Family Outing

We had a rockstar level afternoon here in snow country. Tall Boy and I took the afternoon to take Bam-Bam for a nice ride on the sleds. With the Nascar race TiVo'd, we bundled us all up and climbed aboard.

We departed the front yard and down the road to the beginning of the trail that leads to the adjacent powerlines. There is a primary trail that weaves the tall towers, traversing the lines from town to town. The trail weaves the towers back and forth from the right side of the clearing to the left and back. Up the knolls and down the ravines where the small trails of water dissect the north/south trail with an east/west flow. There were small wooden pallet-like bridges for cross the water in the first sections of the power lines. Those bridges disappeared after we left the trail that is maintained by the Strafford snowmobile club leaving open sections of running water to cross once we entered the Rochester club's domain.

The trail was bumpier than I expected because 4-wheelers and motorcross bikes use the trails in warmer times. My back and upper arms have a near constant ache today as a result. We crossed several roads that defined the distance between our starting point and where we were headed.

Bam-Bam rode with his daddy because I was more comfortable with his experience on the machines over mine. I still have moments where I gas it just a little too much and worry that I'll leave the trail and get stuck. I followed behind staying close enough to keep up. The first patch of un-bridged water had me off my sled and walking over the stream with Bam-Bam while Tall-Boy splashed through with my sled. I silently hoped this would be the only water-cross we'd encounter. Unfortately it wasn't. Unfortunately I got wet in subsequent attempts because my windshield was removed due to a crack in it when we bought it. Thankfully the splashes didn't dampen the mood.

We finally made it to the busy section of Route 11 that was our destination. We topped off the sleds with gas and made an unsucessful attempt at getting to any of the three McDonald's in close proximity. We doubled back at the last dead end and decided to just eat at the 50's style diner next to the gas station.

After finishing our dinner and with the sun sitting lower on the horizon, we started to make our way back home. As we plodded back along the trail, my headlights were more visible reflecting on Tall-Boys back. We re-crossed the the streams and I got wet all over again. At least going in this direction meant I would be able to get out of my wet pants sooner. We passed a threesome of sledders that had their black german-shepherd cross running along with them. We also passed a couple of cross-country skiers and saw tracks of someone that had used the trail for a horseback ride.

As we got most of the way back, the sun was completely set and we were traveling strictly by headlight. The wind was getting cold on my face and I had to keep moving to keep my glasses from fogging. We started seeing white-tails mingling along the tree-line. Tall Boy stopped several times to point them out to Bam-Bam so they could both admire and appreciate their beauty.

As we turned into the driveway, found myself in love with the feeling of the day. Family time. Cold. Beauty. Wet. Smelling of exhaust. Nature. Love.