in. One sled ended up wet and Jerry went berserk for about 40 minutes trying to kill the world. Skwerl came out of the deal with a shiner. We eventually mozied up to The Lodge and took part in the festivities. Ended up at Rantanen's camp early in the morning and had a night cap or two. The Lodge had to call last call early because the day had caught up to many of the party goers and serving them more alcohol would be breaking some damn law.

Loaded up the sled Sunday afternoon and put it in the garage for the summer on March 5th. Pathetic, about 1000 miles this year. Sled ran great but what an awful season this was. I hope I have better riding stories to share next year.

- Large

March 26 / 2000