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Well, I've wiped the
foam away from his mouth and opened up the window to vent the steam -
geez, o'pete eh. And he told me
he was tired tonight. We did just get back from Dairy Queen so I
guess he got a bit of a sugar boost there.
Yup, DQ - anything above freezing and us Yoopers go
get ice cream. He is really tired
though cuz they put him through the ringer at physical therapy
today and then he slaved over a hot stove
to make a wonderful lasagna dinner. I can't tell you what
a treat it is to come home from school
and have dinner made! I hate making dinner - just a soon
grab a hand full of crackers or a bag
of microwave popcorn. My table is actually being sat at and
dishes are being used. The dishwasher
is being run more than once every 15 days. I'm lovin it!
John is a picky eater (trust me - there
was nothing green in tonight's dinner - or in any night's
dinner for that matter) but he's a great
cook - much, much better than I am.
Things are really
getting brown around here and you can even see my bottom front step for
all
the melting we've been having. Temps
have just been in the 40's but it sure seems to be going
fast. Now John says that there's
to be some more snow this weekend. Some guy on the radio
mentioned gettin over to John's to break
his other leg. I'm getting worried about people wanting to
mame the messenger if he keeps talking
about more snow. Everyone's been pretty happy these past
couple days - especially since the sun's
been out.
The other day
John told you about the Doc puttin the kibosh on anymore snowmobiling this
season and I can say that I was mighty
happy. He's starting to put weight on his leg now and to me
that's just another step closer to his
full recovery. Even though he can get out in his car, he still
can't get out an exercise like he's so
used to and so wants to. It still gets to him sometimes, but I
think this PT stuff 3 times a week is
going to wear him out. Hopefully by the time he can get rid of
those crutches he'll have a couple of
weeks of training under his belt. I look so forward to when he
can come on the walks with Burt and Baileys.
I know he'll love that too.
Just 2 more weeks
till I get a week off and I can't wait. I hope the weather is great
and we can
get out and enjoy some signs of spring.
Tried to get a flight to Florida to see my folks a couple
weeks ago, but no luck. Might have
to buy my tan at the local fake and bake. Would have loved to
have felt that FL sun on my back though!!!
Shoulda made those reservations earlier - especially
when only a handful of folks can fly out
on our little planes at once.
I should
close now - John's got to get going home to get some sleep for another
wake up in
what I call the middle of the night (5
am). I should get some papers graded and hit the hay early
too. SOOOOOOO glad it's Friday tomorrow.
How bout you guys. Good night from the Twin Cities -
Julie
Good night from the Keweenaw.
- JD-
March 19, 2001-
This will be
a short one, as I plan to head down to Julie's in about an hour, but I
knew that the Journal had not been updated since Friday, so I wanted to
say a few words. Signs of spring are starting to pop up around here.
The roads are beginning to become clear and wider and the county has even
posted the country roads. This is the 5th day in a row of melting.
Even my road ic basically clear. There are a few patches of ice and
snow in a few areas, but for the most part, it is clear. I even have
some patches of asphalt showing up on my driveway, but have a long way
to go until the whole thing is clear. There is still about 3" of
ice and snow at the bottom. The roof has been busy melting, but it
will take at least another week until it is clear, given we have no more
snow. But you know what, even with all these signs of spring, there
is still great riding. We have lost about 10" since hitting the highmark
of 45 last Tuesday. About half of that has been to settling and another
5" due to melting, so our actual snow loss has not been too bad.
I will try and get out to take a shot of the trails to show you how they
are doing. Still tons of snow down up here so the season will likely
go all the way to the 31st, that is only 12 days away, and I can't see
us loosing enough snow by then so that they stop grooming. The nights
have been dipping into the teens and 20's and that is helping to keep the
melting from getting out of hand. Last year when we were having our
February meltdown, even the nights were staying above freezing and that
just killed us.
I, on the other hand,
do not have any need for the snow anymore. I just got back from the
Doc's and got good news and not so good news. The good news is really
good and I am healing fine, the break in the bone is starting to fuse and
all looks good. The bad news is really not that bad and I kind of
figured I might get it and that is I am done riding for the season.
As the Doc and I were discussing what lies ahead for me in my recuperation,
I happened to ask if I might be able to take a spin on the sled and he
chuckled and said no. He used to ride so he does know what is involved
so I totally trust his judgment. I am not all that upset. It
is not like I was going to be able to do any serious riding anyway.
Who knows, maybe a ski might be able to get done, nah.
The other good news
is that I can start to put weight on the leg. 50-75 lbs this week,
then 120-130 next week and then full weight in two weeks. Full weight
means no more crutches! Well, at least if I don't need them.
I am able to bend the leg to about 120 degrees and will be going to physical
therapy in the coming weeks to start to get everything in full working
order, so soon I will be walking around like a regular human being.
That will be huge. I cannot wait to be able to take the hounds for
their walks again. I really miss that. It was such an fixture
in my daily life and also in my daily mental detox, it will be really nice
to have that back. The hounds will probably wonder why I am doing
it and want Julie back, as she has been so good and probably less strict.
I'm sure that we all will be going on lots of walks together. Boy,
it is really exciting to think that in just about two weeks, that ritual
might begin to start!
Not a whole lot else
to talk about. Like I say, we have not seen snowflakes fly since
last Tuesday, 6 days ago. Seems more like 6 weeks and it is the longest
stint since November 5th-10th. The thaw is the talk of the town and
everyone is hoping we can avoid that last big one that always seems to
hit. I do not see any signs of it right now, but then again, a week
ago, it looked like we would not be seeing any thaws up here either!
So much for my forecast at the beginning of last week. Gonna run
and take some shots of the trail near by and then go down to Julie's.
Have a great night everyone, talk to you soon.
Good night from the Keweenaw.
- JD-
March 16, 2001-
I'm starting
this one a little later than usual and am a bit tired. I hate when
I do that because I always feel like the quality (what little there is)
of the writing suffers. However, I promised in the Al Cam page that
I would share pictures of the trails with you and I always keep my promise,
at least as far as I can remember.
How did I get those
shots of the trail? Well, I
hopped on my sled and headed off of course! Just kidding, Brian
wanted to borrow my sled, so I went out to the garage with him and started
it up. I decided to jump on it and took it for about a 3 foot ride
down the driveway. Brian caught me in the act in that shot.
Felt good to be on it, real good. Last time I was sitting on on it,
I was about to break my leg. Kind of weird when you think about it.
So this will be another
journal filled with Brian's shots. Sorry, but that is my best avenue
for being able to show you the Keweenaw right now. At least the off
the beaten path sections of the Keweenaw that have become the main feature
of this journal. This first shot was taken while on
top of the Traprock Valley, looking across to the other side.
Here is a shot taken in Brian's
back yard, literally. Some day I'd like to have a backyard like
that. Here is another shot taken looking
up and across the Traprock Valley. The white hump in the middle
of the shot on the horizon is Mt. Bohemia. Now before anyone gets
the idea that the hill has been cleared of all it's trees like a lot of
ski hills in the Midwest are, that is not true. The runs are all
gladed and there are still a ton of trees up there. In that shot,
the white areas just stood out more than the dark areas.
This particular KSE
tour had a celebrity on it. His name is Forrest Gregg. He is
of Green Bay Packer Fame. In this
shot, he is the one on the far left, followed to the right by his wife,
then one of Brian's friends and then Julie, the owner of the Laurium Manor
Inn, a B and B in Laurium and also host to some of the customers of KSE.
Now I promised some shots of the DNR trails up here, I have been proclaiming
how great they are right now due to our snow depth, the grooming and lack
of traffic, so here is the proof. This is a shot of the trail up
by the Cliffs near
Phoenix. Here is another
shot down the trail a bit. Even Brian went on and on what great
shape they all were in, even the ones that are notorious for being bumped
up. This next
shot was taken at one of those spots, where the trail crosses HWY.
41 just to the north of Calumet neat the Northgate Hotel. Here is
another shot taken
in that same general area. Makes you want to just hop on the
sled and ride huh? So there you go, proof that the trails are in
excellent shape up here. With them being so quiet, I might even be
tempted to ride them a lot if I were able to ride.
Brian then must have
dropped off the tour and headed out for some fun, because I doubt that
Forrest and his wife would have been comfortable cruising
through here on the two up! That looks more like my style.
Looks like someone did not make it up that hill on the first try, based
on that track on the left. Yep, this is riding
in the back country of the Keweenaw, one of my loves.
Here's Kenny, doing
another one of my loves, jumping
a sled. I may just ease off that love a bit. I've learned
my lesson. Based on this
pic, it looks like Kenny has either not learned his lesson, or has
chosen not to pay attention to it. At any rate, his landing on that
one took him into a grove of small pine trees. His landing is marked
by the middle trail in this
pic. Those were the trees. He was OK, no damage done to
sled or rider, but when I look back on it, I had some close calls too and
guess I must have run out of luck. I am not going to cut back all
my aggressive riding when I get back on, but I will be a bit more smarter
about things. No big jumps and I will be careful to know just what
the landing area is like in any jumps I do take. For now I guess
I will just have to stick to my driveway.
Our snow is holding
up very well, with the mild temps and sunshine. Actually, the sunshine
has been more of a factor the past two days. We have not been that
warm, with temps in the low 30's. Tomorrow and Sunday look different,
with highs in the upper 30's Saturday and low 40's Sunday. We still
have a ton of snow and riding will remain good. Plus some new snow
next week should help keep the prospect of riding in April alive.
If not, there is always next year, actually only about 7 months from now.
Good night from the Keweenaw.
- JD-
March 15, 2001-
I think I might
begin to consult the dogs on the weather some. About a week ago,
Baileys began to shed. I was wondering why because we were still
in the firm grip of winter and it looked like it would continue for at
least another week, maybe more. As more fur continued to come out
and we got another foot of snow Monday and Tuesday, I still wondered if
she was going to be sorry she was getting ready for spring. Given
the weather yesterday, today and possibly into the weekend, she may be
onto something. We hit 37 yesterday and are above freezing again
today. It is not a huge thaw, more of a gradual settling of the snow
and a little thaw, but still it is beginning to feel like winter may be
easing it's grip on us. I doubt that we are completely out of the
woods as far as snow is concerned. I would not be surprised to see
another 20-30" of snow fall before all is said and done, but it looks like
Baileys might not have been premature in her shedding. I just hope
I have enough vacuum bags!
I apologize for not
writing yesterday. I had plans on it, Brian took the camera on a
snowmobile ride and I was waiting for him to return it so that I could
include the pictures from his rides, but I did not get the camera back
until I was getting ready for bed, so that was that. I did get the
camera back and have downloaded the shots. Brian went back out today
and took the camera with him, so tomorrow I will hope to put some new shots
up.
Before I get into the
shots from Brian's ride yesterday, a visitor to the site sent me an e mail
saying that he works for a company that builds the huge snow throwers that
I saw working at the airport. So to help you all get a better understanding
of what I was looking at, here
is a shot of one of them. From the shot you cannot tell it is
shooting the snow 200+ feet, but he did confirm that the machine is designed
to throw the snow that far so that it will not blow back onto the runway
as easily. He also said that it is capable of sucking up manhole
covers.
No onto Brian and the
gangs ride. I must admit that looking at the shots from yesterday,
I started to get a little jealous. My leg is really doing well, I
have almost no pain at all, no matter how I twist it or turn it.
I can bend it at the knee past 90 degrees and it feels like it is ready
to take some weight. Of course I will be waiting for the doctors
OK before I put any weight on it, but I have an appointment next Monday
and I am hoping to get the OK then to start putting weight on it.
I know that I will still need aid in walking, but it will be nice to finally
have the ability to make the final run towards being fully healed.
The main reason why I was so jealous was that it was a beautiful day for
a ride, and they went to some places that I have yet to go to. Plus
it looked like they had lots of fun! This first shot is of Ron.
It is his first time on the internet, so give him a warm welcome, will
you please? Behind him was Steve, he is getting to be a regular.
Here is Joe catching
a little air. Joe has been in the journal before, but is has
been a while. Here is Ron
at the same jumping spot, looks like the shot was taken before he was
able to become airborne.
This next shot was
where the jealousy really started to kick in. It's Ron
out in a huge field of powder, with some nice fun drifts to play in
as well. Actually, it looked to be about a 6 foot drift, all the
better! Here is Joe's
attempt at surfing the same drift. Looks like he might have gotten
a little too deep. Yep, the
digout begins. Looking at this
shot, I could imagine myself out there for hours, cutting up the powder,
hitting the drifts and even climbing that hill in the background.
Next year.
After that field, they
found some more places to play, and get
stuck. Looks like more
than just one of them got stuck there. I would give just about
anything to be healthy enough to be able to even help dig out those sleds!
That last hill was
just the primer for the big
one of the day. I have never been to that mine
rock pile, but I do know where it is. I am going to keep it a
secret, but KSE can take you there! Here is one that actually shows
the size of the hill, all the way from top to bottom. Here is
one taken from the
bottom and here is one that shows the
slope of the hill. A pretty good place to practice side hilling
I would say. Next year, next year.
Of course, a ride with
Brian would not be a ride with Brian without a picture of him getting a
sled
stuck. He is the master and I mean that as a compliment.
He said that he wished he had not brushed off some snow before he thought
to take a shot. I'm cracking up right now. Of course, maybe
I should not be laughing. He is on my sled right now.
I wonder if it is a
coincidence that these next two shots came right after the one of Brian's
sled buried in the snow, I doubt it. After a digout like that, the
gang
needed a rest. Here is how
to achieve that perfect Keweenaw tan. Note the coyote tracks
going up the left side of them?
Back to riding, they
took it easy on the way home, cruising
through down some logging roads. One last time for some
play (I really was hoping to do that this year, but broke my leg before
the snow got deep enough), then back to a
leisurely ride through the woods.
So we have begun to
see the end of winter, I think. I am not having any problems with
it. I am looking forward to jumping in the truck and doing some exploring
with Julie and the hounds. First waterfall season and then berry
and beach season and then before you know it, the colors will be back in
the trees and the snow will begin to fly.
Good night from the Keweenaw.
- JD-
March 12, 2001-
I have seen
spring, it is only about 700 miles to my south. I was in St. Louis
over the weekend and it was 60 degrees on Saturday with sunshine and not
even a trace of snow on the ground. It was actually weird not to
see the ground covered in snow, almost surreal. The trip was successful,
the speech went ok, not my best, but not a train wreck either. The
really neat thing was the flight down. Actually, the interesting
sights started before I even boarded the plane. They were doing some
snow removal at the airport up here and using a huge snow thrower.
I looked out onto the tarmac and off in the distance, by the runway was
this arc of snow shooting about 150-200 feet. It was being created
by the snow thrower they have at the airport, I was just amazed at how
far it could throw it. There were even a few missiles of ice or hard
packed snow that were flying about 300 feet from the machine. Quite
impressive and I am sorry I did not have my camera to get a shot of it.
Then once in the plane,
it was really neat to be able to look down on the Keweenaw. This
was my first time flying out so it was also my first time with a birds
eye view. I have always loved to fly low and be able to see things
from the air, but this was a special treat, as much of the Keweenaw is
fairly inaccessible and I was able to see things that I would never be
able to see otherwise. I think that it would be great to rent a helicopter
and map out tons of new routes to take through the bush. From the
air you can easily see what logging roads end and which one go through.
Plus I saw a pole line that did not have a single track on it for it's
whole length. I could also see all the tracks left by the sleds through
the fields and even some through the woods. As we headed to the southwest,
I was able to tell exactly where we were until we got past Lake Gogebic,
then I was unfamiliar with the objects below. However, even traveling
through northwest WI and into MN, I could see snowmobile trails cutting
through fields and across lakes. Looked like there was still lots
of snow on those trails, at least from 16,000 feet.
A bonus to the trip
was being upgraded from coach to first class because of my leg. It
did not happen on the way back, but on the way down to St. Louis from Minneapolis,
I got to fly up front. Actually in the very first seat in the plane.
Thanks Northwest!
Well, in a previous
journal, I talked about how the dogs like to climb and play on the snow
piles in the back yard. I was able to get a shot of them in
action on top of the piles, well at least Burt was in action...sort
of. Here they are at
rest, or are they just on the watch for invaders? The back of
the house is not the only place where the snow is piled high. In
fact, the front has some even bigger piles. Proof of that can be
seen in this shot.
That was taken as I sat on the couch in my living room, looking out my
front picture window. The thing to point out is that the bottom of
that window actually sits at about my chin, it is about 5 1/2 feet off
the ground, so the top of the window is about 9-10 feet off the ground.
That's a big pile of snow. I told a guy sitting next to me on the
plane about our snow and he must have thought I was lying out of my you-know-what.
I should have given him my web site address to prove the point. Maybe
that is why I get a little sick of being in the house so much. I
can't even look out my windows!
Brian came by this
morning to see if he could borrow the camera. He was going out on
a ride and thought it would be a good idea to give a perspective of things
off the beaten path and I agreed. Here is a shot of his riding partner,
Steve,
taking a little jump. It is still plenty deep out there and even
some soft spots left, as can be seen in this shot of Brian
stuck up to his waist in snow. Here is another shot of Steve
catching a bit of air. Did not look like he was out to break
his leg on any of those jumps! Smart guy.
Brian's sled has finally
given up the ghost. Well, at least for the rest of the season.
It is not like he did not put the miles on it. Probably about 3000-5000
this season alone. And those were not easy, down the trail miles,
they were mostly, deep snow or hill climbing miles. Those of you
that have partaken on a KSE tour will know what kind of miles I am talking
about, but for those of you not in the know. A KSE mile is equal
to about 5-10 on the trail, both for the rider and the sled. Lots
of work, but lots of fun too. So Brian had to borrow a sled.
I am too close to possibly being able to take a little spin on my sled.
I will wait for the doctors OK of course, but I think that may not be too
far down the road. I am too smart to let Brian borrow my sled this
close. I would be a little disappointed if I could ride, there was
snow, but my sled was waiting for parts or in the shop. Here is one
reason why I did not offer up my sled for him to ride. I did
not think a 10 year old 440 fan could do anything like that! I know
he would pay for any damage, it was just the fear of not having the sled
if I could use it. Also it is not that he is a poor rider.
Just the opposite, he id very good, but also is known to bring them back
broke.
Here is another shot
of how deep the snow is out there. I don't know what the two
objects buried in snow on the left were, but the open door on the truck
on the right helps to lend some perspective to things in that shot.
81 inches have fallen since I broke my leg 5 weeks and 1 day ago.
Bittersweet. So what happens when you don't shovel all that snow
off the roof of a mobile home? A
wall is likely to blow out and send the roof crashing down. I
am not sure if that was a seasonal camp or just abandoned, but it is not
much good anymore, unless you are a furry critter looking for shelter.
This
is what happens when you do shovel off the roof of a camp. You
end up with a pile of snow about 8-10 feet high along side the building.
Thanks to the swing set off to the right of the snow pile to lend some
perspective.
Back to the ride, here
is Steve coming at
you, here is Brian
pushing some powder. Here is a shot of Steve
contemplating whether to go down the hill with all the trees at the
bottom. That hill looks a lot like one of the ones we climbed at
the end of January before my accident. This last shot is one Brian
took while driving
in his truck back to my house. I has been snowing pretty hard
since about 10:30 and it looks like about 5-6" new. Most of the snow
has tapered off now and we look to be done, maybe an inch or so tonight
and another tomorrow. More looks to be on the way later in the week,
maybe even next week. So for those of you wondering if we still have
enough snow to ride in, I think that the pictures in today's entry speak
for themselves. A lot of you must either be sick of riding, or out
of vacation time, because it is dead up here. A riders dream come
true. The snow is excellent, the trails are being groomed and no
one is here. I do not want to sound like a salesman, but I would
just like to see people have a great time and I can say that now is as
good as it gets, period. I have even gotten e mails from people who
have come up and said I was right. They have never encountered as
good of conditions as we have right now up here.
I must admit.
I am not sick of the snow, and it was neat to see it come down today.
However, if it were to stop and begin to go away, I would not be too upset
either. My taste of spring in St. Louis was nice and it did feel
good to be outside in the warmth. Of course, if it were to keep snowing
into the middle of April, then turn to 60 degrees and melt in 2 weeks,
I would be a happy camper too. Who knows, the way this winter is
going, it may just do that.
Good night from the Keweenaw
- JD-
March 7, 2001-
Getting a head
start on things today. Julie is out taking the hounds for a walk
and then she is going to cook us dinner on the grill. Am I a lucky
guy or what. Actually no need to answer that, I know how lucky I
am. Sorry for not getting a journal out until today, but I have been
a busy guy. I have to travel to St. Louis Friday to speak at a conference
Saturday and will then return Sunday. I have been busy preparing
the materials for that over the past few days. Actually for longer
than that, but the past few days has been crunch time and I need it to
be done by tomorrow or I am in big trouble. It would have been all
done today, but one of the files I brought to the printer would not open
properly. So I e mailed them the file and hopefully it will be ready
for pickup tomorrow. So not only has this conference keep me from
updating the journal in the past few days (as well as the snow cover maps
today), it will also make this the last one until next Monday the 12th.
Tomorrow I will be at Julie's in the evening having a send off dinner and
then I fly out on Friday and I do not have a laptop yet.
So I guess you will
just have to get your fix of this thing with this entry. Of course
you can go back and look at the past journals. I find it interesting
to look back at a year ago at this time and read what was going on.
I also keep a weather journal for myself and looking back at things a year
ago, we were in the middle of a three day 60 degree warm spell. Actually
on this day and tomorrow, we hit 61. That killed the remaining snow.
We did get a storm at the end of March that allowed me to ride one last
time, but things are way different this year! We should have snow
to ride in through all of March and barring any big thaws, maybe into the
middle of April.
One of the main reasons
why we have so much snow up here is because of day's
like this. That was actually taken this past Monday morning.
It really came down for about 4-5 hours and we picked up about 8-10" in
that time. What an awesome thing to wake up to! Can you believe
it, I am still not sick of snow! Bring it on!
That snow event also
gave me my deepest depth for the season so far at 45". That depth
was finally enough to bury
the fence in the back yard. I know that Julie just can't understand
the big deal about doing that and maybe many of you are of the same opinion,
but to me it was a milestone I really wanted to get to once we got into
the big snows this past December. I can tell you this, I have not
met too many locals that are sick of the snow. Really sick of it.
They all ask me when we will start to get ride of it and all I can say
it that it looks like we will only add to it in the next week to ten days
and I have been saying that for a few weeks! It really has been a
dream winter. If only I could have made use of the snow since February
4 at 11:30 am!
I must say that if
we were to get one more big storm, and by big I mean 1.5-2 feet, I do not
know what most people would do with the snow. Even my banks are so
high that when my neighbor is doing the edge of the drive way it cannot
throw it up and over the top of the pile, he has to aim the chute so that
it throws it straight ahead. The piles from the roof are also very
tall. I can only see out of the top 2/3rds of my picture window and
the piles in the back
are even taller, almost ten feet in spots.
The dogs have a blast
climbing on top of the piles in the back yard. They have actually worn
a path across the top and I'll just let them play for a while on them and
then they just lay down on top and keep an eye on the backyard. I'll
have to get a shot of them on top to share with you all.
The forecast calls
for some snow in the next 18 hours or so. At one point the NWS was
all fired up about the potential for 10-12" of snow, but have since backed
off to 4-9". My forecast is for about 2-6". The reason is that
it looks like temps will get only marginally cold enough for LES to form.
Plus, there is ice out in the western lake and that will lower the lakes
ability to produce snow. The lake is not covered with ice, but there
are pockets or flows out there that are reducing the open water surface
available, so it will be interesting to see what happens. If there
was not that ice on the lake and temps were about 3-4 degrees colder at
that 850 mb level or 3000-3500 foot level, then we would get hammered.
Probably get that 1/5-2 feet. Actually, that is what Marquette got
Sunday and Monday. They now have had their second snowiest season
ever and are only 20" short of the all time record set just 4 years ago
in 96-97. That amount was 272.2". Just for a point of information,
Keweenaw County's measurement in Delaware is standing at 273.7" for the
year.
So I am a happy camper
with this winter. It is a good old fashion Keweenaw winter and we
are kings of the Midwest once again. I really do not want to come
across as the Chamber of Commerce or Tourism Council, not that they are
really bad people to be. I have found them to be pretty good and
fair in their reporting of things up here. Sometimes they can be
a little off in their trail condition reports, but that is usually due
more to the fact that by the time the info gets to them and then they report
them, the conditions have changed. Anyway, the point I am trying
to get across is that the trail conditions are in excellent shape.
I have taken some jaunts in my car to trail crossings and all of them indicated
totally flat trails. They will groom up here through the end of this
month if the conditions allow it. Our grooming is funded by the DNR
and those funds do not run out like might happen in areas that rely upon
clubs or local chambers of commerce. I would say that given the forecast,
now might provide some of the best riding all year. Even safer, with
the lower traffic. My point in telling you all this is so that you
can get in some good snow play. What I have said as far as weather
and snow conditions stands for all the areas in the LES belts of the UP.
I cannot speak of the grooming, as I do not know how they are funded.
So come on up. It's still winter up here!
Good night from the Keweenaw.
- JD-
March 4, 2001-
It looks as
though mother nature wants to follow astronomical winter rather than meteorological.
It started snowing yesterday morning at about 9:30 and has not really stopped
since. Today we have even had some periods of heavy snow, with the
visibility dropping to less than 1/8th of a mile. All told we have
picked up about 6-7" since yesterday am and there is more on the way in
the next 24 hours. A nice surprise since the forecast earlier looked
like we would have a thaw this weekend. The forecast for the next
10-15 days looks to support little in the way of any thaws up here and
does support some chances for snow, so the way things look right now, winter
may just hang on up here until through much of March.
For those of you sitting
down south watching the grass turn green and the buds getting ready to
burst, we still have tons of snow up here and riding conditions are as
good or better than they have been all season. I don't mean to sound
like a salesman, my only goal is to let you all know that a great time
can still be had. I just hate to see all this excellent snow go to
waste. A good friend of mine always said that March is the best month
to ride up here and before I moved up here he was always trying to get
me to come up. I see why now. Temps are not bitterly cold,
but still cold enough to keep things from getting messy. There is
still tons of snow and the best part, the trails are quite empty.
So for those of you wondering how things are up here, I can say that they
are still very wintery and look to stay that way for time to come.
Enough of the sales pitch.
I regained some of
my freedom on Friday when I got the go ahead to be able
to drive. That was actually a rather huge development for me.
I can now get out to anywhere I need to and do not need to depend on others
(mostly Julie) to shuttle me around or even just go and get me stuff.
Thankfully it was my left leg, which is pretty much along for the ride
anyway. I do not have a manual transmission and my emergency brake
is a hand break, so I do not need to use my left leg to drive.
I have taken advantage
of my new ability, heading off to the store and even taking in a snowmobile
race at Mount Ripley yesterday. It was an interesting race.
Most races are just about speed. The fastest sled wins. It
is not really up to the driver. The race yesterday was mostly about
skill. A 440 could have won the 800 class with the right driver.
The beginning of the course started
out like most others, but then the riders were required to drive
around gates setup on the face of one of the ski runs. The majority
of the riders did not make it to the top of the hill and finish the course.
Out of the 15 or so sleds I saw attempt to make it to the top, only 2 did.
There were some roll overs and just a bunch of tip overs, but it was a
challenging course. I would say that it was about 20 percent the
equipment and about 80 percent the driver. Another highlight to the
race was be getting to ride on a snowmobile. We did not get any pictures
of me on the sled, but I did get to ride up to the race on the back of
a sled. Felt pretty good. Julie did manage to get a shot of
me
hanging out watching the race.
Ever since being able
to get my leg wet, I have dreamed about soaking it in a tub. Today
my dream came true thanks to Linda at the Eagle River Inn in Eagle River.
She has a hot tub down there and was happy to let me
soak my bones in it. It felt so good to have the leg surrounded
in warmth, plus it did not have any pressure on it, being able to float
around. An added bonus was to sit in the warmth of the hot tub while
watching the snow storm rolling off the big lake. She must have the
hot tub with the best view in the Keweenaw there. The tub is there
for her guests.
On the way back we
drove through Calumet and Laurium to view the sights. I had not been
through that neck of the woods in over a month so it was fun to see how
the snow banks had grown. I must say that they did not seem to be
too much bigger than we have here in Lake Linden, but they are bigger.
Here is a shot of a
home in Laurium. All the new snow makes it hard to pick out the
details, but it does not take much to see that it is deep.
So now that I can get
out of the house and actually go somewhere, this journal thing might get
a little more interesting than just the shots of my front yard and street.
We're getting there, in just a few weeks, things should be getting closer
to normal in all aspects. Maybe no shots of me skiing down the hill
or going over jumps on the sled, but still something interesting.
Good night from the Keweenaw.
- JD-
March 2, 2001-
Starting a new
month is always a scary experience for me with the journal. So far
I have lost 2 months worth of writings due to screw ups when I transfer
the old month into the past journals section and start a new one for the
current month. I am now very careful when I do the process and have
not had any problems since June of last year, but still, it is something
that causes a few anxious moments.
I am getting
an early start today (1 pm local time) since I do not even know if I will
be around this evening, plus I can feel that a nap would be a good thing
for this afternoon. Today is day 2 without snow and also day two
of temps at least flirting with the freezing mark. The airport officially
hit 32 yesterday, but my thermometer came close to 40 here in Lake Linden.
It was in the sun though, so I think that it was off by at least a few
degrees. Today we are at 30 at the moment and it looks like another
day of about 32 is in order. A "backdoor" cold front will push through
this evening and that will keep us in the 20's for tomorrow and Sunday
and thanks to a big storm developing in the east coast possibly into Monday
and Tuesday as well. If we can stay in the 20's through Tuesday,
then another front looks to arrive Wednesday and cool things back down
and that would mean that we would have escaped the thaw rather untouched.
Good news for someone who is hoping to be able to take a ride before the
season is over. I doubt that I will be able to do such a thing until
at least the end of March, so I just have to hope for no big thaws, as
we still have plenty of snow.
Anyway, I have
more to share with you than just my hopes for the weather in the next few
weeks. I loaned out the camera to Brain yesterday. He had a
KSE tour and took some pics. For those of you who are faithful readers,
you know that when Brian has the camera, he is not too shy about taking
pictures. Yesterday was no different and I have quite a few to share
with you. It is neat when he does that, because I get to see pictures
that I did not take and go to places I did not go, giving me the feeling
that I am like a visitor to my site rather than the author of it.
Yesterday was a great
day for a ride. Maybe a little warm, but not so warm as to make the
snow wet. He said that everyone had a great time. I have to
apologize, I have forgotten the names of the people in the tour, but I
believe it was the Cooper group. If I have screwed that up, I am
so sorry! This first shot is of the fishing
fleet at Big Traverse. It appears as though they are iced in
for the time being. Usually the harbor is open enough for them to
go out and if the weather permits it, they will go out all year long.
This next shot was
taken on a logging
road near Gay. There was something wrong with the camera, as
the shot was blurred a bit, but I felt it contained enough info to include
it. Here is another shot taken in the same general area. This
one was not blurred and shows that there is still some fresh powder
to be had if you know where to look.
I keep saying that
there is a lot of snow up here and many locals are also saying the same
thing. These next two shots will help to demonstrate just how much
snow is down in spots up here. Here is an
object buried in the snow, any guesses as to what it is? To help
add a little more perspective to that last shot, we can ad
a human. Looks to be about 5-6 feet on top of that object.
Still confused as to what it is. I guess I can spill the beans.
It was a bull dozer. Lots of snow, EH?
The tour brought the
group up to Gratiot Lake, here is a shot
of a ice fishing shanty on the lake, with Mt Bohemia off in the distance
to the right of the shanty. There is a bluff
near the lake which is a really tough climb. I have made it up
several times, but have yet to make it on the first try. My biggest
problems have been that I needed studs, as my track would end up spinning
on the hard pack snow that was on the hill. My next years sled will
make it first try, I promise! There is also an easier way up the
bluff, for those who do not like a 300-400 foot, 50 degree incline.
As mentioned earlier,
there is still plenty of untracked snow up here for those who know where
to look. This is a perfect example of that, a
pole line with plenty of virgin powder. Ok, I was doing pretty
good with my inability to be able to ride up until that last shot.
Now I am really hurting to get to get out there. Man, that would
have been a blast to tear up. Here is another shot of the pole
line with the Big Lake off in the distance.
A little closer to
home, the group also visited the dredge down by Mason. In the entry
that I ended up breaking my leg on, we went inside the dredge and I took
some pictures, but I did not take one of the outside. Brian did that
for me with the group
posing in front of it. Sticking close to home base, here is a
shot
taken at Little Traverse Bay, with Traverse Island off in the background.
I hope everyone had
a fun time on the KSE tour. I did, next best thing to floating across
the powder yourself. Tomorrow they are having a hill climb race up
the ski hill Mount Ripley. Al will be racing and I am sure some others
that I know. I plan to get over there for a while, I will bring the
cam so that you all can share the experience too. I also hope to
get up towards Calumet to take some shots of the big snow banks up here.
I hear that they are rather mind blowing. I can only imagine, as
they are huge down here in Lake Linden. Talk to you all soon.
Good afternoon from the Keweenaw.
- JD-
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