View from the Overlook Trail

Will took me cheen’n ( pronounced she-nin) this past weekend. That is the vernacular for going out and riding around the trails on a snow mobile. Please note the pink Chok-o jacket.  I had made a wise crack about the horrible fashion, or lack of fashion in snow mobile outfits.  Most are black with canary yellow, or black with primary red, or black with black.   Someone actually came up with a neon-lime green with black accent number.  Will  was able to find one in pink and it actually is a boob-cancer awareness jacket and some of the purchase goes to the breast cancer, search for a cure.  Silver helmet to match and a pink neck warmer, I was feeling pretty fly. More importantly I stayed warm the entire time, even my little hands did well.

Mort, one of Will’s buddies has a bunch of sleds and loaned us a 2-up for the day.   A very nice, new Arctic-cat with leather seats that had bun warmers and handles that were heated.   I highly recommend it for people with  Reynaud’s. The sled was pretty zippy and took us from Island Pond up-ta Canaan, basically the last town in the tip-top north-eastern most part of Vermont.   I think it was a 48 mile ride up, through the woods and on longing roads, all VAST trails, until we got up to the SPA di’nah just over the state line. We had to ride on pavement to actually cross over into NH and get to the eatery.  (I didn’t like riding on pavement and had to get off the sled the few times and walk a bit )  A huge plate of fried chicken and fries was waiting for me ….. I was tempted by the poutine, but stopped short of if.   You just gotta eat the local cuisine,  rude not to, and besides the Caesar salad with grilled chicken was large enough to feed a family of 8.

So this is basically how it works.  You gear up with all the outside clothes and do a meet and greet, a quick hello with the folks you are going to ride with.  Hard to really tell who everyone is, because we were the last to arrive and everyone already had their gear on.   Gear:  heavy socks and boots that are reminiscent of 1980′s moon boots.  Then jeans and snow pants,( they only come in black)  bib type, with zippers that come all the way up and a special back flap in case you need to do an emergency pee in the woods.  Turtle neck, sweater, neck warmer, jacket, gloves,  balaclava, helmet.  At least 20 lbs. worth of clothing.    You cluster in a group and the alpha males decide how to get to the designated eating spot.  You get on the sled and go, in a line,  from point A to point B.  Sometimes you pass other folks going in the other direction.  Sometimes people pass you to get ahead of your line, in which case,  when you stop for a pee break, or to “stretch your legs”  the group circles up again and the alphas bitch about the flatlanders that passed the group.  You get to the eating spot, fill your tank up and then fill up the tank in the sled.  You talk about the flatlanders again, ruining it for everyone.  I say I am from Ohio.  But they seem to like me anyhow because I am riding, not driving.

You wabble out of the eatery, get back on the sled and ride back, stopping again for a pee break and to bitch about the other flatlanders that passed you.  We went up to a lookout point, Lake Lewis in the background and it was lovely.  Most of the time you are riding in the woods.  I like the woods, but I like open better.  And I don’t like going over water, frozen or otherwise. But at the end of it, you return to the starting point, circle around as a group and say what a good time was had.  And it was.

Will is itching to go back up this weekend.  He is going to try and teach me how to drive one of the beastie machines. I think he should give Mr. Wilson, my former math and driver’s ed instructor first, to really know what he is getting himself into.   Not quite sure about it, but willing to give it a try.  After all, I have a Pink snow mobile jacket.