January 31, 2004
Its 18 degrees out and there is nice big flakes in the air. We had another 3 to 4 inches of snow overnight. I love saying that everyday. The loader was outside here moving snow for 4 hours yesterday. I finally got the other signs up on the sled display outside. Things have been hectic around here and probably one of the most important things that I havent posted on here is the fact that sleds are being stolen in frederic. It was on t.v. on the news a couple nights ago and also on the front page of this weeks paper. Be sure to lock your machines up. There is a snowmobile safety class going on in grayling this morning with 55 participants. I talked to the officer that is doing the class and he said if I get at least 20 people together that want to do the class that he will come here to frederic and do the class right here in my back room. So I would figure the best time is on a saturday maybe about 10:00 a.m.. If you have a child that you would like to attend or would like to attend yourself email me with a subject line of sled saftey class and I will see what kind of response or interest there is in it. So far there is no date set but the officer is ready as quick as next saturday if there is the interest in it…Just let me know. There were lots of riders around yesterday and the trails will be packed today. The loader cut a neat tunnel thru the snow in the back lot here to the alley so ride thru when you come in. Its a good short cut to the swamp or the BP. Thats about it for now so thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely. Pete
Friday January 30, 2004
Another few inches came overnight. I spent a couple hours last night plowing the rear lot so hopefully there will be lots of trailers parked back there this weekend. The North End Grocery has gas pumps installed so that will give you one more place to get gas in Frederic. Also I am still trying to help Grandma sell her house on 7 mile road, anybody looking for a getaway place this would make a good spot. Info is on the scrolling banner above this post or you can call me on it. I had an interesting email this morning with info on a death that happened in lakes of the north which I just happened to read about in the Gaylord paper last night. I will put a link to the news story below this but more importantly the same reader sent me a link to the DNR website where the post the fatality statistics, it tells a little about each accident and weather it was alcohol related or not…..here are the links…
DNR snowmobile death statistics (PDF document)
One thing I forgot to tell you about on the U.P. trip is that the old thunderchicken never missed a beat all the way to Newberry. When we got up in the morning to leave I was leading thru deep powder and then it started acting up, we changed plugs and still no difference, so we went back into Newberry. I put in some dry gas but then Roger said we should pull the carbs. Two out of my 3 carbs were packed with ice. We cleaned them out and from that point on it was back to Frederic without missing a beat. I have never seen that before in carbs but I guess thats what happens when the snow is so deep. Thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely….Pete
Thursday January 29, 2004
TO MUCH SNOW !!!!! NO WAY, ITS LIKE TO MUCH MONEY–NO SUCH THING!! I rode back into Frederic from Newberry about 5 yesterday. Another awesome ride back, so 345 miles round trip. The snow is great everywhere and as luck would have it the last 10 miles to Frederic was freshly groomed and I was the first one down the trail. We got another 3 or 4 inches overnight and I am starting to like the weatherman. He is calling for snow almost everyday thru next Wednesday and sometimes a lot of it. I even just called to have a loader come and pile the snow that is here higher. This is the first year I have ever had my own plow and boy am I glad to have it. On the way up here this morning I saw the Grayling groomer had crossed the trail heading towards Frederic. I got the fatality report for this season so far and it said 14 killed but that was only up thru the 18th, I would imagine it is closer to 20 by now. Please Ride Safely no matter where you ride. Thanks to all the people that are readers who have stopped in here to say hi. I always like meeting new people and am still constantly amazed at where everybody is from….For a new ride if I can pull it off I want to try to ride to Oscoda next week. Thanks for checking in. Pete
Wednesday January 28th, 2004
Hi everyone, it’s Melissa. My dad is in Newberry and he called to tell me all this. He arrived at Newberry 4:30 p.m. yesterday and went to check out their display sled. He said trails were great all the way to Newberry. Snow was incredible crossing Burt Lake. It was two feet of fresh powder. An unplowed, five mile road by Mackinaw City had snow that was twenty inches deep. When he got to the end of the road he met up with the snowplow. All northern Michigan schools are closed, including Grayling because we got atleast another ten to twelve inches since yesterday. My dad also said he heard Ohio Mike is crying because he can’t be up here to ride. My dad is heading back to Frederic today. Thanks for checking in and please ride safely, ~Melissa
January 27, 2004
So far this year I have only rode 66 miles but that is gonna change quickly. I already have the thunderchicken parked out front and shortly a few friends will be here and we are pointing north and rididng to the U.P. We are spending the night and heading back tommorow. So that should be good for a few hundred awesome miles. I will try to bum a computer in the morning for a update. So anyways yesterday we got another few inches of snow and overnight about another inch. The snow just keeps coming and they are predicting more snow for the rest of the week. Schools north and south and east and west of us are closed but the Grayling area was open. I guess we didn’t get it as bad as some places. My snow piles out here in the lot are getting pretty darn big. I might have to get a loader to pile them high. I have had several emails from people regarding a picture online of the display. I am going to do that but I am also setting up a new page dedicated to just riding safety and that’s where I am going to put the pictures. I am off for now and gonna get dressed and head the chicken north… Thanks for checking in and yes, I will ride safely and I hope you do too… Pete
Monday, January 26, 2004
I was right, I actually left for the weekend and am back here in Frederic and it’s still here. We had another 2 inches of fluffy powder overnight and the wind is blowing hard from the east and they are calling for more snow… I LOVE IT!!! It’s a quiet morning out there today and I expect things to get groomed back up and getting rideable. Over the course of the weeekend the reactions and responses to the sled display outside were good and positive, so I would say it is doing its job out there, just making people think……Not to much else exciting to report so I will leave it at that ….Thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely….Pete
Sunday January 25, 2004
Still here in kzoo, and had a great day at the Traditonal Bowhunters Expo. I have my old friend Charlie here with me, he is really an old bowhunter, he has had a great time seeing a bunch of his old cronies. The girls said it was actually kind of slow in Frederic yesterday. I think the reason might be that there is such great snow everywhere it has lightened the load on the trails, thank goodness. So off to the Expo again today and hopefully we will get out in time to go hit the toboggan run at Echo Valley. I havent been there since I was a kid and I would love to see the look on Melissa’s face as we fly down that run. Thanks for checking in and ride safely… Pete
Saturday January 24, 2004
It didnt snow to much in Frederic on Friday but boy oh boy did it snow in Kalamazoo, they had about 6 or 8 inches come down here. I came down here for the weekend. I have a booth at The Traditional Bowhunters expo. So I acutally sneaked away from Frederic for the weekend. The best snow Frederic has seen in years and I am gone… I have always wanted to come to this show in Kzoo and I said this year I am doing it no matter what. So I am off to sell archery shirts and decals and I am sure Frederic will still be there when I get back. The shop is open and it should be great riding today. Thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely… Pete
Friday January 23, 2004 6:00 a.m.
It continued to snow during the day yesterday and we picke up about another 3 inches, it sounds like the snow is mostly done till sunday now but wow what a shot we got this week. Everybody that came in yesterday was saying how great it was and that it is the best snow we have had in years. I would have loved to be out riding instead of working. We finished up the display and got the sled out there in it thanks to the help of some sledders that I corralled into helping us lift it up into there. That sure was a bigger project than I expected but if it makes just one person or just keeps one person from doing the same thing it makes it all worth it. I have to say it came out way better than I envisioned it at the beginning thanks to the many businesses that stepped in to help out on it. Next week I will do a posting with everybody that contributed. For now I am out of here and there may be a slim chance that I dont get a posting on here on Saturday and Sunday but I predict the snow is going to hold well but as usual with the heavy traffic that will be here this weekend I wouuld imagine the trails will be well worn and trashed… Thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely… Pete
Thursday January 22, 2004 8:30 a.m.
Frederic is exactly what winter should look like, it is still snowing hard and we have had probably close to 8 fresh inches since yesterday. The schools are closed from cadillac to vanderbilt and oh how I wish I had time to go out and ride today. Powder and tons of it!!! This has to be the most snow we have had in the 7 years I have had this place open. Yesterday I spent all day outside working on the display with one of Ben’s workers. We put trusses,sheeting and shingles on in the blowing snow. We had to keep sweeping the sheeting off as we put the shingles on, boy was that fun. Today we are putting the machine into the building. Next I am going to paste a letter I got from a reader yesterday, I know at the time it was happening it was no fun but boy what a memory he will have. It is really what riding and snowmobiling is all about. I am sure we can all relate to his story…so enjoy it and have fun out there but most of all RIDE SAFELY, Pete
Hello Pete.
I dont know if you will read this or not. You probably don’t have the time to read all kids of stuff from people you dont know. But i just wanted to tell you that I go to your web site often and I have shopped in your store a few times. Anyways. My wife and look forward to our snowmobile trips to Waters. We have a place in Guthrie Lakes. I spent the whole week getting my sleds ready,and getting my trailer ready. I have 4 sleds and a 4 place inclosed trailer which i bought new last year. I enjoy the whole process of going through all the sleds: cleaning carburators, changing plugs, greasing them up. Everything to me… that is part of the trip. It is part of the excitement, just getting it all ready to go. So we come up there Friday morning and the snow is wonderful. The trails are good. We go for a ride Friday night and all is good. We ride for a while saturday on very nice trails with the snow coming down. Just wonderful. And then my daughter’s sled breaks down near Lovells. We are all very dissapointed because the riding was excellent and here we are broken down. We spend hours towing it out of the woods, going back to the cabin to get a trailer to bring it home. My wife has to ride on the back of my mxz which you know is not a two up. She was misserable. I had to borrow a two place trailer from a friend of mine because there was no way my wife and I could pull that sled up into my 4 place inclosed trailer. On the way back to get the sled the trailer top opens up. I didnt realize it and I lost my friend’s snowmobile covers and tie downs. They flew out onto the road I guess and I had no idea. So I have to replace all his stuff. Totally my fault. We pick up the sled, get it home and Sunday morning we head into Gaylord to drop off the sled in the shop. On the way to Gaylord we start losing the wheel on the trailer, the lug nuts came off. There was only one holding it on. I tried to fix it up best I could but traffic was right on top of me, and the roads were very slick. I was scared to death so I drove about 10 miles an hour trying to get to the rest stop before Gaylord and then a state trooper comes up behind me. Did I mention that I had no lights on the trailer, and I put the license plate from my trailer on this trailer so I could sneak my way into town to drop off my sled? I thought for sure i was gonna get some tickets but I didn’t. The state trooper escorted my to the rest stop. I unhooked the trailer, went and got a jack to jack it up to make the tire switch, I went and bought some new lug nuts, came back to the trailer, fixed it up, went out to lunch with my wife dropped off the sled, and 4-5 hours we were back home. IT WAS TOTALLY A DISASTER. But ya know what????????? I have more stories to tell in the future. I have more stuff to laugh about in the future. And I am home and in good health. For as bad as it all was, I still a lucky man. I didn’t get to ride as much as I wanted. I had to spend a lot more money than I wanted, and my kids didnt enjoy themselves like they wanted. But to me… it was a success. MY HEART GOES OUT TO ALL THE FAMILIES WHO ARE DEALING WITH DEATHS THIS WEEKEND BECAUSE OF THE SPORT WE LOVE SO MUCH. Take care and I hope I didnt bore you with my letter.
Mark
Wednesday January 21, 2004 9:30 a.m.
Its 16 degrees and there are lots of large snowflakes in the air. The weatherman is calling for 1 to 3 inches today. So far no new snow since the past weekend. I have had several emails regarding the guest book entries from the man’s daughter that was killed this past weekend. If you haven’t, go read it. I also have a link here to the website posting about the man that was killed in the U.P. last weekend. He updated the page for Big Bay and the posting was by his wife. Posting Also on the news last night was a report of a 33 year old lady that died on her sled in the Irons area. I do not like having this page be just a report on all the deaths that are happening on the trails out there but somehow people need to WAKE UP & realize the true danger that lies out there. Thanks for checking in and PLEASE RIDE SAFELY!!! Pete
Tuesday January 20 7:30 a.m.
O.k. not quite that quick after reading a few emails from yesterday from upset skidoo riders I apologize, I didnt mean to make it sound like it was all skiddoo riders that ride like that but was wondering who else might have seen that group and low and behold I also had an email from those others who were run off the trail by them and they have pictures of the groomer they are going to send me…..ski doo dont run groomers off the trails…..People do……..and next for a look into the tradgedy of the death from friday night go to this obituary guest book in the free press. The last entry is from the mans daughter… Guest Book
Tuesday January 20, 2004 7:15 a.m.
Its a cold 2 degrees out this morning, no new snow. Trails are still pretty beat up. This is short and sweet today. A big thank you out to Ben Labo at Rustic Rails Lumber yesterday who sent me his crew to work on the display outside, They finished the interior and I am going to pick up the trusses this morning. Looks like it will really be reality by this weekend. Also Happy Birthday to my brother Alex in Kalamazoo. Thanks for checking in. Pete & RIDE SAFE…
Monday January 19, 2004 7:00 a.m.
I want to start out today by wishing my beautiful young daughter Melissa a Happy 11th Birthday. She sure has grown fast in that time. Today also happens to be my birthday but I kind of quit having them when she was born, but if I was still having them I guess I would be 47. There were still alot of machines out and about last night at 6 in Frederic and I imagine that there should still be a fair amount around today. The trails of course got beat to death over the weekend and also thanks to an inconsiderate riding way to fast ski doo rider one of the Grayling groomers was out of service all day yesterday. A rider on a ski doo came around a corner so fast at where the groomer was at the groomer driver had a choice of either taking out the sled rider or head for the woods, He chose the woods and ran into a tree which mangled the substructure on the front blade of the lam trac groomer. They were all day getting the part off the machine and getting it out of the woods. Keith stopped by last night and showed me the part that was a major part of the groomer and how heavy duty it was and how mangled it was. Now they have to get the new part which cost over a thousand dollars shipped from western canada and might take the rest of the week to get. Of course this FOOL that ran the groomer into the woods didn’t even stop and a couple of sleds stopped after that and asked the groomer driver what happened. They said they had been run off the trail by the same ski doo just before that. As bad as it is to say I almost wish the groomer driver would have held his ground. I went to Joe’s and picked up the walls for the display sled yesterday afternoon and thanks to some riders that were there in the parking lot when I got back we got the 4 walls up and standing. So we are getting closer to getting that project rolling. Thats about it for now so Please Ride Safely & Responsibly. Thanks for checking in. Pete
Sunday January 18, 2004 10:00 a.m.
Its snowing and 18 degrees outside, we have had another couple inches since yesterday. What a day yesterday! There were many, many sleds in town here all day long. We got some great video footage for the dvd we are making and had a nice big group of sleds out front for the big picture… Also some great footage of some ladies getting their free key chain from my cigar box. The same family was through here from last week with little 14 month old Dillion. He was a little scared of me when I held him. His siblings James, Richard, & Brienne were in too. They got into the video shoot too. We had a nice fire going outside all day and it was a nice comfortable temp for riding. The weird thing was last night that it was 18 degrees out but it was kind of misting rain for a while. Still cant figure that one out but at least we ended up with more snow. I am amazed at how big my snowpiles are outside. There were no piles 2 weeks ago and now I have them bigger than ever. I went and saw the machine this morning from the friday night accident. It was a blue and yellow 600 edge. All I saw friday night was the yellow and thought it was a skidoo. This sled has not as severe as damage as the one I have here already but in this accident most of the right side is caved in. The suspension on the right was mostly torn off. It looks like the cable that was there cut that part of it. The main factor in his death was the tree and he was still on the machine when they found it. His shield was a CL 12 and the feeling is that his shield fogged up and he didnt realize how far down that road he was. He had stayed at the Holiday before, knew the trail, WAS NOT drinking. So this boils down to SPEED again. Please Slow Down out there. There is a press release on it on the Crawford County Sheriff website. I tried to get to it earlier and couldn’t see it so I called them to let them know. Later on you can try their site to see if its working right. They have pictures on there too. www.crawfordsheriff.org Thanks for checking in & PLEASE SLOW DOWN & RIDE SAFELY…..Pete
Saturday January 17, 2004 7:00 a.m.
Its about 15 degrees out here in frederic this morning with snow coming down. We have had about a half inch of new snow overnight. It warmed up overnight as it was 2 below when I left here at 8:30 last night. There were a steady of sleds thru frederic all day yesterday and I expect today to be the busiest so far this season. Just as I closed last night I had a call about another fatality. This one happend just south of the Holiday Inn in grayling on the little road that heads south along with the highway. A person on the highway called it in as they reported this sled on that road passed them just flying ( the people on the highway were doing 70) and then they saw the sled stop instantly. It was over a couple hours before they found this man. He hit the trees at the end of the road and was DEAD instantly. Another senseless death, a 52 year old male from the dearborn area. His group was staying at the holiday inn and apparently they looked for him but didnt see where he was. This all happened in the dark. I went to the scene after I closed and there were 3 fire trucks, state,city & sherrif cars, ambulances, & medical examiner. I could see the sled in the trees and what the firemen told me was that there was also a cable there at the end of the road and that it had cut thru half of the machine into the engine. The rider was killed on impact with the tree. All I could see was that it was apparently a skidoo because it was yellow in the front with the track facing the lights with yellow backing plates on his studs. It just makes me sick to see this happen again for such a sensless reason. The trail goes off to the left within 30 feet of where he hit. Also just like the last death this guy was right at an emergency trail marker. The firemen told me that they were waiting on the investigators to see how they were going to cut the machine out from where it was tangled. I do not know if alchol was a factor in this accident but one thing I am certain of is that people need to slow down!!! This is hurting the sport for all of us…..Thanks for checking in and PLEASE RIDE SAFELY!!! Pete
Friday January 16, 2004 10:30 a.m.
It was ten below zero when I got here at 9 and now its up to zero already, a nice sunny day with no wind and lots of cold. It doesn’t get much better than that. It sure isn’t very often that I say all the trails are in excellent conditions. I have all the parking areas plowed out and so does the Frederic inn and the swamp. There have already been quite a few sleds in up here to enjoy the trails while they are relatively slow. We will have to wait and see how everything holds up… Thanks for checking in. Pete
Friday January 16, 2004 7:45 a.m.
Its a chilly 5 below out this morning and its that way all over northern michigan. We haven’t had any new snow but this is going to be a great weekend for riding. It has stayed nice and cold and all the groomers have been out and all trails are in excellent condition according to all the riders that came in yesterday. Riders came in from every trail you can think of and said everything was great. I had a phone call last night about 5 from somebody saying step out the front door and wave, so I opened the door and it was the grayling groomer coming through. He had just groomed from grayling to Frederic, So have fun and Please Ride Safely…..Thanks Pete
Thursday January 15, 2004 7:15 a.m.
Its a chilly crunchy 4 degrees out there this morning. Well what a day yesterday was, we got at least 7 inches of new snow!!! I had everything plowed nicely around the building on tuesday night and darn if I didn’t have to do it twice again yesterday…..There weren’t that many sleds out and it would have been a great day to ride and so would today. I don’t think I am gonna get the chance too as much as I would like to get out there. The other day I made a mistake with the adress that I put on here for another website with links, I meant to put www.trailreports.com and since then I have had an email about another site to check out called www.michigansnowmobiler.com. The display building is coming along but now I doubt that it will be all done in time for this weekend. Joe has been building it as a pre-fab at his house and he said to tell everybody he is just an old guy and he is slow. He is 71 but a great builder. I have so many emails backed up right now on sign ideas it might that its going to be a chore to get thru them all but I will get thru them all. Thanks for all the ideas and imput on it. I really wanted to have that outside by now because the faster its out there the faster it can start doing what I want to see it do. WAKE PEOPLE UP! to the dangers of riding out there to fast. A group of about 10 riders came by last night about closing time and were looking for the display outside. I took them in the back to see it. I could see one of the ladies that came back to see it could hardly hold back the tears. As long as this project saves somebody from doing it again it will be all worth it. Thanks for checking in & Please Ride Safely. Pete
Wednesday January 14, 2004 8:00 a.m. Its 10 degrees and snowing out. We have had about another inch fall here at lake margarethe overnight. There was snow on and off yesterday during the day too.. Trails should be in great shape for this weekend and there were some riders during the day yesterday. I wish I could get out there right now. On this saturday between noon and one I have a friend that shoots videos that is going to be in frederic to make a clip on snowmobiling in frederic. So if you are out and about at about 12:30 I would like to see a nice big bunch of sleds out front of the shop. We will have the bonfire going and hopefully there will be snow in the air. Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete
Tuesday January 13, 2004 10:00 a.m.
Its blowing and snowing here in frederic and 18 degrees. We have had about another inch of snow since yesterday but last night a little rain came along with it to make it hard and crunchy this morning. I cant stress the safety factor enough to adults and especially if you have young kids, I just had a phone call of another death that happened last night in Muskegon of a 13 year old. Last night’s emails also came to me with a death report in the White Lake area and a death in Gaylord. This is supposed to be fun but not worth dying for… I also had an email from a reader who said they used to come to me thru Jeffs Snowmobilng page. That site used to steer alot of people my way. Jeff shut his site down and I was asked if I knew of any others. I talked about this earlier in the season but Paul Ferrier has started trailreports.com and that is an excellent site with conditions listed for alot of areas in the state. So if you are looking for conditions in areas other than Frederic check out trailreports.com. My friend is building the display building as a prefab building at his house, I was there last night and he has the 2 big walls built and is started on the sidewalls. He still has to build the roof. I am hoping to get it up and outside by this weekend but I can see its going to be tight. So thats about it for now. …PLEASE REMIND EVERYBODY YOU KNOW TO RIDE SAFELY!!!! Pete
Monday January 12, 2004 10:00 a.m.
It snowed steadilly all day yesterday and gave us another 4 inches, so things look pretty good. I havent seen signs of any groomers today but I am sure they will be out there. So there really isnt to much to report, there is more snow in the forcast and thats what I like to hear, just wish it would cool down a little it is in the high 20’s. Took the dog to the vet this morning and they said she has a black eye but seems to be o.k. …lucky beagle… Thanks for checking in. Pete
P.S. Keep the ideas coming for the sign on the wrecked sled display…
Sunday January 11, 2004 10:30 a.m.
Its 28 degrees here in frederic with a light snow in the air, we had about a half inch of new snowfall overnight. Yesterday there were alot of sleds in and out of town all day. We had a great bon fire outside for riders to warm up at and alot of new first timers and regular readers stopped in here to say hi. I know I have said it before but I am always amazed at how many people read this and where they are from. The hugger was back in here again and he said his brother in california had read the update yesterday. I always like meeting everybody and hearing where they are from. There was a big group in here from Walled Lake yesterday along with their youngsters, James, Richard, Breeana, & Dillion. James is about 11 and a regular reader and little Dillion is only 14 months and it was his first sled ride. He looked pretty cute all bundled up so I took his picture to put up on the board. Thanks to the cold yesterday the trails held up as could be expected with the heavy traffic. I dont like the looks of the thermometer so far today though. Last night I was just about ready to lock up and some sleds came in and needed some oil. They got that and I was still a few minutes from getting out the door so I let my sledheads mascot Ellie the beagle into the front room and was about to shut the lights off when one of the oil guys came back in to grab his key he left on the counter, and when he walked out I didnt know it but Ellie went out with him. Well I got the lights off and was ready to lock the door and called her to come out and couldnt figure out why she wasnt coming, I came back in turned on the light and no dog. I walked outside to call her realizing that she must have skated when that last guy walked out and I saw a car stopped across the street, and then all of a sudden Ellie running back this way with her tail between her legs, the lady pulled over here and said she had just hit her, we brought her inside and her one eye looked partly closed and she was favoring her left leg. She wasn’t bleeding at all and the lady said she felt the thud under her car. I could tell she had been knocked hard because she was very subdued. I got her home and she went right in and layed down, she seemed pretty much herself again this morning but still favoring her leg, the girls are watching her at home and I think I will take her into the vet to get checked out in the morning. There is no after hours vet here anymore so I am glad it wasnt any worse… Cathy & I had been planning on going out a while last night and we had a sitter lined up and the dog held us up a bit but seemed to be o.k. so we went on with our plans and went up to the blue barn aka. The Old Barn. Since Greg,Cathy,& Tyler have taken over that place they have done an awsome job of raising it from the dead. They have bands there on the weekends, and a great menu and best of all they greet customers and make them feel welcome. Well last night was no exception, I had talked to Tyler and Greg a few days ago and told them I had been wanting to come in to try their ribs out and last night was my time to do it. What an awsome slab of tender ribs with a great sause on them was deliverd to my seat. I could only eat half and seeing that it is going to be pushing noon here soon I am having the other half for lunch….I give them and A++++++++ on those. There have been alot of people commenting on the display that I am putting outside of the wrecked sled. What I want to know from you readers is what the sign should read that I am going to put on top of the display. There is a similar display up in Newberry and theirs says THINK on the top. The little sign that I have made as you walk into the shop here says Reality Snowmobiling Think or Die… I will take all the comments into consideration on how to word the sign for this display. If we keep just one person from repeating this tradgedy it will all be worth it. So email me your thoughts for the wording…..Thanks for checking in. Pete
Saturday January 10, 2003 7:45 a.m.
Its another crunchy cold morning here in frederic at about 5 below zero. I have to say I was surprised at the lack of snowmobiles at the motels in grayling this morning as I took my motel parking lot survey thru town this morning. There were quite a few sleds out and about yesterday but not as many as I expected to see for the first decent weekend. Today will tell the story if everybody made it up north or not. There was one truck parked in my back lot unloading when I pulled in. There is more snow in the forcast starting monday… 3 or 4 nights ago there was another serious sled accident just south of grayling where a 16 year old hit a stop sign and was injured severely. Thats about all the details I have on that one. Here comes a sled pulling up right now. Also there was an article in the free press about a guy riding a stolen sled that crashed with no helmet on thru the doors of a priest home and died underneath the priests cross. No helmet on either. There is a link to the story on the sledheads club page. I see 3 more trucks and trailers over in the swamp parking lot right now too. Thats about it for now I better get myself to work…….Thanks for checking in. Pete
Friday January 9, 2004 11:30 a.m.
Its now 11:30 a.m. the sun is shining and its up to 6 degrees. Its gonna take a bit to get this update thing going smoothly till we get a new home…
Friday January 9, 2004 9:00 a.m.
Its a crunchy cold 4 below here in frederic this morning, I have the whole back lot plowed for truck and trailer parking, Bob over at the swamp has a major big area plowed for parking over there too, and I am pretty sure ken has parking behind the frederic inn…and we have the dnr parking lot about a half mile east of the b.p.. So parking is great, trails are o.k. and this should be a good start to our season. There have already been a ton of riders into here, its now 10 a.m. The display for the wrecked machine and to raise rider awareness on what happens out there should be up and outside by monday or tuesday. I have a friend who is retired building it. There were just a couple riders in here from cleavland who are regular readers and the one guy was so happy to meet me he ran behind the counter and gave me a big hug. They and many other people have asked me if I am having SpamFest again this year. I suppose I probably will but havent picked a date yet…. It was alot of fun. The poster girl wants to come back again but this year with a friend so if that happens it will be double poster girls… I just dont know how to get it all done. The weekends are flying by. Lets just hope the snow keeps flying in…So till tommorow, Please ride Safely…
Thursday January 8, 2004
Hello everyone. If you’ve made it here, that means that you’ve found the temporary home of the conditions page! Don’t worry, we will still get Pete’s updates up daily, and we’ll find a solution to this journal problem.
If you know of any good weblog (journal) programs out there, please send an email to me at webmaster@sterlingdesigns.net.
Thursday January 8, 2004
Its 18 degrees here in frederic and there was no new snow overnight. My friend Jack is here with me and we are going double thunderchicken RIDING before everybody gets here and the good snow that is out there gets torn up. Jack’s chicken is a 1000 and mine is a 900. We are only going till about noon so I will give you the trail report after we get back. And yes we will ride SAFELY… Pete
Wednesday January 7, 2004 8:30 a.m.
WOW, it finally looks like winter here in frederic, there has to be a good fresh 6 inches on the ground here, we didnt have that in Grayling this morning. My thermometer is covered by snow but its cold out there and windy too. I might even have to put my plow on for the first time this year. They are not calling for alot more snow this week yet but it is supposed to stay cold. Riding should be o.k. but I know that it is very, very icy underneath so be careful on corners. for other updates. I recieved an email last night from a reader with a link about a 21 year old killed in a sledding accident in new hampshire. The post on the site was started by the couple that came up on the accident and started cpr on him. Another story to try to open your eyes to the dangers out there, here is the link:
http://pub121.ezboard.com/fnhsledingfrm14.showMessage?topicID=427.topic
I have the machine from the accident that happened on the Blue Bear trail on December 22.
Through generous donations from other businesses and Alpine Trail Groomers we are going to build an outdoor display that will be out front of the shop here so people can see what happens out there in an instant that ends a life and hopefully prevent it from happening again. I hope to have outside by next weekend (17th).
I have a whole lot more to write on this subject and will do so in the next day or so.
Thanks for checking in. Pete
Tuesday January 6, 2004 8:25 a.m.
Now its starting to look a little better out there. We had about 3 to 4 inches of nice fresh powder
at Lake Margarethe this morning and its a nice chilly 0 out there. Now I am here in frederic and
there is just barely 2 new inches out here. I was surprised to see in downtown Grayling that the
snow was piled high in the middle of the streets downtown. The road crews must have been
out early and it was a nice sight to see. Wind Chills are supposed to be around 15 below today
during the day and hopefully snow will keep coming……Keep up the snow chants…..Thanks for checking in. Pete
Monday January 5, 2004 10:25 a.m
Wow we have a whole fresh inch of snow on the ground and its 19 degrees out. The weather is calling for below zero wind chills tommorow and more snow is supposed to come. To bad I have heard from a reader in Morenci that says they have 5 inches and talked to my brother in kazoo that says they have 6 inches there. So the wait is still on here.
Now here comes the FOR SALE SECTION- Grandma’s house is still for sale, I am surprised that we have
only had a few inquiries on it. It would make the perfect up north get away, nice big yard, 2 car garage.
The info is above this on the scrolling banner. Also if you are looking for a snowmobile getaway over
in the Manton Area there is a 2 bedroom 1 bath place with a 2 car garage on a 90 x 175 lot for $49,000.
The number to call on that one is 1-586-731-6803. So thats it for the for sale section. Thanks for
checking in. Pete
Sunday January 4th, 2004 10:15 am
Good Morning, not a thing has changed since yesterday except it is about 22 degrees out.
We still lost more snow. A guy just stopped in that came from Kinross and he said they got
about a hundred miles in up there and that it was pretty decent. Now we just have
to wait and see if the snows kick in for the rest of the week like predicted. A long time
reader named Kevin from the Ubly area stopped in here to say hi the other day. He said
he and a bunch of others are regular reader so this HI goes out to the thumb area readers.
Send us some snow up here……..The pick up at the airport went smoothly yesterday and
it was kind of funny how when I walked into the airport and rounded the corner the
first thing I saw coming down the escalator was the bottom portion of Charlies cane. So he
got tucked back in at home and all is well…….Thanks for checking in. Pete
Saturday January 3, 2004 9:15 a.m.
Its another beautiful day here in the sunshine capital of michigan. 35 and sunny and the snow
continues to melt. My yard at home is almost all the way back to green. On the other hand
the wise and always wrong weather man claims it is supposed to start getting back
to winter temps tommorow and the great lake effect snow machine is supposed to
be cranking all this coming week. I sure hope he is right. There were still a few sleds
out and about yesterday. I counted 5 trucks and trailers at the far m-72 parking
lot by kalkaska yesterday on my way to T.C. The whole family went with me yesterday
to pick up Charlie from the airport, well we got there and they said the flight was delayed
a bit so we came back in an hour only to find out the flight was actually cancelled. So
we came back to grayling and I came up here to work and then got on the phone trying
to find out what the deal was. What a joke trying to call the airlines to find something out.
I called Cherry capital airport and they couldnt put me in touch with the counter because they
cant do that. They then give me a 800 number to call which gives you a computer that
took 20 minutes to get a real person out of. They finally told me Charlie was still in chicago
and scheduled to come back today on a noon flight which I am going back to T.C. again
to get him. I had this whole thing pictured out in my mind, He is 85 years old and I can still
hear him complaining about how hard they frisked him this summer on his trip to Iceland
and that they caused him to miss his plane then. When he finally did get ahold of me last
night I told him I had been watching the news because I figured being the cranky old
guy that he is he probably was swinging his cane at attendants in the airport and that would
have made the national new. He said he had 4 cancelled flight before he finally ended up
in a motel room at ohare and he was so fed up with everything that he went to the bar
and had a couple of stiff drinks. Charlie travelled the world years ago fly fishing and bow
hunting on every continent and when it was easy to get on and off a plane weather
you were carrying a fly rod or a bow and arrow. He really did live his life at the right time
in the century and just cant get used to the world the way it is today. But anyways
thank goodness the old fart didnt take anybody out with his cane and I should have
him safely in my truck and he can get tucked back into his little log cabin on the river
next to his roaring fireplace. I sure like that old guy. Thanks for checking in and
do the SNOW DANCE!!!!!! MO MO NAH CHEE CHEE NAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday January 2, 2004 7:25 a.m.
It was another dry day and night out. Not a drop of anything overnight and its about 34
out right now. Only a few people out and about on New Years Day but I did have a couple
groups of sleds ride into the shop. They are the die hards. Its supposed to start cooling
down and chances of snow but we need lots……Yesterday was the last day of bow season
and I was out there for one last shot, but I guess with no venison I will have to stock
up on Spam. I have to run over to the T.C.airport this morning and pick up my friend Charlie who
is returning from Iowa. I also learned yesterday that I knew the lady driving the truck
that hit the fire truck on sunday. She wasnt hurt to badly but is still very sore and stiff.
Thank goodnes for the airbags, but the thing I cant believe is she said she got a ticket.
Hey I was there and saw how everything fell into place and my thoughts are that even
if the sirens & lights were blazing there is no way that truck should just pull across
a main highway like that without looking. They are just darn lucky she didnt it the gas
tank on the fire truck and that somebody didnt get killed. Needless to say she is fighting
the ticket. Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete
January 1, 2004 10:30 a.m.
Happy New Year!!! It would be alot happier if we had some darn snow. I am not so sure this
is one of my greater ideas to be open today here in beautiful downtown frederic. Its pretty
dead around town right now. The weather is calling for 43 tommorow and starting sunday
its supposed to start cooling down. So in the mean time I will sit here dreaming about
floating thru deep fields of fresh powder like I did when I rode in alaska. It seems like I think
about that everyday anyways, just getting off the sled and sinking up to your waist in snow
and getting a long track stuck and working your butt off just to get it unstuck, climbing
a hill so steep that you have to hang on to keep from sliding off the sled, high marking
on a hill so steep that only gravity holds you to it in the turn, well it all sounds good
so as long as I am here alone I will just keep dreaming ………Thanks for checking in. Pete
