Crash Site - Before and After

The photo on the left is the ditch Bill hit last year and the photo on the right is what it looks like now. I wonder how many other people broke their back there last year.

I was surprised how far the store was that Bill rode back to with a broken back. Ouch. I thought it was only a couple of miles but it was over 8. It was a much better ride this year.

Snow Days

I love snow. I love almost everything about it.* I love taking pictures of it. I love how it covers the dirty streets of the city and makes everything look clean and fresh. I love how it muffles noise, people stay home from work and off the roads. I love thinking about how excited all those kids will be to have a day off from school. I love watching it fall in big flakes and small, blizzards and dustings. I love when the trees get all droopy when piles of snow bend their branches down. I love how it blankets the fields. I love all winter sports, especially the winter Olympics. I love to ski (expert) and snowboard (beginner). I love a freshly groomed trail and what I love most of all is riding my snowmobile.

I’ve had my own sled since 1997. My first was a 1997 Skidoo MXZ583. The MXZ was a very aggressive sled that had to be muscled around. It was a great sled for a guy but it wasn’t the right one for me. It would start to tip and I didn’t have the upper body strength to pull it back all day. In 2002, I bought a Skidoo Legend 600 Sport. The Legend is a great sled and I miss riding it sometimes but I wanted to upgrade to a rider forward style to take the bumps better. So last year I bought a 2005 Skidoo GSX 600 Limited with low miles. The GSX handles like a dream and it’s much easier on my back in rough conditions. My knees start to ache a little after a 150+ miles but it is worth it.

Winter is my absolute favorite time of the year to get outside. In the middle of July when I’m sweating in the heat and humidity I will be counting the days until the VAST trails open and a new season starts. I actually get depressed when the season ends and start counting the days until I can ride again.

I suffer through the work week as a wage slave in the rat race of the city so I can afford to escape to the Northeast Kingdom and spend the weekends playing in the snow and riding my snowmobile in the mountains of Vermont. To me, there is nothing better than a snow day.

Come along for the ride.

* I don’t love it so much when I have to commute to work in it, shovel it, or watch it get dirty and slushy and I HATE when it melts in the Spring.