The Tree

I knew it was going to be a bad day when I started out by getting the snowmobile stuck in the turnaround on the way back from the bus stop. Because it had warmed up so much ... we actually hit 48 F ... the snow was extremely soft and the sled slid off the trail and into the snow. It took me over half an hour to finally get it out and onto the trail again. And I knew that I couldn't just leave it and wait for Garrick to come home to help me as the temperature was predicted to drop ... the snowmobile would freeze in place if I didn't get it moved!

The morning progressed ... next the dryer vent came off so upon opening the doors to the closet that houses the washer/dryer, I discovered that my walls were dripping with water and covered with lint. From there I proceeded to have my dishwasher flood the newly mopped kitchen floor. Then I discovered that water was dripping all over the window sills because the ice dams that had formed on the roof, were now melting due to the increase in temperature. (George later informed me that this was the reason he shoveled off the roof each time it snowed!)

Then, I dragged all the trash out of the basement and into the tow sled and headed out for the dump. Only to find, that for some reason unknown to anyone in all of Rockwood (believe me I asked everyone), the dump was closed. So, I had to take all the garbage out of the truck, put it back into the tow sled, drag it back into camp, and redeposit it all back into the basement.

I don't know if you've ever read the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day", but if you have, you'd agree that I should have moved to Australia too! Instead, I had friends visit from the concrete jungles of New York City and they were more than excited to be able to partake in living the adventures of The North Woods ... for a weekend anyway.

We snowshoed, ice skated, and built campfires on the lake (and tried to make smores with frozen marshmallows and frozen Hershey Bars while running after graham crackers that were blowing away in the wind). But our biggest adventure (other than just towing them and their gear in and out from the parking lot) was a 90 mile trip up around the north side of the lake.

Garrick and Caroline were on our two-up as they are too young to drive rental machines. Cord, Jon, and I each drove our own sleds. The intial line-up was Garrick, Jon, Cord, and then me. They said that they put me in the back because I was wearing mittens thus the only hand signal I could give was the 'fist' - meaning that there were zero sleds behind me - but I realized after about the first 20 minutes that the real reason I was last was because they intended to top out their machines the whole way and I was more than happy driving just 30 or 40 mph! So they would drive 50 or 60 or maybe even 85 mph and hold up their 3, 2, or 1 fingered gloves as they passed other riders. And, somewhere miles behind, the other riders would finally come across that last lone sled with the driver holding her clenched fist in the air.

Garrick and Caroline switched off and Caroline did an awesome job ... the first time she drove. The second time she drove (or shall I say the last time that she drove), we switched up the order and Jon was first, Cord was second, the kids were third, and I was ... you guessed it ... bringing up the rear! We weren't 5 minutes out and Jon and Cord were no where to be found. Caroline was trying to keep up, as Cord had to go pee and didn't dare go in the woods, but in her hurry didn't stop to take the time to move her hair out of her face and ... she totally misjudged the trail. Next thing I saw was the two of them, on the sled, careening out of control off the trail. They literally flew through the air into a patch of clear cut, missing a tree, a big tree, by inches. When they finally landed, they were thrown from the sled and the sled was resting on top of a 4 foot long log on its side. And ... Jon and Cord were no where to be found. As a matter of fact, they never did return to try to find us!

Within mintues, a twosome went by and they immediately stopped to help us. The sled was so buried and so far off the trail though that I never thought we would be able to get it out nor drive it again. The two men worked on getting the machine off the log and upright again while the kids and I packed down a path to pull the sled back up the hill onto the trail. Then, another group stopped to help and fortunately, they had a tow rope. It took about a half hour, but they did manage to get us on the road again. Miraculously, we ended up with only a ripped seat and a torn mesh vent cover. Thankfully, the rest of our trip was uneventful!

So, if anyone else feels like experiencing an adventure in the woods, we have plenty of snow and more on the way tomorrow. Just give us a call and we'll try to squeeze you in ... better hurry though as the phone has been ringing off the hook for the past month or so.

Karyn