ISA pre ride in

    This is our first ride of the season. Our sleds are ready and so are we. We're going to be riding along with other ISA members to get a feel for the area and prepare for the ISA ride in. There are about 14 plus inches of fresh snow and the 12 of us are ready to go.

    The dedicated dozen in search of snow laden trails consist of ISA members Deak and Diane Thornton, Joseph Lane, Mike Bookout, Len Neisler, John Stegemoller, Sally and Harold "Fireball" Rogers, Ray Shaw, Bob Thornburg, Barbara Thatcher and myself, Michael.

    We all rode about 95 miles for the day. We rode in the Hiawatha National Forest, southwest to the towns of Raco and Strongs.

    We also rode northwest to the Silver Creek tavern on M-123 for lunch. From there we made our way back to the Bay Mills resort in time for the meeting with the local clubs.    

    All in all, our first day of riding turned out to be a good one. I changed the drive belt on my sled in Strongs and Harold had a small fire on board his machine today. We were all cruising along the trail when Harold noticed smoke coming from the hood vents. We stopped, popped the hood and found a small fire near the muffler. The fire was quickly extinguished with snow. Harold suspects that some previously dropped oil may have ignited. By the time we made it back to the resort, the sky got real dark with big snow clouds and down it came. It was snowing so hard that it was difficult to see the resort across the street and it was only four in the afternoon!

    Everybody went to attend the meeting. I loaded the sleds onto the trailer, went to town and fueled them up for tomorrow's ride. I later cleaned the 6-8 inches of fresh snow from Big Johns rig for his departure in the morning.

Saturday December 13th, 2003.

    We all met together for the buffet breakfast in the resorts cafeteria.

    As we prepared for the days ride, Big John, Bob, and Ray were in the process of leaving for the ride home.

    The rest of us had a day of riding ahead and the clock is ticking.

    Barb and I rode 75 miles on Saturday before we left the rest of the group at the Brimley gas station that afternoon. That was our stopping point for the day due to minor mechanical problems. My sled lost a bogie wheel and the plastic pull start handle broke. Not the rope, but the handle. My wife's sled has the ongoing gremlin for the past four years that prevents the machine from exceeding 50 MPH. When you’re riding on the long railroad grade trail, it doesn't take long for the sled in front to become a dot in the distance.

    The rest of the group continued on to Sault Saint Marie. Barb and I drove to the Kewadin casino in the Soo and met the rest of the group to have dinner.

    We had a good day of riding on Saturday. We rode to the lighthouse located on Point Iroquious, north of the Bay Mills resort. The lighthouse was built in 1870. It maintained operation for 93 years until 1963 where it was replaced by an automatic beacon located out in the channel.

    We rode all around the area. We even took some Deaktours along the way. That's right, Deaktour ( instead of detour ). Have you ridden along the trail and wondered where those " off the trail " trails go? Wow, what fun. In January 2004, we are definitely looking forward to the ISA Ride In. Don’t just think snow, DEMAND IT! Happy trails to all. Michael T.