2016 RWTC weekend

[400brian]

We got a later start than I had planned, mainly because some things hadn't gotten done because I wasn't feeling 100%. We got on the road around 4:30, making only one stop at an O 'Reilly's to pick up some BR8s. I let the wife drive so I could try to sleep, and she drove it like she had stole it.
We were in St. Germain around 8:00, picked up the Bennett's, and went to Fibbers to join Brock, Mark, Kyle, Lincoln and crew.

The running gag was the number of times they had circled Sayner at the end of the day. I think Wade was leading that expedition.

We hit the sack early, we were looking forward to a big day on Friday.

FRIDAY:

We needed to be at the SHOF by 8:30 for the unveiling. We pulled the sleds off the trailer, and headed over. We checked out the IFS Liquifire proto that I believe has been donated to the SHOF, and then prepared to depart.

The wife's Green Machine had other ideas, it refused to run right, same as two years ago. Completely different ignition system, same issues. OK, plan "B". We 2 upped back to the motel, where Wade put her on his '78 LF, firing up his 340/S to ride himself.

I think 17 of us headed North towards Sayner, everything going great until we got there, missing 2 sleds. Mindy and I backtracked a short distance to find Todd Meyer's Liquidator under tow. The engine had crapped out with son Chris at the controls, so they were going to ride back to get the trailer.

The rest of us continued on to Bent's Camp, arriving around 11:00 am. The trails were pretty decent, and it was a nice run. I wasn't cold until I got off the sled, then it was WOW! The snow was blowing sideways across the lake, so we hustled to get inside.

Lunch was good, and spirits seemed high. Todd and Chris joined us, haven driven up with the truck and trailer. Todd reported that the roads were terrible. This turned out great, as the sticky throttle Brock was reporting at lunch was frozen solid after. Attempts to free it failed, and it was loaded on the trailer.

We fueled there at the pump, my hands were numb by the time we were ready to go. This is where the heat packs saved the day. I stuck one in the thumbs of each mitt, and within a short time the feeling was back.

We made an uneventful run back to the SHOF, had a brat, and visited with everyone there. They unloaded Brock's sled at the garage at the motel, and got that resolved. The Green Machine fired up, so I took it back to my trailer, 2 upping back to bring Wade's '78 back to the motel.

This gave us a little time to warm up, relax, and get ready for the meet and greet. There was a huge turn out for the Amber Fish Fry, and a good time was had by all.

We made our way back to the motel to drop off the girls and grab our gas cans. Katy was going to ride shotgun in the support trailer provided by the Larson's the next day, and Mindy was going to ride Todd Meyer's new Cat, because hers was running poorly. I went to grab my 3 cans out of my trailer, only to find someone had relieved me of my two 5 gal plastic ones, leaving only a 6 gal steel one. A bit PO'd about that, as these were the old cans that worked, not the junk you get now.

Wade loaned me an extra can, and we got the gas situation taken care of and headed back to hit the sack. Saturday would start even earlier.

Here I am Friday morning, heading back to look for Todd. Had to think about this, but apparently John Sandberg was the guy taking pics as I headed out.

[AirborneX4Special]

Brian
Thanks for providing an after action report for those of us unable to attend, always a good read.

[400brian]

Saturday

Up early and on the phone with Dan Larson, coordinating getting fuel cans on the trailer. We did really well on that, very little fuel was purchased at the pump on Sat.

We had 23 signed up for the Challenge, plus Dan and I. Breakfast was great, the morning program was brief, and Craig got us out the door early.

We suited up, got everyone assembled, and took off to the North. On reaching Sayner, Todd's Buddy Henry ( who was riding a new Cat ) informed me that the Larson's were having issues, and would be riding catch up. So Henry was now our tail gunner.

On the first lake crossing after Sayner, the Snowfire Chris Meyer was riding died when we stopped on the far side. After getting ready to tow it, it was determined that the kill switch was turned. Once returned to the "run" position, it fired up.

We proceeded to Bent's Camp, got everyone fueled, but there was a new problem. The alternator had died on the support truck, and it was dead.
They took the batteries out to put on a charger, and Dan rode into Land o Lakes to get an alternator.

As we assembled on the lake, we saw the funniest thing; this lifted 4x4 pulling an enclosed trailer pulled onto the lake. Once there, they decided that they didn't want to be there, and put it to the wood to get out. Well, that front driveshaft that was running at the extreme angle broke off at the differential, flew around, and there was large amounts of oil and coolant flowing onto the ice, this dude from IL, was now having a bad day!

In the photo below, I stopped to regroup, and they are messing with Chris' Snowfire. Doesn't that trail look GREAT!
That was a very nice section.

[BU1]

Thanks for the recap of events Brian. I didn't realize what happened to that truck. Just saw them all looking under it. Thanks also for getting us back before dark.

[400brian]

We headed out across the Cisco Chain, crossing into Michigan as we did so. The lake was reasonably smooth as I recall, and the guys opened them up a bit, then waited for the guide on the other end.

Once we were all reassembled, I led the way up off the lake, over the bridge, and down the road to where we drop back down to the last section of lake. Once on the lake, I stopped to regroup again, but I only had about half. We waited...after a while, Chris Meyer who's Snowfire wouldn't idle, and most of the time was circling us like a shark, headed back up to see what was going on. He soon returned to report that Brock's Dator clone had lost the ignition. I called Henry, and suggested he tow him back to Bent's Camp, and send the rest down to the lake!

About the time I was putting the phone back into my pocket, a single sled approached us slowly. I heard someone say oh, oh, and yes indeed, it was a Michigan fish cop. As the sled came to a stop, I realized the officer was a young woman.

She approach me and asked what we were doing. I explained that we were part of a vintage group, that we had a dead sled up on the road, and were waiting for the rest to join us. She said "OK, where is your MI trail pass"? I pointed to the MI historic registration sticker on my windshield, and she agreed that I was good. "What about the rest"?, she asked, pointing to the sleds behind me. I replied that i did not know their status.

She asked Mindy, who pointed at Todd. Now this is where this gets funny! Todd did a great job of acting stupid! Some suggested that it was no act, but I am giving him the credit. He pointed at the stickers on their windshields, but she said no. He points at them again, and she says NO.
Finally, he grabs her sleeve, turns her a bit, reads the patch on her shoulder, and says; WHEN DID WE CROSS INTO MICHIGAN?

She comes back to me, where I am trying not to laugh. She says, "these people don't know they are in Michigan"? I go; no, they are just following me. She asks me where we are going, and I tell her Fishtales on Lake Gegobic. She says that is a long way into Michigan without passes. So I explain to her that in the past we would stop at the Cisco Lake resort for passes ( which is practically in sight ) but that now we have to run up to Roger's Bar.

She says; " so that is the plan, to go get passes at that bar? I reply, yes ma'am! She says; "OK, you do that". She then turns to the rest and yells; "does everyone understand this"? They all nod, so she heads back to her sled. About that time, the rest come down onto the lake, and we take off.

My feeling is that had we been moving, she never would have bothered us. She was no doubt checking the ice fishermen on the lake for licenses, and we became an easy target.

We head north on trail 13, which is a rail road grade. I knew that there was a sign pointing towards Roger's bar somewhere, but I had no idea which intersection it might be. We cross several roads, and at the intersection of Old HWY 2, is the sign pointing to Roger's Bar.

[sledhead16]

Thanks for taking the time to write the weekend, Murphys law sounds like

[fastl82vette]

Great read as always!! I hope to live it some day soon.

[400brian]

The road was nice smooth hard pack, so it was a quick mile or whatever it was to the bar. We parked right at the door, and as the sleds were shut down, I made an announcement along the lines of this: The young woman with the badge suggested you get trail passes. I don't care what you do, but my guess is that if we run into her again, she will be writing tickets

I don't know if everyone got a MI trail pass, a bunch did. Some stuck them on their windshields, some put them in their pocket. Once we had this taken care of, we headed back to the trail, north bound for Fishtails. Time was becoming a concern. We had pulled into Bent's at 10:30, which is pretty good, but we had spent too much time since sitting.

The rail road grades running north were fairly smooth, and we were moving nicely. The cold temps were giving us a lot of snow dust, but of course it was all behind me. i remember stopping at a road crossing and looking back, and all I could see was the headlights coming through the fog of snow.

The East/West grade wasn't as smooth, but is still pretty fair. We make the turn back onto trail 13 that will take us all the way to Gegobic, and find that it too is in decent condition. This is mostly a very twisting trail, with just a few straights. I remember on one 90 degree turn, there was a pile of snow pushed up, and they had put the signs with arrows at the top, indicating the hard corner. It was in the shade as I approached, and I almost got into it, as it didn't show up all that well.

Shortly before we reach the "Root Cellar", I remember passing a couple on a turn, where one had missed the turn and had buried the sled in the soft fluff that was off trail. As advertised, there was pretty good snow conditions in the UP.

We reached the "Root Cellar", and continued on down to the lake. Again as advertised, Gogebic was a bit rough, but fresh snow covered the frozen slush, making it fairly smooth. We zipped across the lake, parked, and headed in for lunch. As I recall, Henry had to tow Rimko's Cat in from about half way across the lake, as he had run out of gas.

The support truck was a ways out yet, but was headed our way. We arrived at Fishtales at 1:00 pm.

[WinnipegStPaul9]

Brian, thank you so much for taking on the Guide position for this years Vintage Challenge. It was appreciated.

DA

[400brian]

It felt good to take a break and sit on something that wasn't bouncing! As we got a bite to eat, Wade and I had the special privilege of visiting with Glen, He talked a bit about a few of the adventures he had racing, and the farming operation he runs now.

Lunch at Fishtale's is generally quick, but with the truck a few minutes out yet, it gave us a little more time. Soon enough I received a text from the wife saying they had arrived, so we headed out to re-fuel. Glen had made it to Fishtale's without taking gas at Bent's camp, which I thought was pretty impressive ( 10 gal. dual fill tank ), When everyone was topped off, we assembled on the lake, and began the long trip back.

Glen had mentioned at lunch that the 340/S was dropping a cylinder coming across the lake, and after we had put a few miles behind us, he dropped out of line. Henry had went back to Fishtales to retrieve Todd Meyer's back pack out of the trailer, so it wasn't clear what we should do, but it wasn't long and Todd and Glen came into view, and we took off again.

What Todd told me later was that Glen stopped because the sled had dropped a cylinder. This worked out well, as Todd has experience with both 340/S' and the surface gap plugs Glen was running. Todd said it was very clear one of the plugs wasn't firing, and with it replaced, and the hood back on, Glen was ready to go in nothing flat.

We continued on. We were nearing the east/west rail road grade intersection, when I stopped at a road crossing, only to see a brown SUV and a uniformed officer motioning for me to stop. Again it was a woman. She asked about my trail pass, and I pointed at my windshield. I mentioned that I had spoke to a colleague of hers that morning, and she corrected me by saying , "no, that was me"! I laughed and said " hey you have changed clothes"! Dressed in a snowmobile suit and helmet before, I really had nothing much to recognize her by except the voice, and that hadn't registered yet.

Knowing it was the same officer now, I swung into my pitch; I said, "I did just what I said I would do, I took them all to Roger's Bar, and got them all checked out". What happened next was incredible, she gave me a big smile and said; "thank you very much, have a nice day". And with that she turned to go back to her truck. I could not believe it! I don't much believe that it was a coincidence that she was sitting there, and I was sure she would want to check everyone out. I am disappointed that in neither of the two encounters we had with her, that no one took a photo! But at that point, it didn't seem like a good idea to ask her to pose with us for a photo op. The prudent course of action seemed to be to leave before she changed her mind! So, I turned to all the riders lined up behind me, gave them two thumbs up, then got on the sled and took off.

[400brian]

I can think of a couple of advantages of leading; being able to set the pace, and not having to eat the snow dust that was flying. There are a number of disadvantages as well, one being that you miss out on all the fun and games going on back in the pack.

Saturday night, I learned a few details on some of the stuff that went on behind me. On the way up, maybe halfway to Bent's, Wade ran me down and said; "someone has crashed"!

[jep_800]

Let's see some of the photos of the weekend!

jep_800

[buckeyetrailfire]

Brian your stories are the best I'm just glad I was part of them this year . I can't wait until next year . Thanks for the guide services , Mark.


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[Jd sled rider]

Brian it was fun riding with u again as well as everyone else. I can't wait till next year. Here is a pic of the jack shaft after 100 miles of spinning in the bearing. Later Lincoln

[340sracer]

Picture - Vintage Challenge