Winter 1998-99 Logbook

Recollections of Large's Winter

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I will be continuing to add links as I scan more pictures. Added a bunch April 25 and more on June 7.

December

Things got off to a late start. Black Lake didn't freeze until the 23rd and Penage on the 29th. Sledding started the last week on December with rough trails and no grooming. We made a run up to the John Creek hunt camp but the creek was in awful shape as it wasn't safely frozen yet. No problems though but we did have our share of missed corners and spent a good deal of time pulling sleds out of the bush and ditches. Luckily we had a New Year's Party to setup and participate in so that killed and couple of days and a few thousand brain cells. Did get some fishing in on the 31st, with 2 inches of ice to hold us. No fish, what's new.

January

Once the snow did come, it came in droves. Made the first run down Penage during the first couple of days of the month with a trip into Espanola on the roads with Jay, Mel, Wort, Rod and Lisa. Lots of snow everywhere now. Grooming started around the 6th or 7th and we made a run through to Chelmsford on the 9th. I blew a crank stud but still drove on through to Nairn and onto Penage where we had a few socials at Raby's, few more at the Lodge and called it a late night. Leslie came out Sunday, went over to Hamill's for the afternoon and home by early evening. Jack was forced to drink whiskey as the Coors Light supply dwindled down to nil. Must have had lots of company, hey Jack :-) Oh, ya, we had to listen to Colombo's bullshit for a while on Sunday as well. Back to school @ Queen's on the 11th. New term.

Back to Lively on the 20th. Made a run with Daren and Murray to Agnew Lake Lodge on the Friday (22nd) as a new storm system moved in. The Rocket made it through the day but the water pump went as I pulled into Rantanen's camp in the evening. Good day of riding with about 120 miles. Sure beats a Friday at school. Went over to Jack's on the back of the Mach One for four beer and then to the Lodge as there were four girls from the Soo who required attention. Well, myself and Daren gave the Lodge $120 for some tasty orange juice as we entertained the ladies and I got promoted to driver from passenger ( the Rocket is now dead, remember ) and whole crew including a few chickys from the Soo headed over the Vildis camp. It is now raining out. So much for the snow storm. Things are a little foggy from here but I ended up back at Rantanten's camp one my own about 5am with Rod's new green 800 ZRT out of the deal and I know there was a good party at the Vildis camp on this night. Saturday was warm and wet. I drove Daren's 700 Mach for the rest of the weekend and did some fishing. The Rocket got a courtesy ride home in the Big Rig. I think we got twisted Vildis' Saturday night. Oh ya, we fished out of the Wort Resort and it was really windy. There were white caps on top of the ice. Now I remember. Things cooled off Sunday and we took a spin up to Fairbanks to Mutty' s camp. The Tribal Dance was born the night before in a drunken haze. Beth brought in a 60 at about 3:30 Sunday that riled up the crew but everyone was dry again by 6:30 that evening so it was time to head home. Good weekend considering the Rocket died and it was quite warm.

February

Fished all day on Thursday the 4th at the Wort Resort with a couple of small ones to show for it. Conditions are warm and rainy. Cooled off during the day . Went home Friday to get ready for The Killarney Weekend( Feb. 6-7 ). 17 sleds left Saturday morning from Vildis' about 10:30 am. Made it to the RedDog in Whitefish Falls where we had lunch, a beer and gained four more sleds, now up to 21 in all. Pisser hit a tree jumping a mud puddle, no big deal. Into Killarney by 3:30, got petro and went by the one stop Liqueur store. Checked in and proceeded to guzzle beer and watch Hockey Night In Canada. Next stop is the Saturday Night Dance. I have one memory off conducting American Pie to most of the dance floor from a chair and that's about it. Tony got in a fight on the 3 minute walk home from the dance. Tim and Barf pulled a couch into the elevator and worked as bell hops for a few hours, with complementary drinks for the riders to boot. Sunday was a great ride back on the groomed trail, a few bumps, sunny and cool. Went to Raby's for supper and then hit the Lodge to finish up Sunday. Another successful trip to the Killarney Carnival. Killarney trip number five I believe.

Feb. 18, start of spring break. Yee-ha. Loaded up and trucked to Timmins 6am Friday morning. Barney froze up when we tried to ride so Tim, Rod, Rance, Tony and myself brought Barney in to Mikey's Ski-Doo dealer and went to the beer store. Managed to put on 30 miles Friday as it was nice and sunny but were in the Mattagami(local nudy bar) by 4 in the afternoon. Very nice friendly ladies there as we stayed till 10 and then tried some other local clubs. Rance and myself were back at the Mattagami by 11:30 as the others pulled the pin. The place was packed with Yankees and rock'in, at least that is the way I remember it. We weaseled two prime seats, I used Daren's debit card to get some more cash( my debit card was worn out ) as we were extremely thirsty. What happened after this we have no idea. All we know is that Daren had road salt on his jacket so we may have walked back to the Best Western. I really don't know and Daren was no help in explaining the night

Saturday, Feb. 20, Timmins. Rode 199 miles, Timmins - Cochrane - Smooth Rock Falls - Timmins. The Rocket acted up( seized once and overheated twice) some but it made the whole journey. Sunny, cool, perfect conditions . Pizza, wings, beer and HNIC to get things rolling when we returned to the hotel. We held off going to the Mattagami until 11ish but boy did we hit it hard then. Back at the same table as Friday night, we took in the atmosphere and enjoyed a couple of shooters from Shooter Girl. Shooter Girl also enjoyed a couple of shooters with us (and all the other drunks in the bar). Needless, to say, Shooter Girl was hot, feature material, and through some shady circumstances, Shooter Girl ended getting naked at our table during last call. The whole bar was swarming around us to see her perform. The poor waitress could hardly bring in the $92 of drinks that we had ordered for last call because of the crowd of Yankees around our table. I had two more drinks and woke up in my bed in the morning. Once again, no recollection of the travels between the Mattagami and the Best Western but I know it was fun. When we tallied our bill at the nudy bar the next morning, it came to $1700 over the two nights, yikes, you would think we are high rollers or something!

Week of Feb. 22- 26 was spent around Penage, little riding, saw a truck get pulled from the ice, few beer here and there. Sunny and cold all week. Rode on Friday with Rance, Budge, and Trucker through to Vermilion lake, Fairbanks, Nairn, Penage. Trails excellent despite limited snow. Rode Saturday down Broder Dill trails to Killarney Highway and back up to Penage alone. No snow near Killarney. 130 mile morning, warm and overcast. Down to Raby's for two beer, pushed Prowse's car out of the snow, went to Clark's for two and back to Rantanen's for a whole whack of drinks and a game of Mexican. Hit the Lodge later on in the pouring rain. Sunday was rain and snow, home by 5ish to go for dinner at Pearson's. Back to school Monday. The Rocket is still alive but it does have a cooling problem developing, may be the head gasket. Fix it next Thursday.

March

Next stop, March 11. Headed out on a sunny Thursday afternoon. Met up with Tony, Rod, Tim, Pisser, Budgell and Daren and headed to Lang Lake and through Espanola. Trails were great and the Rocket was running as good as it gets. 110 miles in the afternoon. We made Thursday night a card night and packed it in around 3am. Friday everyone had to head in to town to get weekend supplies. Back out at Penage in the evening but I had to head home for a birthday gathering. The damn Rocket seized up on Round lake as the mag carb fell off and it leaned itself out. Go her going again and limped home. Ended up at the Huddle this evening for Wally's going away party as he is off to Indianapolis.

Woke up sitting on a couch down at Rautiainen's down at Black Lake Saturday morning. Not to sure how Friday night ended. Anyhow, met Peter Pearson and off to Penage to ride. Left the Rocket at Vildis' and drove Rod's 800 ZRT as the Rocket was ill after its recent burndown. Eight of us headed off through Espanola and towards Spanish. Skwerls 700 was leaking coolant so we had to go the Massey instead for repairs as it was closer. Had lunch, fixed is sled and bought a case of CL's. Almost no snow through Massey and lots of road running. Passed a couple of people biking on the road, that's how poor it was. Made it back to Little Hannah Lake before Budgell seized up his brother's 700 XC. ( He already burnt his own 700 down Thursday) Threw a new spark plug in and we are off again. Most of the trails were excellent and we only met about eight or ten sleds all day. Went back to the Vildis camp for a few socials and then off to the Lodge to watch the Holyfield-Lewis fight. Fight was a tie so no money was exchanged. Place was quite busy as the fight was an attraction. Back to the Culvert for a while and call it a night.

Sunday was another nice sunny day. Headed to Bear Lake to try our hand at fishing. Fished from 1ish to around 3:30 with no luck. Had to have hot dogs to eat for our on-shore lunch. Called it a day early and was home by 5 as the I took the Rocket through the reverse roads to avoid running the lakes. Could be the end of the season. March 14, pretty poor I must say.

April 1

Put the Rocket away for the last time. No snow left and the lakes are getting iffy. Another poor season comes to a close. About 2000 miles in total. What's in store for next season is anyones guess.