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I-500 Race Start MichCanSka from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 22, 2010 11:15 a.m. For those of you interested in ATV riding up and around here last year was the first year that some of the county roads were opened up to ATVs. You are able to use many of the roads to get to the ATV trails which are actually west of frederic and head up towards starvation lake. Now as I understand it frederic township has opened up all the roads as has grayling township and the city of grayling is coming on board in the near future too. I will paste a link here to the crawford county road commision site which has maps too all the townships in crawford county. Maple Forest who must be to good for everyone is OFF LIMITS. These maps on here are not the new updated ones yet but they should be updated this week sometime so keep this link in your favorites. Last summer ATV traffic was light around here and I am not sure what kind of impact this will have on Frederic, as the word gets out there might be more traffic coming in. I am still not ready to hop in and be open all the time waiting on that business but I can get any orv and atv parts that you might need. Here is the link to the county site. Crawford County ATV & ORV Maps And next another Michcanska Video,This video is a look at some of the things that we've seen from the rider support vehicles. These people play a key role in the success of the riders and help keep them on the trail.MichCanSka 2010 - Truckin' from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------- Sunday March 21, 2010 2:30 p.m. Boy the day got away on me, as I was eating breakfast at home this morning I thought about doing this and then boom,,,its 2:30 already, been still picking up and moving things around the yard here in frederic, if you have been on the camera at all you probably saw me out there.....I am posting another michcanska video,,,,I am almost out of them so there goes our entertainment until Video Mike gets the overall big video done.....Here it is and thanks for checking in. PeteMichCanSka 2010 - Sled Break Down from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
Clips from Mel Kitchen's Polaris, the breakdown, repair and return to the trail. Cool Story. Enjoy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday March 20,2010 10:15 a.m A cloudy cool morning in frederic with a few snow flurries in the air..not enough to get excited about & we are just a few hours away from the official start of spring....... Heading off to gaylord in a bit to watch Melissa at her Forensics meet today...and as a proud Dad I have to say on her report card last week she had a grade of 4.020 and is #1 in her class out of 133 students, she must have picked that up from her dear old Dad......and now another Michcanska Video From the Top of the World, the last leg of the MichCanSka adventure from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Tok, Alaska honors a fallen Viet Nam Vet who received the medal of honor.MichCanSka 2010-Mountain Top Memorial from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------ Friday March 19, 2010 noon In checking the trail out this morning along m 93 I saw 2 mallards swimming in the middle of the trail, the lake ice is receding and there were both geese and seagulls swimming there and in the trailhead parking lot I did spot to lonely piles of snow that were still there.....Here is another michcanska video.....MichCanSka 2010 "The Navigation Challenge" from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
This video documents some of the Navigation issues that are associated with the adventure from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Tok, Alaska. This was Groups 2's day from Nipawin, Saskatchewan to Big River, Saskatchewan. Very Entertaining. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday March 18, 2010 1:00 p.m. Finally made it here to frederic about 15 minutes ago. Had a surprise baby shower party for Haleys teacher at school this morning.....I took a look at the season fatalities and see that it is up to 23 with one happening to a 22 year old female up in houghton county on March 6, and I hope thats the last one. That puts it about even with last year but I did count 9 women out of the 23 that died and that includes the 5 year old girl by brimley......Canadian Steak and Fish in grayling had a nice get together last night for St Pattys Day and it was topped off at the end with a visit from Louie the Bagpiper.......Here is another Michcanska video to help pass the day. Thanks for checking in.. PeteMichCanSka - "Snowmobile Sweater" from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
With the warm conditions of the MichCanSka trip, it gave one of the adventurers a chance to show off his snowmobile sweater. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 17, 2010 Noon thirty, For the next few days I will post a video from the michcanska trip, today is Sunsets and Sun Rises of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Set to the Music of Gordon Lightfoot - "Sundown" At least something to look at and daydreamMichCanSka 2010 "Pictures From the Road" from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 16, 2010 11:00 a.m. I have out and around the building picking up stuff in the parking lot this morning. Is sunny and cool out and I hear the military off in the distance with the air to ground firing. As I was walking around the back parking lot my mind somehow went to thinking about the now infamous "Ohio Pooper", him and his group made a few trips early in the season but then just like everyone else they never made it back. I saw that at about 8 to 8:30 last night that Group 1 passed by the Frederic exit and I am sure they are all glad to be back home now after just over a month on the roads and trails......I dont know how many of you are familiar with the Ausable River Canoe Marathon that goes on in grayling in on the last week of july but we are trying to think up a good catch phrase for a saying on one of this years t shirts......So if you have any thing that might help please let me know......I went out to the woods this morning to check my camera and deer carcass that I put out last month,,well now I have a skeleton of a deer picked clean and just checked my camera pictures and I had zero pictures.....somehow the camera didnt work...I almost have to bet that it was picked clean by the crows as the whole rib cage is intact, when the coyotes get into it they tear them apart...and I wonder if the eagle ever showed up on it....now I have to wait till next season.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------ Monday March 15, 2010 11:15 a.m. Another sunny day heading for 50 plus degrees, the news last night said that we have been above normal temps for 13 days this month and yesterday in the Soo it was 60 degrees.....I see that Group 1 is in the u.p. just outside of Ishpeming so they should be passing by the frederic exit in 5 or 6 hours....other than that there isnt much to say excpet if you know of any big events coming up please pass my name along to the right people so I can at least give them a quote on doing event t shirts....... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday afternoon 5:30 p.m. I am just sitting here at home and was looking at my youtube videos and I just cant believe that last sunday afternoon I was on my sled up at otsego lake with so many other sleds and trucks parked out on the ice and that now just a week later there is no snow left anywhere....I dont think I have ever seen it turn around so fast.... Also I just got off the phone with Don Reed from the Fox River Motel about his Veterans Ride that they had yesterday. 76 Sleds rode out of Seney where they met up with another 20 for a total of 96 sleds to their hot dog roast at the eagles nest, where they had a good time at. Their ride went a total of 111 miles for most and about 80 miles for the 20 that met up with them. Don asked for permission from some local landowners to cross their properties so they could get out of Seney to the trails with the snow on them. After everybody made it back to Seney they 132 people at the festivities at the Groomer Barn. So all in all they had a great ride and time......and just like the Michcanska trip I sure wished I was there. I see that just a bit ago group 1 was only a couple hours away from the minnesota line so I would expect they will be back home sometime tommorow,,,,which will make 1 month since they left the soo......... Sunday March 14, 2010 11:11 a.m. (new time) Cloudy and quiet here in frederic. First a shout out and Happy Birthday to my sister down in Palos Hills, Illinois........Next I am posting the update and video below here of Group 1s ride back to Dawson from Tok, at least we know some riders were having some fun. This is the video summary for the ride back from Tok, Alaska to Dawson City, Yukon on March 10th, 2010. This was the last day of riding for the 2010 MichCanSka adventure. Enjoy, we are looking at posting a couple of more video’s for previous days earlier in the trip, so check back… thanks for all the positive comments about the video’s! Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday March 13, 2010 10:20 .am. Light rain here in frederic this morning. I talked to Don up in Seney this morning and the Veterans ride is still on and they are riding, I am going to call him tonight to see how the ride went. Karl is on his way up here this morning from Lima Ohio to pick up his sled. His was the first one that was stolen from the trailer out back in January......Yesterday Patty, Kelly and Stephanie stopped in, they were here for their girls weekend and were being chauffered by their own personal "driving miss daisy" Kevin. They were still having a good time even with no snow and wanted to send a shout out to Albert. NOW for those of you who have had trouble getting on the webcam because of the security certificate issue, I finally found out how to get around that. We have had a laptop at home that wouldnt let me on and always came up with the expired certificate thingy.......It was so easy to get around I cant believe I didnt figure it out before...before you go to the site set your date back on your computer to anytime before sept 9 2009 . Then go to the camera and download the software and get on it. After that set your date back to current. I even shut the computer down after that and then restarted it and got right back on again. There is microsoft 7 on that computer so it should work for everyone. I also put a video together of clips from the past couple weeks and yesterday so here it is. If you have never put videos together before and have Microsoft 7 it is so easy and fast I am amazed. I have put videos together in the past couple weeks from events I went to last summer that would have taken me hours in XP to do......Here is the video Frederic Video End of the Season Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday March 12, 2010 10:00 a.m. Its a foggy morning in frederic and there was light rain on and off all night. I dont think I am going to have to stay open late here tonight. I recieved an update from the Fox River Motel on the veterans ride for this weekend and I am going to post it here, Okay, here's the latest on the Veterans ride tomorrow. The weatherman wasn't totally correct as usual but not to our favor. Instead of being in the lower 40's this week it has been in the upper 40's and even 50. We lost a lot more snow than we had hoped. The route out of town the guys were planning might not work. We'll have to wait until tomorrow and see. Otherwise we might have to trailer out. The guys went riding yesterday and said the trails on our routes were 90% snow covered with some dirt spots and water. The 2 tracks are still 100% covered. The snow is soft and wet of course. We woke up to light rain this morning. It's stopped right now but is predicted for the day. We lost a lot more snow than we anticipated but the guys are determined to ride tomorrow. I have to let you know that it will be spring conditions. We tried to get the military to do an air drop of snow for us but they tuned us down. What's up with that. Those of us hanging back will be in the snow barn cooking and playing cards. If you plan to cancel due to this report, please give me a call or email. foxmotel@jamadots.com, 906-499-3332. I am a little bummed that most of the satelitte tracking has been turned off on the groups driving back however I did find one on group one that is on. Its just kind of fun seeing where they are at. They said there should be a couple more videos coming in the next couple days and even I have one I havent done yet from a couple weeks ago. Thats about it for today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday March 11,2010 1:00 p.m. I have all the doors wide open in the shop here today, that way it will warm up to the temp outside. I cant believe that almost all the snow is gone already, still patches in the woods but its going fast. The ice on the lake is looking dark and scary... I am not ready to give up on the daily updates yet as I am still hoping that somehow someway we will get just one more BLAST of winter. I am going to post the latest post from Group 1 who are heading their way back to michigan now..... Day 22 Wednesday March 10th March 11, 2010 by steve1101 Group 2 has left the trails Group 2 enjoyed breakfast together this morning and we all departed Dawson City to go our separate ways home. Many are driving = some are flying home. We are excited to soon be united with our families and friends and share our many stories – both good and bad on our quest to Tok, Alaska. We all leave with fond memories and great friendships. It is amazing how a group of complete strangers came together to complete our quest to Tok, Alaska against more obstacles than imaginable. Our dream became a reality. Our journey will be remembered by many as we passed thru their communities and we will never forget their hospitality and willingness to help us on our quest. Without their help our journey would not have been able to be completed. A special Thank You to Todd our group 2 leader, all our support vehicle drivers, our Command Center, Jeramey Valley, our sponsors and to all who helped as we progressed to Tok and to Bill Bradfield whose dream became a reality. It is amazing the support we needed and received on our journey. We have raised over $70,000.00 for diabetes research along the way with many pledges and mail donations still to be added. It is not too late to be part of this quest! Thank you to everyone for your help and to our families for letting us fulfill a once in a lifetime opportunity. FINAL STATISTICS group 2 3,281 miles to Tok on sled 111.5 hours on sled (Steve’s sled) 3472 total miles on trip 117.4 hours on sled (this includes trip back to Dawson City by sled) Total number of sleds we saw on the trail – 82 (this is totally amazing-so few) Total number of gallons of gas used – 188.8 (Steve’s sled) Total gallons of oil used - 3.75 (Steve’s sled) Total number of carbide sets replaced – 31 (Group 2 total) Total number of hyfax sets replaced – 22 (Group 2 total) Total number of stop signs from Michigan to Tok – 982 Total number of stop signs from Michigan to Tok that we stopped at ? Total cost for all our great memories -” priceless” What will MichCanSka 2 bring? Perhaps a trek around Lake Superior! I’m in. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 1:25 P.M. Sunny and 56 degrees in Frederic, still picking up stuff out in the yard as it reappears out of the snow. Wednesday March 10, 2010 9:30 a.m I am slowly getting things picked up and put away outside the shop, the port a potty is gone, the garbage barrel is back inside along with my electronic sign, sign is gone from down the alley and I have raked up after the beagle. Still have to change the signage on the building from snowmobile goodies to Signs,Screenprinting and Embroidery plus have signs up at local bars I need to retrieve. I sure wasnt ready to start doing all that just yet. It was a nice 36 degrees when I left home this morning and now the rains are supposed to start....I keep thinking I need to revamp my new Sledheads shirt from this winter to read Winter at Full Idle instead of Full Throttle. Also I did catch the fact that in yesterdays update I mispelled whining.....I am posting the video of the Michcanska ride along the Top of the World Highway below this along with a link to a car show video where I first met Bill that put the Michcanska trip together. The show was last labor day weekend in Hoxeyville and I had videod the sleds and Bill talks about the trip...I was excited about it then as you will hear in the video and I still am now even though its overwith. I just talked to Bob Young who was almost home and near Jackson Mich, so I am sure he will be glad to be in his own bed tonight....Also here are some thoughts from Group 2..... Group 2 is back in Dawson City. The Top of The World Highway between Tok and Dawson took its toll on us. We had over 12 sleds stuck on the way back from drifts and white outs. Unbelievable! The groomer is going out tomorrow morning for Group 1 and 3 so they can get thru. Many if not all of Group 2 are leaving tomorrow for home. Moral of the Day from Dave - Don’t mess with Mother Nature! FINAL COMMENTS FROM GROUP 2 Snappy 100 “Thanks for the memories from everyone in group 2″ ” Remember what happens in Group 2 stays in Group 2″ Jack (Happy) ”Thanks for all the support from family and friends” Max “For a new guy it doesn”t get any better than this” ”We ended as we began – one great group” Glen “Hi to my family – I’m coming home - Sensational trip” Todd ” Its over” Dick “A great trip – the last day the most exciting and treacherous” Mel “awesome trip” Frank “Living the Dream, riding the nightmare” Cliff Sr “Great experience – well worth it” Cliff “The last 400 miles were the most memorable and the parade into Tok was really special” Ken “Our last day was quite a challenge, but we won – glad to be back to the hotel” David “Brought the Yahama – should have brought the SkiDoo” Roy “Learned a new definition of Cluster” Tim “I thought this trip would be a challenge – and it was” Larry “Just another short cut” Dan “I think I saw BigFoot” Here are the videos. thanks for checking in. Pete Michcanska Interview & Hoxeyville Car Show Labor Day 2009 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday 11:00 a.m. Here is a link to the posting that just came on from the guys in Tok along with a pic of the top of the world highway sign. Just had a group of guys in here including Rick Flair and a pollack named Kanczuzewski & Bolin, they said they wanted me to go ride with them today so then I wouldnt wine on here that I have no one to ride with....I hope they have fun as I am still here... New Michcanska Blog Update New Michcanska about injured riders Tuesday March 9, 2010 10:00 a.m. Once this Michcanska trip is over I think I am going to get bored. The guys rode into Tok yesterday afternoon about 4 Alaskan time and they were going thru customs. I did see an update that they were having their banquet last night....So that is the most exciting thing there is to say. I did talk to a friend of mine yesterday that did go for a ride yesterday out towards lovells, he said the snow was getting thin....Thats about it for today if I see any new videos come thru I will post them.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday March 8, 2010 7:30 a.m. Nothing has happened over the weekend besides losing more snow. The parking lot at the shop is almost back to dirt and its supposed to be 50 degrees today, where is the last storm of the season? I talked to the boys out at Brooks Lodge in Wyoming last night and they are having the time of their lives, once again they showed me the mountains around them via skype and they were playing shuffle board. Bob held his american express card up to the camera and said thats the only thing that was keeping them going......on the other hand in dawson city, yukon all 3 groups are together now and they are going a day early to ride into Tok, Alaska together. So I am sure thats going to be exciting for them, no support vehicles to folllow them the last `50 miles as the road is closed between Dawson and Tok. I will post their video of day 20 below this and I also posted a link to my video below that of my ride from saturday and the drags up at Otsego Lake. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday night 8:20 p.m. Here is a new video I just did from riding on saturday and the drags up at otsego lake, Frederic Riding March 6,2010 Sunday March 7, 2010 High Noon, I was here at 9 this morning and the first guys to come in said they had rode 160 miles around here on friday and saturday. I went for a 30 mile ride yesterday up to Otsego Lake and back. The Phatman shootout was going on up there and there were at least 150 trucks and trailers parked on the ice and a couple hundred racers. It was a beautiful sunny day out and I shot quite a bit of video there and will have to put it together yet. I only had a couple miles of real dirt riding but for the most part it was a nice ride. In riding in the dirt it made me think of the guys trying to ride to alaska with not enough snow. I rode my way thru some 2 tracks and found a couple fields of untouched snow and the one spot I stuck my hand down into the snow and it was about 12 inches deep. The snow was kind of getting to be like snow cone snow......I talked to Rod with Group 3 that is up at the Brooks Lake Lodge in the mountains of wyoming on skype last night. He turned his laptop around so I could see his view from the lodge....sure looks good to me. Bob rented a mountain sled and went out into the real riding areas complete with high marking on the trip. Groups 1 and 2 are now in Dawson City Yukon and Group 3 should arive there so then all 3 groups will be together for their ride on Tuesday into Tok Alaska........Here is the video of Day 18 on their ride around Dawson City with the local Sled Dawgs club and their cook out.... I have been forgetting to mention it for a week now but Bike Week in Daytona is now overwith today and I have been talking to my friend Denny down there most of the week, and Kent from INdiana stopped in this week too.... Also I made a bad mistake in saying that the Veterans Ride in Seney was this past weekend but I talked to Don this morning at the Fox River Motel to see how it went and he said it was next weekend. So sorry bout that, I was a week early.Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 11:00 a.m. Here is the new video of Day 18 on the Michanska trip Saturday March 6, 2010 10:15 a.m. Sunny again in Frederic this morning, I did see 3 sleds ride into town yesterday and then Cathy and I were at Canadian Steak and Fish last night and we saw 3 sleds riding by there, I wonder if it was the same guys from earlier in day. I am going to go for a ride this afternoon. This will be about my 3rd or 4th ride of the season. I see from the spot messenger that Bob and the boys are at Brooks Lake Lodge, It looks like a nice sunny snowy day in the mountains of Wyoming..... Group 1 has made it to the last stop of their trip in Dawson City, Yukon....They will be there till monday while they wait for Groups 2 and 3 to catch up with them so they can all take the last 153 miles into Tok Alaska together....Those guys have had a hard but fun trip and I cant wait to see the video that will be out after it is all over......Thats about all for today..Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Friday March 5, 2010 9:15 a.m. Ten degrees and sunny once again in frederic and still no new snow....sounds like a broken record doesnt it.....If anybody is going to ride around here at all this weekend it is going to have to be 2 tracks, which should still be pretty good as there is still alot of snow in the woods..... I am even thinking I am going to go out myself on saturday afternoon. The veterans ride is going on up in Seney out of the Fox River Motel. Don is leading riders on the ride if you are going up there. I just talked to Rod who is with Bob in Group 3 and they are at the Togwotee Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Here is a link to the webcam there Togwotte Lodge Jackson Hole Wyoming webcam They said riding is incredible there and today they are moving to the Brooks Lake Lodge for more riding. Rod said they were putting a Sledheads decal up in the lodge there. Here is another cool link to the webcam at the Brooks Lake Lodge, if the pic comes up small double click it and that will really make you want to be there. Also look on that page that takes you to webcams all thru the Jackson Hole area..... Brooks Lake Lodge Wyoming webcam At least we can look at the snow out there and know that at least someone is having some fun...... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday March 4, 2010 9:00 a.m. Sunny and 10 degrees out this morning. We lost more snow in the parking lot at Sledheads yesterday. Still waiting on the big March storm...I kind of have given up on the snow chants.....Group 1 on the Michcanska trip have travelled 2700 miles so far, much more of it by trailer than they wanted but they are still having a good time. Bob and his part of group 3 are riding in wyoming and having a good time there and they even rented a sled so Vinnie their driver could ride with them. Here is the video of the day from Group 1 Day 17 Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------- Wednesday afternoon 3:20 p.m. Here is video of day 16 of Group one on the michcanska trip....it sure looks inviting and makes you wish..... ----------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 3, 2010 10:15 a.m. Another cool night out there but its sunny today, slowly the parking lot is reappearing thru the melting snow. Still hoping for a nice winter blast sometime this month...... Bits and pieces of info or coming in on the fatal by hartwick pines from monday night. 2 local girls found him and the sled as they were out driving around. I was up there at the scene yesterday and I could see how he had been riding down the road/trail and going from side to side and bouncing off the sides. It looked like the last time he went up and over and lost it past that point. I couldnt see where he had hit a tree or anything but I believe he was there quite a while before being found. They still havent released the name but I am pretty sure it was a man from Frederic here. You just never know how quick your life can be over in an instant. I talked to Bob from Group 3 yesterday and they were on the west side of yellowstone in Montana. Then last night when I checked their locater they had driven down around yellowstone and were near Jackson Hole in Wyoming where I am sure this morning they are enjoying some incredible mountain riding and real snow like we should have here. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday 3:00 p.m. I had a call a couple hours ago about a fatal sled accident that happened up by hartwick pines yesterday afternoon about 4:30. The sled was still there this afternoon and I was up at the site. I knew it had to be someone local but I have been waiting on more info....then I just got a second call saying that it is in the gaylord paper so here is the article... CRAWFORD COUNTY - Deputies from the Crawford County Sheriff’s Dept. responded Monday to a report of a snowmobile fatality in Grayling Township. According to Sheriff Kirk Wakefield the crash occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Vista Drive near Hartwick Pines Road. Reports indicate a 44-year-old Grayling man was eastbound on Vista Drive when he lost control of the snowmobile he was driving and left the roadway. The snowmobile rolled over several times and the driver died at the scene as a result of injuries. Excessive speed and icy conditions are currently believed to have been factors in the crash. The incident remains under investigation by the sheriff’s department and the name of the victim has not been released pending notification of family members. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday March 2, 2010 9:40 a.m. Its a crunchy 12 degrees out there this morning. I looked at the trail along m 93 by the guard camp this morning and it still looked pretty decent in that area anyways....2 tracking would be great.....Parts of Group 3 on the michcanska trip yesterday conceded to mother nature and turned off and headed south down thru edmonton and calgary on their way to Jackson Hole Wyoming where there is snow to ride. It looks like right now Bobs Group is in Browning, Montana where they spent the night, I wonder if they are going to ride there today?. Group 1 posted a video that I will put on here on their ride in northern british columbia,,,they will be crossing into the yukon territory today. At least if none of us can ride here we can enjoy some of the scenery they had yesterday. This is the Video Summary of our ride in the Fort Nelson, British Columbia area on March 1st, 2010. Thanks again to the Fort Nelson Snowmobile Club for providing such wonderful and professional guides for the day. Great Job! Blake, Wyatt, Tyrel, Colton, Morgan… and thanks to R.L. Angus & FNSS Husky’s teachers for supporting them to help us! Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 1, 2010 7:50 a.m. The sun was rising big and orange a little while ago in the east. Its about 25 degrees out and the weather forcast for the next 7 days is sunny and 30s.....People are always asking me at the beginning of the season what I think its going to be like and my standard answer is that I will tell you in March or April.......well so far this winter has been the worst I have seen in all my seasons at the shop in Frederic......the way it started out it looked to be pretty good but since January 5 we have not had any substantial snowfall and my plow still sets over in the corner feeling very unused this year. I went for a walk in the woods yesterday afternoon and the snow is getting pretty soft, pretty quick and I wouldnt be surprised if it isnt all gone by this coming weekend. There was no ice bridge to mackinac island this year and even though they marked a trail to boise blanc island the coast guard said it was very unsafe. I had a talk with Joe Charlevoix the weatherman on saturday and he said we might have a chance at a storm in the middle of the month but for the next couple weeks it looks pretty mild.....I have to say that this whole ordeal really scares me financially, so please remember the rest of the year that I do signs, screenprinting and embroidery and my other seemingly non profit job of Century 21 too.....I am good at picking the BIG MONEY professions..... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday 5:10 p.m Its been deadsville around here all day, and the good part about that is I have spent all day trying to get this video online. I have only had trouble like that once before. I have the whole thing edited but then when I got to save it to a movie file instead of counting down to finish it, it counts up and never stops so it doesnt save. I rerecorded it off the moniter and then it worked but in doing that I lost alot of quality......anyways here is Group 3 getting ready to leave from Soo MIch on Feb 19 to head out for alaska. Group 3 Michcanska departure Sunday February 28, 2010 10:27 a.m. There was drizzle on and off in the air here yesterday and when I left last night at 7 it was 31 and drizzly, which made me wonder how icy it was going to be this morning. Well thank goodness it stopped during the night and there was no ice on my truck but I did hit a couple slick spots on the way up here this morning. Still getting the comments that things are better than riders expected but have had a few negative reactions too....I went up to starvation lake to the hide away yesterday and there were a bunch of sleds which you will see later this week in my next video, generally things are better north and west of here, but thats still not saying a whole lot. Swung thru the Keg for the vintage show about 4 and there were only 5 sleds left there, the guy I talked to said there wasnt a good turnout this year mostly because of the weather......I did video the sleds that were there, from there I took my daughter Haley over to Mount Frederic where she had a blast up on the hill for an hour and a half...I was getting a little chilly out there but she had a blast.....Finally finished up my video on the start of Group 3 leaving the soo which I will be posting on here in the next hour... I had it almost done yesterday when my computer locked up and cost me an hour worth of work....darn computers, so check back here shortly and there will be a link to the video. Group 1 is out of snow again in British Columbia and are trailering north to more snow.......I take that back, looks like more trouble on the upload......so the video is delayed once again... Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 10:15 a.m. A few things I forgot to talk about earlier...first of all this afternoon is the Vintage Sled Show in Waters at the Keg Bar, secondly my friend Jack was up in Munising on thursday and friday night and he said the riding was pretty good and that every motel in town was packed and third Chubby Roger was in and said he rode a hundred miles around here yesterday over to jordan valley and he said that was great. Saturday February 27, 2010 9:15 a.m. Still nothing has changed in frederic, a micro skiff of snow overnight and once again not enough to matter. Traffic was light yesterday except for the Grace Performance ride coming thru town. There was just a couple in here from ohio that said they have plowed their drive 22 times down in ohio this year.....while my plow just sits there being very bored. Group 1 on the michcanska trip is heading into British Columbia today and they posted a great video this morning so here it is... Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday 4:00 p.m. Still sitting here in Frederic waiting for the snow and still nothing....I am gonna have to come up with a new snow chant............................ Friday 11:35 a.m. Here is the video I made this morning and last night,,,I am close on having the Group 3 Michcanska video ready too.... Grace Performance Ride 2010 Grayling Friday February 26, 2010 10:20 a.m. Another no snow morning in frederic,,,,looks like we got stiffed again. Up towards Cheboygan and Rogers City got snow and we dont have a flake of anything new. The Grace Performance Ride is out on the trail this morning out of the Ramada Inn in Graylig. They had about 70 sleds heading out. I was heading into town last night and saw the Woodys rig pulling into the car wash and I swung thru to see who was in it. It was Larry and Donna Tiede, Larry takes care of the dealers nationally for Woodys and I have him and his family forever. Their son Ricky does snow cross on the big circuit...It seems funny seeing him all grown up as all those kids used to hang out in my trailer when we were at the ice drags 20 years ago.....I shot video there this morning of the rigs they have at the Ramada, If you come thru grayling this weekend go back there and check them out. The really big rig is Malcom Chartiers and is first class all the way, double decker with an upstairs drivers lounge and a crew lounge downstairs. Golf cart and 4 wheeler upstairs and a rail and winch system to lift sleds and slide them out the back....I will try to get that video on here shortly... Thanks for checking in....Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Noon ten.... If the weather forcast is right it finally looks like by this time tommorow we should have some good snow here......of course I will believe it when I see it but it gives a us a glimmer of hope. Thursday 11:00 a.m. Still sunny and cool here in frederic, just got here a bit ago and I see I had some things fall off my back wall in the back room...thats either from the train rumbling by or I can here the roar of the jets and blips of firing going on at the air to ground range by lovells this morning. It would be a great morning to be sitting there watching those planes do their live firing. What an impressive sight and just be glad your not in their sites when they let loose..... Thursday February 25, 2010 9:15 a.m. A sunny 15 degrees in Graylng this morning. Another record snowfall overnight of a micro skiff on my truck, that would amount to about 1/32 of an inch of snow......Sleds were out and about yesterday in frederic and I rate the conditions as fair. You can ride if you want to but you need to work thru the bad spots. I talked to a guy that called in just a few minutes ago from Algonac and he was wondering the conditons. I told him the same thing and he says he WANTS to ride. I'm sure everyone feels that same way. Had a guy call me from Newberry yesterday that wanted to know where the good snow is to ride because he said it was bad there......The most exciting thing for me has been watching the progress of the 3 groups on the Michcanska trip. I keep watching my phone for updates and was even up at 3 this morning to see the most recent posts.....So another trail report of the same. I am at the C/21 office for our weekly meeting and the news on home sales is about as exciting as the news on the sled trails. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 24, 2010 10:15 a.m. Another uneventful night of no snow here in frederic, on the other hand I see that Ludington had 9 or 10 inches of new snow overnight...It was 14 degrees this morning when I got up so that is good. I did have a few riders in yesterday and I was surprised when they said that they were glad that they came and that conditions were still better than they expected..Thats pretty much what riders have said all winter. I looked at the trail thru Hanson Hills this morning and that looked pretty good except at the road crossing and turn where it was mostly dirt. Between the good stuff and the bad if you are careful you can still do it. A little new snow wouldnt hurt either. I just finished watching the first segment of Snowtrailstv.com and its video on the start of the Michcanska trip up thru their night in North Dakota. This was all shot by Video Mike and I am going to post it here. I have never been to their site before and I will put a link to it down here too. I still am working on my video but I am afraid now after you watch Video Mikes and then see mine there isnt quite the quality in my video as theirs, but it will give you the general idea.SnowTrailsTV Online - Episode #4 (2/22/10) from SnowTrails TV * Video Mike's on Vimeo.
Click here to go directly to Snow Trails Tv website After this mornings start of group 3 from Belcourt North Dakota they will cross into Canada which puts all 3 groups into Canada. Remember that this whole trip is a fund raiser to help find a cure for diabetes and should you like to donate there is a link on the MichCanSka website My birthday present last month from the doctor was that I have type 2 diabetes so even though I was excited about this trip from the start it gives alot more meaning to me about their cause. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 23, 2010 9:40 a.m. 25 degrees and calm out there this morning in Frederic with ony a micro skiff of snow overnight, not even enough to count. There were a few sleds around yesterday but for the first time this season sales in the shop here were a big fat ZERO.....time to call the spam truck in. This coming weekend is the vintage sled show coming up at the Keg Bar in Waters, thats always a nice show with some pretty cool old sleds. The past couple years its been a nice sunny day for their show. I think its time to make it a nice blustery snowy day for their show....Also anybody that watches michigan out of doors on thursday night I will be on there and they are featuring my Fred Bear and Bear Archery collection. The show will be posted on their website too after it runs which is www.michiganoutofdoorstv.com Group 2 was heading out from Russel Manitoba this morning with their coldest start so far at 18 below zero and the high today is supposed to get to 6 degrees. They are geting into some good snow now......This past weekend we had the Rammler family from Macomb stay at our cottage. They had 2 small children Joshua and Rachel and they said they had a great time riding. I was a little worried that the youngest Rachel wouldnt make it on the sled but she had a good time. Sometimes its pretty hard to get a little one like that on a sled. The cottage is open yet for this weekend if anyone is thinking of coming up. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------- Monday February 22, 2010 11:24 a.m. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! It was all white outside this morning and we had a whole new 1 inch of nice packy snow overnight. Not really enough to make good sledding but another start for us. The weather is supposed to stay below 30 all week with more snow for the next few days so lets hope for the best. I just got here to frederic about 10 minutes ago and as I figured there were no tracks in the drive but there were 3 or 4 sleds down at the Frederic Inn. I have been down at the sheriff department most of the morning, mostly just to know what is going on with who they arrested. I had many local people call me with tips on this whole ordeal and just like with anything else there are the few that ruin it for everyone else. Everyone that called me or came in to see me does not want that happening in our nieghborhood here and I certainly was not happy that they came on my property to steal those sleds and they even knew I had cameras out thereI floated the river here in frederic in a kayak from Hulbert road to Batterson road yesterday. I had heard that they dumped a different sled in the river but while that was a really nice 2 and a half hour float I didnt see anyplace that was deep enough to hide a big cooler let alone a sled.....I have some really great game camera pictures of an eagle that I am going to put on the digital pic frame that were just taken. I might post them into a new video too maybe next week. I am still trying to get the video done from the soo on friday. Group 1 goes from Manitoba into Saskatchewan today..... Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 21, 2010 9:35 a.m 20 degrees out and calm and quiet on the Frederican homefront. The 39 degrees put the hurt to the trails yesterday with to much melting going on, sled traffic slowed up as the day went on. Now the weather forcast shows snow for monday thru thursday but I will believe that when I see it. My daughter Haley and I went for a ride around Frederic yesterday and there is still alot of really nice snow on the 2 tracks but when you get to the trails they are getting pretty brown. Its hard for me to get her on a sled but we had a nice ride of about 20 miles....that gives me a total of about 100 miles for the season. I had 3 people let me know yesterday that this page was messed up still from the friday update that I did at the Soo....I used Inidana Bills mini netbook and it must format differently then my computer which spread the whole update out into one line and thru everything off. An easy fix but I needed to know about it. The first customers of the day were just in and said that both grayling groomers came down the trail last into town here about 9 last night. They said they were out 2 track riding and that it was an awsome ride with the one young boy getting in snow up to his knees.....The alaska trip is rolling along with their share of problems like a bad gas tank on an arctic cat, a fire with minimal damage and a guide that got group 1 lost a bit....here is group 1s update from last night.... We got in at 10:00 P.M. after a very long day from Belcourt, ND to Russell, Manitoba. Unfortunately our local guide got lost several times. On the positive side, we did get to do as the locals call it "Ditch bang!" Very physically demanding, this style of riding requires a lot of skill and focus. We had numerous sleds stuck in everything from snow drifts to cattails, which by the way hold all the snow up until you ride on them and you drop several feet. Just ask Video Mike or George Pattullo. A little like quicksand or pit trap. We dug them out and we all made it in this evening.. some of us are going to sleep good tonight! So the wait is on for more snow in Frederic. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Saturday February 20, 2010 10:17 a.m. It was a nice crunchy 8 degrees this morning when I left home and its still 14 but sunny out there. The sun hurt the trails more than we wanted to see yesterday but the Ausable Valley Snowmobile Association has been on top of their trails all year and I talked to Keith last night and he said they were waiting to groom till very late last night and early this morning so that things could harden up which at 8 degrees happened pretty darn good.....Trailer count this morning at the Days Inn was 4 and a whopping 21 at the Ramada Inn in Grayling and a full house too at Fays Motel, so there are plenty of riders here..... Group 1 is heading into Manitoba today and group 2 is heading for Hallock, Mn and group 3 is heading ror Ashland Wi,,,,,, Thanks for checking in. Pete Friday night 7:33 p.m. I am happy to report that the whole afternoon entertaiment here in frederic was watching the police who had a search warrant go thru the mobile home right across from my back parking lot and just like I thought the guys that took the sleds from out back were at that trailer right where I thought the thieves where from the very start. The main guy is in jail and we watched them hauling out to the police car that was stolen property including a big tv. I am so glad that little dirtball is in jail. Then miracuosly after he was gone to jail a couple guys came by and said they heard the longtrack was up in the woods....sure enough not even a half mile from here. I just towed it back here and we also found the other missing zl 600 a while back so all is recovered....same guys responsible for the stolen and wrecked rush......hopefully that cleans up the nieghborhood. When Karl first asked me about leaving his trailer I told him I never have any trouble here,,,,well now my answer will have to be that I have only had trouble once. Also just had a call from Tony at the store on the west side of otsego lake telling me that the police are righting tickets for being to close to the tracks up there so stay away from the tracks......which also reminds me that last night I heard that Thelma and Louise the stop sign runners from a couple weeks ago each paid their tickets of $160 each, then Indiana Bill told me too today that he had gotten a ticket on his way to the u.p. for running a stop sign, he said he came to a rolling stop at a drive but didnt stop all the way, like he told the cop, no I didnt come to a complete stop but I will from now on,,,too bad guess how much...$160,,,,so the moral of this story is stay away from the rail road tracks and dont run stop signs. The sun today is putting a hurt to the trails and if it happens again tommorow we will really need a new snow storm......I am heading home......Good Night and over and out...Pete Friday Noon Just got back here to frederic about a half hour ago.....It was really great to be there and see the guys take off to alaska...I will be putting a video together on it hopefully today. I did video with most of the guys including the drivers, the one guy looked alot like Elmer Fudd with a beard and is a driver, in the group there is a doctor and many other retired guys....The old man of the group is 73,and then a 72 and 71...those guys were all hyped up and ready to roll, so now with all 3 groups on the trails there is about 20 days to go till they all meet together in Dawson, Yukon....A rider was in from Texas yesterday and said he is on the side of the lady that wrote the letter the other day and I did hear one other complaint too, but still the happy riders outway the complaints. Its a little sunny out there today and a couple days of this could really bring us to a quick halt.... Friday February 19, 2010 6:11 a.m. Coming at you this morning from the quality inn in soo st marie.... Indiana Bill and I left frederic at 4:45 to come up here and watch group 3 of the Michcanska trip head out on their adventure. Most everybody is here in the breakfast room getting ready to head out... Roads were nice and dry on the way up here and it took less than 2 hours from frederic to here. I will be doing video and sure wish I was heading out with them......Uupdates again later today.... ----------------------------------------------------- Thursday February 18,2010 9:07 a.m. At least I have the date right today. It very sunny out and 20 degrees but the part the scares me is that its going to warm up from here to 30 which with this sun could give us some melting and we dont need any of that. The only thing that has saved us thru this whole ordeal is the fact that its stayed cold so we could keep our base. There is no snow in the forcast so it just another of we just have to ride it out situations. The snow chants have worked well this year but to bad its all been 200 miles south of here. Group 1 is heading west out of Grand Rapids minnesota and tonights stop is in hallock minnesota. Group 2 will be heading from ishpeming to Ashland.... I talked to my daughter Haleys teacher this morning and their class is going to start following group 1 and do the math question of the day......There are 3 riders in here right now that rode 480 miles this week all around here and they say things were great and rode mostly north and west of here but now they are packing up and heading north to Canada on the Soo side to ride for 4 days....gee and I am just here working......Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 2:15 p.m. Just fixed the date after being informed I was wrong again...wish I could keep track of the days,,,,,I am to wrapped up following blips on the tracking screen...... Wednesday Noon Bill is in here right now and he has been here riding for over a week and did his 600 mile trip from here the soo last week and thru the u.p. He just rode the blue bear coming in and said its perfect out there. He said he did lovells on monday and that was a good ride too... So far this morning thats 3 thumbs up on the trails and one disapointed reader....sorry I hate to keep picking on her but so far that is the only complaint.... Wednesday 10:20 a.m. Its quiet in frederic so far this morning, I put my plow back on just to clean up around the parking lot but wish I needed it for new snow which it looks like we will never get. I have only seen 2 sleds thru this morning but they didnt stop here. I just figured out that I still had the main camera off line so I switched them. I thought I had put it back online on saturday morning so you could see what is going on but I turned on the inside camera instead of the outside one.....Roger in South Dakota alerted me to that, I am surprised that nobody else let me know......After the letter I had earlier today which I am going to post below here I have asked the first 2 riders that have been in here what they think of the conditions and they both said the same thing that I have been hearing for the past couple weeks and that for the snow that we have its better than they thought it would be....everybody has their own opinion on how it is but like I said earlier this is the first one that said that its really that bad.... Pete, I faithfully read your web page to see how much snow we get in Frederic on a daily basis. I rode this past weekend including Monday. The trails all around were TERRIBLE!! I went to Starvation Lake area,Lakes of the North, Gaylord, East Jordan, Petosky, Lovells and more. Snirt would have been more welcomed than what was on the trails. Ran in to quite a few groomers every day, but there isn't anything to groom. From Frederic to Lovells on Monday was down right treacherous. Approaching Lovells was total ice in every corner. Lovells had no snow. Please let people know there is absolutely no snow out there as of Monday afternoon. So thats about it for now, if anything else comes up I will get back on again...it looks like the whole group 1 is rolling west again and group 2 has left the soo and alredy thru Paradise.....I saw a video they posted online of the kids at the Paradise School all holding posters and wishing the guys luck as they rode thru....... Wednesday February 17, 2010 5:39 a.m. Only a light dusting of new snow out there on my truck this morning. I have been dreaming of the guys on the alaska trip and watched the satelite tracking last night for quite a while and see by the tracking that 5 out of 7 teams made it to Ashland Wisconsin, but what I am wondering is why team 1 and 7 still seem to be a long ways back. There have been a couple of new posts by the people that made it but I have been wondering all night about if they had a problem or hopefully for some reason their spot senders arent working right.....It seems like around six last night quite a few of the riders havent hit their check in buttons and it still shows them way short of Ashland...... Mr Pete who is one of the riders must be a math teacher and he is putting problems up on his posts for his 4th grade class to solve. I had a letter from a lady this morning saying how bad the trails were on her ride this weeknend. She said they were bad everywhere she went. That is the only person that has told me that they have had a totally bad ride. Still for the most part everyone that has come in is just plain happy to be riding. Like I have said you just have to take what we have this year. Then I had a letter from the guy in Cinci that said they have had 23 inches this year for a new record and that he cant get his 4 wheel drive vehicle thru his yard or drive......Things are just kinda backwards this year....I will update again later on this morning.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 16, 2010 1:38 p.m. oops, had the wrong date up there, i was kinda rushing the week Wow its almost like winter out there, we have had about an inch and a half of new snow so far today, pretty amazing.......Frank from Almont is in here right now and he wants me to send a shout out to Randy and Lavina in Degraff Ohio.....its time for them to get back up north here........ Tuesday February 16, 2010 10:15 a.m. Another new half inch of snow overnight and other than that nothing to exciting. There were quite a few sleds in yesterday for a monday and mostly they had stayed over for presidents day. It was fun watching the progress on the michcanska yesterday. There location updates streamed in automatically on my screen as I had it up all day and do again today, they rode from the soo to ishpeming yesterday and are off to ashland wisconsin for tonight. I signed up for their automatic email updates which I recieved 2 of them this morning about their ride from yesterday.....they have a long ways to go, the streaming signal just beeped in again and it looks like they are sw of baraga.....I finally put a video together yesterday which I will post next but I have to say its one of my boring works....its just been to humdrum this season. Feb 16, 2010 video and just for something a bit more humorous from when we did have good snow last year something a bit more funny Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 15, 2010 9:40 a.m.. Nice fresh groomed trails along m 93 and the crossings by the high school again this morning along with a bonus of 1 inch of new fresh snow.......The first riders of the day were just in with their sleds still on the trailer as they were just getting here, other than that its quiet out there. I am wondering how many stuck around for Presidents Day. I have the tracking page for the alaska trip up on my screen and it looks like they are still in the soo, their first stop for the night is in Ishpeming tonight. You can look on their page and see the different teams and their names and track by team or the whole group. Boy am I jealous........ The news last night reported the death of a 5 year old girl in Brimley this weekend. That just makes my heart sink worse than adult death, to think that a family was there for a good time and the unimagineable could happen to them. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday Noon I am posting the info here so you will be able to follow the guys on the Michcanska sled trip to alaska, the first group leaves tommorow from the Soo and then I belive the groups space out every 2 days the rest of the week. Here is the info Family and Friends Tracking and Following the trip Each Group has set up a web site for people to see stories, pictures, video and to follow our progress. You can get to these sites through the www.michcanska.com web site or through the following links: Group 1: www.michcanskagroup1.wordpress.com Group 2: www.michcanskag2.wordpress.com Group 3: www.michcanskag3.wordpress.com Each of these sites has a “Satellite Transponder” link where people can click on your Team Number to see where you are on the map. You can also have family and friends check out the MichCanSka Command Center: www.michcanskacc.wordpress.com site, which has been setup like a virtual police scanner, where the public can monitor the logistics and communications support being provided by the MCC This should be fun to watch and see their progress, I have a map in here of there route. Sunday February 14, 2010 11:00 a.m. Happy Valentines Day to all!! It quiet and 24 degrees here in frederic this morning with only a few sleds out and about so far. The trail along M 93 was freshly groomed with no new sled tracks on it yet this morning. Yesterday was the busiest saturday of the winter so far here in Sledheads. Fred from Brighton and his bride to be Lisa stopped in where she had to get a Sledheads thong for their wedding....I had some people in here yesterday that were snowmobiling and they were from Israel and they wanted to ride into the forest. I explained to them how so much of our beautiful forests have been clear cut and we will never see them again in our lifetime, there has been so many beautiful areas around here that have been cut off. This is where they told me that in Israel they do not cut trees, they plant them! If only that would happen here. On the way here this morning it was 24 degrees but it was spitting small drops of rain on my windshield. I dont understand how that was happening in this temp but at least it has stopped. Its hard to believe but today also makes 5 years since my old friend Charlie decided to end his life on the banks of the Ausable River that he loved so much. It was awfully devastating at the time but I have come to accept that it was what he wanted. I sure miss his old stories and wisdom but like he said he had done more in his lifetime than 50 people had done....So a Happy Valentines Day to you too Charlie...... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------- Saturday afternoon 3:22 p.m. I would say this is the busiest saturday around here in a month. Lots of sleds and riders. I just got in some cool flamed sledheads signs, they are on a hard plastic and would be cool to hang in your garage, trailer or cabin or just nail it to a tree out front of your place, only $5 bucks each. Here is a link to a snowmobile death that was in the paper in port huron from yesterday..... Sled death in Port Huron area Saturday February 13, 2010 9:40 a.m. Its been steady and busy since I got here at 8:15, a skiff of new snow fell since last night. I drove by the ramada about 1 this morning and the south end of the building was jam packed with trailers. The Pink Ribbon Riders are riding for breast cancer awareness out of gaylord this weeknend too. I put the big camera back online for today and tommorow so you can see what action is happening around frederic, if you wish you were here and cant make it thats the next best thing and if you watch it today between noon and 4 that would be where you see the most sleds at the peak time. We have a bon fire going out side today too. I picked up the wrecked polaris rush from the sheriff department this morning and the insurance company is coming to pick it up already on monday. I left here about 3 yesterday and picked up my daughter Haley and we headed south for lansing. As we got closer to lansing I kept seeing more and more trucks and trailers heading north and I even spotted Dave Klemish just north of St Johns and gave him a call and he said he was heading to the Soo. He is always sporting his big Sledheads trailer decals on his rig and thats how I spotted him. We made it to lansing about 6 and the first stop was Spartys Coney Island for dinner and we were amazed at our waitress who had a great knowledge on big time wrestling which was quite conveinient because we were heading to the Breslin Center for WWE wrestling. We had great seats and it was really alot of fun. Haley and I have been watching that on tv for the past year and she was pretty excited to go. Right after it started she said that this was her first big arena event and then she said Wow Dad this is really cool....I am sure that will be a child hood experience that she will always remember. My dad died when I was 8 and I dont have alot of memories with him but I do remember him taking me to the Kalamazoo Armory for wrestling where we saw the Iron Sheik and Crybaby Cannon. It took forever to get out of the parking lot but it was a nice dry cruise back to grayling but the snow started about by mount pleasant so I had to slow down a bit but what little snow we got was done by the time we made it home as there was no more snow on my truck when I got up this morning. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday February 12, 2010 11:25 a.m. Its been hectic here in frederic this morning with alot of sledders in here already and many just arriving. Conditions are the same with the take what we have, but still a very decent ride. I saw the grayling groomer at Big Boy this morning in town and talked to Keith last night and he said they plan on keeping them running all weekend,. One guy from Indiana in this morning that came in and shook hands cause he said I was the reason he came up, then there was Steve and his wife that were heading to Paradise for the weekend. The scariest part was when I sold a trail permit to Michael Meyer a little while ago, luckily he left his hockey mask at home. Lot of activity around frederic with the local thieves as I am just finally putting this together. Not only were the sleds stolen from out back here on the 15th but they werent just joy riding them they were using them to go out and break into other places and steal more stuff. I had a call yesterday from a guy out riding that said he came across a wrecked sled and guess what,,,stolen from another regular in here and he didnt know it. Jim is from Ohio and was on his way up here, they broke in and stole his 2010 Rush Polaris and wrapped it around a tree and left it. There is a problem around town here and if you are out and about riding here this weekend and see anything out of the ordianary give me a call and I will get it handled. Still looking for a mountain cat 2004 and the last 4 numbers of the vin are 9595 so if you spot that I would love to know....I have been in here since 1997 and never had a problem but there has to be a few to wreck it for everybody else. Just to show you the mentality of the thieves guess what they stole from the house along with the Rush???? Bet you havent guessed yet,,,its... light bulbs.........what a screwed up world we live in...Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday February 11,2010 9:10 .am. Another quite and calm morning with only a skiff of new snow overnight. I put my plow on this morning for the first time since Jan 5 not because of to much snow but just to clean up around my drive. Its supposed to stay cold for the weekend but there is no new snow in the forcast. The groomers are still out and about and the base is still hard and icy, so once again its you have to take what we have and make the best of it. I am really getting excited for the start of the Soo to Alaska trip which leaves Monday. I sure wish I was going on that. They all have transmitters so we will be able to track the progress of the trip. I already watched a ride one of the guys did, the way they work is that they push a buttom every few hours which beams up to a satelitte and then you get online and it shows you excactly where they are and then it doesnt take long for you to see their track and which way they are heading. Our cottage is still available for this coming weekend if anybody wants a nice place to stay....... Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 1:00 p.m. Just had some people in stopping for a break on their way back from Brimley. They said they had a pretty good ride but thats nothing compared to the story that I got from the people that just stopped on their way back to Elkhart. He said he has been a long time reader and has always missed me when he stopped in but the story he had actually started here with me on saturday or sunday. His friend and wife stopped in here this weekend, one of their sleds blew a track and the other one blew the motor. I set them up with my fix it guy who took the track off the blown sled and put it on the sled with the bad track, now they were still down one sled so they went looking for another sleds and it turns out he didnt buy another one but instead met back up with his other friends from Elkhart where they were all staying together. As luck would have it for him they did have one extra sled to ride so he rode the extra and his wife was back on her machine and they were all happy and off for a ride. Well somewhere along the line they were riding and came across a plowed part where there was a 3 foot drop and hard ice. Both ladies crashed hard, resulting in an ambulance call. The lady that was here today has a very hurt lower back and was walking with quite a limp and hurting till she opened up my surprise box on the counter which made her jump and straigten her back out which made her hurt even more.......the lady with the new track was pretty hurt too with a broken arm and pretty sore from what they tell me.....Well the lady with her broken arm and new track sled loaded up with her husband and the extra sled and headed back towards home leaving the other couple to finish their time up where they were staying at. On their way home they hit black ice and wiped out the trailer, sleds and truck......Talk about one of those weekends that you should have stayed home........ Wednesday February 10, 2010 9:50 a.m. Yahoo!! We have a whole new 3 inches of nice new snow....at least its a start, talked to my brother in kzoo and he says they have 10 inches, whats wrong with that picture? The grayling groomers were here last night before the snow and the trail looked pretty nice then so this will help. There is no doubt it is still slick underneath as I was in grayling this morning going to the chamber and pulled in the lot and hit the gas and slid totally sideways into the bank,,,,it sure surprised me because I typically drive like an old lady. It was an exciting day in Frederic yesterday with about 8 state cops and dogs just north of town a couple miles, they stopped 2 guys walking down the street with garbage bags after someone reported a B & E......well the guys took off running but left the bags with 12 pounds of weed in them.... Sometimes you wonder about people and what they are thinking and they guy who reported his stash stolen... I was hoping the guys they grabbed were the ones that stole the sleds from here but still waiting on that. I took the main camera off line for a little bit, maybe just today but could be a couple days......the 2 out the side and the back are still online.... Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday 4:00 p.m. We are up to enough snow where you can see tracks in the new snow, thats about a half inch..... Just heard from Bill who left here yesterday for the Soo, He stayed in Alanson last night and then went on to Mackinaw today where he said that it looks like July in Mackinaw, but got shuttled across the big bridge where he headed north, he said once you got past the part where they drop you at the Shell station and made it down to the rail road grade it was fine. So he is staying in the Soo tonight and then heading back tommorow.... Tuesday February 9, 2010 10:30 a.m. Nice and calm outside this morning and no new snow. In watching the weather report last night it looks like its an upside down forcast with 2 inches predicted for us and all the big snow being downstate, sure wish that was the other way. When you do the snow chants its supposed to be for up north not downstate......The news was filled with sled fatals from this weekend, 1 in charlevoix 1 in cheboygan and 2 sisters that died together that went off of W Bluff Rd on Mackinaw Island. That is the road on the island that is very steep with all the big beautiful homes on it just to the west of the Grand Hotel. They went thru the fence and down the bluff. I believe the death count is close to 20 now for the season. I had an email from someone concerning the post I did yesterday about the prayer. It seems that it has been going around a long time and the real origin takes credit from different people......I guess I should have just left the "who said it" part out. Last night Cathy and I went out to Kirtland College to hear filmaker Michael Moore talk aobut his life and his work in the industry. It was pretty interesting to hear what he had to say. Now I feel like I really am getting old just going out to hear someone speak........Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 8, 2010 1:15 p.m. I have been here since 10 and now this is the second time I am updating this update as somehow the internet shut down and didnt take it right and its not saved so I can just repost it...darn, Nothing has changed in frederic, still cold and sunny with no new snow. There are sleds out and about today. Bill just left here and is heading for the Soo and I told him to check in with me to let me know how things go. I called the Mackinaw Bridge and they said the snow is bad on the ignace side and they have not been hauling many sleds across. Next monday is when the ride to alaska leaves the soo. I had an email from a reader this morning that said they had come up on another fatal accident up by Indian River this weekend. Also had a nice not from a couple in Honolulu that said they get their fill of winter thru here and my videos and speaking of videos I need to get on that too. Sometimes I think I bite off more than I can chew, just like telling you about the free sledheads decals. I was out in no time and now I need to get in gear and get more made for everyone that didnt get them when they did come in. Earlier there were 5 or 6 trucks at the parking lot on 72 out by Terrys Sport Center. Supposedly there should be some snow coming the next few days. I am going to post an email next that was so true I just had to do it. Thanks for checking in. Pete A Pastor with GUTS! Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people.. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard: Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.... We have abused power and called it politics We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen! The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India , Africa and Korea . Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,'and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'one nation under God.' If possible, please pass this prayer on to your friends.... 'If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything.' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday 11:45 a.m. Gosh I love this Pandora radio, I have had Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys on all morning which kind of makes me think of summer cruising and ironically a couple ladies who introduced themselves to me as Thelma and Louise were just in here a bit ago. They had a story to tell me about how they were cornered by the cops last night as one came up behind them on the patrol sled and the other was a patrol car with the lights blazing in front of them, they said they felt like they just robbed the Frederic Inn as they had just left there for dinner. The trail was freshly groomed going north towards Gaylord and they hadnt been on such a smooth trail in a long time so they just kept rolling along and didnt stop at the stop signs which brought the reason for getting stopped and getting tickets. I do not usually see the police up here at night but Thelma and Louise just had to do that at the wrong time. Now they did tell me they didnt stop at Twin Peaks road which I am sure they could see that there were no cars coming but even I stop at those big roads but I have to admit I usuallly dont stop at the drives because you can see fine what is going on.....I know that those girls will be proud to see their story here as they are regular readers too..... So far there have been quite a few people in here this morning but everybody has been in cars and not one sled in here so far......I just got a call from Jason and Jeff who pulled their trailer out of here from the side of my building this weekend to go up to the Soo for the I 500 and this will make All of us Arctic Cat fans proud and happy. For the first time in 42 years an Arctic Cat has won the I 500.......... Sunday February 7, 2010 10:25 a.m. Cold, crunchy, sunny and 5 degrees again here in Frederic this morning. Still no signs of any new snow and I just keep repeating this but everybody riding has the same opinion that its better than they thought it was going to be. I am really serious about how many riders have said that. So far this morning one guy in to buy a chain and a couple other guys on their way home. There were 3 sleds at the swamp when I rolled into town here about an hour ago but I havent seen any others yet. Yesterday both parking lots on M 72 were jam packed with trucks and trailers. My buddy Bob out at Terrys Sport Center said it was so full that the overflow was parking at his place and from the other reports I heard that the other lot out by Dingmans was just as full. My buddy Bob also had is annual Jimmy Buffet party at his house last night which is always a fun time and I ran into a few readers there that said guess what??, that the riding was better than they thought it was going to be...... The overall party was a good time to see alot of people and have a good time. Thanks to Bob and if you stop in at Terrys Sport Center ask him to invite you next year.... Also the last birthday for our family today for the year, Happy Birthday To Cathy.......... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday February 6, 2010 10:45 a.m. Another nice cold crisp morning and sunny here if fredericanville. We had just a micro skiff of snow again overnight with almost enough to cover my windshield on my truck. Traffic has been steady and everybody says the same thing that things are alot better than they expected. I saw fresh groomer marks on the trail north to gaylord. The trailer count at the days inn this morning was 8 and 15 at the ramada which is more than double last weekend. Looks like there is supposed to be snow monday, tuesday and wednesday but we will have to see what really happens. Last night just as I was pulling into my drive at home the phone rang and it was a guy staying at the days inn wondering if we were still open and he needed some parts so I came back up and ran his stuff back into town with him. I have been meaning to say all winter that if you are staying most anywher in grayling at any of the motels I am always bringing things to people if they need it after I close. I usually call forward the number from the shop here to my cell phone so I dont miss any calls. My number is easy to remember because it is 989 DIG SNOW (344-7669), so just keep that in mind if you ever need anything. A funny story from yesterday afternoon, I went to the grayling high school for part of their spirit week. It was before the start and I headed off for the bathroom and they were cleaning it and it was a lady cleaning it, she told me to just go ahead and use the girls side. I started to turn and go to it and then a little thing in my head brought me to a screeching (well there was a busy streak its now 11:45) halt because I could see the headlines....53 year old father of student caught in girls high school bathroom. I told that lady janitor thanks for trying to trap me but I wasnt gonna fall for it........Just thought I would share that with you. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday 10:35 a.m. After being up early this morning I managed to sleep till 9:15 when the first sled came riding into here. There have been quite a few in here since then and Eric from Grand Rapids just came in to shake my hand and thank me for telling him to come up. He said its way better than he imagined, they had just rode down from Gaylord and passed the groomer along the way. Eric said he has been here to frederic many times at the swamp but never came over here before, but today he wanted to make a point of it.....I always wonder about that as there can be a ton of sleds over there and not that many on this side of the street, so if you havent been here yet make sure you do that. I see that somehow a micro skiff of hardly enough to see flakes was on the ground this morning too....... Friday February 5, 2010 4:30 a.m. Its dead calm out and 22 degrees here in frederic this morning and of course not a flake of any type of new snow. Sled traffic was steady yesterday for a thursday and even still without any new snow it seems like alot of riders are starting to show up. The beagle and I camped out here tonight in the shop and I find myself up early looking at infrared cameras on ebay.....It sure would be nice to see around outside in the dark. I have had a few tips on the stolen sleds and decided that I will stay around here at night with the watch beagle to see what really happens around here..... and as usual its just nice and quiet. So just me and the beag camped in front of the fireplace and even though she has that nice log bed right there she has to sleep right on top of my sleeping bag... Thats about it for now and thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday afternoon February 4, 2010 2:11 p.m. Boy has this day flew by and I have been everywhere but here in the shop so I guess I am allowed one late update for the season. There have been quite a few sleds out and about today and of course no new snow. From the weather end of things nothing has happened exciting and we arent supposed to get new snow till after monday. Trails really havent changed since last weekend and if you want to ride you can but just have to be happy with what we have and besides that I sell carbides and slides to get you going again. Not much else to report today but do some snow chanting to help us out. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 3, 2010 8:33 a.m. 19 degrees with a dusting of new snow overnight here in Frederic. I was in grayling at the ramada inn both last night and this morning to see the WERTZ WARRIORS. They came rolling in with their sleds double stacked and loaded in their semi trucks last night as they came over here from Cadillac. They were a couple hours behind schedule. I was their this morning to see them unloading everything and to see them leave at 8 a.m. to head here to frederic for their first stop of the day at the Swamp for breakfast. They have about 45 in the group this year and with all their support vehicles and semis its a pretty impressive sight. They end up tonight at the Grand Traverse Resort for the kick off of the Michigan Winter Special Olympics. These guys work hard raising funds for their cause. I am going over to the swamp for a quick visit and then off to a Century 21 seminar for 3 hours at the Days Inn in Grayling. The grayling groomer ran from town to here yesterday and I also had reports of people spotting the gaylord groomer yesterday. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 2, 2010 7:40 a.m. The flag is still as can be out front here in frederic this morning and its about 12 degrees out there. Naturally not a flake of new snow overnight. Sled traffic around town was about none yesterday around frederic. I was in and out during the day but I was told a group of riders were in a couple times to see me but didnt meet up with me, but as we walked into dinner last night at Canadian Steak and Fish there was Bay City Eric and his crew and it was them that were looking for me earlier in the day.....funny how things work out. I am going to be closed here all day today till about 3:30 as I have to take a class and it seems like no one is around so I figured might as well lock it up for the day. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday February 1, 2010 9:30 a.m. Its a cold 10 degrees this morning with light snow in the air. When I left frederic last night it was snowing like it was really winter time, naturally after the weekend was over and of course this morning it still looks like we didnt get any new snow. Its been snowing on and off for almost a week now and I still havent put my plow on my truck. I wanted the parking lot here to get packed down but even with all the new snow it hasnt been enough for me to need to even move piles left by the county plows. As long as the cold stays we can at least keep what we have but I hope that the icy parts underneath get chewed up enough to give everybody a little more traction. Last night I saw both grayling groomers and the gaylords small wheeled john deere come thru here, so that must mean the gaylord groomer that burned up might have been the small ford or new holland tracked groomer that they had. I am still wanting to find out more on that ordeal. Happy 10th Birthday to my youngest Haley and also Happy 10th Birthday to Johnny O who is doing well after his horrendous sled crash 10 years ago today. The night I was in the hospital with Haley being born Johnny O was on the other side fighting for his life. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday afternoon 3:30 p.m. Its been snowing on and off most of the afternoon and we are starting to get a bit of an accumulation. I have heard about 3 accidents that happened in the area this past weekend. So far just bits and pieces but the one I know the most on happened near where the fatal happened in december on the 679 trail near manistee river road. 2 guys riding side by side and somehow losing it on the icy conditions hitting a tree, the one with head injuries. I knew those icy conditions were going to create problems this weekend. I am also getting reports on one of the gaylord groomers burning up, I will post more on that as I learn more. Had a guy in yesterday afternoon that rode all the way over here from Dingmans with no helmet as someone stole his wifes helmet. He gave his to her so they could ride over here. You know there always has to be a few that spoil it for everybody, just like the guys that stole the sleds from out back here. I have been forgetting to mention all winter about the free trailer decals that I have for people, just look for them when you come in. I like to see them everywhere, and just like it when I hear people come in here and tell me they see Sledheads decals everywhere they go. One other thing I am surprised about is not one person has stopped by that has been coming back from the u.p. Usually people stop in for a pit stop or a break on the way south...Maybe no one went to the u.p.......till later on....Pete Sunday January 31, 2010 10:00 a.m. Kind of quiet and 15 degrees here this morning. I have seen a few sleds zipping thru town so far. Trailer count at the motels was up a bit this morning in grayling with 5 at the Days inn and 8 at the ramada. Sled traffic was heavy here in frederic yesterday and they must have come from somewhere else besides grayling. As I looked at the trails along 93 this morning they looked smooth but I could see gravel tore up at the crossings and things looked pretty much the same at both sets of crossing up by the high school. I did manage to get a deer on the way here, well actually someone else had the bad luck of hitting it. It couldnt have been to long cause it was still steaming. A pretty heavy deer but I just picked it up to use for bait for coyote hunting,,,if I could get a camera set up on it sometime you even get the eagles coming in for a little snack...... This is the week that Wertz Warriors ride for special olympics starts out their track north raising money for Special Olympics. They zig zag across the state with many stops along the way collecting money. They changed their route this year as they usually come thru Frederic on tuesday for their stop at the swamp and this year they are coming on wednesday and I think I am going to have to miss seeing them. Its always fun to visit with them and I am sure its gonna be a tough ride for all of them without the peoples favorite warrior Mark the Bird Fidrych who was killed last year. I still am glad I interviewed him here last year when he was here. You just dont know when your time is gonna be up, just like the guy that died on the trail up by indian river this weekend. I had 2 riders in yesterday that said they had come up on the accident with the man laying on the trail. So please ride safely and thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday January 30, 2010 9:25 a.m. It was a nice chilly 4 degrees when I left home this morning and its all the way up to 7 here in frederic this morning. Its calm and still out there with no new snow overnight. I dont know where all the sleds came from yesterday and one thing I know for sure is they didnt come from the motels in grayling because the count at Days inn this morning was 2 trailers and 5 trailers at the Ramada. Most everybody agreed yesterday that you have to take what we have and that there seemed to be more snow north and west of frederic. One funny thing I saw in town this morning was 2 sledders standing next to their sleds up by the door at K Mart, you just dont usually riders riding up to kmart. There was a guy in here first thing wanting to get an electric shield for his wifes new helmet that she took out of the box yesterday. She had complained that she just couldnt see thru the visor and most everybody has a hard time anyways when its this cold. I didnt have the shield he needed but once he discovered the plastic was still inside the lens I think that might have helped her out. We are going to get a fire going outside shortly to try to warm it up a little bit. Thanks for checking in and if any new news pops up I will update again. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday 1:40 I just got the call from Keith that the grayling groomers are heading out shortly, so thats a good sign. Also had a group of guys in here that were just stopping by on their way back from Mackinaw. They had left Cadillac yesterday and went to the bridge and were on their way back. Fred from brigton made it here and is out for a ride. Many people have asked me about what we have found out about the sleds that were stolen from out back, and so far nothing. I talked to the police yesterday and he didnt have any news. I am certain though that it was someone in the nieghborhood here and should I catch them I am not gonna be very nice. So till later on again.. Friday Noon 15.... There have been quite a few sleds in so far this morning. I have sold more trail permits this morning than in the last 3 weeks so that means more people coming for their first trip of the season. One group of guys that got into town last night and area staying at the Ramada said there were 6 subarus in the ditch just south of grayling and Roy from Brighton was in this morning and said it was pretty slick on the way up. Both of those guys said there are plenty of sleds heading north. Big John is in here and just came down from gaylord and said there he saw alot of sleds out and about already on his way here from gaylord. Fred from brighton called in and said he is heading north too. It looks like there isnt to much more snow coming for the weekend and its supposed to stay pretty darn cold the rest of the weekend. I will do another update tonight about 6. Friday January 29,2010 7:30 a.m. Its about 10 degrees out this morning with about an inch and a half of new snow since last night. The winds are still calm and the snow is crunchy when you walk on it. Once again this snow of the past 12 hours was a bit better than lake effect because its a little bit packy which is what we need to help the base out. Just remember if you do decide to come and ride that it is very icy underneath which make riding conditions much more dangerous than usual. So Please ride Safely and resonsibly. I will do a couple more updates today again to let you know how things are coming. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Night 9:15 p.m. An inch at a time and it keeps coming slowly. The winds seem to have died down for the night and there is about a half inch of new snow on the front porch here at home since I got home about 7. Its really hard to tell how much snow we have actually had in the past couple days because of all the blowing and drifting. I saw some pretty good drifts in spots on the way home tonight and also along where it blew up from the lake. There is supposed to be more snow and tonight is supposed to be the coldest night of the winter so far......lets wait and see what happens by morning. Thursday 3:00 p.m. Based on the amount of riders that have been in here so far today I have to say I think it is going to be a busy weekend. This little bit of snow had brought people back and they are hungry and ready to ride. BUT like I said this morning you better be careful as it is very slick and slippery out there. Two guys were already in here that crashed into each other because of the ice. Groomer Keith did his trail assesment and rated trails at fair to poor and said he is still waiting on more snow to call out the grayling groomers. There is snow in the air right now but we really havent had any more add up on the ground since this morning....still waiting for that. If I can get online at home again tonight I will try about a 9:00 p.m. update. Thursday January 28, 2010 11:10 a.m. It snowing and blowing prettty well here in frederic, its hard to tell about how much snow we have really had because of the blowing. Snow is drifted up pretty good against the north side of the shop and my best guess is about 3 inches. The gaylord groomer has been out from gaylord to frederic, and I talked to groomer master keith from grayling and he is heading out on a ride so he can see first hand if he thinks he should send the groomers out yet. He is going to stop by here and let me know what he thinks so look for another update about 3. Its about 7 degrees out there right now. Thursday January 28, 2010 7:16 a.m. Finally I have been able to get online, I tried last night about 10 and about 4 this morning and sometimes when the weather is just right here by the lake our wireless just doesnt connect. So for now I am on and what we have in new snow since last night is another big one inch of new snow but the good part is that it is a little better than lake effect and more like system snow so it has a little packing ability. I left frederic last night about 6 and went to gaylord and when I was in gaylord it was snowing hard and when I was back to frederic again of course it wasnt. There are quite a few schools closed to the north. Alba and Mancelona are closed but gaylord is open so that makes me think it was the nw wind, I just talked to my friend who lives at blue lake up near starvation lake and she said she had about 3 inches of new snow and that it was still snowing and blowing. If you do plan to come up to ride this weekend make sure you bring your really warm clothing as its supposed to be windy and very cold all weekend. If you want a nice place to stay my cottage is still available for this weekend too. Even though there is a little new snow on the trails they will still be very icy and slippery and you should ride very cautiuosly. I will update again a couple times today to let you know how things are coming along. Once again I just see the weather man saying we are supposed to get 4 to 8 inches in the surrounding frederic area,,,,I hope he is right. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 27, 2010 3:00 p.m. Not long after I finished the last update the snow was coming down pretty hard and big, to bad it didnt leave anything and its back to a standstill again. The noon news says 3 inches tonight. Brian and Don rode into here a bit ago and they came from down by cadillac and said everything was pretty good till they hit 679 trail. Right now there are about 8 sleds at the swamp plus Brian and Dons. I slapped together a quick video to give you a peek, sorry its a little sloppy. Wed Jan 27 2010 afternoon riders Wednesday January 27, 2010 11:35 a.m. An inch to inch and half would probably be stretching the amount of new snow. Its a windy out with a northwest wind which is good. I see that there are 2 sleds over at the swamp right now and that would be the only ones that I have seen. For those out there trying it, there is a little snow for lube but its gonna be very icy underneath making it pretty dangerous. There is a couple in here right now from wakeman, ohio and they are driving around waiting for the snow to hit and they said they already donated to the casino.....so the wait is still on..... Wednesday January 27, 2010 5:15 a.m. Just a skiff of new snow has fallen since my last update. We are still at about an inch of new snow since it started yesterday. I last let the beagle out last night about 10:30 and her tracks are just barely filled in on the front porch now.....keep chanting and I will update again around noon. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday night 10:30 Sorry bout that, the time got away from me as Cathy rented the michael jackson this is it dvd today and we have been watching that. "This is It" is just about how I feel about winter too, not enough snow to make much of a difference today. Right now there is about maybe about an inch of new very fluffy lake effect snow out front here at lake margrethe. On the other hand about 6 tonight I had a call from Dave Klemish who had just finished a 62 mile ride today. He was in frederic about 4 and they rode mostly back trails as he said the state trails are still bad as should be expected. So lets see what happens overnight here yet. Tuesday afternoon 3:00 p.m. The temp has cooled a little bit and there are snowflakes in the air but we havent had anymore hit the ground so I would give us still 1/2 inch of new snow......if anything kicks in I will update again maybe around 9 tonight..... Tuesday January 26, 2010 7:25 a.m. There is about a half inch of new snow from overnight here this morning. First new snow in three weeks so its kind an exciting event. Its about 30 degrees out but the temps are supposed to start diving down and the snow is supposed to continue for most of northern michigan. This snow is a little bit wet so it will help with the base if it keeps coming like that. I will update again later this afternoon to let you know how much more has fallen during the day. For those of you who might have tried the website link below for the big lodge that I posted the other day, I found out that in one day the site shut down because the bandwith got used up on it, so I have that fixed now if it didnt let you in....Thats a good thing, now if only someone would buy it. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------- Monday January 25,2010 10:10 a.m. The all day rain of yesterday has pretty much wiped out what we had left on the trails. Everything this morning I looked at is a dark mud path with no white left anywhere on them except for maybe occasional spots of ice. So we are basically back to starting over. Even the snow in the woods is looking almost see thru and as I looked at Lake Margrethe this morning that was pretty scary looking. It supposed to start turning colder but as I watched the weather this morning we are supposed to only start out with a few new inches coming but I guess thats a start. I wish I had better news than that to report. On the other hand our Century 21 office is putting on a first time homebuyers seminar at the Ramada Inn in Grayling on Feb 4th @ 7:00 p.m. First time homebuyers can get up to a $8,000 dollar tax credit and if you have been a current homeowner and lived in your home at least 3 years you may qualify for up to $6500 if you buy a different home. You can call me for more info on this if you are interested. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday afternoon 2:00 p.m. Been here about 5 hours and not one person thru the door yet....Darn. But I did do this website for a house I have listed so heres something to look at and daydream about and if you know anybody that can afford a place like that please send it on to them..... http://executivehome-lodgefrederic-mi.webs.com/ Executive Home/Lodge For Sale in Frederic, Mi Sunday January 24, 2010 9:50 a.m. I have always said business in this place is like a faucet, when there is snow people come pouring in and somebody shut the faucet off tight yesterday. Its 37 and raining this morning and the trail crossings up by the high school are the worse that I have seen them so far and are just about gone. My only hope for any business today is people stopping in for a pit stop on their way back from the u.p. This rain is about what we got at christmas so if it cools down and freezes like it did before it will actually help for the base of the new snow that is supposed to be coming. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Saturday afternoon January 23, 4:15 p.m. Its been pretty dead slow all day with only a few people in here all day but on the bright side I did have a group of riders say that they were at Starvation Lake and talked to the groomer who had groomed from the west parking lot on m 72 all the way up to starvation and was going back down to the parking lot. The riders that had been on it said he had knocked the humps out and it was alot better...thats the first groomer I have heard of that has been out. Then there was the guy in here this morning with his boat, said he was going fishing...... Saturday January 23, 2010 9:40 a.m. This is hopefully the calm before the storm. Its quiet and calm out there but nice and cold. It looks like we are finally going to get blasted this coming week so sharpen up your carbides. I just heard the first sleds of the day pull up out front. He said he is staying at the pineview and that there was only one other trailer there besides him. On the motel survey this morning there was one trailer at the days inn and 3 trailers at the ramada. We are supposed to get snow all week long and one chart I saw last night put us in the 12 to 24 inch area......sure sounds good. Even got a call from OHio Brian who says he wont be far behind the snow when it comes. Last night at ten to 6 15 or 16 sleds from ohio stopped in here after they left the swamp and loaded up on goodies. They said they had been here all week and put on 700 miles. Right after they left the couple that I had on yeterdays morning video rode back in and said they had rode to the bridge on the back. He said there were some bad spots but that he had rode on worse. With the return of winter it should be a great thing for all of us. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday January 22, 2010 11:00a.m. No new news to report, just pushing the 3 weeks without new snow. Even though its been sunny since last saturday we really havent lost that much more snow because there is still ice in my drive and snow on the roof of my trailer out on the south line. Hopefully this storm they are talking of will hit us on sunday. I did a quick video with 2 ohio riders that were in first thing this morning, and like he said a bad day riding is better than a good day at work..... It will be interesting to see how many riders to come out this weekend. I have been meaning to say this for a while too about emails that people send me, I do read everything I get but sometimes there are just to many to take time to answer so dont think I am just ignoring you.....Thanks for checking in. Pete Friday Jan 22 Frederic ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 21, 1:00 p.m. Here comes the second video of the day which catches me up on all the clips from the past week plus the look at the rest of the trails on the way here to frederic today. If you saw the clip from earlier today of the mountain mans truck and trailer in there I heard he is in grayling trying to raise money cause he is out, if he comes back in here today I am going to see if I can video of him....you dont see guys like him everyday.... Here is the next video clip Grayling Trailheads Jan 21 Part 2 Thursday January 21, 2010 9:20 a.m. Nothing has changed but here is a quick video I put together this morning of the trailhead west of grayling and along some of the trail.....had to do it quick as we have our weekly century 21 meeting coming up shortly, Grayling Trailheads Jan 21 Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 20, 2010 1:30 p.m. Finally got this video done from almost 10 days ago..... Second week of January @ sledheads Wednesday January 20, 2010 11:20 a.m. It was a chilly frosty 10 degrees earlier this morning but now the sun is out. Of course there has been no new snowfall. Trails are getting thinner. The ISA (Indiana Snowmobile Association) has called off their ride for this coming weekend and the next snow doesnt look like its coming till maybe sunday......Let just keep Chanting.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 19, 2010 10:50 a.m. Hard to believe but its snowing in frederic, sure looks nice witht the flakes coming down. To bad I dont think its going to amount to much. I sure would like to see if my plow still fits on my truck. There was only one sled that rode into here yesterday and a few people in cars inlcuding the guy from six lakes who spent most of the afternoon here. I shot a little video of him working on his trailer and this is a tip to all of you.....take time while you are at home and take your lugs off your trailers and lube them up so everything isnt rusted together when you need to get it apaprt along the way. He was here at least 2 hours and before that he was up on the highway trying to get it apart before he decided to skid it down here to get it apart. With the help of Eric another good sledhead they got it apart after breaking out the torches.....so a little pre maintenance at home might help you one day when you dont want to waste the whole day on the side of the road. There have been quite a few of you that have called me on skype and that has been fun. Well today is my daughter Melissa's 17th birthday and my 53rd.....boy that time flies by fast....I already was at the license bureau this morning to get plates for our cars.....just what I wanted to spend money on. I still need to get the video from a couple weeks ago done....Thats about it for now. Keep up the snow chants as I know Keith up at Fay's Motel has been doing his coed naked snow dance and it seems to be helping. Thanks for checking in. Pete Monday January 18, 2010 10:30 Certainly nothing new or exciting to report, the only people in this morning were a few ohio people that were headed home. Things are quiet out there and trail crossings were dirty but I would say still passable if you are a die hard. There is plenty of snow in the woods still to give your slides lube but corners on the trails will be pretty bare. STill the trail thru hanson hills looked pretty decent this morning.....we still just need to keep the snow chants up. Skinny Kenny from South Lyons was in this past weekend and was highly entertained by the snake. Thats about it for today. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday January 17, 2010 Noon thirty, I have been here since 9 but I have been wrapped up in trying to watch a movie in between people coming in. The riders that have been in say its not really that bad out there and they are glad to be riding. Sure there are dirt spots here and there but there are many very good areas. I looked at the trails along m 93 and up by the high school this morning and it still looks passable...If you are a die hard and want to ride its still very possible, you just have to work with what we have. There were some pretty good groups of sleds around yesterday. I went to the OSSA banquet at the Ramada last night. They really put on a great time and event for all the ohio riders that come to it. There were around 180 riders there. The bad part was that they called off their trail scavenger hunt which is a big hit for everyone. All in all they had a pretty good time for everyone. If you live in Ohio and dont belong to the OSSA I would urge you to join. There are a group of riders in here right now that just came from cub lake out by dingmans and said they ran into a groomer out there. Thats about it for now and I am back to the movie, the taking of pelham 123......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 2:00 p.m.. Well the sun is out and the snow is melting but there are still sleds out there enjoying what they can....The day didnt start out to good here for an ohio reguar Karl who left his trailer here on wednesday. He asked me if he could leave it and if there would be any trouble. I told him I have never had any trouble here so he left his trailer and headed back home to ohio.....He came back here to ride this morning and came in and told me his locks had been cut and 2 out of 3 sleds were missing. Whoever did it took one on friday morning at 4:29 and they came back and took the other one at 5:47 this morning. I know this because I see them leaving on the video from the cameras, So for now they have gotten away but we will see what happens. There has never been any trouble with anything being stolen from here but I guess I cant say that anymore. Every winter sleds get stolen from a bar but now they have moved on to here....Thanks for checking in. Pete Saturday January 16, 2010 9:00 a.m. Quiet and calm in Frederic this morning with 27 degrees outside. In looking at trails and crossings this morning on the way here along m 93 and crossings by the high school and north of the high school there is still snow on the trails and of course its a bit dirty but people that were riding yesterday were happy to be riding. There is still lots of snow in the woods but a nice fresh 2 feet of new snow sure would be nice, we just have to deal with the way the cards are dealt right now. I couldnt even begin to count the trailers at the Ramada this morning and thats because of the OSSA ride. Then also on their annual apperance there are about 30 hummers at the Ramada for what must be their winter outing. I always wonder where they go as I havent heard of any sleds running into them out on the trail. They shouldnt be out there anyways. I have seen sleds out and about in grayling this morning but none here so far. Roads are all clear and dry. I still didnt get last weeks video done yet but hope to and get that posted yet. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday January 15, 2010 8:50 a.m. It was 36 degrees when I left here last night and this morning its still a bit cruncy out and 29 degrees. We did have a little freezing drizzle overnight and it sounds like most of that is going south now, however the warmth yesterday made things squishy and dirty on the trails. Its a crap shoot if you want to ride this weekend but on the weather for next week it sounds even worse....just what we all wanted to hear. So will winter return?, will we ever be able to take a nice fresh snow ride?, will the snow chants work? will the OSSA riders have fun this weekend?, will the Spam truck stay away from my door? Will the Indiana Snowmobile Association be able to ride next weekend? Who knows so we will just have to take what we get and get thru it.... I keep forgetting to write that Ohio Brian has sent in a couple pictures in the past week where he has been riding down around Maumee Bay, which looks like a pretty fun time......Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday 4:30 p.m. I dont like this at all, sled traffic has been pretty slow all day and there is melting going on along with rain drops on and off...I keep watching the roof on my trailer out on the south lot line and it looks like the snow is dropping. Many ohio people have stopped in today and are trying to figure if they are going to ride or just drive around.....I think I can hear the Spam truck backing up to my back door right now. If ever we need some snow chanting its now so everybody go out there tonight and chant.....MO MO NAH CHEE CHEE NAH...... Thursday January 14, 2010 10:20 a.m. Its 32 degrees in Frederic and I dont like what it is doing to the feel of our snow. The OSSA, (Ohio State Snowmobile Association) has their annual Grayling Ride In here in Grayling this weekend so a Big WELCOME to all of them, I just hope things hold out for them. Sled traffic was slow around Frederic yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I left Frederic and headed south for the Motor City with my daughter and one of her friends to go to the Lady GaGa concert at Joe Louis. We had a great dinner in Greektown and took the people mover over to the show. Walking thru the hall at Cobo I ran into one of the Sledheads regular readers,,,,still dont know his name but at least I recognized him.....The show itself was pretty good except for the opening act which I have a hard time believeing they even let them going on stage and talking the way they do especially when there are young kids in the audience, they were beyond xxx in the way they talked to the crowd. They could do the same show without having to do that...Anyways we made it back at 3:15 this morning and I am back to the grind in here....Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wedneday January 13, 2010 8:00 a.m. I didnt like it as I walked out the door at home this morning and felt the 28 degrees it was there. I just got to frederic and it reads only 21 here but if it goes up it wont be good for our snow. We just have to wait it out and see what happens. Sled traffic was very slow thru town here yesterday. Not to much else exciting to report this morning. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 12, 2010 10:15 a.m. Another new skiff of snow overnight and only a few sleds out and about so far this morning. For a monday there were quite a few sleds out and about too with everybody reporting decent trails. I think we are going to skate thru this coming weekend o.k. but I am seeing weather reports of 40s for next week and I sure dont like that. The fatalites continue as I believe that one that happnened in the Grand Rapids area claimed 2 and there was one in cheboygan that claimed one. One thing I have been forgetting to mention since my ride on saturday is the fact that so many of the areas that were beautiful rides thru the woods are continually being logged off and destroyed. Those areas will never return in our lifetime. My heart just sank as we stopped next to a monsterous pile of logs and looked over the area that had been such a nice spot. It reminded me of the chapter that my friend Charlie wrote in a a book in the 1994. It still holds true today and I am going to paste his story below it...I only wish it could really make a difference. Thanks for checking in. Pete FINAL CASTS Chapter 34 of Charlie Krolls 1994 book "Pools of Memory" I'm not sure who first said, "The more things change, the more they stay the same," but I don't believe in this bit of philosophy. Angling almost everywhere is not the same as it used to be and never will be again. Protecting the right of a river to exist for the enjoyment of all is close to impossible in this age of special interest groups determined only in amassing short term profits. Every individual waterway has only a very small percentage of its users willing to stand up in protecting its integrity. Public apathy is the greatest support the despoilers have. The fresh waters we have today are all we'll ever have. If we're too unconcerned to take care of them now our future generations will have nothing better to enjoy than golf or bowling. A world in which relatively remote streams and lakes cannot support game fish because of damaged water quality is a world that will eventually impose more costs on other species, including man. We have developed this country with little respect for nature and the importance of virgin wilderness. First we slaughtered or subdued the original stewards of the land accomplishing much of it in the continent's heartland by eliminating their major food source, the bison. Then we systematically began a rape of the land that continues practically unabated to this day. We bare the watersheds, dam and divert the free flowing rivers, rip up the landscape with roads and strip mines, eliminate winter game habitat with ski resorts, drain or pollute our wetlands and erode what's left with ATV's and overgrazing by domestic stock. It has left us with few old growth forests, shrinking prairie and wetlands and unclean water and air. My generation has its place in history as the one that advanced from the horse and buggy to interplanetary spacecraft. Ashamedly, we are also the generation that has done the most to defile our environment and lay waste to its resources. We have used up or destroyed more of our habitat and its natural wealth than took place in the entire previous history of our species. As I write this, despite the so-called environmental awakening by the younger generations, the situation worldwide continues to deteriorate. Man's gift of reasoning remains overshadowed by his self-centered view of life. This nearly unchecked exploitation has put our civilization in danger. We're in the process of running out of clean fresh water-the one substance that supports all life. The fight over water rights in the West \ seriously threatens rivers in the upper Midwest. Streams are greatly diminished by excessive withdrawls, degraded habitat, rising water temperatures, reduced oxygen and concentrated pollutants. The overwhelming majority of rivers east of the Cascade Range now have salmon and steelhead populations consisting almost entirely of hatchery stock. Wild fish populations are but a fraction of their original abundance. According to the American Fisheries Society, during the past 100 years 27 species and 13 subspecies of North American fishes have been declared extinct. This includes several races of cutthroat trout, several species of rainbow trout and many subspecies of both, as well as Michigan grayling and Aurora and Silver trouts of the East. Of all the greedy special interest activities affecting the environment the wasteful practice of extensive clearcut logging in many of our states is perhaps the worst offender. This terribly destructive method entails gouging out thousands of miles of dirt logging roads on hundreds of thousands of acres, which are then completely denuded of forest cover. Running off the bare gray bones of the once lovely forests, the rivers and their tributaries have suffered greatly from such activity. The waters from melting snow and spring rains, with no thick, soft, absorbent mat of forest floor held together by huge root systems to soak them up, rush down the bare, parched slopes and pour pell-mell into the streams carrying great loads of silt and debris. Resulting torrents erode the stream banks and scour the bottoms. When floods subside the silt load settles and smothers the spawn, fry and aquatic insect life. Then in the heat of summer, with no water reserves being released from the absent ground cover, the tributaries fail and the rivers slow, warm and are then further depleted of life. Another result is the rapid accumulation of dollars by involved industrialists and their political allies at the expense of all humans and other diverse species that share our world. Do those involved care? Let me quote just one statement made by the Chairman of the Louisiana-Pacific Company, the biggest producer of redwood products, to a reporter from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat: "We need everything that's out there...we log to infinity. Because we need it all. It's ours. It's out there, and we need it all. Now." This same individual appeared in full-page company ads proclaiming what great guardians of the environment they all were. The basic fact that people like this can stand on such unethical principles without any real challenge from the majority of their peers is an indication of the trouble we're all in. The cumulative effects of the destructive practices outlined translates into an ever-worsening future for the environment and all forms of life that depend on it-a real tragedy of short-sighted greed and indifference. Jobs often provide the rationale for allowing other forms of life to face extinction. A case in point was the timber industry's claim that 30,000 jobs would be lost if our remaining old growth Northwest forest (necessary for the survival of the spotted owl) could not be cut. The federal Department of the Interior has conspired with that industry to override the tenets of the Endangered Species Act. They have been conspicuously silent when it comes to the western salmon and steelhead crisis, which if it continues to decline will result in the loss of more than 100,000 jobs associated with the commercial and sport fishing industries. To me the most tragic aspect of all is the seeming determination of the human race to reach the planet's utmost capacity for supporting it particular form of life, in as short a span of time as possible. Populations are rising not on a steady ratio but on an exponential curve that populations are rising not on a steady ratio but an accelerating rate-in an area that is forever fixed, making it ever more difficult for anyone to find and enjoy untrammeled space. Earth's human population is presently doubling every 30 years and in the course of the lifespan of my generation will have increased from two to nine billion. Our propensity for overbreeding is truly the scariest development of so-called enlightened civilization for it can be construed to be the root cause of our other problems. Although very likely the most important issue on earth it remains the most avoided one because of close-minded religious and nationalistic beliefs. The great majority of humans don't even want to talk about it let alone contemplate doing something about it. In my view it is within reason to envision a coming generation of men who will never know the sweet smell of pines or cedars in a forest filled with life; who will never hear the haunting calls of the northern loon or the sandhill crane and who will know only a world in which water flows through plastic pipes or concrete ditches and grass is a luxury that may not be stepped on. I believe, with Lee Wulff, that: "We're living in the latter part of the great age of sport and sportsmen. Twenty years from now we'll look back on these days and they'll look even better than 20 years ago seems now." Specifically speaking the quality of fly fishing is more important than the quantity. The angler must have room to see, to hear, to think and to be himself. Nothing diminishes these qualities more surely than overcrowding. As I come to the end of the fishing season each year I feel more and more thankful that I was able to experience the lifestyle that I grew up with, for it is no longer available in the way it was. The angling pleasures I had in childhood and the wild areas that enriched my youth have kept alive in my soul the spirit of romance and adventure. Yes, I know that many regard that kind of thinking as selfish and self-centered. Yet I cannot help feeling the way I do. There are many wonderful places I have been where I don't care to go anymore. I want to remember them as they were not as they are. There seem to be alot of places like that now. This is not to say that it's all gone, for it isn't. There are still many quality fishing experiences to be found but as time goes on these will be ever more diminished in availability. Those of us who fight under the banners of ecology are, I feel, doomed to slowly but surely lose the battle. There is simply too much power and greed against us. It seems to me that if humans were as superior as they profess to be, our world would never have reached the stage of disintegration that is today's reality. We may be the cleverest of our world's species but I'm afraid we lack the understanding and the honesty to stand together in solid defense of what we believe is right for all. Hope springs eternal. So long as there remains a fair chance of encountering fish, the pleasure of fly fishing will continue to lure the keen angler. I do hope my outlook proves to be unduly pessimistic, to the extent that all who read this-the fishermen of today and tomorrow-may continue this wonderful sport through the future. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Monday January 11, 2010 10:15 a.m. We had about a whole inch of new snow overnight. One of the first things I saw in frederic this morning was a real die hard riding thru town. Right down the side of the road, going slow and steady. It was a guy on a bicycle all loaded with saddle bags front and rear heading south, now thats a die hard. Sled traffic was very slow all day yesterday in frederic, the guys that were heading out to Grand Marais on Saturday morning and had the broke down sled checked in yesterday afternoon and they did make the trip all the way there from here and made it back yesterday at 3 after leaving grand marais at 7 in the morning. Thats my kind of power ride. It seems that most everybody checking in on skype with me are in the same boat, they havent done it before and are trying to learn their way thru just like I am. I can tell you when you call if you are calling as a video call watch your screen in the bottom right had corner for a little tab that says turn on the camera or activate camera...something along those lines. Its just one of those things you need to find your way thru. I am going to try to work on the weekends video. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday Noon Well now about 7 people have checked in with me on skype but only one video call from Jim in Roseville, the others have been messages....so I am still in the learning mode but the video calls are pretty simple and cool. It was Jims first video call so he is learning too. 2 guys were just in and they too had rode to the bridge yesterday. Hopefully it wont be to long and I will be doing that too. Two rides I would like to do this winter, one is to black mountain south of cheboygan and I want to try for 400 miles in one day and head from here to Copper Harbor.....Time will tell if I get to do it. Sunday January 10, 2010 10:00 a.m. Sunny and 14 degrees here this morning and only a couple sleds in so far this morning. Finally I went for my first real ride of the season yesterday and unbelieveably I would rate the trails very close to excellent. I think the cold and hard base is what has saved them. We rode up to mt frederic and then down 679 and some off trail and out to lake margrethe and back up to frederic for a nice 60 mile loop. Both grayling groomers were in town here last night about 6. 2 guys that were just in said they rode up to the bridge yesterday and that was good....the weather forcast for this week is a little scary as they are saying 30s but we will just have to wait it out. I have had quite a few people write me about the camera viewing on their end and things seem fine. It seems good to have it up so I know what is going on around town without going outside. We had the first campfire of the season out there yesterday and that was good too. When I finally did get to the place to pick up the load of wood they had so much on it that the tires were touching the frame and I couldnt even budge it and we had to unload a bunch of it, but we made it past that point,, I have several video clips I took yesterday around here and on our ride and will put them together later on. Many people have commented on the king size port a potty I got out there this year and there is enough room in there for 6 but I am going to put some type of table in there to set helmets and glove on......so thats about it for now. I am still waiting for a skype call from whoever wants to try it out with me here, my skype name is pete.kocefas Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 12:50 p.m. Yahoo......finally got the webcam up and running. It is up and moving and I have 12 presets on it as it circles around town. I really like the 3 feet of extra hieght I put on the camera. Let me know how it looks on your end...I already heard from Dave in Rochester who has been watching this morning... Saturday January 9, 2010 8:50 a.m. It a chilly -10 degrees below zero this morning and of course not a drop of new snow overnight. And the diehards are out as there have already been 4 sleds here this morning. I figured it was gonna be a slow weekend with no new snow and last weekend being a holiday. Trailer count at Days Inn was 3 and 6 at the Ramada. We got the webcam bracket and camera back up on the roof yesterday, that was a death defying act but we had ropes thrown over the builiding tied to trucks so we had something to grab in case we started sliding. Now the bad thing about the whole ordeal is the camera still isnt working right and working less than it was when I took it down. I am thinking there is a broken wire so its up on top again today to try and figure it out,,,,right now all it is doing is pointing down at the entrance door......A guy was just in that left from his cabin a couple miles of south of here, he and his gang were gonna ride up to Grand Marais today and his sled broke already.....Another customer here just gave him a ride back to his cabin to get his trailer and like I said it was better to break down here that up across the bridge. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday 9:00 a.m. Got here to frederic about a half hour ago and unfortunately the conditions havent changed, I did end up with my windshield just barely covered with snow this mornnig but thats it....so if you are going to ride here this weekend its still the same snow as last weekend, we have had anymore but luckily we havent lost any either, its just more worn...wish I had a better report than that.....any of you who use skype if you want to give me a call on skype I have the video going on it or if you are here riding and want to call back home and see your friends or family come on in...I have been experimenting with it all week with my brothers and niece. My skype name is pete.kocefas .....got the webcam bracket back from Jim yesterday so hopefully we can get that camera back up there and running again. I will post when I do get it up there...Thanks for checking in. Pete Friday January 8, 2010 3:30 a.m. I was hoping to get up and look outside to see a nice fresh blanket of snow but it seems the weatherman was right and it must all be downstate and south of grayling because we havent had a flake of new snow yet. Its about 10 degrees out right now. Just thought I would throw a quick update on for now....Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 7, 2010 7:15 a.m. 18 degrees here near the shores of Lake Margrethe and not a stitch of new snow all week. There was a prediction last night of some snow coming but we were right on the edge of it and it was going south of here. Trails are pretty snirty but people riding yesterday said things were still pretty good. Had some guys in last night just as I was leaving about 6:30 and they had rode up from prudenville and were heading back, they had been all the way out the blue bear and up to starvation and jordan valley and said they had a great ride. I wonder if they still felt that way when they got back to prudenville last night. I am heading off for st helen this morning to deliver some snowmobile sweatshirts down there and then back to frederic. I havent mentioned it this year because I keep forgetting to do it but if you are coming up and want a nice place to stay we have our rental cottage right next to our house. If you want to see more info on it click on the Wayside Inn Cottage tab up above or give me a call....Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 6, 2010 10:00 a.m Still no new snow and we really could use a shot of it before the weekend. Sled traffic was light yesterday with the big rush being after 5 last night. There isnt much snow in the forcast and the trails are still well worn from the weekend.....do a little snow chanting.....I am a bit sad as I just cleaned all my bowhunting gear out of my truck, another year passing without finding "Big Don" out there in the woods....I heard that bow season doesnt end till the end of the month in ohio so maybe I should make a run down there. Nothing else exciting to report right now so thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday afternoon 1:45 p.m. Got the next video clip ready so here goes New Years Week video clips Sledheads Also yesterday Bill and LeRoy were in here from Dewitt and they wanted to send a shout out to Kenny who was to whipped to leave home even though they had a baby sitter set up for him...... Tuesday January 5, 2010 10:00 a.m. Quiet and now new snow in frederic, we really need a new shot of snow. Sled traffic was slow yesterday with only a few coming thru. I had several people write me about the accidents that happened over the weekend and 4 of the emails were about the head on crash at white lake. I believe there were about 6 or 7 deaths in the state this past weekend. There was one in gaylord that was a drowning when a sled went thru the ice on Lake Geneva...Be careful about what you do out there. I am still working on the video for this week and hoping to get it done, in my intro this week I have half my head cut off and the battery kept dying out but you will get the general idea. I will post it when I get it finished. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday January 4, 2010 10:30 a.m. Its a quiet morning in frederic as everybody was heading home yesterday. Frank from virginia stopped in with is father in law and his wife Aimee as they were heading back home. Most everyone that was in yesterday were on their way home and very few sleds came in. I did talk to my friend up at blue lake this morning and she said they had about 5 new inches of snow overnight. I have several video clips from the past weekend and I just need to put them into a video which I hope to get sometime today. Thank you to everyone who stopped in this past week while riding. Its always nice to meet old friends and make new ones......Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday night Jan 3 2010 8:45 p.m. We just got back from traverse city and it was snowing and blowing hard there like real winter, to bad we are back here and nothing is happening snow wise......just got online and came across this story. I believe this brings the fatalites to 8 or 9......Please Ride Safely. By Cole Waterman | The Bay City Times January 03, 2010, 3:30PM OGEMAW COUNTY — Snowmobiling has claimed the life of another person, this time in Ogemaw County. Early Saturday afternoon, Ogemaw County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a single snowmobile accident in Rose Township. Arriving on the scene, deputies and rescue personnel found Stephen E. Cooper, 46, of Shelby Township, suffering from severe injuries. Cooper was transported via ambulance to West Branch Regional Hospital, where he later died, deputies report. Deputies report Cooper had been riding with family and friends when he lost control of the snowmobile and struck a tree. Cooper was a member of the Macomb County Sheriff’s mounted posse. The crash is still under investigation. Oscoda County Sheriff’s deputies and Oscoda County EMS personnel assisted at the scene. Sunday January 3, 2010 9:50 a.m. Another crunchy 5 degrees and sunny morning in frederic with no new snow. Jim & Julie, Brissels and Yvonne, & Matt & Denise from St Clair Shores were just in and loaded up on new Sledheads shirts. They have been riding all weekend and stayed up near Mancelona and on their way home. Jim has a top notch trailer wrapped in Polaris graphics which you will see in the next video. Yesterday Canadian Tim stopped in and wanted me to throw a shout out to all the guys in Amherstburg, Canadia.......and speaking of Canadian I went into Canadian Steak and Fish in Grayling last night and this girl says hi to me and said you probably dont recognize be but she actually admitted to me that she was the Ohio Poopers wife,,,,,poor girl.... Hard of Hearing Mike and his snow bunny Sandi were in yesterday and they rode over from the swamp and on the way back to the swamp Mike just folowed other sled tracks like everybody does and rode right up on to the rail road tracks and of course the cops caught him......luckily he was written up with just a warning and this morning I went over there at the open spot in the fence and put up orange tape so sleds dont go thru there but I dont know how long that will last. I cant emphasise enough on how important it is to stay away from the tracks. Only cross at approved crossings and stay at least 30 feet away from them unless its a road crossing or a trail. Its a BIG FINE for even being close to them and ignorance is not an excuse YOU WILL GET WRITTEN UP....so stay away from the tracks. For those of you that didnt see it last year there is a video somewhere in my youtube archives of the State Police coming thru town on a train and jumping off and writing up sledders. Please pass this info on to every sledder you know. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday January 2, 2010 9:00 a.m. Its a very chilly 5 below zero here in frederic this morning with no new snow over night and its very crunchy walking out there this morning. Sled traffic was very heavy yesterday here and there were reports of both great and rough trails. Last night about 7 both grayling john deere tractors went by here as they were grooming the loop. That is an impressive sight to see both of those running at the same time, they sure can move some major snow. The trailer count at the motels this morning was 9 at the Days Inn and 28 at the Ramada and the no vacancy sign was up at Fays with sleds parked outside of most every room. Frank from Yorktown Virgina was in yesterday to say hi and that he was having a great ride. Next I am posting a link to the story in this weeks grayling paper on the accidents that happened on the 22nd. Please ride Safely and Thanks for checking in. Pete Read story on snowmobile accident ----------------------------------------------------------------------- New Years Day 11;30 A.M The Harbor Beach Pfaff crew were just in and are staying this weekend at a buddys place in grayling. They wanted me to send a shout out to Gale and Uncle Jerry who is down with a bad back this year, they miss you.....and they say the trails are great.... HAPPY NEW YEAR January 1, 2010 10:30 a.m. Its a sunny 14 degrees this New Years morning in Frederic, the calls started coming in already at 8 this morning and the early risers have been riding thru. I expect a busy day as the trailer count at the Days Inn this morning was 8 and 17 at the Ramada in Grayling. We had a couple inches of fluffy lake effect overnight and it looks like snow coming for the next week. Swartz Creek Rob was in yesterday and brought me a couple coney dogs from the Mega Coney Island in Flint...THanks Rob. I went out bowhunting yesterday afternoon and finally saw a deer running off and got snorted at and today is the last day of bow season so after this I am ready to start riding. Cathy and I had a pretty wild last night, about 8 we came back up here to the shop and watched tv for a couple hours. We went home a little after 10 and the Frederic Inn was closed already and the swamp only had a few sleds at it along with a few cars, and from the way it looked in Grayling it looked like most people stayed home, we go home and watched the ball come down in times square with Haley....just watching Haleys excitement counting down the ball was more fun then we could have had anywhere.... Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday 9:00 a.m. Here is the 2 part video that we recorded in January of 04. Those 6 years really flew by fast as have the 13 I have been in here so far. My girls look so young in this video. We made this in days way before youtube so I finally got it rerecorded and uploaded. Sledheads of Frederic Video Part 1 Sledheads of Frederic Video Part 2 Thursday December 31, 2009 8:30 a.m. The roads were very wet and 27 degrees in Grayling. I think they put something on them because north of grayling the roads are snowcoverd and look like winter. We have had about and inch and a half of new snow overnight in Frederic. I went to pick up my trailer full of wood for the outdoor fire this morning and the place I get the wood from has their gate locked and I couldnt get in...of course I should have had it a couple weeks ago but it just seems like there is to much to get done for just lil ol me......so that means no fire outside this weekend. Trailer counts this morning were 4 at the Days Inn and 9 at the Ramada and once again the trailer to room ratio winner is Fays Motel with 11 trailers.... The grayling groomers are out this morning and the one groomer was heading towards frederic already. I am going to post a note below here that I got this morning from Dan in Midland... Wanted to give you a heads up, thought maybe you might want to warn people on the trail reports. Trail 4 near Lakes of the North has had some injuries lately. My Brother-in-Law broke 3 Lumber vertabrae on Saturday morning and I have heard of 4 others getting injured, all in a small area. This is all happening where the trail runs on the powerline, there are a few small valleys/holes that are throwing people off sleds when they hit the bottom. Just wanted to let you know. Back to Pete here and there were reports that 2 sleds went thru the ice on Otsego lake christmas eve day so STAY OFF THE LAKES........I have had a list going here of vistors here that I keep forgetting to mention that have stopped by, steven and steven from scottsdale arizona, The guys from Edwardsburg, Livonia Darrel and Grand Blanc Mike, and Coldwater Todd too. Happy New Year to All and Please Ride Safely. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Wed afternoon 3:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon traffic Dec 29 Wednesday December 30, 2009 9:35 a.m. It was a nice chilly 8 degrees when I got here this morning but no new snow. Weather is calling for only a little snow today and tommorow with maybe 2 inches total. Things are well used now as sled traffic was very heavy again yesterday and I expect it to be busier yet the closer the weekend gets. Trailer count this morning at Days Inn was 7 and 10 at the Ramada. I will post a video I made yesterday of sleds around frederic. Finally I had the port a potty delivered yesterday. They raised the price on them this year but I also got a better deal at the same time as they let me get a handicapped one for the same price, that way there is plenty of room to move inside it with your suit on. Several people asked last year for that so now there is enough room.......The web cam came back yesterday in a box and now it just needs to get back up on the roof. Hopefully this wont take to long....I just hope that we find the problem with the zoom and focus. I have stayed till at least 8 the past couple nights and will as long as there are sledders around thru the weekend. I also re recorded a promo video we made for here 6 years ago to post on youtube, it will be in 2 parts. I cant believe how small my girls are in the video and the beagle was just a puppy then, boy the time sure flies and the kids sure grow. When I get the second part uploaded I will put links up for them. I believe the sled fatalites are up to 6 already this season so Please Ride Safely. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday December 29, 2009 9:15 a.m. It was a busy hectic day in Frederic yesterday with steady sled traffic all day. We had about 4 inches of snow during the day and both the grayling and gaylord groomers were out doing their thing. I was in town and saw one of the grayling groomers out near the ole barn yesterday afternoon and then on todays video you will see one of the other grayling groomers cruising thru Frederic. Also I dont know what happened but last night when I went home there were 4 fire trucks at the ole barn, I didnt see any fire so hopefully it wasnt anything to big. The highway was very slick yesterday as there was a rollover at the frederic exit and another one a little north of that. This morning on the trailer counts were 3 at Days Inn, 8 at the Ramada and Fays Motel had 11.... Grayling groomer passing thru Frederic One thing I realized a couple days ago is the similarities of the sled accident from last week with the polaris that I have in the display out front of the shop. Both days were nice and sunny, when you see pictures of the crash side by side it is an identical collision. The polaris accident happened December 22, 2003 @ 11:11 a.m. and the arctic cat accident happened December 22, 2009 @ 11:49 a.m. Almost 6 years to the hour. Please remember these accidents and ride safely. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday December 28, 2009 9:45 a.m. MO MO NAH CHEE CHEE NAH,,,keep up the snow chants. Nice big lake effect snow coming down on us. We have had about 2 new inches since last night. Trails are still rough and icy but this will help with the lubrication. Traffic was slow around town yesterday tiill late in the afternoon when it seemed more sleds started showing up. Count at the motels this morning was 8 trailers at the Ramada and still 2 at the Days Inn. I will post a video clip next from about an hour ago. Monday morning snow in Frederic Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday December 27,2009 10:00 a.m. Pretty quiet in frederic so far this morning, checked out the motels in grayling and today there were 2 trailers at the Days Inn and 10 trailers at the Ramada so some more riders are beginning to show up. Surprisingly yesterday was alot busier with sled traffic in and out of here more so than I thought there would be. At first most everybody said it was very hard and rutty and hard to get lube for their slides but as the day went on we had some fluffy snow fall to help with the lubrication. Overnight we had about an inch of new fluff. Still marginal conditions on the trails I would say but I have definetly seen worse. Yesterday afternoon for the first time in 3 weeks I took off to go try my luck bowhunting and I have to say I am still batting zero for sightings at my spot for the whole season.....I sure dont know where they have all gone this year. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday Dec 26 10:30 a.m Took me a bit to get the video uploaded and there have been quite a few sleds in already this morning.... Sat morning trail checking Saturday December 26, 2009 8:50 a.m. Got into frederic here about 10 minutes ago and already had the first customers. We didnt get to much rain last night and its nice that everything hardened up. I took video of the trails I pass on the way here this morning and also ran into Keith who is in charge of the grayling groomers, he says he is not going to send them out yet, waiting on some more snow but he did say the same thing I said last night that this is going to help our base out. I will post all the video I took in a little while on here. Checked the motels this morning and Days Inn had zero trailers and the Ramada only had 2 trailers at it. I saw 2 trailers at a gas station getting gas. All in all Grayling looked pretty slow like a sunday morning today. I still predict that there will be sleds out today trying out the trails but if you ride you need to be carefull of the rutty hard stuff. Watch for the video post in the next half hour or so...Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christmas 6:45 p.m. I was hoping things were going to start going the way a snowmobiler would like to see it. At about 3 the rain stopped and there were great big snowflakes coming down, the bad part is that it only lasted a little while and back to the misty rain. While it never rained very hard today it was constant and the snow is very wet and slushy that is on the ground, I just came back in from cleaning up around the yard with my plow and its all very wet and heavy. It is right at 32 degrees right now. So right now I would say conditions for riding are just about poor. If you do ride its going to be in a big slush bowl, however I still predict that there will be alot of riders out tommorow even with these marginal conditions. If this firms up and we get some fresh snow on top of it, it will make a great base for us. I know alot of people have plans of coming up north so this isnt very good news. This is my 13th season for Sledheads and I cant tell you how many times we have had decent snow just before christmas only to get dissapointed by losing a bunch right at Christmas....Do some snow chanting..alot of it so we can get back to where we should be. Thanks for checking in. Pete Friday Christmas Day 11:15 a.m 2009 Merry Christmas to All....Santa was pretty good to us this past night as he didnt let it rain to much at all, but now the rain has just picked up a bit. Not a hard rain but light and steady. I hope its not enough to damage things to much but it is supposed to turn colder later and then to snow. I will update again later this evening to let you know what has happened during the rest of the day. HO HO HO until later on....Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday December 24, 2009 9:50 a.m. Its a quiet cloudy morning in frederic. As I looked at the trail crossings on the way here this morning we really need some fresh snow to straighten things up. Who knows what this prediction of the big storm is going to bring us..I hope its more snow that ice. I know people are anxious to come up here and we all want the same thing....a big pile of new snow... Hopefully Santa will be good to us. I recieved several letters yesterday regarding the accidents this week. Roger from south dakota wrote in and said that the manufacturer gives you a $100 dollars when you purchase a new 4 wheeler to take the safety class, I think that would be a great thing to happen here for snowmobiles. People hop on those machines and dont realize what they can do and how fast things happen. From our Sledheads Family to yours we wish you a Merry Christmas. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday December 23, 2009 10:25 a.m. I just got here to frederic after a quick trip to Rockford last night and back early this morning. Sounds like the weather is going to get nasty starting tommorow afternoon. Below this I am pasting 2 news releases that the Sheriff Dept posted on the accidents from yesterday. I also had another email last night on a fatal that happened in Hancock on the 11th and a phone call on another u.p. fatal. Over the years I have compared the results of fatal accidents and it always comes down to one of 2 things or both. SPEED & ALCOHOL About half of the fatals involve alcohol and the rest are just speed. You will see from the releases that the sleds were two big and fast for new inexperienced riders. The lady that died was staying at Beaver Creek Resort and what should have been a fun weekend for her turned into a tradgedy for her family and friends. I will post the sled pics also. Please THINK twice before squeezing the throttle, A quick thrill could easily be your last. Crawford County Sheriff Kirk Wakefield that Crawford County Sheriff Deputies along with Frederic Fire Department Snowmobile Rescue were dispatched to snowmobile trail 679-9, which is located in the Deward area of Frederic Township, Crawford County to a snowmobile accident, at approximately 1149am. Upon arrival, it was found that a 68-year-old Ohio woman (name held pending notification of family) was deceased. The woman died on impact after striking a tree on her snowmobile. Investigation found that speed and inexperience was the reason for the accident. Alcohol was not a factor. It was reported to Deputies that it was her first time on a snowmobile. The snowmobile was 800cc Arctic Cat crossfire. Crawford County Sheriff Kirk Wakefield states that Crawford County Sheriff Deputies along MMR and Frederic Township Fire and rescue were dispatched to a snowmobile PI accident in Grayling Township on Lewiston Grade Road. Investigation showed that three snowmobiler’s all on separate sleds were traveling down Lewiston Grade Road at a high rate of speed and missed a corner that was marked. All three snowmobiler’s drove of the road and into the woods, all being thrown from the snowmobiles. All three females were transported to Grayling Mercy Hospital to be evaluated due to injuries. Investigation found that speed and inexperience was the reason for the accident along with listening to IPods while driving contributed to the accident. Alcohol was not a factor in the accident, all three snowmobiles were 800 CC snowmobiles and all three drivers were teenage girls from Ohio. Names are being with held due to ages and notification of family. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday December 22,2009 5;15 P.M. At 11:49 this morning the siren went off in frederic and I said to my friend that was there that I hoped that was not for a snowmobile accident. It wasnt long after that I had a call saying that they had responded to an accident on the 679 trail at the point 9 marker. Over the course of the afternoon I had heard it was a fatality on the trail. I am sad to say the the stories were true. All I know so far is that it was a female rider. This is the first fatal accident in crawford county in a few years and the first death that I know of this season. There also was another injury accident that took place near the I 75 underpass on Lewiston Grade which is the Lovells trail this afternoon. I havent heard anything more on that one. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon here and for one unfortunate rider it was their time to die. I will post more as I find out. Please ride Safely and responsibly. Pete Tuesday December 22, 2009 10:30 a.m. The first 2 riders in today were Steven and Steven from Scottsdale Arizona. They rode up to mackiaw yesterday and said that the trails north of indian river were great....The next 2 riders in this morning were from Ohio......I myself have been to gaylord and back this morning in my truck and looked at the old 27 trail and it looked pretty good. I did see both gaylord groomers parked at the south end of otsego lake near the trail. Last night when I left frederic I saw the grayling groomer heading south crossing the road by the grayling high school. We had about 2 inches of fresh fluff overnight. I talked to JC the weatherman yesterday and he said it was to early to say where the line would be for the wintery mix mess coming on thursday night but on the bright said after that passes he said it is gonna get cold and start giving us lake effect snow..so keep up on the snow chants.... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------ Monday December 21, 2009 Noon There is snow in the air here in frederic right now and we sure could use a good dumping of it. There have been a few sleds thru this morning. The snow and trails are well worn so any new snow we get would be great. I saw the weather this morning and it looked like a messy mix coming for christmas, I just hope that part is south of us. Just got off the phone with the people that have the webcam in for service and they said there is nothing wrong with it so I need to look for a broken wire on this end....they are sending it back to me today so hopefully it shows here on thursday, and then we can try to get it back up there and working right.....Just heard from Ohio Mike and he claims he is coming back up to ride after christmas.....he called me his coney dog eating buddy......Mike, bring me some from ohio...Not to much else to report on so thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday December 20, 2009 11:00 a.m. I opened at ten this morning and it was a bit different than last week as nobody was waiting for me when I got here however it has been reasonably steady since then with the third group from where else but ohio in here right now. The second group bought one of our ON SALE helmets and they are here until after christmas staying up at Rays Retreat. They said Rays was full all weekend and I also had an email from Paul at the Waters Inn saying that they were full this weekend too. Sled traffic was slow yesterday in frederic but that made it great for the people that were riding. Zack and Kelsie are in here right now from Pioneer Ohio and they just rode over from Lewiston and they hit their share of rough spots. We really need a new shot of snow to get things in decent shape for after christmas. The trails I looked at on the way here this morning looked a little snirty.....Just for grins I am throwing in a short video from a couple years ago..... Santa visits Sledheads ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday December 19, 2009 9:30 a.m. Its a quiet start to things in frederic this morning. Its pushing 32 degrees. I did the motel survey in grayling and there were 2 trailers at the Days Inn and 2 trailers at the Ramada and then there were 7 trailers at Fays Motel. Talked to Keith at Fays and he said the grayling groomers are out this morning and Big Ken from Beaver Creek Resort was in this morning already and said he saw the Gaylord Groomer heading this way. Beaver Creek Resort has 40 units for rent up near the west side of Otsego Lake so if you need a place sometime check out their site at Beaver Creek Resort I talked to one of the sheriff deputies this morning that had worked all night and he said that he saw quite a few trailers coming thru town. For the most part yesterday was slow around Frederic and I am still thinking its going to be like that today..Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday December 18, 2009 11:15 a.m. Nice and sunny and cold out today. No new snow overnight but the trails I checked on the way here looked good along m 93 and the crossing up by the grayling high school. Had a rider that just rode down from otsego lake and he said that was good. There have been steady sleds in and out since I got here at nine. A reminder to anyone coming next week there will be NO GAS at the Beacon and Bridge gas station in Frederic from the 20th to the 24th....so keep that in mind. I am thinking that it wont be as busy this weekend as last weekend mostly becuase of people getting ready for christmas even though traffic has been off to a good start today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------- Thursday 3:15 p.m. Just got back into frederic a few minutes ago and the first then I checked was the trail north of of town to see if it was groomed towards Gaylord and the answer is YES.....I also had talked to a rider earlier today that had talked to the IGA in waters and they had seen the groomer too... Thursday December 17, 2009 9:00 a.m. Coming at you this morning from my friend Dennys place here in Rockford Michigan. Heading back for frederic here shortly. There was no new snow in grayling overnight and it was very cold at about five below zero. The big question that I would imagine everyone wants to know is did the gaylord trail get groomed. I havent heard a thing yet but that will be the first thing I check on this afternoon when I get back. They were supposed to go out yesterday. Last night ten of us went out on our annual guys night out shopping trip to the woodland mall. That was a nice time but now its time to head back to the north. I will update again late this afternoon after I go and check the trail.... I have been meaning to say that I started a twitter account too. Its on twitter under SledheadsUSA if anybody watches that too...Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday Decebmer 16, 2009 7:30 a.m. Its about 10 degrees this morning here at home. No new snow overnight but we did have about 4 new inches fall in frederic yesterday. Sled traffic was very light as I only saw about a dozen all day long. The shop is gonna be closed today as I am headed off for my annual shopping trip with my friends in Rockford today. I believe the grooming problem with Gaylord has been taken care of as I was forwarded a posting by Rays Retreat from Steve in Indianapolis. I am also posting another letter that I recieved yesterday too about the trails. Somebody certainly did drop the ball on the whole grooming issue there. The trail permits have gone up and weather it was the tourism bureaus fault or the DNR it seems that nobody cared what happened. I have always said that DNR stands for Do Nothing Right. I will post as soon as I hear the groomers have hit the gaylord trails. On the other hand I have heard several times from riders about what a great job the AVSA (Ausable Valley Snomobile Association) has done in grayling. I even had a guy call me that is from downstate and wanted to donate his time for grooming. I put him in touch with the club and he called me last night excited that he is going to be coming up to learn about the whole grooming thing. So here are the 2 letters and I hope the end of this dilema..... Dec. 14, 2009 BASE: PAST 24 Hrs: Snow CONDITION: Poor Trail conditions are poor AT THIS time. However-- we have had good news at the end of the day today. Tourism Bureau is releasing money to begin grooming. Groomers will be on the trail TOMORROW. Look forward to having Gaylord trails in good shape soon! We will keep you updated on the conditions (this was posted by Rays Retreat) Pete, I was up this past weekend and the trails were the worst I have ever seen them. I cannot believe every business who has anything to do with snowmobiling isn't screaming to the DNR. They raise our trail permits and cannot provide a service after collecting thousands if not millions of dollars from the snowmobilers. I cannot believe your web site just didn't blast the jackass's at the DNR. People spend a lot of money to drive up from down state to come to the Gaylord area to spend their money snowmobiling and have to go out on trails that were almost un-drivable, in fact I saw sleds driving on the railroad tracks. Please do not encourage reports to come up sledding when the trails are in such poor condition. Thanks......John Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday December 15, 2009 10:30 a.m. I have been to gaylord and back this morning and the first sleds of the day today were of course 4 riders from Ohio...we had about 3 inches of new fluffy powder overnight. A couple more Ohio stories from this past weekend that I forgot to write about, one being a thank you to Doug & Coleen Shepard who bought Cathy and I dinner at the Swamp this weekend. And all is forgiven to the Ohio Pooper who came back with his guys and bought a bunch of stuff here. He was sorry about the whole ordeal but he said he just couldnt make it to the gas station...you know how it is...also got a letter from the Cleveland Hugger who is it seems to be a victim of the times but at least he is still reading...gonna post his letter next Hey Pete, I'm still here...kind of. With the economy going the way it has been I had to sell my camper and snowmobile/trailer. I think I have been in long term depression since my sled went down the street on somebody else's trailer last December! I still ride the trails vicariously through your website though! I check in at least once a day. I now can access your cameras so it's nice to be able to check in on you (kind of creepy, huh!). Maybe in a few years I'll be back in the game, I hope. In the mean time maybe I can sneak a trip up sometime and rent a room and a sled from you and bring my daughter for a ride. If the opportunity presents itself you will be the person I come looking for. Hope the snow gods take care of you, your family and SledHeads. Have a Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year! "The Cleveland Hugger" Now on to the trail situation with Gaylord, I had a couple calls yesterday on it and emails too. I think they are getting it resolved but from what I am told the Gaylord Tourism Bureau doesnt want anything to do with the grooming. If I was a motel owner there I would be furious with that and I have already decided that I will not advertise on their map next year if none of that money goes to the club or whoever is responsible for grooming. Here is a letter I recieved yesterday afternoon.... Hey Pete, Had the following conversations about the Gaylord trails. Worst I've seen in eight years of riding in the area. Spoke to the Gaylord Chamber of Commerce about it and they passed the buck to the Gaylord DNR. Spoke to the Gaylord DNR next and they stated they are not grooming this year. Last year was a contract to the DNR thru the state. This year they are contracting back to the snowmobile clubs in Gaylord. They then stated that the club contract had not been finalized (insurance issue) and that there was no grooming in Gaylord this past weekend. Spoke to a member of the Gaylord club and he stated the insurance issue was resolved today. They hoped to be out grooming tonight or tomorrow. Regards, Mark Like I said hopefully they have it resolved but here are some numbers just in case.... Gaylord DNR 989 732 3541 Gaylord Tourism Bureau 989 732 6333 State Representative Kevin Elsenheimer for the 105th district 517 373 0829 or 1 877 536 4105 Like I said earlier I just drove back down from gaylord along old 27 and it is still looking pretty rough. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday December 14, 2009 10:45 a.m. Its a quiet morning here in frederic and there was a little freezing drizzle in the air. Just had 2 guys in here that are doing the michigan to alaska trip in Feb and I did a little video with them that I will post later on. I posted a new video just below this last night about the weekend. On the video I said that I bet 90 percent of the riders that came in here this weekend were from Ohio. A big Thank You to all the ohio people that were in this weekend and from all the other areas. Made a few new friends but I got to wondering last night is the Cleaveland Hugger still out there. Havent seen him in a couple years. I had a phone call from a rider this morning complaining about the trail from gaylord to frederic. From what I understand there are some serious groomer funding issues for the Gaylord end of things. Thats about all I know on that but lets hope it gets taken care of. Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete Sunday Night 6:00 p.m. Frederic Here is the weekend video I just finished To see new video click here Sunday December 13, 2009 10:35 a.m. Wow, I should have opened before 10 this morning as when I got here there about 15 sleds and people waiting for me to get here. Usually during the winter I am here at 9 on sunday but I guessed wrong time this week. It was very busy all day saturday and lots of riders stopping to say hi and tell about their rides. I took some video and am trying to get it put together for on here. Another new Ohio group from the cleaveland area stopped in here known as Hard of hearing Mike along with his 2 snow bunnies Sandi & Krissi. The girls bought sweatshirts and Sledheads Thongs. They said they were going to wear them to the Ramada last night and Cathy and I went there and there they were and they did tell me they were wearing them...I am glad I had happy customers.....A guy who is a regular reader from Frankenmuth was just in and he came up here to ride this morning but forgot his jacket. I like it when people do that so they can buy one from me....but in his case he just borrowed one I had in the back room....The grayling groomers did run last night.....We had just of skiff of new wet snow overnight and it was 34 when I was driving up here this morning. Its now 11:45 and its been just over an hour since I started typing this..Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------ Saturday December 12, 2009 10:30 a.m. Its a sunny and cold morning in frederic, it was about 4 degrees when I got here...Its been a steady stream of people in since I got here...right now Ohio Mike and his gang has showed up with out Bad Leg Barry and ex Slow Sled Dave now known as ohio dave without a sled.......Another bunch of pollacks rode up from higgins lake and their group of the Szlachata's were in here to harrass me too....Last night Cathy and I went over to the swamp for dinner and after we left there we were over getting gas at the station and a truck and trailer was driving by that was parked in my back parking lot, he holllered out to another group of sleds that were sitting there that he pooped in my parking lot. So to the ohio guy that pooped in my parking lot, thanks alot for the gift, next time its a hundred bucks to park there,,,I expect that out of the beagle but not my customers.....So I left to come home and went thru town and the Ramada Inn and what do you think was parked at the Ramada......there was that gold dually and trailer.......Well being the nice guy that I am I didnt pay him back but the thought was there......I have some video from yesterday and today but have to get it put together and hope to get it on today sometime. thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday December 11, 2009 10:30 a.m. Its been a steady stream of riders and people coming into the shop since I got here at 9. Every body is excited to be riding and to be here. The cut off line for the new snow was waters and gaylord and north got 8 to 12 more inches last night. The guys that just left said the trail all the way down was solid powder and they are heading off to lewiston for a Talleys burger., wish I was going with them. There were some guys in yesterday that said they rode to lewiston wednesday night and that it was a great ride. The camera on back of the building that points towards my parking lot/corn garden was covered with snow this morning so I switched to another inside camera. Hopefully the big camera for out front will be back soon. Thanks for checking in. Pete To see Fridays first riders click here Friday December 11, 2009 6:50 a.m. Its a chilly 9 degrees this morning at home and we only had a skiff of snow here overnight even though the prediction was for 6 to 8 inches. Maybe frederic is a different story this morning. The grayling schools are open today but pretty much everything north of gaylord is closed today. We worked on getting all my sleds started yesterday so it was good to hear them running. Heading out to plow right now and I will upadate again later on after I get to Sledheads....Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday December 10, 2009 10:40 a.m. It snowing like crazy here, I plowed out front an hour ago and it doesnt even look like I did it. 2 guys just rode in from grayling and said it was snowing harder here than in town. I went thru the motels and there were 4 trailers between the Ramada Inn and Days Inn. The guys in the video I did out front here this morning are staying at Days INn and said they are staying for an extra day. I have heard from Brian Cowles in Battle Creek who is personal friends with the indian Chief Ooga Booga and he said the chief is doing the snow chant and facing north so that seems to be working well. Ohio Mike wrote in and he still claims to be the chosen one and says he is coming north to get some big air.....Buckeye Dave I wish would call in , he was the winner on the one millionth hit and I need to talk to him so Call in Dave. On the other hand Dave Klemish from lansing wrote in this morning and says he cant wait to get here......Tracy from Cleavland called in too wishing she could get on the web cam and also wishing she was here with Eddie to go riding. In the mean time I need to get back to plowing we are still supposed to get hammered yet today with more snow....Thanks for checking in. Pete To see December 10 snowstorm click here ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Morning December 10, 2009 4:30 a.m. The only reason I am even up right now is because of one certain stupid beagle that woke me up whining to go out so I figured I might as well throw on a quick update. I left frederic about 6 last night and would say we had about another 3 inches of snow during the day yesterday. As I was leaving I saw the gaylord groomer at the gas station and shot some video of him and talked to him and he said gaylord had to groomers out panning and that he was heading to indian river from frederic. Video will be later on after I am done plowing this morning. So far since I got home last night we have had another 2 inches and its still snowing. Keep up those chants. There werent very many sleds out yesterday but I saw 2 trailers rolling into town last night and there were 2 other guys that had just got into town to ride in Canadian Steak and Fish last night while I was there for dinner. They were excited for their first ride of the season so I think the traffic is going to pick up today......I am going back to bed....thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday AFternoon 3:30 One more video clip of GRaylings newest groomer making its first trip into frederic this season. There have been a few sleds in today but not more than 10.... To see Graylings new groomer on its first trip into frederic this season click here Wednesdsay December 9, 2009 10:45 a.m. I have been out plowing and pretty much measuring 6 new inches everywhere. I have been stuck and pulled out twice here in front of the shop as its prety slick, there were fresh groomer tracks just north of the high school and I talked to Keith and he said all 3 grayling groomers are going to be out today panning and packing the trails, so that is great news. I still have lots of snow to move here. Thanks for checkiing in. Pete To see first snowstorm of the 09 10 sled season click here Wednesday December 9, 2009 6:30 a.m. Still snowing and we are up to about 2 and a half inches here at lake margrethe. I was just outside and it doesnt seem to be blowing s hard as earlier and the snow is a fine wet snow, good for packing. Schools all northern michigan including grayling are closed and the mackinaw bridge is only open to cars. I am going to wait a little while and go out and see if I should plow and when I get to frederic I will put out another update....also I had a phone call yesterday from Chris who is works for Beacon and Bridge Gas which is the gas station in frederic, He wanted to let me know that there will be no gas in frederic from December 20 to 24 as the tanks will be getting inspected then. So if you are riding around here on any of those days keep that in mind. I am sure there are going to be people that get into frederic needing gas and are going to be in trouble. I just heard some thunder out there, maybe that means thunder snow which will be great. Till later this morning.... Wednesday December 9, 2009 4:00 a.m. Its the morning of the BIG STORM....it is snowing and blowing very hard out there right now but so far we only have about 2 inches out there, lets hope it keeps it up. I want push some snow with my plow. I will update again later on, I just had to see what it was doing outside. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday December 8, 2009 11:10 a.m. Like the news said last night this is the calm before the storm, they are claiming we are going to get hit with 8 to 12 inches tonight. I am going to bring my truck in and put the plow on today just to be ready. I hope its not just 3 inches in the morning. I guess I am ready to plow some snow and get things rolling here. I put a little facebook tag just above this and if it works the way I think it will you should be able to click it and post it to your facebook profile to help share the message of Sledheads trail conditions. I will try it out right after I post this. People are trickeling in to get trail permits and so far there have only been 6 sleds in so far since the snow hit. I talked to Bob over at the Swamp last night and he and his girls are ready for the rush. He told me a funny story that happened to him this summer. He rode his Harley to alaska and was setting up his tent in a campground in Valdez. The guy that owns the campgrounds came by and they were talking and he said he had his business in frederic. The guy then says to him "Do you know Pete?" ......Jeff is the guy that owns the campground there and I met him 10 years ago and then he came here to visit in Frederic once.....It sure is a small world. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Monday December 7, 2009 10:00 a.m. Its 23 degrees in frederic and we only have had a skiff of new snow since yesterday. So I would still say the total on the ground is 4 inches...I didnt see any other sleds yesterday and I looked at the trail along m 93 last night on my way home and this morning too and there have been no sleds out that way. Like I said yesterday this snow has brought out a few sleds but its still a little early. I talked to Joe Charlevoix the weather man and he is saying things are going to turn our way with a winter storm coming our way for wednesday. I am way more than o.k. with that so if that happens I would expect more people out and about this coming weekend for a ride.....I wore my Mo MO Nah Chee Chee Nah shirt today just to try to stay in the right spirit.....so keep up the snow chants....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday Afternoon 2:00 p.m. The first sleds of the season came riding in about a half hour ago, here is the video To see first sleds of the 09 10 sled season click here Sunday morning 10:30 a.m. I just got here to frederic a few minutes ago and I have to say it was a winter picture perfect drive on the way up here. Roads are covered and slick and the trees are heavy and covered with snow. I just measured the snow on the picnic table that you can see along side the building on the webcam and there is an even 4 inches on it...I sure would think that someone will be out on a sled in this today......I thought I just saw the first sled out front and it was a four wheeler......thanks for checking in. Pete Sunday December 6, 2009 9:00 a.m. Its a beautiful snowy morning here at Lake Margrethe and we have about an inch and a half of new snow overnight. Its fluffy stuff so it looks good but is no good for riding. The flakes have been going from big ones to small ones but they are still coming down. There were a few people into the shop in frederic yesterday and I sold the first five trail permits of the season. A couple people had sleds on trailers and were looking for a place to ride. One guy told me that he saw tracks up by gaylord but there was no one in frederic that I saw. I also was told that Cheboygan had about 8 inches on the ground there. The wait is still on but it looks like its supposed to stay cold and snow most of the week so maybe by next weekend things can get going. I am going to go up to the shop and be there for a while today just to see what happens plus I have a bunch of helmets to put out.....If you are looking for a new helmet this year I got a great deal on modular helmets,,,regular price $239 and I am selling them for $139, they have the flip down fighter pilot lens in them too......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday December 5, 2009 10:20 a.m. Still just a skiff maybe a quarter to half inch of fluff on the ground here in frederic. According to t.v. last night the tip of the mit and north of us was supposed to get 1 to 2 feet of snow but I havent heard anything for sure on that. At least its staying cool enough to start firming up the ground. So the wait is still on and everybodys getting itchy to ride. I have had calls from a few people that are sure from what they here downstate that its time to ride here and they sound so disapointed when I tell them its not. I talked to Bruce who owns the Gay Bar up in the Keewanaw Pennisula yesterday and he said they only had about 5 or 6 inches so far. I just did him up a batch of Gay Bar shirts so if you ride up there stop in and see him. Its been about 10 years since I have been up that far, its about 375 miles from Frederic. The first time I went up there I was amazed that Michigan is really that big. Its like a whole new world there. Thats about it for today so thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday December 4, 2009 10:30 a.m. It about 25 degrees out in frederic this morning with about a quarter inch of new snow that makes it all white outside right now. Still not enough to ride by a long ways. I had a call yesterday from Dan of the Detroit Diesel Boys and he had told me that he had trouble getting on the web cam and I have had a couple other calls from people that said they had the same probelem. Even my computer at home had been giving me a hard time about getting on it. Dan called the software company for the camera and finally after 2 years got his to work and he walked me thru it and I got my camera at home working too.....I have xp at home and I believe Dan is using Vista.... If you are having a problem getting on go to the page where the camera is supposed to come up and you will see this number at the top, http://66.255.212.166/ go ahead and change it to this http://66.255.212.166:5550/ if that doesnt work than you will need to change some settings in your security under internet options. Call me if you need help and I will walk you thru it. The big camera is still out for repair but there are 2 other outside cameras pointing towards the back of the shop and one working inside so you can tell if I am working or sleeping....... Went out to the woods again yesterday with my bow at my property and I am still at zero for spotting a deer there all season...now with the little bit of snow they might be easier to see. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday December 3, 2009 9:30 a.m. Coming at you this morning from my desk at the Century 21 office in grayling as we have our weekly meetings on thursday morning. The roads are wet with skiffs of snow in the air and a little white here and there in the grass this morning. Still a long ways to go to be able to ride. If you are bored and want to see snow out west my friends called me from Sturgis South Dakota yesterday to tell me it was snowing and I checked out the webcam that where you can see 2 different views of downtown sturgis and a one view each of rapid city and deadwood. Roger rode his 4 wheeler downtown with his plow on it and pushed some snow which I watched him do. Those cameras refresh about every 15 seconds but if you want to check it out here is a link.... To see the Sturgis South Dakota web cam Click Here Keep up the snow chants. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------- Wednesday December 2, 2009 10:00 a.m. There isnt much to say besides there is no snow....if you want to day dream you can scroll down to the bottom of this page and read my report from last year at this time and you will see we had great snow. I am going to post the video from last year below this just to make everybody feel better till the snow finally does get here. Just talked to my friend Denny who is heading up into the Black HIlls in South Dakota to see what the snow is like up there......Thanks for checking in. Pete To see last years Frederic on Dec 1, 2008 video Click Here ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday December 1, 2009 11:10 a.m. Its sunny and snowy here in frederic on this opening day of the 2009-2010 riding season. There is a skiff of snow on the ground but I would imagine it is going to dissapear as its supposed to hit 45 today. I talked to Diane up at the Starvation Lake Store and she said they had 2 inches on the ground and that the roads had been salted this morning. Still quite a ways to go before there is any riding. We need alot of cold to firm things up and its supposed to start turning colder tommorow along with some lake effect so only time will tell and the snow chants should help. I did a video which I will post a link to under here. Thanks for checking in. Pete To see Frederic on Dec 1, 2009 Click Here ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday November 29, 2009 3:00 p.m. Only 2 days till the trails open and there is no sign of any snow accumulation coming yet. It is supposed to cool down a bit but we need it to do it alot to help. We made it home from kzoo yesterday afternoon after a nice Thanksgiving dinner where we had the whole family together for the first time in a long time. After we got home I headed up to frederic to retrieve all our christmas decorations. We never put any up outside last year because there was to much snow to do it but its perfect for putting them up outside this year. I only wish I had the plow on the truck and was ready for riders to come in on tuesday. I wlll post a video of what frederic looks like on tuesday but I am afraid it wont be to exciting. My friend Denny headed west this morning to south dakota to do some work at his buildings in Sturgis and I kind of wish I went with him as I know they have snow up in the Black Hills outside sturgis. We did go riding out there one year and it was certainly alot of fun as we rode thru what they call the grand canyon from south dakota into wyoming. Well so much for day dreaming I will just have to live with Grayling and Frederic. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday Night November 25, 2009 11:00 p.m. Its been a dreary day and night and soon it will be Thanksgiving. Just wanted to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving and I think its about time to kick in the snow chants as we are going to need a kick start to get this season rolling. We are heading off for Kzoo for a family get toegether. So thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Monday November 23, 2009 9:05 a.m. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page and read the updates from last year at this time you will see that we were blessed with the white snow that we all crave. So far this year its not looking to good. Its a mild morning here in the 40s in frederic and it looks like maybe some wet slushy stuff coming by the end of the week and considering the trails officially open next tuesday only 8 short days away it would take alot of cold and white to get things in order. We had a nice family outing in here on saturday with all 4 of us working in here including the beagle as we got out the new goodies for this year. I still have a pile of helmets to come in but I think we are ready for when it is finally time. I wish I had some better news for you but thats the way it goes.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Thursday November 19, 2009 9:00 am. In looking back at last years update we had snow at this time and so far there is no snow in the forcast for at least the next week and we are zeroing in on Dec 1. Last year was the first year in a long time that we had snow at the start of the season and it really lasted the whole season which was great, so the big question is what will this winter bring us and when? The girls and I are going to be working in the shop all day saturday putting out all the new merchandise and getting things in order for when we do get snow. I always am a bit nervous about getting all the new stuff in and then being able to sell it and pay the bills or not paying the bills and heading for the spam line...so far in 13 seasons it always seems to work itself out. So I will keep you posted on when we get snow and what is happening here. I still dont have my new and improved webcam bracket back but hope to see that soon along with a repaired camera.....I spent 6 days at the cabin in wellston and only saw the flash of one tail of one deer, but it was a nice relaxing time there. That makes the third year in a row that I have been skunked hunting down there.....I will still be trying here with my bow as I know Big Don is still out there somewhere. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Friday November 13, 2009 12:50 p.m. Its a nice sunny day here in Wellston and it didnt take me to long to work my way down here to the library even though I slept so great at the cabin that I didnt get up till almost noon.....wow that felt great but I cant believe I have wasted half the sleeping. You know I cant go anywhere without trying to make a buck so yesterday I printed up a bunch of t shirts for the buck pole here in wellston and I just stopped and sold them to the people in charge. It was kind of a roll of the dice as I never asked them ahead of time but my feeling was right and they bought them. Also I have had 2 inquiries on the 20 acre parcels that I wrote about on here yesterday so I sent out the info on those...so now I am off and back to the cabin so I can get in some bowhunting before the whole day is shot. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday November 12, 2009 2:40 p.m. The week has flown by again and I cant believe that I have been so far removed from the sledding world in the past week or so...I just realized today that last week was the Novi snow show and I only found that out because I ran into a friend that is a vendor who was passing thru grayling this morning on his way to the Green Bay Wi, snow show. As in the past couple years he said the show seems to be getting smaller as the vendors drop out because of outrageous rental space prices and less attendance...I am sure glad I quit going to those. Its been a nice few days gone by and the hunters are going to start pouring into town. I am heading for wellston for the weekend and hope to plop myself in the cabin or out in the woods for most of that. Heading out with my bow on tommorow and saturday and then will try the rifle on sunday, but I still have my good book to read to pass the time...If its raining I will just stoke up the fire in the cabin and watch the drops fall...Its always so peaceful there. There are a couple good deals if anybody is looking for cabins with 20 acres up here that are available on good terms with a land contract.....With financing being so tough more sellers are turning to selling their properties on a land contract so they can at least move on....Thats about it for now and thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday November 6, 2009 2:40 p.m.. Its been a half way nice day in frederic and I just got in from taking down the webcam.... If you have looked at it lately you will have noticed it hasnt been focused right and the zoom hasnt worked so I figured I better get on that. I talked to Dan the Man our web cam advisor so I am going to try cleaning it and seeing if I can get it up and going before I send it on for service. We also took the bracket down because ever since we put it up I wished it was just a few feet higher to be able to zoom in better on the swamp so I need to get some work done on that.....Now as long as I can get it back together before the snow flies for good. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday November 3, 2009 7:45 a.m. There is snow on the cars and roofs this morning at Lake Margrethe, its a wet slushy snow but it is white. Less than a month till the trails open and yesterday the groomer actually drove by the shop in frederic on the road....I dont know what it was doing but it was out and Cathy spotted it out on the trail along m 93 one day last week, I would guess they are making sure the trails are cleared. I have been waiting all of September and October for Indian Summer to hit but I guess I finally thru in the towel as I pulled the pontoon out on sunday, actually sunday was pretty nice and calm on the lake compared to what we have had so I did get a quick last ride out there. The colors here are pretty much gone but I have to say Bois Blanc Island is at its peak with absolutely stunning color there. That was a nice thing to see.....So I need to head off for frederic where I finally turned the heat on in there yesterday too. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday Afternoon October 30, 2009 4:00 p.m. Its a dreary rainy day again in frederic. The kids halloween parade got called off in town. I made it back from the island last night about 8, what a great trip and I cant wait to go back,,,I will write more on it later as now I am heading off for wellston to get our cabin ready for rifle season...... On a sadder note in snowmobile news, Chris Hasty from Total Powersports in Gaylord was killed eariler this week in a plane crash along with his friend Dr. Pat Macnamara up near Vanderbilt. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday Morning October 27,2009 5:00 a.m. My truck is packed full with my tent and supplies and I am heading for Cheboygan in just a little while. The ferry leaves the dock at 8:00 a.m. and it takes 40 minutes to get across to Bois Blanc Island. I plan on heading to the north side of the island to camp but will have to feel things out when I get there. I know my phone works on the south end of the island but I am not sure about up on the north end unless it can grab a signal from mackinaw island.... I am going to try to post onto my facebook under my name or on the Sledheads of Frederic group. I have tried before to update this page from my phone but it wont work. So anyways I am pretty hyped up about this and the weather outlook is good...I would love to take the beagle with me but she wouldnt like being tied up while I am gone from camp all day and I dont think letting her be with me in the woods would bring me Big Don....Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------- Monday October 26, 2009 11:00 a.m. Still cloudy, dreary and rainy here in frederic, Its been raining for about a week straight. It looks like a break in the weather is going to finally come tommorow which means I still hope to set sail for Bois Blanc Island......Yesterday morning I got my first round of duck hunting in out on Lake Margrethe and there were 4 of us and we landed 2 ducks...it was a nice quiet calm morning out on the water and a little to nice for being out there. Maybe Indian Summer will be here this friday as I have heard a prediction of 71 for then so then the last pontoon cruise of the season will happen. I just had a phone call from a lady I met last month at the midland car show. She had ordered some t shirts from me. They were in memory shirts for her son who was killed in Iraq this summer. I have to tell you it was pretty hard in just talking with her about him and just doing this job for her. Just in meeting her and seeing the actual effect the loss of a loved ones soldier has on their family really made me see this whole war ordeal in a more meaningful way. That is one soldier who will stay in my memory for a long time. His name was Sgt. Timothy David. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------ Saturday 11:40 well that didnt work to well as it kept refreshing my page, I will have to check that out. Saturday October 24, 2009 11:30 am. Once again I am suprised at 1600 hits since last night. I have been working on setting up this facebook page for sledheads and I think I have it. I am going to put a widget above this that should take you to it if you are registered on facebook and if your not its easy to do and you will be amazed at the people that you know from a lifetime ago get back in contact with you. I have talked to quite a few people that I went to elementary school with that I havent heard from in years so thats kind of fun. I will post this and we can see what happens.... Friday Night October 23, 2009 11:20 p.m. ONE MILLION HITS!! I have to say I am amazed that this happened tonight. This morning the counter was at 998,400 so I figured it would be a few days yet till this hit. There must have been a bunch of you watching so still let me have your stories. I got the first email @11>03 from Bryan Robson saying that he was number 999,999 and he reclicked to get a million and it came up at 1,000,001 which meant that he lost out to the next email that I got at 11:05 from David Prenger aka Buckeye Dave with a picture at the 1,000,000 mark. So a big CONGRATULATIONS TO BUCKEYE DAVE, he gets the prize package of a night at the Grayling Ramada Inn, A fifty dollar gift certificate to Canadian Steak and Fish, 2 fish dinners at Spikes Keg O Nails and the one millionth visitor Sledheads hat and sweatshirt. It took 4 years to get to this averaging about 250 thousand a year since we put the counter on. Seeing that I have been doing this page now since 1997 I know many of you have been following since the start. I would like to hear from those of you that have been with me that long. Now since I have been typing this I have had an email from Chirs Horn that hit at a million and ten and from Kevin Logan who came in at a million and nineteen. Its now 11:33 and I imagine there will be a few more tonight. Now that we have past the millionth mark I have set up a new group site for sledheads in face book for those of you on there. If you search facebook for sledheads of frederic you should find it and join. I am also going to set up a page for it on facebook.....So for now I am gonna go out for a bit but will put another update on later tommorow afternoon. Thanks for your support and reading my ramblings. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday Morning October 23, 2009 10:20 a.m. Its still raining for about the 4th day straight, to bad it wasnt snow. The past couple days have been a bit scary for me here as my shop computer crashed and that pretty much made me feel a bit empty with no working computer here. I live on this thing and luckily my friend was able to save all the info out of it and get me up and running again. All my real estate info and signs jobs and info along with t shirt info is in here....I am going to go buy a external hard drive later and back up all my computers on to that....I do have some back ups from this one but about 6 months old.....so go back up your files before it happens to you..I had alot of pictures in here too and thank goodness they are all still here. So I see the counter took a big jump and it wont be to long now...I will be waiting for the picture for the proof......send it to sledhead@frederic-mi.com Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday Night October 21, 2009 10:50 p.m. Today was a rainy ugly day all day in both grayling and frederic, I decided to stay home and not do Bois Blanc Island because the rain forcast is rain for about 8 days straight and I didnt think being wet in a tent sounded like alot of fun. I had another email today from the MSA about an executive order that Jenny signed about taking out the snowmobile trails advisory committe. I dont know to much about that but the MSA is working on getting that turned around. It just sounds like a bad blow to snowmobilers from our dear govenor. Hope fully that gets turned around to where it should be. There seemed to be some action on it in Lansing today. On the other hand as proud parents we were at the school last night and Melissa was inducted into the National Honor Society.........Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Monday October 19, 2009 10:30 a.m. Its partly sunny this morning in frederic. I actually started an update on friday and had most of it written when my computer shut down on me...but the good news is that there hasnt been to much exciting going on. I think the colors around here are past their peak now so its time to get the leaves off the trees. I still have the pontoon in the lake as I am waiting for Indian Summer to take one more cruise. I am cleaning out my truck today and packing up and if all goes right going to Bois Blanc Island this week for a few days of bowhunting and camping. I am really looking forward to that. So with that I guess thats about all I have to say for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------ Sunday Morning October 11, 2009 8:50 a.m. Its a cool 30 degrees here at Lake Margrethe this morning. Yesterday afternoon about 5 we had our first traces of snow for the season. I was outside talking to my nieghbor and it was raining and snowing at the same time and it didnt even hit me at first that it was snowing, not till Cathy came out and said hey its snowing....on the news at 11 they showed many other spots that had some snowfall too. We were in frederic about 10 and there were many cars at the swamp that had a good amount of frost on them...it looks like the winter is starting off with just a little teaser. We woke up this morning to the sound of gun shots echoing from across the lakes as the duck hunters are out there trying their luck.....One quick funny story, I got home yesterday and there were 2 signs on the corner across from my house, I dont normally get upset over anything but those signs had me fuming and I was going to pull them out. They read "American Abortionist, No job to Big or Small" with a guy named Larry and his number on it....First of all I couldnt believe those were on my corner. As I got over there to pull them out I read it again and realized that it said "American Arborist"......I have since then met Larry and told him and he is considering changing the name to American Tree Service.......I talked to a couple other people that thought the sign said the same thing......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Friday night October 9, 2009 11:30 p.m. Colors are at about their peak right now around frederic. I drove up to gaylord on both wednesday and thursday and up thru I75 the colors were beautiful. Its gettting colder and there are predictions for our first wintery mix to hit us tommorow night. Not to much exciting happening in frederic and I am probably going to have to start getting the shop ready for the season. The first day of bow season I saw 3 bucks and 11 deer altogether but couldnt get a shot at any. I did get 2 shots at the same deer last night but as usual I had clean misses and probably cut an earthworm in half as my arrow speared the ground. I did see a truck and trailer with 2 sleds going thru town today. I also need to get on the main webcam and get the focusing issue taken care of with that. I think there is a broken wire on it, right now its pretty hard to get a clear shot of what it is looking at. My friend Roger in south dakota said that he actually saw me working on the webcam the other day and he says that they are expecting their first snow any day. He lives in Sturgis and just 11 miles out of town you can get into some great black hills sledding which I have only got the thrill of doing one time but need to do it again. I listed a house last week just outside of frederic on 45 acres, its a huge log place with about 4500 sqare feet and a big bar downstairs with room in the yard for a landing strip.....if any of you want a big place up north with lots of room for sleds and planes just send up a check for $648,000 and I will fix you right up. There is a place in gaylord at the airport offering fall color tour plane rides for 25 dollars and I think I am going to have to do that. I still have the pontoon in the lake but I am waiting on indian summer for a chance at another cruise out there. Hopefully I will get to go to Bois Blanc Island in a couple weeks for a few days of bowhunting and that is probably when indian summer will be.....Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday Night September 30, 2009 10:10 p.m. The time just seems to fly by way to fast with to many things I want to do and not enough time to squeeze them in, but in less than 9 hours I will have my chubbiness setting in a hollow out in the woods on the way to another year in my quest for the elusive white tail known as Big Don. Heading out with Rob, Mo and Jeff in the morning to see if its possible to let an arrow fly at Big Don, and just in case that doesnt happen I have a couple of good books and enough clothes to make a comfy pillow and take a nap. Its supposed to be 20 degrees in the morning so I will have to keep from freezing first before nap time. I spent most of today cutting down corn in the garden and we have about 3/4 of it cut down and getting ready to turn it back into a parking lot. Cathy and I went up and picked the last of the pumpkins tonight to keep them from freezing. This coming weekend is the Harvest Fest in grayling so I am going to be down there trying to sell off the corn stalks......Now in the way of sledding news I did see a truck and trailer with 2 sleds on it over at the swamp today. I also read an article about something that I would consider a pretty bad idea for a sled....one of the requirements before you buy this product is that you have reverse on your sled and if you do then you might be interested in buying this genuine made for your snowmobile snow plow......I bet those will go over like a Nordic on a quarter inch of ice.....I see the counter is up to 990,000 working its way to the million mark,,,,,if you read back a ways or are a regular you know what I mean. I am not saying anymore than that as I want the lucky one to be a regular.........Thanks for checking in and I hope I can shoot straight......Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday September 24,2009 7:30 a.m. Sitting here at the Days Inn on Plymouth road in Livonia. Had a great day of just checking things out yesterday with the first stop to see Brimley Bob at his restaurant Dukes of Highland in Highland. Had lunch there and then off to the cemetary for a visit with Frank Scott......Headed in 8 mile to woodward and took that to downtown where I unloaded my bicycle and explored the motor city by bike...rode along the river and checked out Hart Plaza the GM building and the Detroit Princess dinner cruise boat. People think that downtown Grayling has empty businesses but its amazing how many boarded up places there are in this big city. I went and looked at the old Detroit Free Press building that I had been to many times as a paper boy and that is all dilapitated and empty. On the other hand the old Book Cadillac has been restored and reopened as The Westin and is first class all the way.....It was time to head out and it seemed that I had forgot where I parked my truck. It took me circling quite a few blocks to find it but in that process I passed a place called Henry the Hatters which made a light go off in my head...In my years of collecting Fred Bear goodies I thought I had heard that name so I went in there. They have been in business since 1893 and Paul that runs it has pictures of many old timers that have been their customers thru the years.....2 I saw on the wall were pics of Joe Louis and Kid Rock and he said yes that Fred Bear bought his famous Borsalino hats there.....had a nice talk with Paul and was off and finally found my truck and put more money in the meter and off for a ride thru Greek Town which I think has slid downhill and over to the eastern market....I was up and down some kind of spooky alleys but I like looking at that kind of stuff. Stopped at the Fox theatre and then circled the Ford Field and Comerica Park.....you can see so much more on the bike like that......So now time to go to work and hit the Century 21 conference....Real Estate in Grayling has still been very slow but I will see what I can learn today. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday September 23, 2009 8:20 a.m. Its a warm drizzly morning here at Lake Margrethe. Rain for the first time in a few weeks which has been good......This past weekend was the firemens memorial down in roscommon and I saw quite a few sledders while down there. A nice weekend for a big get together. I have had several letters about mount frederic and of course everyone is disappointed about it. I still havent gone out there myself to see it yet. Most of the corn is picked out of the garden now and now its time to start bundling corn stalks. I am on my way to the motor city later this morning and hope to do a little bicycyle riding around downtown there...of course I will have to make a pit stop at the coney islands down there....years ago when I worked road construction in detroit we stayed in Dearborn and would drive in michigan ave. every morning. I would try to hit a different coney place every day as there are lots of them. I am really going down there for a Century 21 conference which is in Livonia tommorow which also gives me a chance to go to the cemetary in Livonia to visit my friend Frank Scott who has already been there almost 9 years.....boy time flies by fast.....maybe I can throw an update on from the motel in the morning....Thanks for checking in. Pete Share ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday Night September 15, 2009 10:35 p.m. Here in frederic trying to get some last minute work done and getting ready for the firemens memorial that I will be at this weekend. The beagle and I will be camping out back here again tonight next to the corn field......We have had some great nights sleeping out there as weather has been perfect for it. Since I started picking and selling corn last week many people around town have asked me where i am getting the corn. They dont believe that I grew it in frederic and even a few frederic people have been in to say that they tried to grow corn this year and didnt get any. I have to say I have ate alot of it since last week and I am not even half thru picking the field.....I sure didnt do this for the money as it is alot of work for not alot of return and even though it was my girls idea for the garden they are in school now so I am the lucky one to do the work. On this saturday 6 of us from Grayling went on down to US 131 Motor Sports Park in Martin for the funny car nationals...thats the first time in years I have been there and it was great watching some serious horsepower put to the pavement. Along with the funny cars there was a triple jet engine truck that ran and a top fuel funny car that ran 3.79 in the quarter mile @ 312mph..............he didnt get stopped quick enough and ended up in the sand trap but a great afternoon and evening of entertainment. I took alot of video but dont know if I will get time to get it put together..... Had a nice letter from a regular reader Big Ken who I havent heard from in a while but he said he would love to see me do sled trip to Alaska and would start the fund raising by donating $500... Boy I would love to do that trip but it would be awful hard to be away from here in the winter for almost a whole month...I have to say it has me thinking though.....20 days at 200 miles per day and then I would have to jump a plane and get back here.....a trip of a lifetime but I have to still say no at this time.....Thanks for the offer Big Ken..........Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday Night September 10, 2009 11:00 p.m. Here I am still in frederic and working on some signs. I have been camped out here the past 3 nights in my tent with the beagle as we are keeping an eye on the corn field...the beagle is a good one to let me know when someone is out there.....we started picking corn a few days ago and I have to say there are much easier ways to try to make a few bucks even though that wasnt my intention when we started as it was my girls that wanted a garden...but I cant let it go to waste....Now that ists fall I have some bad news for frederic, Mount Frederic has been closed off by guard rails on it and it will be posted with no orv or snowmobiles signs....the end of another great fun spot.... I believe it goes back to last winter when the kids got hurt sledding on the hill and were with a group from gaylord,,,then later on in the year a young child drowned in otsego lake with the same group and I think thats what put the end to the hill......Now last weekend I did my normal trip down the pine river with my friends from Rockford and spent the weekend in Wellston. I drove my hotrod down there and it turned out there was a car show in hoxeyville at Coyote Crossings which is just south of Cabrafe....the greatest part about that is the guy that was putting on the show is also organizing a sled ride that starts this February in Soo St. Marie and is supposed to end 20 days later in Tok Alaska.....now boy would I love that ride... It is going to be a fund raiser for Diabetes. I did a video interview with Bill which I will get posted here in the near future but if anyone is ready for the ride of a lifetime you can check out the website for the ride and get signed up. They are planning on covering 200 miles a day for 20 days and I only wish I could both afford the trip plus a month away....The website you will have to paste this in your browser is www.michcanska.com Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday September 1, 2009 8:20 a.m. Its a sunny and cool 33 degrees in frederic this morning. Its the second day in a row where there has just barely been frost here and that isnt good for the corn. Hopefully it has made it thru......I found out yesterday that the trails this year are going to be the best we have ever had...how do I know that you say? Well I found out that this years trail permits are $35 each so that can only translate into better trails.......I guess we will just have to wait and see. If the cold continues into the winter the way it has been all this supposed summer we should have a great winter. Going down to CMU this afternoon to have a tour of the campus for when Melissa graduates.......Only 90 days till the trails open........Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Afternoon August 27, 2009 Here is my latest video of the Old 27 car tour, this is the segment from houghton lake to grayling.....just posted it this morning. Going to have another one in the next few days of the grayling to cheboygan segment that I recorded here in front of Sledheads Click here to see the Old 27 Car tour video part 1 ------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday August 26, 2009 Noon thirty Downtown frederic is cool and sunny today. I dont think I mentioned that the gas station here had an armed robbery a couple weeks ago.....3 a.m. and somebody with a big knife did it......not to swift. The corn cam is up and running thanks to Ohio Brian who sent me the things needed to do it...if you go to the camera site while you are logged on click on the bottom of the screen where it shows 4 screens and one of them will be the corn cam....its getting close to picking time....I went on the old 27 car tour last weekend. It started down in Auburn Indiana and they cruised the whole length of old 27 to Cheboygan and then back down to Alpena and Tawas on the way back. About 200 classic cars and hot rods....pretty fun time. You can check out the web site at www.old27tour.com ....I have a couple youtube videos of it that I will be posting. The one that is going on tonight is the cruise where I hooked up with them in Houghton lake to Grayling... Also my domain for www.frederic-mi.com expired last week and I have had calls about not being able to get on.... I have renewed that but www.SledheadsUSA.com still works fine. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday night 8:45 p.m. I just got word tonight that I have one more addition to the prize package, its one night at the Grayling Ramada Inn....... Monday August 17, 2009 11:22 a.m. We have finally had summer days here. Spent the last 5 days on the pontoon and that has been nice but I think we are switching back to cooler weather. The corn is coming along out back and I have a video clip of that to put on. I was pretty dissapointed when I saw the last 2 sturgis videos, I think somehow I had turned the resolution down on the camera and they were pretty blurry. The hit counter is still getting closer to the one million mark where I have been gathering things for the lucky 1 millionth person....whoever shows me a picture of their counter on or closest to the millionth hit gets the goodies....$50 gift certificate to Canadian Steak and Fish, 2 fish dinners from Spikes Keg O Nails, 1 millionth hit Sledheads hat and sweatshirt and I am pretty sure I have a one night motel stay coming too Here is the video clip on the corn garden......and thankfully its raining again now too... Click here to see the Sledheads Family Corn Garden Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday August 4, 2009 11:45 a.m. Back here in good old Frederic and its just a bit slower paced than Sturgis. A long 1300 mile drive home and I made it back about 6 last night. If I can get a computer that will work for me with videos I can put a last short video together. On the way home we stayed with a pack of 6 hells angels from massachusetts as they rode their way back home and I got some clips of them as we passed back and forth. Took a different route home thru Iowa which was great for 2 reasons. We had been driving and it was up to 3 am and I couldnt go anymore so we pulled off the highway and ended up in a wal mart parking lot for what I hoped would be an hour nap or so....five hours later I woke up but then thought about my friend Hannah that I knew lived somewhere in Idaho so I texted her as I didnt know if she would be up yet...she wrote me right back and asked where I was where I didnt have a clue. I went in a gas station and I asked and sent it back to her and she said I was only 3 miles from her house.....She came and met my brother and I for breakfast at a Perkins one exit down......I would say that was pretty good timing for a stop as I hadnt seen her in 4 years. You may remember her from a story that is listed under my adventures of Pete the Greek from Nederland Colorado in 2005........so after a nice visit with her we were off again towards kzoo.......the second great part of that Iowa route is that you only hit 1 toll booth verses 9 plus you dont have to go thru Chicago....So thats about it for the trip home story but in going back to saturday and satuday night in Sturgis.....Best Buy had a big display up their of some new technologys that are coming out. I am not one for playing computer games but this fall they have a new item coming out for play games. It fits on your head and has several probes on it and thats it. But the really cool part is that it is for playing the computer games and this thing reads your brain waves and that it how you control the game. How it does it is beyong me but it seems pretty wild to me. They also had info on a new barcoding system developed by microsoft in which you download an app to your phone which I did. When you see one of these new barcodes which look very diferent from regular barcodes you walk up to it with your phone and take a picture thru the app and it instantly takes you to the companies website with all the info about the item you are looking at. It can be used for both retail and wholesale.....Then one more thing they had was the newest big flat screen that is only 1 inch thick........So those things were pretty neat to see.....on to Saturday night and all I can say is it reminded me of a couple country songs...one about I aint never had to much fun and the other one about their is one in every crowd where they are the life of the party......Even the band put me up on stage with them......but then sunday morning came and we had to pack up to head out....... So back to real life in Frederic and back to work. Thanks for following along. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Sunday August 2, 2009 8:30 a.m. Darn, I have to head out of here just when things are kicking in. Off for Grayling in a little while. The town was packed yesterday and will continue to build thru next sunday. Went for a ride up on the big hill where Sturgis is up on the mountain and even with it only being a half mile from town you couldnt hear any noise and commotion from down below when we were up there plus we saw 2 deer. I broke out my body web last night and walked around a bit with it...What a blast that was, I bet I had no less than 300 pictures taken with people last night plus I was getting tips to boot......Here is the Sturgis Round 3 video. Thanks for checking in. Pete Click here to see Sturgis 2009 round 3video -------------------------------- Saturday Afternoon Here is a link to webcams both street and sidewalk for Sturgis and Deadwood. I cant believe that for as big an event as this is that they dont have full motion video and sound so my project for next rally is to get him set up like we have in frederic but with sound...... Click here to see Sturgis & Deadwood webcams Saturday AUgust 1, 2009 Noon The streets are closed to car traffic now and are all motorcycles with the sidewalks being packed with people. I saw the blond haired guy from the food network riding by....here is video from yesterday Click here to see Sturgis 2009 round 2 video ------------------------------------------------------ Friday Afternoon July 31, 2009 2:40 p.m. Its been cloudy windy and cool in Sturgis today. I cant believe how much time I put into trying to figure out how to get a video onto youtube with this laptop which runs on vista......then I let it automatically set up the clips which cut out alot but you can get the jist of it....I rode my bicycle downill 9 miles back into Sturgis from Deadwood, that was a great ride and I think I need to do it again.....here is the clip.. Click here to see Sturgis 2009 video ----------------------------------------------- Thursday July 30, 2009 6:00 p.m. The day has flown by here in sturgis today, been putting up signs and doing plumbing in the building for Denny. Just finally went out for a bicycle ride around town. Have been shooting video today and will try to put a video together for youtube. I ran in to Rupert from survivor walking down the street so I got some video of him. For those of you who are bikers that go to Daytona or know of Bruce Rossemeyers Destination Daytona which is a huge attraction for Daytona, Bruce was killed in a bike accident on the way here today......Last night Alex and I went for a ride up to Spearfish and had a great dinner up there and then came back to town to check things out around here. Still mostly everywhere getting set up and we hit the Buffalo Chip, Full Throttle Saloon, Monkey Rocks, Loud and Proud American Cafe and One Eyed Jacks..... everyone just getting revved up for the crowds.....Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------ Wednesday afternoon July 29,2009 5:20 p..m. Sturgis Time Coming at you from my buddy Dennys office on Main street in Sturgis South Dakota, the town is buzzing with motorcycles and vendors getting set up for the rally which starts officially on friday. It was about a 25 and a half hour drive and 1300 miles from Grayling to here. I stopped in Kzoo and picked up my brother Alex who rode out here with me. Him and I are bikers too. We have our bicycles on the rack on the back of the van.....thats the best way to get around town here when its busy. I have been working on the signs that I have to put up here which was the main reason for my trip out here. Not staying to long and I am bummed about that because next week at the Buffalo Chip Campground their entertainment one night is Cheech and Chong....who knows where they dug them up from. Lots of big name entertainment going on around town in the next week. I will try to upload a couple youtube videos too.....On the way here we did see on accident where a guy with a full dress Harley was pulling a little trailer with a plate on the back said Hog Tied. I think the car in front of him cut him off and the bike really went down hard on the top side. I didnt see the guy but if he made it he would be awful lucky. I will check the Rapid City paper tommorow for that. Just like sledding there are always alot of fatalited when you get a big group together like this.....Thanks for checking in. I will be on again tommorow some time. I need to see if there are any webcams around town. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday night July 27,2009 10:30 p.m. We made it thru the big canoe marathon weekend in Grayling. The rain was on and off but for the most part the rain stopped for the import ant parts. The car show got rained on just a bit but still let off for the end and for the parade. The girls and I followed the canoe race down as far as McMasters bridge and they had fun picking up empties on the bridges. I put a new video on youtube today for the first time in months. Just a short clip of me and my friend Bob the sticker king doing a little sumo belly wrestling.......Click here to see Pete and Bob the Sticker King in some sumo action... I have been packing up and am heading off for south dakota tommorow for a few days in Sturgis. I have to put some signs and banners up at my short friend Dennys buildings on main street. I am taking my video camera and will post videos if I can or at least do some updates.......It should be fun....I see we are inching toward the one million mark on the counter....still figure it wont be till fall......the person who send me the picture with their counter closest to the one million mark will get a few goodies......Thanks for checking in......Pete --------------------------------------------------------------- Monday night July 20, 2009 10:00 p.m. Only one night since my last update . My daughter is selling some of her clothing on eBay, if you know a teenage girl who would be interested, please let them know or check it out! Copy and paste this url to see the list of items: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/mel4589_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_ipgZ Thanks,,,,,Pete Sunday July 19, 2009 10:00 p.m. Time sitll flying by this supposed summer. Its been so cool and dreary out it seems more like fall. Finally got back on the pontoon today for the first time since the 4th. Last week the girls and I made our annual trip thru the u.p. to Iola Wisconsin which was a fun trip as usual and stopping by Curtis to visit some friends on the way back thru. Been working on the corn garden more than I would like to but its coming along and I hope to still get the corn cam up and running yet. Its been so cool and very little rain that the corn growth is behind even though I have water going on it twice a day. I took the girls over Suttons Bay the other day and we went tubing on the Platte River, that was nice and the river was only knee deep and relativly warm. So a few ATVS riding thru Frederic today and yesteray. This coming weekend is the big canoe race in Grayling so that promises to be a fun filled weekend. In the twenty some years that I have been screen printing t shirts I have never had as many orders as I have had the past month or so....so thats good to keep me off the spam line....Real estate sales are still pretty slow with mostly the repo's moving first and then just a few regular non repo homes........So thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. ....Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 7, 2009 7:20 a.m. Its a cool cloudy morning here in frederic as the summer continues to fly by. Got here early trying to catch up on some work both inside and in the corn field......going back to my last update where we were waking up in the soo, we went on to follow the lake superior shore towards Brimley stopping at the point iriquois light house which was a pretty stop and then on to Paradise where we had lunch at the Yukon. Jim and Chris went on to whitefish point and we headed back to Grayling. This past saturday for the fourth was a perfect day out and we spent a nice time out on the lake where there were more boats out there than I have seen in a long time......around Frederic I havent seen to much in the way of ATVs but do see a few now and then. There has really been no effect on business here in Sledheads.......Getting things packed up for the Iola car show coming up in Wisconsin. If any of you know where Harley Daves is just about a mile north of Sledheads, his place burned to the ground a week or so ago taking 7 or 8 Harleys with it, not a good scene. The motorcycle rally in Sturgis South Dakota is only a few weeks away and I am making banners for my friends business out there. The Real Estate business has been slow but if anybody is looking for a house on Lake Margrethe there is a new listing and its priced right with 100 feet on the east shore of the lake and a 2100 square foot home with a 2 car garage with an upstairs for $389,000. If you are interested give me a call.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday June 28, 2009 7:30 a.m. Coming to you from the holiday inn express in rainy st. st. marie mich this morning. Cathy, Haley and I got in here late last night after leaving st ignace and going to visit friends Jim and Chris who are camped at the state park in Brimley. We had a nice cook out there and that campground there is very nice. I also went to check out Brimley Bobs place. He is a regular customer in Sledheads and owns a storage business in Brimley and a Bar in the Soo called the Bomb Shelter that I print his t shirts for.....It was late and I stopped in the bar for just a second to check it out as we still had not found a room and that was a tough thing to do last night. I was beginning to think we were going to have to drive back to st ignace. I left frederic along with my brother on friday afternoon. My brother does body work and brought me my new hood for my corvette which we put on and I drove that up to st ignace and he brought the bicycles with his truck..It was a nice drive up across the bridge and we cruised town and watched the down memory lane parade friday night. We stayed with my buddy Bob on his boat in the marina and then hit the car show saturday morning. Lots of people and cars and a great day. Linda Vaughn and John Schnieder who was Bo Duke on the dukes of hazard were the guests of honor at the show. I also ran into my friend the sticker King who also happens to be Bob and ened up helping him out some decals from his booth. Ran into a few Sledheads regulars too while being around town. They said they had about 1200 cars there. I left my car at a friends church and have to get it on the way back home today. Cathy and Haley drove up yesterday. So I am off to the pool and waiting for the girls to get up and then we are off for a little u.p. tour....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------ Wednesday Night June 24, 2009 11:50 p.m. Still hot outside and we had a great pontoon ride on the lake tonight along with a nice long swim and float out in the middle of the lake. I forgot to write earlier today that Linda from the Swamp Bar stopped by a couple days ago and was all excited. She wanted to tell me that her husband Bob was in Anchorage Alaska and had rode his Harley all the way there.......Darn that just makes me jealous......GO BOB>>>>>. Wednesday June 24, 2009 2:00 p.m. Its a hot 90 plus degrees in frederic today. I was out hoeing in the corn patch earlier, that will work some pounds off me....but I will have a way to go to catch my friend Chubby Roger who I guess I have to come up with a new nick name for......He told me he has lost 71 pounds and that I wont recognize him...I sure wouldnt want to lose it the way he has. I went down to kzoo and on to St Joe last weekend with the girls to an archery shoot. Friday night during a storm that we slept right thru the 100 by 200 vendor tent blew down and ruined alot of peoples merchandise. When I woke up at 8 a.m. people were just getting out to the tent and I woke the girls up to help where about 200 other people worked to get the tent emptied out. It looked like a tornado had gone thru........later that day the tent company came back and re erected the tent and from there on out it was a nice weekend. ON sunday when we were leaving we went on to Silver Beach on Lake Michigan for a nice swim. Hoping to head for the St Ignace Car show this weekend if the weather holds out. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------- Wednesday June 17, 2009 5:15 p.m. A nice heavy rainstorm just passed thru frederic a little while ago giving my corn garden a nice watering. The corn is up to about 4 inches which is alot shorter than corn that I saw in Kzoo last weekend.....Heading off to an archery show and shoot in Berrien Springs this weekend. Now on the business end of things there are maps posted online that show what roads are open and closed. I am posting the link next so you can click and print so you know where you can and can not ride...I have not seen any during the week orv traffic in frederic so far and havent heard of any being around the past couple weekends..... Click Here to see ORV maps for each Crawford County Township A regular reader from Kalkaska just stopped in to talk about my irrigation system on the corn garden....still waiting to hear from the Indiana Corn Farmer.......Thanks for checking in. Pete =-------------------------------------------------------------- Friday June 12, 2009 7:45 a.m. Coming at you this sunny morning from the west side of Kalamazoo. Melissa and I got here on wednesday night and we are down here trying to find her a car and seeing that my brother has a car lot we figured that was a good place to start. It rained hard all day yesteray so after car shopping we took my mom to the Air Zoo at the Kzoo airport. A pretty impressive display of aircraft from world war 1 to the current and they have free admission for the rest of the summer to boot. Another week plus has flew by in Frederic, I was there most of last saturday and never saw a 4 wheeler or dirt bike but we were working in the sledheads garden. The corn started to show thru after 2 weeks of being planted and is now up to about 3 inches tall. With about 4 days of straight rain last week that was a big help. Nothing else to exciitng that has happened around town that I can think of right now so we are off to check out some cars. Tommorow if its not raining I am going to go to the Vicksburg car show and sunday am going to attend a graduation party for a friends daughter here in kzoo....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------- Wednesday night June 3, 2009 10:00 p.m. Here I am at frederic late on a wednesday night. The days just arent long enough. It seems like I have been here to many nights late just trying to get things done. Tonights project when I got back here after dinner was to try to get water on the cornfield besides my other work to do in here. Shirt business and sign business has been very good lately, thank goodness. I shut the webcam down last night as the computer that runs it was making noise and I am going to take it apart and dust it as I think thats why it was getting noisy. I hope to get that done in the next few days and then I will put it back online. I checked yesterday befor I shut it down and saw that quite a few people had been on it that day. Headlines on this weeks grayling paper say that it is now legal to ride the orv's here....I am pasting the link to the paper below this and its the first story down the page....as of right now I have no plans to stay open regular hours for orv traffic, I am here most days but its gonna be hit and miss until I see what really happens with how many riders really come here......here is the link to the paper.... To read this weeks ORV story CLICK HERE Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday night May 30, 2009 11:25 p.m. Still here in midland camped out. Melissa and I and her friend Megan just came from the movies...DO NOT GO TO SEE....Drag Me to Hell. It is the worst and dumbest movie I have ever seen....I even asked for a refund when we left...what a waste of time.......and $8.50.....there I got that off my chest...good night... Saturday May 30, 2009 3:30 p.m. Sitting here at the car show in Midland and fending off the on again off again rain, which is nothing unusual for this show. It always rains here. Last night Haley and I went to the movie and saw Night at the Musuem 2.....i was pretty good and was pretty action packed, and we topped that off with a nice late night bicycle ride around the grounds here. All this rain should be great for the Sledheads Corn Garden and it shouldnt be to long till little sprouts start popping thru the ground Thats about it for today. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday May 28, 2009 10:00 a.m. After a couple of days seeing that last week on saturday I had 2 guys here with tractors and we plowed and tilled the back parking lot all up. From there Cathy, Haley, Melissa and I worked hard to stake it all off and then we planted it all with sweet corn. The girls wanted to plant corn this summer so this should be interesting at our first attempt at farming. I might move one of my cameras out over the back of the building so you can watch the corn grow on the webcam. We even thru in a few pumpkins and sunflowers. Seeing that this place used to be a junk yard years ago we also pulled out a couple tons of car parts out of the dirt. One of the frederic old timers stopped by and told me when he was a kid that the lot had cattle on it which is probably why when I had the soil tested that they said it was some of the best dirt in crawford county.......I put the pontoon in on saturday and we had a nice ride on sunday, memorial day was nice with me starting out at the service at the cematary and then Melissa and I did a canoe ride. Now on the orv issue, well I thought it was perfectly legal to ride this past weekend here this weeks paper says different. I did see 4 wheelers in town here this weekend and some over at the swamp and some at the gas station, not probably more than 10 but its a start and nobody was stopped that I know of. I will put a link to this weeks article on the orv ordinance below this. Also this morning I saw on the front page of the Gaylord Herald Times that Otsego county has opened up to the orvs too so if you search for Gaylord Herald Times you can probalby read that article. When you go to the grayling paper watch the pictures at the start of the page and you will see my daughter Melissa along with the other 2 girls from the Miss Marathon Pageant from a couple weeks ago, then the orv article is right below that......... To read this weeks ORV story CLICK HERE Wednesday night May 20 11:00 p.m. About 6:30 I left Sledheads and went up to the highway and drove north to waters. The fire was not as bad as first believed but it did burn about 5 acres all in the middle of the highway. It went thru alot of trees and grass and it was very lucky for as hard as the wind was blowing that it didnt jump the highway and head northest. When I drove thru they had just one lane north and south open with still alot of firetrucks there. So that sums up the excitement from Frederic this past afternoon. I still have not recieved anymore info on the orv dilema...... Wednesday May 20 4:00 p.m. FIRE,,,,,and traffic jam in frederic, check out the webcam, About an hour ago I got a call that there was a fire burning both sides of the highway at mile marker 265 which is 1 mile north of the frederic exit. The wind is blowing hard from the southwest which puts everything northeast in its path. Highway traffic is being rerouted thru town right now....will post again when I know more.... Wednesday May 20, 2009 1:15 p.m. Just got the phone call that said the ORV ordinance passed this morning at the commision meeting. There were some changes I guess from last week and I am supposed to get the list later today, I hope they can email it to me so I can post it on here. From what I understand both Maple Forest and Lovells Townships are off limits, and I thought it was just Grayling that made stupid decisions.......at least I believe they did the right thing this time. So it will be interesting to see what happens next. I will post more info as I get it. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday May 14, 2009 2:30 p.m. Cool, cloudy and windy here in frederic today. Its been a poor mushroom season for us at least. I went to the meeting tuesday night here at the frederic twp hall on the orv issue. They voted to go along with what road closures the county] suggested and the county commisioners are supposed to give their blessing on around the 20th. From the map they had on the wall well there are many open roads to ride on the shoulder at 25 mph, there are many that are open for a portion and then they are closed for a portion which is going to make it one big cluster you know what for those that are riding and not familiar with the roads. You can ride 612 east of frederic out about 5 miles and then its closed, you can not ride 612 west of frederic at all. I can see frustrated riders and maybe it will get smoothed out as time goes on. I have a 3 page list from the road commision on what is open or closed. I am going to call them so I can post it here rather than try to email it to everyone as it gets to time consuming for me. So I will make the call on that and try and post it here in the next couple days. We have been running at home alot and just the other day we realized we missed the beagles 6th birthday........Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------- Sunday May 10, 2009 7:30 a.m. Happy Mothers Day to all today. It's just me and the beagle up this morning so far and the girls are all still asleep. Last night was the Miss Marathon pageant for this summers canoe marathon and my daughter Melissa was in it. I thought for a while there last night that she was going to be in first place and I could see all the work coming this summer taking her places to reperesent the canoe marathon. I am still very proud of her as she was the first runner up and all the girls in the event did a very nice job. This was our first time ever involved in anything like that and it was a fun new experience.....so I just wanted to toot my PROUD DAD horn a litle bit. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------- Friday May 8, 2009 9:30 a.m. A nice morning in frederic and with the little bit of rain we had last night I am hoping that mushroom picking will get a little bit better. We went out on sunday and found only 9 and it has been slim picking for most people lately. There is an orv meeting coming up at frederic township hall this coming tuesday night at 7. From what I understand there are only a couple people around town objecting to the whole deal but for the most part everybody wants all the roads open....we will have to wait and see. I heard that this past weekend there were 15 machines in town at once, even though they are not supposed to be they must have got thru o.k. Cathy, Haley and I were out for a bike ride last night and came up on a baby squirrel that I thought was dead at first in the road, suprisingly he was still alive and he came running to me like he thought I was his mom,,,,from what I could find on the internet I think he is about 8 weeks old and we kept him warm with a light bulb last night. I talked to a place in St. Helen today that takes in wild life like that and Haley and I are going to run him down there....from what I read online last night they are very difficult to keep and have them live,,,he has to be about 12 weeks old to be out on his own.....he is a cut little guy and I never looked before if you can tell the difference between a boy and a girl squirrel but when I did look its no problem to tell that he was a boy.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday April 30, 2009 11:30 p.m. Yes I am still alive here but just barely. I have been in bed here at home for almost 3 days. I keep thinking I have the swine flu but I did go to the doctor on tuesday and he says I dont. I very rarely get sick and cant believe in this nice weather that I am. It all started last saturday with a tickle in my throat and just got worse from there.....I have had my share of the all Elvis radio station on my bedroom t.v........I have had several emails on about the orv ordinance and there was a front page story in last weeks paper about it and I never got a chance to get it on here. The new paper is out and I just called them and asked them if they could email me the article so I can print it here. If they do that I will put it on here in the next couple days or at least find the article and read it and give you the summary. Thursday 11:50 a.m. Well that didnt take them to long, here is the story that was in last weeks grayling paper.......... County board gives green light for ORV ordinance to shift gears in May by Dan Sanderson-Staff Writer The Crawford County Board of Commissioners voted to approve an ordinance that would allow local and visiting ORV operators to travel on the shoulders of county roads with intentions of tweaking regulations and the network of roads next month. The Crawford County Board of Commissioners, by a 5-0 vote, approved an ordinance which will be known as “ORV 5-20-09.” That means the county board plans to approve a final draft of the ordinance as well as roads that will be opened and closed for ORV travel at its Wednesday, May 20, regular meeting. Dave Stephenson, chairman of the Crawford County Board of Commissioners, said county officials have received over 60 letters from area residents and business owners supporting the ORV ordinance. He added that a few letters were received objecting the adoption of the ordinance, asking county officials to take more time to address potential safety issues. Last year, a state law was passed allowing ORVs to travel along county roads in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula in an attempt to boost the tourism economy. County Commissioner Rick Anderson was in favor of adopting the ordinance last week rather than delaying the process another month. That will give township officials and the Crawford County Road Commission one month to provide a list of roads they would like to see closed to ORV travel. Road Commission officials have said that they don’t want ORVs traveling on the county’s primary roads, which handle most of the traffic. There are 179 miles of primary roads in Crawford County. Under the state’s ORV legislation, townships in July will have the option of creating their own ORV ordinances and choosing what roads they want open and closed in their jurisdiction. Anderson said residents can take the debate to their township officials, adding he did not want to “beat the issue to death” at the county level. “From a judgement call, we can create the position where the people question if the county commissioners are doing their jobs or we can wait until July and we can put the onus on the individual townships,” Anderson said. County Commissioner Scott Hanson, who spearheaded the effort to get the ORV ordinance passed, was in favor of having another public hearing on the ordinance in May where detailed maps would be finalized and available. Under a map developed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Road Commission officials, Hanson said that quite a few roads would be open to ORVs in Beaver Creek Township. Just a few roads would be open to ORV travel in South Branch Township, where the township board has taken a tough stance against the ordinance. Some roads in Lovells Township would allow ORV operators to come into the county from an Oscoda County trail system. Hanson said the large amount of Camp Grayling military training ground, the Manistee and AuSable River systems and the Kirtland’s Warbler habitat made it difficult to find trail connections in Grayling Charter Township and Frederic Township. Trail connections in those townships would involve travel on some primary roads. Ilene Geiss-Wilson, executive director of the Grayling Visitors Bureau, said she worked on a map utilizing some existing snowmobile trails with Susan Thiel, management director for the DNR’s Grayling Forest Unit. Thiel has previously said that some of the snowmobile trails have been achieved through easements with private property owners who don’t mind snowmobiles in the winter, but do object to ORVs on their property in other seasons. About 35 people attended the county board’s public hearing for the ORV ordinance. Most comments made were regarding tough enforcement of the ordinance, roads that would be opened and riding ORVs near their homes to connect with existing state trails and the future county road network. Officials hope that the ORV ordinance gives local hotels, gas stations and restaurants a boost in the current economy. “The season is here and we want to get going as quick as you do and get the local economy going,” Frederic Township resident Todd Gabriel said. It was unclear if the ordinance would go into effect on May 20 or when it is published in the May 28 edition of the Crawford County Avalanche. County Administrator Paul Compo said he would have an answer to that question by the board’s Thursday, May 7, committee meetings. Violation of the ordinance would carry up to a $500 fine plus the cost of environmental damage done to local roads. Half of the fines go to the road commission for maintenance and the other half goes to the sheriff’s office for enforcement. Frederic Township resident Jack Kurtz said Crawford County ORV operators are not the problem. “The local people are not the problem - people that are putting around the neighborhood - that’s not a problem,” Kurtz said. “It’s the people that are roaring up and down the roads that are the problem. They leave their brains at Highway 55.” Crawford County Sheriff Kirk Wakefield said that the sheriff’s office recently purchased an ORV through a state grant aimed at enforcing ORV regulations. Wakefield, however, said that grant has time limits on when a deputy can focus on ORV complaints and incidents. He added that there are only two road deputies on during a shift handling other complaints. “We’re ready to go, but you have to understand that it’s one person and he can’t be everywhere at the same time,” Wakefield said. Dennis Fyock, the owner of River Park Campground, agreed with the county’s move to open up all roads and close down ones that officials don’t want ORVs to travel on. Fyock also said that the county could work with military officials to find trail connections away from active training ranges. “There are a lot of places that people can ride out there without infringing on the rights of the military,” Fyock said. The ORV legislation allows operators to travel on county road shoulders without having liability insurance. The regulations come under Michigan no-fault insurance laws, similar to snowmobile regulations, and the ORV operator is automatically considered at fault when an accident occurs. Frederic Township resident Jerry Dill questioned why the legislation was allowed to move forward by state lawmakers without insurance being required. “How can they possibly pass this when they don’t have to have insurance just like anybody else?” Dill said. “They’re passing the buck.” In an opposition letter to the board, Grayling Charter Township resident Kay Cosgray said it was a bad idea to open up roads to uninsured and sometimes unlicensed ORV operators. “This is opening up the opportunity for accidents and misuse of a privilege,” Cosgray said. Hanson said it is a misconception that ORVs can be operated on county roads by people who have lost their licenses for drunk driving convictions or have a license that is suspended or revoked. He said ORV operators age 12-15 must have a DNR ORV operator’s permit, while people age 16 and older must have a valid driver’s license under state regulations. As for liability, Hanson said ORV riders at fault would have to face their consequences in court if a lawsuit is filed by another party. “It doesn’t matter what we do, lawsuits are part of the American way,” Hanson said. Grayling Charter Township resident Tom Baker questioned if he would be able to drive his golf cart under the ordinance. Wakefield said there are a host of changes recently made to Michigan Vehicle Code for golf carts, ATV mules, go carts and mini bikes. Wakefield said he would make the information available to residents at the sheriff’s office or at its web site: www.crawfordsheriff.org. “There are some changes and some of them are shockers,” Wakefield said. While state police and DNR conservation officers won’t enforce the county ordinance, Baker hopes officers would give ORV operators a sympathetic ear. “It’s just like the Gestapo,” Baker said of dealing with some DNR conservation officers. Wakefield said his deputies allow people to travel from their homes to trailheads from distances within reason. The sheriff, however, said there will be no leniency from people riding on roads miles away from their homes to the trails. “As with any law, there has to be common sense enforcement,” Hanson said. Grayling Township resident John Stegman praised county officials for their attempts to educate the public about the ordinance and the time put into developing a road network to link with state trails. “It’s a great sport, but the damage that could be made by a few in a year could make this a moot subject,” Stegman said. A map of the proposed roads that would be opened by the county will be available at the county’s web site - crawfordco.org - or on a disc from Compo. Patrick Ertel, a county resident and restoration project manager for Huron Pines, suggested a committee be put together before the ordinance moves forward. Ertel feared erosion issues on roads and rivers and conflicts with joggers, dog walkers and bicyclists. “Undoing the harm will be much more difficult than thinking it through before making a decision,” Ertel said in an opposition letter to the board. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday April 21, 2009 2:10 p.m. I have been back here in the shop in frederic for almost 2 whole days.... Cold and ugly out with even some snow in the air this morning. I heard up in dah u.p. up by Baraga that they got over a foot of snow last night. There are still scattered snowpiles left around town but they should be gone soon. Just trying to get back into the groove of working a bit, I think I like checking out new spots better than being in here. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Sunday night April 19, 2009 7:30 p.m. It took only 5 hours from the time the plane left vegas to touch down in traverse city. I made it home about midnight last night. Back up this morning and off to show a house to Scott and then went to see a customer on some signs for a business in grayling. Kind of good to be back to real life. For a family outing this afternoon we went to a benefit dinner for a local girl and Cathy and Melisa left early and Haley and I stayed for the raffle where we won a couple items and then had a nice walk thru the woods back to home. I have forgot to mention that last monday Melissa got her drivers license so now she thinks she needs to be out driving around all the time......Back to frederic in the morning and time to start doing other work including cleaning up the back room......my girls want to me to plant the back parking lot behind the building with corn so it will be interesting to see if that comes along o.k. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 1:00 pm pst still sitting here just passing time and found this article in this weeks grayling paper on the orv ordinace so here is a link to it To read the ORV story CLICK HERE The great part that I read in this article is the fact that they recieved all those letters in support of it and that we all know that most of them came from readers right here in Sledheads little corner of the internet...Thank you all that took time to send those in. Saturday April 18, 2009 12:30 p..m. pst I am at the airport waiting for my flight back to T.C.....it doesnt leave for 2 hours yet....time to get back to real life and do some work even though I can keep on most stuff just being online and all my calls are forwarded from frederic to my cell phone so its almost like not being gone,,,except if Cathy calls and says to get home....I have been gone most of 2 weeks and she says I have yard work to do....gee that sounds fun. I do have a house to show tommorow to Scott who has been looking for a long time, he is a regular in here and I talked to him yesterday where he wanted me to put a twenty in a machine for him, it went pretty well at first with quite a few wins and he still had eleven dollars left,,,,,later on I tried a different machine for him and that dissapeared prety fast....it was fun trying anyways. After the show was over yesterday I took the bus out to the church for the friday night service. In the greek tradition they have a candlelight procession around the church that is supposed to represent the funeral service of jesus...the place was packed and I would bet that the crowd and line of people all around the church made a complete circle around it.....from there it was back down to the strip where I made it to my room for a great nights sleep. I wish I had that mattress at home......One thing I forgot to talk about the other day was right after I left with my rental car I was just driving north and came upon the homeless peoples tent city. I have to say that was a very sad thing to see. I bet there were at least 200 tents and many lawn chairs with blankets or sleeping bags stacked on them in about a 3 square block area and these were all along the sidewalks and centered around the salvation army, the christian help center and the mission is right there too. People just sitting there with not a thing to their name. Bill & Eddie that I met up at Bonnie Springs the other day were locals and said that the homeless congretage there for the help that they can get but the people in the city complain about the smell from all those people around there as there are not even any port a potties. Its hard to believe that in the U.S. let alone a city the size of vegas that could happen. Lots of panhandling going on. When I was down on fremont street I was approached by several people but their punch line was that they wanted to get just enough money to get a beer. There was a guy setting on the skywalk by MGM and he must have been in his 30s just sitting on the walk with a sign that said "Why lie, I need beer".......I know some of those people cant help themselves but some of them could make an effort instead of waiting on someone else to help them...... I suppose I should go down to my gate and be ready to hop on. I dont get back to T.C till about 11 tonight. Thanks for checking in. Pete and for any other greeks out there Kristos Anesti ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday afternoon 17th 5:00 p.m. pst After getting checked in at the Riviera I headed down to the pool as its a nice hot day out there and from there jumped the bus back down to the sign show where I have checked that out the past couple hours and it is just closing....well at the pool I realized I hadnt even thought about what happened on the orv meeting so I called one of the commisioners and here is the scoop....First before I say it, this is not supposed to happedn till about the end of May but they voted to open all the crawford county roads to orvs but there is a catch....now the road commision can say what roads they want closed and each township can say what they want done too....personally I would just as soon see the whole county open but my main concern is the little town called Frederic. I hear that things should go well for Frederic as far as that goes but we really wont know till its all said and done. So all in all I would say things look like they are heading in the right direction. Gonna go catch the monorail from mandalay bay back to the excalibur where I am going to jump a bus again and head off for the greek church for the friday night easter service. Talked to my sister today and it turns out her husband was roomates in school with the priest from the church here..........till tommorow.... Friday April 17, 2009 8:00 a.m. The weather is starting to turn a bit nicer here and the sun is out this morning. I spent most of the day yesterday walking thru the sign show. Big place with lots of isles. Heading back there again today but time to switch hotels again. I am going over to the Riviera for tonight....I finally broke down and went to a machine and it ate my money in 10 minutes...I should have just stayed clean the way I was... Oh well that was my donation. Went to a show last night called Legends in Concert. It was pretty good with great acts of Jay Leno, The Temptations, Tom Jones, Whitney Houston and of course Elvis....Being out here this week I have met many interesting people like last night a guy that sells time shares here and he was entertaining everyone on the bus, then a guy that works for golden corral restaruants that was from n.c. and a couple from alabama that just loved to talk about golf....people from all walks of life and all with their own stories and everyone is here to have a good time......the bus is the best way to get around here as you can just hop on and off, a 3 day pass is 15 dollars and they run every 15 mins or so. I am off to the pool then gonna pack up and move on. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------ Thursday April 16, 2009 8:23 a.m. I see from the webcam that frederic weather is way better again today then here. I paid extra to have a high room at the stratosphere and for that I got a view over the parking ramp and the highway. I woke up to a helicpoter hovering outside my window while it watched an accident on the highway......I couldnt figure out why I was hearing that.......I went on up thru the Red Rock Canyon yesterday which took me almost all day, while up in the canyon one of my favorite things happened, It was snowing....not much but it was snow. On the way thru the canyon I made a stop at Bonnie Springs which is an old west town. Turns out there was a whole bus load of people there that were here for the sign show just like me so I ended up there for a couple hours just shooting the bull with them and sitting by the inside fire pit that they have which felt really good. Alot of those people had been out riding horses. Bonnie Springs has been run since the early 50s by Bonnie who still is out and about everyday. I met her about 6 years ago and she is 87 and still working the place hard. Go to http://www.bonniesprings.com/ to see what a real old west town looks like...its a great stop and a very laid back place just how I like it. From the Bonnie Springs it was on to the Bass Pro Shop in vegas where I went to the archery department and had a nice talk with the guy that runs that department and even got to shoot some arrows on their range. From there I figured I would go by the greek orthodox church which I was planning on going to this friday night as it is greek holy week. While I got there right at 7 when the service was starting so I figured I might as well go.....they have a very nice church here and wouldnt you know it after the service the first to people I meet and talk to are from michigan.......So by the time the service was over it was 9:30 and I headed for the stratosphere, after going up to the 7th floor of 2 wrong parking ramps I got to the right 7th floor on the 3rd try to park my rental car. When I got into the lobby to check in it was 11 and the line was so long I went for a bus ride down the strip to let it die down. When I got back to the line I still had to wait a half hour and it was 2 by the time I made it to my room......Have to say I am dissapointed with this place,then to top it off they want another ten bucks to go up in the stratosphere tower......I figured that would come with the room....o.k. enough whining from me, I need to get to the sign show which opens in an hour.....thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday April 15, 2009 8:50 a.m. pst Just getting going here this morning, its time to change motels, I am going from the golden nugget to the stratosphere. I figured as long as I am by myself I might as well move around a bit and see some different things. Its a cool dark day out so I am going to rent a car and take myself on tour. Plan on heading up to red rock canyon. Thats a pretty drive and I always like to make that one when I am here and make a stop at the old western town called Bonnie Springs. I really have wanted to stay there for many years but they raised their rates to more than I want to pay... I am pretty thrifty and I am also proud to say this is my 3rd day here and I have not spent a dime on any type of machines...I would rather keep it in my pocket but might break down when I make it to MGM which is usually the only place I might try. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday night 10:50 p.m. Here is a video I took of the show on fremont street tonight. It runs each hour and I wanted to go back at 10 and get the next one which was of queen but I snoozed off... I ran into a girl and her husband from Grayling on the street tonight.....she is out here visiting her son...... To see the Fremont Street Show Click Here the weather has really turned in the past 6 hours. After spending all day at the pool again, the winds picked up tonight so much that they closed the pool and stacked all the chairs up and the wind is really pounding on my room walls. Its supposed to be cooler tommorow so it sounds like the pool is out of the question. Something is up with my laptop and cant use the windows movie maker to put clips together so I can only put something on that is all one clip out of my camera..... I think its time to hit the sack tonight......... Tuesday Night 7:00 p.m. Here is a link for more info on Mark Fidrych To read more on services for Mark Fidrych CLICK HERE Tuesday April 14, 2009 11:30 a.m. pst Its a little cloudy but nice and warm down here by the pool.....I saw a guy here with his laptop yesterday and figured I might as well have mine here with me tooh today....I stayed out here till 2 in the morning just kind of snoozing because it was so niceout, then when the pool bar closed they sent me out so I had to go back to my room. It was such a nice night I would have stayed out all night if they let me. They have nice comfy lounge chairs out here. I will try to post a pool video later on if I can. The show out on fremont street was great last night, it goes on each hour and its about a 10 minute show, first one last night was born to be wild, the second one was with don mclean and american pie and the third was with kiss..... unbeliveable to watch and hard to take it all in. I didnt have my camera with me but will try tonight. Well it was bad enough yesterday being here to have a good time but always with the thought of my friend Jerry that died but then I heard about Mark Fidrych dieing yesterday too. If you saw my video on the Wertz Warriors in February I did an interview with him. He rode with the warriors for I think 16 years and was a big draw and attraction for them which in turned helped them in their quest to raise funds for the special olypics. Mark rode an arctic cat and he said he only rode that one time a year with the warriors. I have a picture of him behind the counter at the shop when he came over one year. Once again you just never know when your time is up. Enjoy every day like it could be your last. Just like last month with Roger and Teresa, she already had her bags packed to come north for that weekend and never made it back home from work. I know Roger was back up north last week to take care of his sleds and I am sure that was tough for him......Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------- Monday April 13, 2009 11:00 a.m. pacific time Viva Las Vegas, I left T.C. this morning at 7:30 and went to minneapolis and am sitting here waiting for my baggage in vegas. Nice flight out here over the mountains. I saw there was still ice on Long Lake in T.C. I am here for the sign show this week but am heading off for the pool at the golden nugget. I have to say the day started great but a call I got in minneapolis changed that. My friend Jerry Hall aka "Whitey" died yesterday morning at his house outside grayling. Jerry and I have been friends for a long time and I am exactly 4 months older than him with my birthday being jan 19 and his on april 19. I was planning on calling him this weekend. You just never know when your time is up so enjoy everyday that you have. One day about 20 years ago Cathy and I had just returned from driving to california in early april. I wanted to go to a show back outside of LA at the Pomona Raceway and I saw Jerry and said hey do you want to go to california. I think I was only home a few days and he and I jumped in the van and headed west....I sure wish I had time to drive to california twice in one month now. He was a good friend and now there is one more number in my cell phone that I cant call. It makes me a bit worried when I see the numbers in my phone of friends that are gone but surely not forgotten. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday April 12, 2009 noon thirty Its a sunny easter sunday here at lake margrethe, thats easter sunday for most anyways. Greek easter is not until next sunday. Some years it falls the same but this year its a week later. Rumor has it that is so the greeks can take advantage of everything on sale and save a few bucks. I was in frederic yesterday doing things around the shop and Husky Mel and his wife Deb stopped by. They had come up to take their sleds home. Mel told me he rode each sled about 2 miles each on friday all around the woods at is house. He said there is still 8 to 10 inches up in there. I know just down the street on 612 there is a spot thru the woods for as far as I can see that is still all snow too....The ice finally left lake margrethe last week sometime. I am pasting a link next to the article in this weeks paper about the orv meeting from last week. This coming week is the meeting where I think they are going to hopefully give it the go ahead. To read the ORV story in this weeks paper CLICK HERE I hope to get a new video or 2 on here soon from this past weeks trip to Chicago. I am off in the morning on my next adventure and hope to update sometime tommorow. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------ Saturday April 11, 2009 10:30 a.m. Started out this morning by running into Ohio Mike and his crew at Skips Sport Shop in grayling. Mike is doing pretty well but still waiting for an operation on his eye.....Yesterday Harry from Jackson stopped by the shop here to get his sleds ready for next season. He ended up buying 7 sets of slides and 7 sets of carbides all for his Arctic Cats....I wish more people thought that way at this time of year...A big thank you to Jackson Harry,,,but I only wish he would have showed up with some Coneys.....Toledo John called in yesterday too so he could give me his secret coney recipe....thanks to him.......Other than that nothing to exciting, just trying to straighten this place up and get my signs changed around for summer. Also if the Indiana Corn Farmer reads this please call me.......Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Friday April 10, 2009 Noon sixteen Back here to my spot in beautiful downtown frederic. Its a nice day out today, still a bit cool but nice and sunny. So now its time to get a little work done. We got back home about 6 last night after a great little get away........Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday April 9, 2009 8:35 a.m. central time It figures its going to be the second nice day in a row since we got here on saturday and we are heading for home shortly. We had a nice day downtown yesterday after taking the train into town and walking thru town over to the field museum where Haley was excited to see Sue the dinasour. I also was suprised at the size of their dinasour exhibit. After 4 hours in the field museum we went to the Shedd Aquariam and checked out all the fish and from there caught a bus back to the train station where it felt good to rest my aching legs. We were all pretty tired by the time we got back to my sisters.....so after a fun week here its time to get back to frederic. I have a bunch of things to get done before I have to head out again......Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------- Wednesday April 8, 2009 8:10 a.m. central time A sunny morning here in Palos Hills and we are getting ready to catch the train to downtown. We had a nice day yesterday driving downtown and luckily finding a parking spot in a pretty good spot. Only 2 bucks an hour for the meter but it only goes for 2 hours. The parking lot was 10 dollars an hour....so we headed off down michigan avenue checking out the stores and Haley and I went up the John Hancock building to the 94th floor for a great view of the city, then our next stop was the new 92 story Trump International Hotel. That was very plush inside as we went for a little tour. They were very nice and polite to us and there was someone there to open each door for us. 3 years ago when I was here on my bicycle that hotel was just a hole in the ground so it has come a long way, now being the 3rd tallest building in the city.I would love to stay there but the rooms start at $400......After we got back to my sisters I took the girls to the mall for more shopping....so thats it in a nutshell for yesterday and its time for a new day. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday April 7, 2009 8:00 a.m. central time I see from the webcam this morning that is about 25 degrees with the ground being white and covered by a skiff of snow in Frederic, but that s fine as we are still lounging in chicago. Monday morning we woke up to 2 inches of wet slushy snow on the ground here. Sunday was a wet cold snowy and windy day in downtown Chicago. We were down there for the parade and luckily we ended up in front of a Walgreens that we kept ducking into to keep warm. The parade lasted about an hour and a half and I felt bad for the people in it but they marched on. After that I took the girls over to China town and we expored that a bit and then it was back to Greek town for dinner with the family at the Greek Islands restaruant. It was a slow slippery drive back to the house after dinner but we made it. Yesterday we were off again and we were back to downtown Chicago where Haley wanted to go back to China town so she could buy one of those pointy chinese hats to wear....from there we went to a park and saw some pretty cool art in the park. One of the sculptures is a huge stainless steel thing that looks like a giant bean or drop of water. It is polished like a mirror and when you look at it you see the skyline behind you and also things are distorted as it bends, really pretty interesting. From there on to the Rain Forest Cafe to look and then to dinner at Ed Debivics. After that it was back to the house and then we went and played some basketball over at the church... Now I am just waiting for the girls to get moving and we are off again today to exlpore Michigan avenue.........Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday April 5, 2009 Coming at you from Palos Hills Illinois. We are here at my sisters house. Got into town about 3 yesterday and started by stopping at one of my favorite places to eat,,,Mickeys Gyros. Had a great sandwich there and on to my sisters. My brother Ziggy came from kzoo and so did my other brother and mom from kzoo....swimming at the motel was next on the agenda and the kids had a blast. My brother Alex and I went on down to Dukes Drive Inn last night as that is always a big cruising spot for the hot rods in the summer and I wanted to check out some cars....well I guess its to early in the season as there was nobody there...darn.....My sisters husband is the priest at the Greek Orthodox Church here so we are off to church in a while and then downtown to Greektown for the Greek Independence Day parade.......Thats about it for today. Thanks for checking in. Pete & the girls.... -------------------------------------------------- Friday April 3, 2009 10:45 a.m. I see from the activity on the webcam this morning that there have been plenty of people checking it out. We have about an inch of new wet snow on the ground thruout grayling and frederic. Nice and white again out there. I also just took a look at the fatality statistics and see the total deaths for the season was 21 with all but one being male riders. I went to the ORV meeting last night and there were about 40 to 50 people there. They were discussing on how they wanted to move into this cautiously and try to make the right decisions on which roads to open up. When the question was asked if they should open all the roads ALL but a few hands went up in the room. I had submitted my letters to the board signed by the 7 businesses here in Frederic in support of doing it. Those letters were from Sledheads,Swamp,Frederic Inn, Beacon and Bridge,Happi Days, North End Grocery and Pineview Motel. Also Sandy who gets all the mail in for the commisioners said she had 40 to 50 letters of support in her file and Todd & Kari were there who brought in another 40 to 50 letters of support. The next meeting is April 15 and I will be gone for that one but it will be interesting to see what becomes of it. Thank you to all that sent letters in to the board. Also I had an email from Diane at the Fox River Motel up in Seney in the u.p. and there is still some riding going on up there. She said Don is taking out people that stay with them this weekend so if you want one more ride call the Fox River Motel and talk to them....... Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 1, 2009 9:30 a.m. WOW, I woke up to an unbelieveable 10 to 12 inches of new snow outside this morning. I just couldnt believe it and here in frederic it still looks good out there......APRIL FOOLS......well that sounds good but it just isnt so. The snow is mostly gone and its warming slowly. There is a meeting tommorow night on the orv deal which I am planning on going to. They dont plan on the vote on it till april 15......Happy Birthday to my dear old mom in Kalamazoo today, she is all the way to 86 years old and she is still getting around pretty good. I am going to cut the updates down now to maybe every few days or once a week. As things come up I will get on and hopefully I will get a couple trips in and post while I am on them. With any bit of luck Alaska is on the schedule for later in the summer......Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 31, 2009 9:30 a.m. There isnt to much to talk about on here this morning, its about 32 out and the sun is peeking out. There is still snow out there but a good bit of it melted off yesterday, So the only thing I can think of to talk about is keeping me off the spam line. Many people wrote to get the lowes 10 percent off coupon and I have those set up to go out. Those take about a week.....your part in that is that if you know anybody looking for real estate up here is to have them call me....I realize thats a slim chance but just think of me in case you talk to anyone thats talking about property up this way.....and also my next biggest source of income in the summer is screenprinting t shirts and sweat shirts. If you know of anyone that is in charge of any events coming up in your area have them give me a call. I can handle large orders at a very competitive price and get them done pretty fast. I am still wondering what the summer is going to bring here but maybe with a little help from you it will go pretty well. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 30, 2009 11:45 a.m. The snow mangaged to stay and stay hard and firm since yesterday. Its still cool and windy out. I saw tracks thru hanson hills and at the crossing north of the high school today but never did see any sleds yesterday or today. Had a note from Dan from Rochester and he said he was at his cabin west of Alba yesterday and that he and his boys went out for a nice ride. So at least a few peope got in a ride. I wonder how long it will be till this new snow is gone? Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday 11;45 A.M. Got here to frederic about a half hour ago and I saw that there were 2 sled tracks thru the swamp that came off the trail and the same 2 made a circle around the building here too. I reviewed the webcam recording and saw that they came thru about 9:05 am.. but they managed to sneak thru the camera without getting on it but it was easy enough to see when their tracks showed up. This snow is wet and heavy and I dont imagine it will last to long as its up to 41 already. Sure looks good though..... Sunday March 29, 2009 9:10 a.m. It sure cant get better than this, the Elvis Gospel hour is on and we have a nice 3 inches of new snow on the ground here at Lake Margrethe.It started snowing about 2 this morning and is supposed to keep up till noon. I see from the webcam activity this morning that alot of people have been looking at it. I will be heading for frederic in a while and just see if anybody shows up today. I wouldnt expect to much but there might be a die hard or 2 out there. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday March 28, 2009 Its a nice day for the up the face race at schuss mountain today. There is still a storm coming for tommorow, I even put my plow on.....just hope I have to use it. I had to move it anyways. It looks like we might be right on the rain snow line but west of here should be 6 to 8 inches. Hopefully the line is off by a bit. I was just getting ready to leave yesterday when a suburban pulled in and the guy got out and was getting something out of the back....all of a sudden I had a flashback to an email I had earlier in the week from Beaver Creek Mark who said he would bring me some coneys from Andys Pizza and Coney Island in Jackson.......I sure am glad I didnt miss him. He had put them in a zip lock bag because his wife said she couldnt stand the smell in the car.....Nothing wrong with a car that smells like that....Anyways A big THANK YOU to Beaver Creek Mark for thinking of me.......Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday Noon ten, Weather is talking about a winter storm for sunday noon and there could be quite a bit of snow....thats what they are saying....maybe I shouldnt put them sleds to far back...... Friday March 27, 2009 NOON Not a darn thing exciting to report or talk about, I have been moving sleds around the back room and trying to figure out how to park them for the summer. One thing I can do or talk about is that if anybody has any spring projects coming up I can set you up with a 10% off coupon thru Lowes for up to a thousand bucks off your next purchase....its a program thru Lowes and Century 21...So if you want a coupon email me your name and address and I will get one sent off to you. I did this last fall and had a pretty good repsponse for it.....The coupon is good for 45 days and takes about a week to get.....so if I can save you a few dollars send me a note at property@frederic-mi.com Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday March 26, 2009 6:45 a.m. Its a nice cool morning outside here at Lake Margrethe, heading off for gaylord shortly for my class and a stop at the Coney Island there..... Requests for the orv letter continued to come in yesterday and I posted a link to the article in the paper just below this. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------ Wednesday night 5:45 p.m. Here is the story on the ORV ordinance that is in todays Grayling paper To read the ORV story in this weeks paper CLICK HERE Wednesday March 25, 2009 10:50 a.m. I started my morning out up at twin lakes west of blue lake. Each lake I looked at is still white with ice, Twin Lakes, Pickerel Lake, Blue Lake, and Bass Lake are all white but there was an open spot in the middle of Bass Lake. There is an uphill snow climb this weekend at Schuss mountain and they say there is still lots of snow there. I just talked to a guy way up north in canada and he says its snowing hard there and they still have lots of snow......wish I could be there. Now on to the ORV issue....I was surprised at how many emails I recieved yesterday wanting the letter to send in. It was almost 40 people and several of them had a list of people for me to send them to and I just checked before I started this and I have 6 more emails on it right now. On the front page of todays paper is an article about it and that there is a meeting coming up April 2 that I will try to attend. I also have those letters going out to local Frederic residents. The grayling paper wont be online till sometime tommorow and I will then post that article. I probably cant do it till late in the afternoon as I have a real estate continuing education class till 4 tommorow. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday March 24, 2009 9:30 a.m. Just another cloudy day in frederic at 31 degrees. I talked to Ken at the Frederic Inn yesterday and he said he rode 20 miles on sunday around the woods.....I went to gaylord yesterday and still see some snowy spots in the woods but you are very limited to those spots. I wrote up a letter yesterday and took it around to the other Frederic businesses for them to sign. It was a letter to the Crawford County Board of commissioners in support of their upcoming vote to allow orvs on the side of all crawford county roads. In short that means you could ride your orv into frederic in the summer to get food or fuel which means I would probably have some spring, summer and fall business in here.....So if you ride or want to ride an orv around this area and would support that you could do one of 2 things. 1, I already have a letter written that I could email to you and then you mail it to the commissioners before April 15 or you could write your own letter and mail it....The adress is Crawford County Board of Commissioners 200 West Michigan Avenue Grayling, Michigan 49738 Or email me and I will send you my letter which you can print and sign and date and send it off to them......you can email me at sledhead@frederic-mi.com Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------- Monday March 23, 2009 8:15 a.m. It took me all winter to do it but I finally forgot to update for a day. We got up yesterday morning and I took the girls to Traverse City where we went to the hunting and fishing expo and then went and did other exploring around TC including the old state hospital. They are fixing parts of that up but there are still lots of spots that are erie and spooky but a great place to take pictures....I was at the shop all day saturday and I guess that I am glad that nobody took me up on my bet of a set of slides that someone would be out riding. I never saw a sled all day saturday and by 4 all the snow that was new was gone. Sure looked good in the morning. I did talk to a guy that said he saw tracks and also Chris over at Twin Lakes Party store told me she heard sleds out in the woods the night before...but I guess we have to admit that the winter is over. It looks like its going to be a nice day in grayling and its about 20 degrees out. I am at the Century 21 office right now and getting things ready as I have a couple places to go look at this morning. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday March 21, 2009 9:30 a.m. Will wonders never cease?? The ground is white with a fresh inch and half of overnight snowfall. I was surprised when I walked outside at home this morning and its white and slippery all the way to frederic. I have not seen any sleds yet but I will bet you a set of fresh slides that I will before the day is out. I didnt even know there was any snow in the forcast...... Last night Cathy and I went to a wedding reception with no bride or groom. It was a fund raiser for Relay for Life for a cure for cancer. It was a fun time and people brought gifts but they were handed out to ticket holders in the crowd....A different concept for a party but everyone had a good time. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday March 20, 2009 11:45 a.m. Its sunny and cool in frederic and its also the first day of spring.......I saw on tv this morning where it was snowing in New York City...to bad we didnt have some of that. So the snow is still receding and the dirt is showing more and more. It was nice earlier this week when we went for a bicycle ride but now just waiting for the warm up....Nothing else new to report but I did put a video online this morning of Topeka our pet turkey that has been hanging around the house for the past month or so..thats all the excitement I have for you today. Thanks for checking in. Pete To see Topeka our nieghborhood pet turkey click here ----------------------------------------------------- Thursday March 19, 2009 11:10 a.m. Its cold and there has been blowing snow in the wind on and off this morning in both Grayling and Frederic, not enough snow to get excited about but it looks good...Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 18, 2009 9:30 a.m. Wow, we really lost the snow since yesterday. The trail thru hanson hills this morning is shot, along m -93 is all water, school crossings are really close to shot and even the amount in the woods is way down. Lake Margrethe is still ice covered but I wouldnt even think of seeing how thick the ice is. I had an email from a guy wanting to try to ride this coming weekend. Even now you to ride you would have to find a nice snowy spot and unload and ride that area. On the other hand I was up at guthrie lakes yesterday and I measured 30 inches of snow in the yard I was at so there are still spots with deep snow but its going fast.....It sure seems like this winter went by fast and thank you to all of you that stopped in to say hi, alot of characters come into here and to name a few., Ohio Mike, Bad Leg Barry, Illinois Mike, Toledo Bob & Amy, Irish Hills Dairy Farmer, The Detroit Diesel Boys, Ohio Brian, Ohio Bob. Lots of people from Ohio and Inidana. Again Thank you to all and we only have to wait about 8 months for the trails to open up again.....I will keep daily updates going thru the end of the month and then slow down to about once a week and of course I will probably come up with some summer videos. I made one last week as I passed thru Jackson because I cant go thru Jackson without having a couple coneys......Thanks for checking in. Pete To see my tour of the coney islands of Jackson click here ----------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 17, 2009 11:20 a.m. Just watching the snow melt around us in frederic. Trails all still looked icy on the way here this morning and you could still ride off trail but these 50 degrees are gonna eat it up fast. I have both big doors open in the back of the shop and am trying to figure out how to park my sleds for the summer. I figured I might as throw the charger on my corvette and as long as I did that I fired it up too....still not good enough to take it out but it sure sounds good sitting out back there idling......Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete.... ----------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 16, 2009 10:30 a.m. Sunny and it was 25 degrees when I got here about an hour ago. Its supposed to hit 50s today. I looked at the trails on the way here and they looked all ice alon m 93 and the high school crossing. So as it warms up those are going to dissapear and the die hards that are going to ride this week will be going off trail for their riding. There is still plenty of snow in the woods for the off trail rider. I talked to people yesterday that were on their way home that had rode around alanson and indian river and up to the bridge and they said they all had decent rides, but now for each warm day we have to start the countdown for next season. This was the best season we have had in years so lets hope for another next year. Thans for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Sunday March 15, 2009 10:40 a.m. Sunny and 25 degrees this morning in frederic. Havent seen a soul yet today. There were alot of sleds around town yesterday for a saturday and we had 7 tralier parked in the back lot and the trailer parking lot on 612 was full too. Pretty much I think it was the last ride for alot of people yesterday. I looked at trails and crossings on the way here this morning and there is alot of white left on the trails but they are getting thinner and you can see dark spots coming. 50s for monday and tuesday so its all downhill from here. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday March 14, 2009 12:05 a.m. Coming at you from the Eagles Club here in Morenci Michigan. I am on Extries lap top and sitting here with Husky Mel and Grayling.....We have been at the funeral home all night with Roger for his wife. I have to say that I have never been to a visitation like this one. The line from early this afternoon till almost 10:30 went 2 blocks down the street and most people that came in said they had been waiting an hour and a half to 2 hours just to get in. The only time I have ever seen lines like that was at President Fords funeral in Grand Rapids. Teresa was truly loved by everyone in this community. Her funeral is at 11 in the morning. There will be no update for today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Friday 11:10 a.m. Here is an email from Scott in Brighton who was here riding yesterday... Pete We rode from 72 and sunset up threw starvation lake over to alba ate at larrys down threw jordon valley out and upto east jordon and back to fredric and back to the cabin. 140miles not bad for middle of march. All had been groomed were a little icy, but hey we put our gear away last weekend! Scott. From brighton Friday the 13th, March 09 9:40 a.m. Its 6 below zero and sunny this morning in frederic and I have already seen 3 sleds riding thru town. All trails and crossing I looked at this morning are still ALL white but with their share of ice under the white. Hanson Hill, along M-93, both sets of crossings up by the high school all look inviting and judging from the amount of calls I had yesterday I expect pretty decent sled traffic this weekend for probably the last hurrah. Its suppose to get up to 36 tommorow and that should help soften things up a bit. I had a group of 3 guys stop in yesterday on their way back from the u.p. and they had been riding st ignace to the soo and to mackinac island and they said the snow looked better in this area than any where in the u.p............I talked to my buddy Bob this morning who is laying in the sun down in Cudjoe Key about 25 miles north of Key West..... I still like it here but wouldnt mind spending time with him too......so if you are going to ride this weekend PLEASE RIDE SAFELY and watch for icy corners. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday Noon Thirty, Just had a couple guys ride in from indian river. They said the ride was pretty decent down to here but thought the best part was from wolverine to gaylord, they were heading off for jordan valley and then back up chandler hills to indian river....... Thursday March 12, 2009 8:35 a.m. It 2 below zero and we have a fresh 2 inches of lake effect snow on the ground here in frederic this morning. While all the trail crossings looked nice and white this morning on the way here there is still ice and rutty bad spots on the trails. The group of guys that left out of here yesterday morning to ride were back about 6 last night and they said all in all it was a fun day and they said the best was the jordan valley trail which had been freshly groomed and was perfect. They too reported both good and bad spots on the trails but they were happy them made a whole day out of it. Yesterday was very cold and windy here so at least now its nice and calm out there. The weather is supposed to go to 36 on saturday so that could soften the trails up a bit and make them not as rutty to ride. People that have come here to ride from downstate are still surprised by how much snow actually is on the ground here. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 11:00 a.m. Here is a new one, the wind is blowing so hard the webcam is moving a bit. Just watch it and see how much its shaking....hope my roof stays on.. The Irish Dairy Farmer just rode in from lovells and he says there are both good spots and rutty hard spots with ice and he also says remember that this is the middle of march... Wednesday March 11, 2009 10:30 a.m. Its snowing and blowing outside with winds that are supposed to hit 60 mph today. I really dont think its snowing that much, its just that its blowing and swirling so much. It was warm and melting yesterday and since last night it has gotten cold and frozen everthing up. If the warmth and little rain we had yesterday smoothed out the trails that would be nice but I have not talked to anyone who has rode yet today. There is a group of guys outback unloading right now so I should hear a trail report sometime today. If it hardened up with the ruts in the trail its gonna be tough riding. This cold is supposed to stick around today and then the next few days back to the upper 30s....so its hard to tell what the weekend is going to be yet. I will update again when I hear how the trails actually are. I am posting a link below here for Teresa's obituary and guest book.... To Read Teresa Pontious's Obiturary or sign guest book click here Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------ Tuesday March 10, 2009 10:40 p.m. To watch Awsome March 9 ride video click here Its 32 out and raining. It stayed about 32 all night long so alot of the snow that we had yesteray has setteled. Brian and I had an awsome ride yesterday morning as we were first on alot of the trails we hit. We went to grayling and up the blue bear to the north end of starvation lake and down around that loop to the far west 72 parking lot and then back to frederic, a nice 77 mile ride in A plus conditions. When we got back here a bit after 1 the snow was already starting to settle but we had the best of it behind us. Its supposed to turn cold and windy tommorow so this still might hold out and change for the better for this weekend. This next part I am writing is very tough. Its with a heavy and broken heart that I have to write that my dear friend and riding partner Rogers wife died this morning in an industrial accident at work. I know many other riders that come in here know Roger & Teresa as there are alot people from their area of Morenci,Mi that come up here and are readers too. I know they were planning on coming up here this weekend and you just never know how quick life can change. Teresa was always smiling just like when she was in here 2 weeks ago. They had been up here for a weekend and had a great time. My thoughts and prayers and heart go out to Roger and his son Steven and their family. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday Morning March 9, 2009 9:00 a.m Sledheads is going to be closed this morning, just like all the schools around northern michigan. The snow chants have worked great and we have 7 new inches here in Frederic, I had about 6 at home in grayling and I talked to my friend at blue lake this morning and she said they have 12 to 14 new inches there. Ohio Brian is on his way here and he and I are heading out to be the first ones on the trails. No sled crossings yet this morning on any of the trails that I have looked at. I did a quick video clip outfront here to show you how it is. My truck is in the back room and my plow is at home. The snow is a nice heavy snow and it looks like we are going to keep snow and some more all week.....so plan on maybe a last hurrah this coming weekend....but only time will tell...... To watch Monday am video click here Also a couple days ago they recovered the guys sled that went in on the way back from mackinac island a couple weeks ago. He was the guy that made it out and died so close to help. His sled was in 105 feet of water. Be sure to read my updates from last night too..... I will try to make a new video today of our ride. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------- Sunday Night 9:50 p.m. Cathy and I just walked back in the door from going to see Grand Torino down in Roscommon and what a wintery blustery night out. So far we are between 4 and 6 inches depending on where you measure of nice white heavy snow and its still coming. On the way to Roscommon on I 75 southbound there was a truck and a enclosed 4 place sled trailer way down in the ditch and they were both on their sides. The cops and wrecker were there and I saw at least 1 person with an arctic cat jacket on down in by the truck, luckily it didnt look like anyone was hurt. Tommorow will be a great day to ride as long as this keeps up. Sunday Night 6:00 p.m. MO MO NAH CHEE CHEE NAH..... Thunder snow is upon us along with a winter storm warning of 4 to 8 inches tonight.....snowing pretty steady here at Lake margrethe right now and I just called the gaylord weather service and have to say I love their forcast, lets see how many new inches are really on the ground by morning....... Sunday March 8, 2009 10:15 a.m. (new time) Its sunny and 29 degrees out there this morning. As luck would have it we have not had one drop of rain all weekend. The trail crossing up by the high school all looked worn but still decent this morning. There were a fair amount of sleds out and about yesterday and I expect the same, the great thing is that it hasnt really been past the upper 30s so the snow is slowly receding. Everyone that came in is happy to be riding and that things are pretty decent for the situation we are in. I do have one rental sled out this weekend and the guys were just in and are riding again today, they said they rode trail 76 south of 72 and said it was fantastic, and that everybody was riding north and nobody going south of 72. Just had another 2 guys in that came up from detroit this morning and they are thrilled to death that there is snow here, I sent them out towards trail 76. They said it was 72 in the motor city yesterday...I sure am glad we dont have that to deal with.Now if only the storm will come to us later this week. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday March 7, 2009 9:45 am. Kind of dark and 29 degrees here this morning. I have seen 3 sleds thru town so far. I would rate trails fair but have seen much worse. I had a family stop in yesterday morning and then last night as I was leaving they were back and had been riding all day. Except for puddles and icy spots they said things were pretty good and the guy that was just in said everything has firmed up overnight. The trail along m 93 was dark because its getting thing but not because of dirt. The crossing just north of the high school looked better yet but getting thin too......No trailers at the Days Inn this morning and only 2 at the Ramada.....The rain is supposed to start late this afternoon but for right now if you are lucky enough to be here you could ride. I see Doug Shepard from down the road from here must have headed home. Cathy and I ran into him up at Lakes of the North when we rode the other day and he had wanted me to tell his wife Colleen thru my site here that he wouldnt behome till spring........guess he went early. I just gave the beagle a big old ham bone so she is quite content with that over in her corner. I would hope there is still at least one more blast of winter coming at us yet this month. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- To watch Friday am video 1 click here To watch Friday am video 2 click here Friday 9:50 am.. Just rode here into frederic, I would say the trails from a 9.5 last night to a 4.5 this morning, lots of ice and water puddles but still alot of nice stretches. If you were here right now you could get a nice ride in. The puddles were full of snow fleas, they look like floating black dirt...still lots of snow in the woods. The closer I got to frederic the darker the sky got and it looks like rain. Its spitting a bit now. I took 2 different video clips on the way here and will post them above here but it will take me another 45 minutes or so. Also came across a deer that had been hit by a sled last night, blood in the trail and a deer with a piece of ski doo hood laying on it...... I took the lakeshore again this morning but I guarantee you thats the last time I do that this year. Way wet and slushy, the only comfort in that is that I knew I was only in knee deep water......going to get videos on now...... Friday March 6, 2009 6:55 a.m. Its 42 degrees here at Lake Margrethe this morning and I just checked the web cam in frederic and it says 46 there. Its foggy out and water is dripping everywhere. Last night they said the snow cross races in cadillac were going to go on and this morning they say they are cancelled.....So things suddenly dont look as good as last night. I am still going to ride my sled back to frederic this morning and if I can make my video camera work I will post a couple clips. It looks like its about time for me to switch modes of income so as a reminder anyone that has a need for screenprinting or embroidery on t shirts, sweatshirts or hats and any type of signs, thats what I do the rest of the year along with Century 21 too.......Although I am not throwing in my carbides yet I am sure readership will drop off sharply as the snow recedes, so a BIG THANK YOU to all of you that stopped in to say hi or patronize Sledheads this past winter. I will still be updating as usual thru the summer as I have before. I will also update again this morning after I get to Frederic, probably around 10...Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday Night 8:30 p.m. I left frederic tonight about 6:30 and rode my sled home, hard to believe how nice the trail still is. If I gave a rating on whitness and ridability it would have to be a 9.5 on the 1 to ten. It was 34 degrees when I left and I think it got up to about 40 today. The last I heard from Ohio Brian was about 5 and he said he had 170 miles in since 9 this morning and had been as far south as higgins lake. The weather forcast has changed again with there supposed to be a light rain tonight and then no rain again till about 5 saturday afternoon......So depending on what happens tonight it sounds like riding will be possible till saturday afternoon. Of course you know anything can change but there is still alot of snow to melt off....... I hope to ride back to frederic again in the morning. I sure did see alot of deer on the way home and rode the lakeshore back to my house and was surprised at how many deer were in lakefront homes yards, just laying there or eating grass around small trees. Even saw 5 or 6 out on the ice and the one was running along side me at 40 mph.......so till tommorow.... Thursday March 5, 2009 10:15 a.m. If your gonna ride here you better do it today and tommorow. Its 32 out right now and luckily cloudy. It might hit 40 today and tommorow both. It was below freezing overnight which is good. The weather forcast has changed for the weekend but not the way all of us were hoping for. Now they are calling for rain on saturday and sunday. The trails started to get a bit soft yesterday afternoon but not to bad. Ohio Brian just called in and was on the trail up behind the high school and he says its great with a fresh groom on it. Only the diehards will be out on saturday depending where the rain line is. On the bright side there is a "storm to watch" coming this wednesday so that might give us a little hope. Still lots of snow in the woods and 2 tracks. Cathy and I had a nice ride yesterday where we went up to starvation lake and over to lakes of the north and had lunch at the settings restaurant. We met Joe the owner there and I told him about having bad reports on trail 4 this winter. He said they have been grooming it but the 2 mile stretch along mancelona has been to hard and slippery to get the groomer up so they have been skipping that. We rode from Lakes of the North on the 4 trail and it was all very nice except for that stretch along where Joe said and that was really no big deal. Back to frederic from trail 4 for a very nice 65 mile ride. All crossings and trails I looked at this morning are still white. Now to see how long they stay that way. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday March 4, 2009 9:20 a.m. I am starting to sound like a broken record, Sunny and cold here in frederic this morning but its already up to 2 degrees out there. Trails continue to be nice and hard, flat and white. It looks like the forcast is changing for this weekend and the rain has left but it is supposed to warm. If we are lucky we will get a decent weekend in. Watch the weather, you know you can call the gaylord weather serivce and they update it several times daily, the number is 989-732-6242. Its a handy number to have and the recording is only a minute or so long, press 1 when they answer. Cathy and I are heading out on a ride here shortly. This will be her first ride of the year. She has been busy taking some classes out a Kirtland College so she is anxious about her first and probably only sled ride of the year. Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 3, 2009 10:20 a.m. Still cold out this morning and sunny at 7 degrees. Even though its been sunny the past few days we havent lost a drop of snow. Trails are still nice and white at everyplace I looked this morning and everybody riding is reporting good trails....but the warm up for the weekend is still predicted,,,,still hoping its wrong. I had a guy in here yesterday and we were talking and I told him to just remind me when he comes in of his name as I always remember the names but dont always remember the face and I said if you are Ohio Bob I will always remember that and he says, I am Ohio Bob.....pretty good guess on my part..... Here is a video of the Ice Drag Races in Gaylord from the 21st weekend..... To watch World Series Ice Drag Racing click here I heard of a crash up somewhere by lakes of the north yesterday. Riders were in here that came up on it right after it happened, they said he broke off a bunch of small trees on a curve before he hit the one that really stopped him. He was laying on the trail but no ambulance there yet. I havent heard anything more about that. So Please Ride Safely and thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 2, 2009 Noon Thirty, Once again I was here about 9:30 this morning but between people coming in and me just talking with people here I am on a late update. It nice and sunny and cold still at only about 10 degrees right now. Earlier this morning about 7 it was still 18 below here. Its supposed to stay cold till sometime thursday when the weather said rain for thurs and friday then back to 30s for the weekend. The last 2 times it has rained it actually helped the trails but who knows what this week will bring. Hopefully by thursday the forcast will change. Just had Pete from Camp Canuck in Canada was just in and bought a pretty pink hat. He claims its for his girlfriend Nicola and today just happens to be her 25th birthday. It might be a while till she sees the hat as Nicola is teaching english over in South Korea, so a big shout of Happy Birthday across the pacific to Nicola. Thanks for checking in and keep up the snow chants, I still want us to get 3 or 4 more weeks of riding in and just for a little motivation here is my video from last year to watch..... To watch the Frederican Snow Chant click here Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Sunday 10:15 (second post) Couple more stories here, Frederic snowmobile rescue had to go out on a rescue yesterday at hartwick pines where a skier had fallen and become parylyzed, they got him out and to the high school where they had the life flight helicpoter come and take the patient. My daughters were there at the high school to see the helicopter come in. Next below this I am posting a story from Diane at the Fox River Motel about an incident that happened last night up by Seney. Just goes to show you it doesnt take to much to get into trouble. Brrr the evenings are getting cold again; minus 21 this morning. Don had to rescue 3 of our customers from the Snomads who got lost off the trail and stuck last night. They were our there 4 hours in below zero temps. They had gotten off the trail by accident and got lost. They tried to turn around in the deep powder. The first attempt buried one of the sleds so they stopped and called 911. It was fortunate they were in cell phone range. The sheriff's sleds were in the shop so he called here figuring Don could get there faster, but Don was in the Soo at the Groomer Workshop. I contacted Don and he left immediately. The sheriff notified the DNR; their sleds are housed in Newberry. In the meantime, Ray Williams and 2 friends went out to look for them thinking they new where they were. I organized a few customers to go with Don when he got home. The sheriff gave me their approximate location from the GPS off their phone. They were between Airport road and Stanley lake. I kept communication going between the sheriff, Don and the people in distress. Don and his team took off immediately, after he arrived, up the Fox River River Rd. When he got to the staging area the DNR was already on site talking with Ray Williams. Ray didn't have any luck and thought they might have made it out on their own, but Don told him that I had just talked to them and they were still out there waiting for help. Don, being a local, new of a few two tracks off airport road that ran up around Stanely lake. So they headed up to stage at Mahoney Lake road. The DNR had spot lights so they stayed there with Ray's group and shined lite on the plains as Don's crew took off. He didn't find them at the first site he went to, but knew of a narrow 2 track that went around the back side of the lake. On a hunch they headed that way and sure enough they found them there. It only took a few minutes to get the sled out and in the meantime the other guys got the other 2 sleds turned around. The snow was deep and they had drove into a bottleneck; they had to turn around to get out. The female in the party was close to hypothermia. Don gave her his warm gloves and led them back to safety. Don said it was so dark and there were no tracks in the fresh snow, the spot lights over the plain were like a beacon guiding him back the shortest route. Two more rescuers from the sheriff's dept. had arrive by the time they returned. The sheriff drove the girl home in their truck and the evening ended without incident thanks to the teamwork effort from everyone involved. Sunday March 1, 2009 9:50 a.m. Another cold sunny morning in frederic with sleds already up and about. The Elvis Gospel hour is just finishing up. There were lots of sleds around yesterday and Ohio Brian and I went up to the vintage sled show in waters which was another nice day for their show. Trails and crossing all looked good on the way here this morning, still nice and white and hard. If we can only get 3 or 4 more weeks out of this. There was a guy in here yesterday named George that his gang called Stinky because he always smoked a cigar but Stinky liked the beagle and says he is a regular reader. Cathy and I went to the annual Century 21 awards banquet last night where for the second year in a row I recieved a sales award...Considering I only sold 4 places last year I feel really bad for all the people that were there that didnt get one. The reason I did qualify is that 2 of my deals were BIG ones.......who knows how many will sell this year. Right now I guess I better get back to sled parts as thats a sure thing today. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday February 28, 2009 9:15 a.m. Sunny, crunchy, cold and 2 degrees here in frederic this mornig. Did the motel survey earlier in grayling this morning and there were already sleds starting out of the Ramada, A guy called from lansing as I was going thru the Ramada parking lot wondering how conditions were so I lost count on the trailers but there were a good amount at both the Ramada and Days Inn. The guy I was talking to was coming to stay at Ramada too......everyone riding yesterday was reporting good trails and its still the same this morning. I have figured out that the people that call me from downstate or even ohio or indiana have a hard time accepting that we really have good snow here but they are happy to hear it when they do call. I am just hoping we can get 3 more weeks after this one, even 4 just to stretch it. I see by my counter that we are past 900,000 hits. I dont imagine the one millionth hit will come till sometime this summer but for whoever is the lucky one to be the one millionth hit and can show me a picture of their monitor at that point or whoever is the closest to it I will have a set of Special Edition Sledheads Sweatshirts & T shirts and a hat for you and your family. (up to 5) I wish that it would happen this winter but I just dont see it coming that quick. I am pretty sure today is the vintage sled show up in waters so I will get some video of it later today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday 11:15 a.m. Groomer sighting, gaylord groomer was just here in frederic. Friday 9:15 a.m. Everything still looked good on the way here this morning, the trail along m 93 , the 2 high school crossings too. I talked to Kieth and he says the grayling groomer is out right now and they are reporting plenty of snow to push. Had a call from some riders in Indian River that are heading for St. Helen this morning and they are going to call me later on to give me their view of the trails. Shot a quick video in the parking lot here to show you Frederic,,,,, To watch Friday morning video click here I will update again later if anything good comes up... Friday February 27, 2009 6:50 a.m. Its 22 degrees out and hard,crunchy and slippery outside this morning here at Lake Margrethe. It rained last night from about 7 to midnight which is not what anybody wanted. The good part is that it dropped to below freezing and its supposed to continue to be cold for the rest of the weekend with no more percipitation. If it plays out like 2 weeks ago the rain actually helped the trails on MLK weekend after it froze up again and the groomers hit them. The schools are closed today all around grayling and snow did fall further north. I will take a look at the trail crossings and trails on the way to frederic this morning and I will update again when I get to the shop. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday February 26, 2009 10:10 a.m. Its 29 out and no new snow overnight. Ohio Brian and I went for a ride yesterday over to Lovells and up to Gaylord and back to Frederic for a nice 87 mile loop. Trails were great but we did get a little rain on us which turned to snow. I talked to Jane the weather lady this morning, she does he weather at the tv station when JC is off and she says that m 72 in grayling is the line between the heavy snow and the rain, she says its a coin toss if we get rain or snow but then north of that like in northern otsego county and further they are going to get up to 10 inches of snow. Good thing is she said its going to turn cold on thursday night and then the weekend is going to be beautiful. So I would say its going to be another good weekend for riding. Just had 2 guys in that are heading up to the bridge which reminded me when they asked me where a good place is to eat. Brian and I ate at Gobblers in Gaylord yesterday, they give you a great meal for a good price, I hadnt eaten there in a long time but it sure hit the spot right. My cottage is still available to rent this weekend at Lake Margrethe so give me a call if you want a nice place to stay. Also if anybody is looking for a getaway place in frederic I had a deal going on a little house here in town that fell apart. Its a small house just north of the shop but it has a basement and a attached 2 car garage for only 25K........cant beat the price. I talked to a guy in 7 11 this morning that said he had been here all week and he was talking about how great the trails have been here, he said he had rode 580 miles this week just around the grayling and frederic area...Thats a bunch of local riding. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 25, 2009 10:00 a.m. Its a quiet dark morning in Frederic with about 24 degrees out. I am hoping to go off for a ride here in a little bit with Ohio Brian..No new snow and there is forcast of snow but also talk of a slight rain mix, but hopefully the rain is south of us. I have seen a few sleds out and about this morning but thats about it. Not to much else to report on so thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 24, 2009 10:30 a.m. Another 4 below zero morning with no new snow. All riders that came in yesterday were reporting great trails and the same so far this morning. So far for a tuesday morning there have been quite a few sleds out. Still sounds like a storm coming later in the week.....I posted a video of the activities going on around frederic this past weekend, I just put all the clips together and didnt spend to much editing but it sure looks great with all the sleds in town and all the sleds in town. To watch Sledheads weekend Video click here On the death in st ignace from this weekend, the guy must have got dioriented and got off the tree line and ended up in the coast guard channel where he mangaged to get himself out, the really sad thing is that he died within about 200 feet of help and shore. Alcohol was a factor in this......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday February 23,2009 Noon Thirty I got here this morning at 9:30 and it was a crunchy 8 degrees out, now its all the way up to 20 and nice and sunny. I cant believe how the morning can fly by when I actually started to do this right after I got here. Not to many sleds out this morning but the ones that have been in are reporting fresh groomed trails everywhere. The news just finished and is talking of a new storm coming in wednesday or thursday so that would be nice. Also they said a body was found on the ice bridge between mackinac island and st ignace. They are reporting more on it tonight but they say the guy somehow got seperated from his sled......Sled traffic was steady but way slower on sunday in frederic, there was a head on crash on the blue bear trail saturday where there was an idiot flying around a corner on the wrong side of the trail and he hit a father/daughter coming the other way. All 3 of them went to the hospital but luckily the one hurt the worst was the guy that caused it. No life threatening injuries but I was told the one sled was really mangled. I had emails from several people that came across the accident. The people that ride like this guy was riding are the ones that spoil the family fun for the rest of us. I took off for a ride from here yesterday with 3 guys that come in here from downstate, I see them in here but you know I never did get their names, we rode up to starvation lake and stopped there for lunch. As soon as I walked in the door someone asked me where the beagle was.....from there we took the new trail to Mancelona which put us out on the north end of Mancelona right at McDonalds......we just headed back to frederic from there and that was a nice little ride. Well we were in Mancelona I got the call from Roger that I knew was coming but not looking forward to. He called to tell me that our riding partner and friend Andy the Terroist had passed away yesterday morning. He has been very sick for a long time and we knew the end was near as he has had hospice the past month or so. Andy was in the marines and we called him the terroist because of the swat type vest that he rode while riding. Only thing is in all the pockets and holes in that vest instead of weapons and bombs he carried cheese, crackers, meat sticks and any other type of food he could stuff in there. He looked a bit funny with all that but he kept us supplied with snacks. Andy was also one of the biggest contributers to the web cam fund and I know he liked watching that too. So a goodbye to a friend is always a tough thing to do. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday Februrary 22,2009 9:10 a.m. WOW,,,We had just about a foot of new snow come down on us yesterday, all that snow chanting must be doing some good....First phone call this morning came from down in sunny florida as my friend GM was sitting at the pool watching my web cam on his laptop. He wanted to tell me to get my booty to work as there were 5 sleds setting under the camera waiting for me to get here. I got here just in time to fire up the radio for the Elvis Gospel Hour and help these guys out. I know GMs wife is probably tight to the radio in florida indulging in Elvis too......These guys are just leaving after getting a bolt fixed in a ski. So things are off to a start this morning and I already saw sleds out and about before I got to frederic. The new snow made an incredible day for everyone yesterday, most of the day snowing so hard that it was tough to see. I took alot of video. When I finally got out of here last night I had to go plow more snow. Last night I plowed out front here and then went down to the Frederic Inn for a nice big burrito and when I came back here an hour later to get the beagle there was at least another 2 inches of new stuff.....I sure would love to see that more often. Going out to plow again right now. THanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday Noon, Its snowing good out there and its supposed to keep coming over the whole state. I have a guy here that is from Terre Haute Indiana that bought a new sled and now has 2 sleds here with no trailer. He is looking for someone that can take his extra sled back to Indiana, He said anywhere between Fort Wayne and Indy would be good for him, If you have a empty spot on a trailer going south call me and I will get you set up with him. It will get you some extra gas money to haul it back for him...Thanks, Pete Saturday February 21, 2009 9:45 a.m. Quiet and calm here in frederic with about 25 degrees out. No new snow since yesterday but there is supposed to be a new downfall today. Traffic was heavy for a friday and this morning I did the trailer survey in grayling and for a change there were more at the Days Inn (14) verses 12 at the Ramada Inn. People are just starting to get moving around town here. I had to make a stop at the Days Inn last night and there was a big quilting party going on there and I ran into regular reader Cindy Hummel in there. Then at the pizza place ran into another reader and then the last stop at the video store a girl said hi and she never did tell who she was but she said she was a regular reader too. Its always fun running into everyone. Tried to call my friend SAK down in north carolina this morning but the number didnt work,,,call me SAK if you read this....Thanks for checking in and PLEASE RIDE SAFELY....Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday February 20, 2009 9:10 a.m. Another beautiful snow morning here in downtown Fredericianville......We had about 4 new inches of lake effect fluffy snow overnight and its 16 degrees out right now. Just finished plowing the lot and its looking good out there. Already had 1 ski doo rider in this morning and just like everyone that was in yesterday he cant believe how nice the trails are. One guy came in yesterday and said that he was thinking about putting a cup holder on his sled because the trails were so smooth.....of course all that can change after a bunch of heavy sled traffic which I still think is going to be here this weekend. There are drag races going on up in gaylord behind the airport off millbocker road from what I hear, nobody contacts me about that stuff so its just by word of mouth. If anything else comes up exciting I will post again later on today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday February 19, 2009 10:20 a.m. Just the way I like it in frederic, cold and blowing. Its 8 degrees out right now and I would say we have had about 6 inches total this week. I talked to my friend from blue lake this morning and she said thats about the same they have up that way. I really think we are sitting in one of the best pockets of snow in the lower penninsula right now. I have heard that north of gaylord it gets thin and definetly frederic and to the west is the places to ride. Had a note from Kieth this morning who rode down to lake city 2 days ago and reported a great ride to there too. The weather was saying to 10 inches by tonight but there is no sign of any snow right now. Trails along m 93 and the crossings up by the high school all looked nice and white and flat as I passed them this mornin. I had a call from Ohio Mike yesterday to tell me he was coming up this weekend, and then lo and behold who did I run into first thing this morning was Ohio Mike and his gang. He actually looks pretty good for getting beat up by a chain like he did. Hes wearing a patch on his eye and behind that is a little ugly as he has no lense on his eye till they try to repair it in a few months...He said I only look half as big from his point of view. Also had a call from Ohio Brian and he is finally coming up for the first time this season. Sqintz Mikey Schidel from G.R. also wrote in but he hardly ever makes it here but said he would stop on his way back from the u.p. So keep the snow chants up. Its working. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday February 18, 2009 10:15 am. A nice new blanket of 3 inches of wet snow came down on us since midnight and its still snowing right now. From what the weather said, that was the easy part and were gonna get the big part later today. So I am thinking positvie and going to put my plow back on. Very few sleds out on tuesday. Hopefully this is part of the plan to make my prediction come true for this weekend. Now for the next part here. I am such a loser, I knew I shouldnt have gone off yesterday about someone lifting my camera off the counter. I still poked around yesterday looking for it and after I closed I went to Walgreens to check out new cameras but thought I would give it a couple more days before buying a new camera. Well I got home and was walking thru the house and noticed a bag full papers I had brought home for Cathy on Friday and just for the heck of it I picked it up and you know what was in the bag.....I sure dont know why or even remember putting it in that bag, but hey at least I have it. Now I just need to shoot some new video. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday February 17, 2009 10:45 a.m. You might say its the calm before the storm this morning. Predictions are for a bunch of snow for us which is nice. Same thing yesterday as over the weekend, everybody that came in that was riding was pleasantly surprised on how great the trails are. As I left last night the grayling groomer was pulling into frederic. My prediction for this coming weekend is that we will be as busy as ever. First reason being that even if we dont get snow people now know the trails are pretty good and secondly all the good snow that was downstate is gone which is going to put more sleds into one area and we are the area with the snow. Reports have been when you get north of gaylord things are thin.....so only time will tell if I am right. Now back to the problem of my missing video camera.......I hate to say it but I am down to thinking that somebody lifted off my counter on friday or saturday as I have searched everywhere in here and my truck and home and no camera. The last time I used was friday morning when I uploaded a couple videos here in frederic. I try to keep a close eye on everything in here and have found very few things stolen out of here over the years but this one really irks me...., I keep hoping I am wrong and that I will find it when I am not looking for it but there isnt a place I can think of that I havent looked........Thats about it for today so a few snow chants wouldnt hurt and thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 16, 2009 10:45 a.m. Its sunny and about 10 degrees out this morning. A few sleds have been already and traffic once again yesterday was slow but all that were riding were glad that they did and said they loved the trails being in good shape and not busy. Sounds like a good prediction of snow for tuesday or wednesday too. I have been pulling out what hair I have trying to find my video camera, I had it on friday and cant seem to find it now. I am posting a video I shot yesterday with a family that was out riding. Didnt use my regular video on it, it was the one on my pocket camera...anyways hopefully I will find it when I am not looking for it. Heres the video and thanks for checking in. Pete to watch sunday video click here -------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 15, 2009 10:15 a.m. Its sunny and 20 out. I walked in the door just in time to catch the last song on the Elvis Gospel Hour plus I had people waiting to buy carbides. Yesterday there were very few riders out but every one that came in said the same thing, that the trails were way better than they expected and they were all happy that the trails werent as busy as usual. So that turned out to be a nice bonus for the riders that were here. There were 2 fund raising rides going on yet, the one being the pink ribbon riders out of Gaylord raising and riding for breast cancer awareness, their site is pink ribbon riders click here and the other ride was the fun run that started out in frederic at the swamp and then ended up at the Ole Barn last night. That was to raise money for the Grayling Animal Shelter and put on by Mary Becker. I went to the Ole Barn last night to catch the end of the ride and met some of the riders there including Bob and Bridget Swift from TEAM GNS (got no shame).....they said they are friend with one of my readers that I havent heard from in a long time, little mikey schiedel aka squintz from down in the Grand Rapids neighborhood......and speaking of readers and visitors I havent heard from Ohio Brian has not showed or called yet this season. Dont know what the deal is with him. So to get back on track here, the trails are in surprisng shape for the little snow we recieved this week, I had several reports of groomer sightings and many happy riders that say the trails were best to the west of frederic. Now I keep hearing rumors about an upcoming storm in the next few days which should really put us back on the groomed trail. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday 11:00 a.m. When you think youve seen it all in snowmobiles something new comes along, actually this is from 1926. I sure would not want to fall off this thing into the track. Go to this page and look to the bottom of the page to watch the video. Entertaining and a great look at the past, watch how deep the snow is, I only wish we could get snow that deep today. Its a silent movie but keep watching and you will see the captions. TO WATCH Fordson Snow Motor click here Saturday February 14, 2009 9:45 am.. Its 22 degrees out with a fine snow in the air. We had about a half inch of new snow since yesterday. There was a group of 4 sleds that rode into here yesterday and the one guy said he was glad that he came, he was rating the trails at 5 or 6 and that the worse parts were the road crossing or any gravel shoulders you had to go by. I did see other sleds out and about yesterday including a bunch at Larrys in Elmira at both 4 oclock and 10 oclock when I went by there last night. I took my daughter Haley up to Avalanche Bay at Boyne Mountain for a fun night in the water park. The other fun part of that trip was that I met 3 regular readers in the park that recognized me and came up to say hi. There was Brad Lavoy from Temperance, Phil Mcgrill from St.Charles and Jim and his son Josh from Flint....It was nice to meet those guys and they all pretty much said they did that instead of riding this weekend. So thats where the riders are......I had a call from Brad downstate this morning and he said they had 4 inches last night. I have been hearing rumors about some big storm heading this way from out west so lets hope that happens. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noon Friday 2 drownings on Crystal Lake this morning in Frankfort where sled fell thru ice....STAY OFF ALL LAKES....... I have seen one sled ride thru frederic this morning so far..... Friday the 13th February 2009 This is the kind of day that is great for carbide and slide sales....we had about a half inch of new snow overnight. Overall I would say conditions are poor. 2 guys were in this morning that came in to by some sledheads thongs but I am out. They said they are going to ride over by lovells today. Its supposed to stay below 30 over the weekend so thats good but we need a nice blast of snow. I talked to Don up in Seney at the Fox River Motel yesterday and he said trails are still decent and if it got down to 16 last night like it was supposed to they were going to run the groomers. It will be a while till the groomers run around frederic. So the wait is on for more snow. I am sure there will be some die hards out there, for those of you staying home, check out the web cam saturday afternoon and you will see what exactly is happening here. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday February 12, 2009 11:50 There is a light snow in the air and its about 35 out. We were supposed to get 3 or 4 inches but only just a a skiff fell. I have been working on a 5 minute video that I shot on tuesday and this morning to show you trail crossings and what its like out there. Its still loading up and I will have it posted here in the next half hour.....Check back in a while and thanks for checking in. Pete TO WATCH Thursday 2/12 trail crossings & conditions CLICK HERE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 11, 2009 10:30 a.m. Just me the beagle and the all elvis radio station here in Sledheads this morning.......39 degrees out and looking worse each morning. This morning I was still in bed and I heard Haley say that she could see grass outside which was a great thing to hear first thing. I have been getting calls from people wondering about riding. About the only thing you could ride now is 2 tracks and off trail things and expect it to be wet and mushy, there is still snow on the trails but there is also dirt so I would vote against that. So I am doing things here that I have been putting off for a while and doing the snow chant....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------ Tuesday February 10, 2009 11:00 a.m. It rained most of the night in grayling and was 41 degrees when I left home this morning, things are very icy and lots of dirt showing in the parking lot. What did surprise me was that I went to gaylord this morning and the trail along 27 looked flat as could be like it was groomed last night, thats not to say that its pretty soft but it did look pretty good with only a few dark spots. It seems like with the warm temps today it can only get worse. I will stop at that, I finally have the hot links thing figured out and have 3 videos done that you can watch while you wish you could ride, when you click the links it takes you right to my youtube page which then has a spot down below where you can email that video to a friend if you would like to so thats a nice feature. Check them out and do some snow chanting too.......... TO WATCH GROOMING THE GRAYLING TRAILS PART 1 CLICK HERE TO WATCH GROOMING THE GRAYLING TRAILS PART 2 CLICK HERE TO WATCH Wertz Warriors at the Swamp Bar 2009 Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 9, 2009 11:00 a.m. I already had this typed up once and the computer shut down on me, I hope I dont have the same thing wrong on this as my laptop. Talked to JC the weather man this morning and the only good news he had for me was that he got married, he says 50s tommorow, rain on wed and snow on wed night with next chance for snow on tues the 17th.....sure hope hes wrong. I have been meaning to write about this for a while but with all the talk lately of flight 1549 in the hudson river it brings back memories of a story about me and my buddy bob....after a full day of cruising up the atlantic ocean from baltimore with a stop in front of the statue of liberty we dropped anchor just south of the George Washington Bridge for the night. Thats right about where that plane landed. It was really quiet there that night considering we were right next to NYC.......to read my whole story on that trip seeing that there is no snow to play in, go to the tabs above and click the one that says adventures of pete the greek and read the one called the Big Adventure.........it sure was a fun trip......Now a email I recieved from someone who had a good ride here this weekend. Hello Pete, Just wanted to thank you for the s'mores. My little guy has been wanting to get do there to have some. I was watching the video with the one lady out there last week or so. My son seen that part(of course). So the last two weeks when we've been up he's says dad can we go get them s'mores this time. So warm weather and a rough running 91 Indy 400(bad plugs). We made it. When we had gotten there the stuff was put away. When we went inside to the young lady working about it. She did not hastate to get it right out for us. My son and my buddies son just thought that was the coolest thing. So thank you very much for doing the little things that will make a kids memory. Then I had to go back in and get my reflective Sledheads.com helmet stickers(5). Thanks again, Chris from Romeo I am glad they had a good time and now we need to keep up the snow chants. I have 3 videos just about ready to go, The groomer ride from last week is a 2 part one and the Wertz Warriors one is ready to. Probably post them later today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 8, 2009 10:00 a.m. MO MO NAH CHEE CHEE NAH........Its time to start up the snow chants and break out the spam. We never did get any drizzle yesterday but 48 degrees certainly did us any favors. Trails looks very soft yesterday afternoon but it was 27 this morning which should have stiffened everything up but unless it was groomed it will be rutty and hard to hold the skis straight. I have seen a few sleds out so far this morning. The parking lot is down to ice and dirt in spots and on the bright side a guy I was with outside spotted a 5 dollar bill frozen down in the ice.....thursday is the next prediction for any snow and who knows where will conditions will be by then if the warmth continues......thats it for now so I guess I will just set back and enjoy the rest of the Elvis Gospel Hour.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- TO WATCH GROOMING THE TRAILS PART 2 CLICK HERE Saturday February 7, 2009 Noon Been a dark day all day at 38 degrees but thank goodness no drizzle like was predicted, at least so far. Went thru the Ramada this morning and there were about 20 trailers there and traffic thru town here this morning has been steady. Roads are wet and snow is dripping off the roofs, not really what I want to write about. Trails and crossings still looked in good shape this morning on the way here too. One of the first groups in here this morning were from Kentucky and they said they have been watching my site for the past few months. Yesterday California Marty was in and he has been a regular reader for years. Just passed 300 on the sledheads reflective helmet stickers, hopefully a nice saftey addition. Still working on 2 different videos, the groomer run from last week and the wertz warriors from wednesday of this week. Something got to my laptop at home as it will not let me open internet explorer and it keeps saying it had an error and has to shut down, so I need to get that figured out. My friends Jason and Jeff are here from kzoo and we had a nice big fire going outside last night and its still burning today, they headed up to cheboygan and were going to go to bois blanc island.....So thats about it today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday February 6, 2009 9:10 a.m. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpWd4vmkIzk Just rode here into frederic about 8:45, its 2 below out and I rode my sled here from home, the trails were very nice from the 72 parking lot all the way to here. We sure could use a shot of new snow as everything is looking well worn. I just checked the gaylord weather service which you too can do anytime by calling 989 732 6242 then push 1......he says light drizzle tonight and tommorow with flurries saturday night and temps of upper 30s on saturday....the good part is he says light drizzle.......we would have to get alot of rain to knock out all our snow.....so I have already had emails this morning on what do i think..... my guess is yes you can ride but expect the drizzle.......on saturday, sounded like sunday will be o.k. My ride yesterday didnt work out like I wanted, by the time I got out of here it was 1:30 and made a stop or two in grayling and then stopped at home, by the time I was going to head off to Houghton Lake it was almost 3, so I decided heck with it and drove my truck down. On the way down I thought I would go thru prudenville and stopped at the surplus store to see if Archie was there, I hadnt been there in a couple years and sure enough Archie was there. What a cool old guy, still working everyday and he is almost 98 years old. So it was well worth missing my sled ride just to visit with Archie.....Left Archies and went down to Rons Coney Island,,,,,and guess what? It was 4:13 and they closed at 4.....just my luck, so I headed off and stopped at spicers and checked out their sleds and left there and made a new discovery for houghton lake. On the corner up by the state police post there used to be 2 restaurants next to each other, I know one of them was called whiteheads......anyways the Best Choice Market Place is there and they have a deli and produce, the place does not look inviting on the outside but I was very surprised when I walked in. They have lots of first class cuts of meats, tons of deli stuff and great sandwhiches for only 5 bucks. If you are down that way I would highly recommend checking it out.....I had a great sandwhich and found a new place at the same time. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Februray 5, 2009 9:20 a.m. Its a nice 7 degrees this morning in frederic, yesterday it stayed 17 below till after 10 a.m. and never got above 7 all day.....Still a warm up predicted for this weekend which I dont like the sound of. 3 guys took off out of here at 9 to head for the bridge and mackinac island,,,,,kind of wish I was going with them but I am heading for an easy ride today, heading towards grayling and down to houghton lake, my goal is to go to Rons Coney Island for lunch and ride some around there and maybe see whats at spicers for sale......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday 10:25 a.m. Wertz Warriors just pulled out of town from the swamp after a great breakfast donated to them by Linda and the crew at the Swamp. They are off for Traverse City where they meet up with special olympians from all over the state and give them rides on their sleds. I shot video footage there of all the activities and will be doing a video on it. Their celebrity rider is Mark "The Bird" Fidrych of 1976 Detroit Tigers and I did a short interview with him which will be in the video. Even right now its still 15 below zero out but nice and sunny. To read more about what Wertz Warriors is all about copy and paste the next line http://www.somi.org/content.php?sec=Sponsors&cat=Wertz%20Warriors and check out their site. Thats it for today, thanks for checking in. Pete Wednesday Februrary 4, 2009 9:00 a.m. Wertz Warriors pulling into the swamp any minute, watch the action on the web cam for the next hour and a half...... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 3, 2009 Noon Just finally got to old Tennesee boys on their way on rental sleds....it seems I have been with them for an hour....anyways its sunny and 15 degrees out. We had a skiff of new snow overnight and the riders in so far this morning are reporting great trails. Not to much else exciting, got the Mackinac Island video up and will post it down below....Just a remider too, my cottage is still available this weekend at Lake Margrethe, just had a group of Ohio guys from down by Columbus leave this morning and they have been there a few days. I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the ohio people that have been thru the shop this year as it seems like there sure are alot of them, but then again there are alot of Indiana riders too plus the regular Michigan one, so Thank you to all of you.....also still some rental sleds availble for this weekend too.......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Monday February 2, 2009 11:00 a.m. On the way here this morning passed the grayling groomer heading out. Sled traffic was slow yesterday around town but I talked to plenty of people that said the trails were great. I was up late last night getting both segments of the Boise Blanc & Mackinac ride together. I cheated a bit and didnt put in transistions but they didnt turn out to bad, I bet I had 5 hours in in getting those together......so I am posting part 1 today and will do part 2 tommorow, then later in the week will get the groomer episode on.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 1, 2009 9:45 a.m. Another sunday morning starting off here in frederic with the Elvis Gospel Hour. Its sunny and 28 degrees out and I dont like that temp and what it will do to our snow. Also a Happy 9th Birthday to my youngest one Haley today.......... Bill and Terri from Fort Worth, Texas were in here yesterday, Bill says he is a daily reader from where he works at Sikorsky Helicopter.....he needs to bring a demo up here next time. Also been getting a couple emails this week from John who is working in India and missing Michigan......I told him he needs to get one of the red dots on his head and he would feel more at home......Also got a call from Ohio Mike yesterday and he is waiting for the next phase which he says will be like the movie face off......they have to pretty much cut him behind the ear and peel his face to get to the bone to repair it and then put him back together. I certainly would not look forward to that. My buddy Bob called me yesterday and he asked if I had a sled to borrow as he had to go rescue one of his sleds, so I went with him and rode mine back here......Had some big crowds out at the campfire yesterday and alot of smores were eaten, also many people getting the reflective sledheads helmet decals....NOW on to the serious stuff, I heard the train coming yesterday so I walked out with my video camera and saw it was a single engine going slow and right away you can hear me say on the video, watch the cops are going to jump off that train and sure as heck thats what they were doing. 4 sleds had just been down by the tracks near the swamp. 2 of them had come down the tracks and 2 of them had not. People need to learn the right and wrong of the railroads. ONLY CROSS AT APPROVED CROSSING AND THE REST OF THE TIME STAY AWAY FROM THE TRACKS, RIDING UP EVEN CLOSE TO THEM IS WORTH A TICKET. Please pass this info and video on to every sledder you know. I talked to the guy from the railroad that was on the engine and he says they are not out to get the sledders but their most important concern is their engines and loads and that it does not take much ice build up to derail a train......they are working with the state and MSA to educate people on the rights and wrongs. I am pasting the video below this that I took. This was also the lead story on the news last night, here is the url to their story, you will have to copy and paste it http://www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=148394 Also just had a guy in telling me the sheriff was up cameron bridge road with radar yesterday. There also was a sled crash behind camp grayling yesterday where the rider had to be airlifted out.......Thats about all the news for today, thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday January 31, 2009 10:00 a.m. Still great conditions everywhere. In grayling we had about another 2 inches of snow yesterday but no new snow in frederic in the same time frame. I forgot to mention that on thursday Illinois Mike stopped in and dropped me off 7 cans of spam in 4 different flavors....I never knew they had the flavors......On the other hand Ohio Mike is at home for a little bit until I think later this week where he has to go in for reconstructive surgery on his cheek,,,,I think thats right, from the way they have to do it according to Flatline Jack its not an easy fix.....Mike if you are reading send me the details........... I rode in the groomer yesterday and have a whole new respect for what those guys do. I only rode for an hour or so and they had a 7 and a half hour tour. 2 groomers together and they are volunteers. Kieth said he got a raise, from his old scale of 0 to the new scale of 00....I never knew how much work the front blade does on the groomer, in the corners where its all pushed up from sleds cranking around the corners that blade was cutting in 12 to 15 inches and pushing it to the center and then the drag would smooth and level it out with. We were in the big green john deere and the blue tractor with Bill at the controls was knocking down the excess left by us. Watching sleds coming at you from in the groomer is also interesting, the banks are getting high and its hard for the sleds to get up and out of the way, one guy fell off the bank twice right in front of us with his sled. All you can do is set and wait for everybody to get out of the way. The power of that big green machine is incredible as it only runs about 1800 to 2200 rpms and it just pushes thru that hard snow like nothing is there. All in all an educational ride for me. The Ausable Valley Snowmobile Association is resposible for all the great trails around here and they work darn hard at it. Check out their website to join....... www.gosledgrayling.org Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------- Friday January 30, 2009 9:45 a.m. A beautiful morning here in frederic, about 20 degrees out with about 5 new inches of fluffy snow overnight. It certainly whitens things up and makes things look more perfect than they already are. I would say in the 12 seasons I have been in this place this is by far the best snow and conditions we have ever had. A group of sleds has already been in and it consisted of Chubby Rogers sister and niece. They were heading north from grayling. I picked up another load of wood for the weekend campfire this morning and hopefully a few more people will be in for smores this weekend. We got the broken drive shaft fixed on my sled yesterday that broke on the island the other day so its ready for a new adventure. I think thats the second time I have had a shaft break like that. That is an awfully big chunk of steel to break like that. I still havent started on the videos from the other day yet but will get to it in the next few days. Heading out in the Grayling Groomer at 4 this afternoon. Next is another letter I recieved regarding the railroad. Hey Pete, First thanks for all the updates. Very informative. On the last story about the State Trooper. We had witnessed that same thing last year. It was just up the road from you by Otsego Lake Old 27 and C-38. There was a DNR writing tickets for the same thing. They had just the engine running up and down the tracks. Seen sleds coming off the south end of the lake. The DNR had about 5-6 sleds pulled over with the book out writing. So yeah they've been doing that for a little Well thanks again, Chris from Romeo Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Janauary 29, 2009 11:00 a.m. Greeted by a new inch of snow this morning with a mild temp out there to make for superior riding conditions. Things couldnt get any better than what they have been this week and that includes yesterday. Riders were just in that rode both yesterday and today and they say the same thing. My brother and I left from here in Frederic yesterday at 10:30 and headed up to Cheboygan with perfect trail all the way, 5 miles north of cheboygan at piers landing we took a turn east and headed across 5 miles of ice to bois blanc island, and no its not a straight line but it is marked with trees, they make the path thru the broken up ice and its tight and curvie. Sections looked like broken glass pushed up thru the ice or giant diamonds. I had never been to that island but have wanted to bow hunt there for many years and as soon as we go onto the island we were greeted by 2 deer. I figured that it must be about 25 miles around so we headed out around the perimeter road which is plowed, nothing is open there and there are many very old homes that are really cool looking and several unique designs. Deer are everywhere there, I bet we saw over a hundred,,things were going fine when I noticed Alex wasnt behind me, so I sat and waited a couple minutes and still nothing so I turned around and rode about 5 miles hoping he hadnt hit anything and thinking the worst, well I finally came up to him and he had the sled up on its side and the drive shaft had snapped and locked up the track, right away I felt like Gilligan, stranded on an island 10 miles from where we came on shore and then 5 miles of ice like mine fields to get back to shore. I called my buddy Bob Terry and luckily he was bored, so he came to Sledheads and picked up another sled and headed for cheboygan. We started towing the sled and the track was locked up and then luckily found an old 4 inch whitewall tire and we put that under the track and pulled it a bit easier that way. When we hit the ice we lost the tire but kept going and we werent looking back, just wanted to make it back to the other side, when we were almost to shore I let off the gas and them WHAMO, little did I know the drive shaft had come out and the track was spinning so it hit the back of my sled and broke out my taillight with the bumper of Alex's sled......So anyways we were back to land and waited only about 15 minutes before Bob showed up with the other sled and trailer. We switched sleds and about 4:15 we were off again. We were about 10 miles out of Mackinaw City so we headed that way and I called the bridge for the trailer, at 4:45 the trailer picked us up and dropped us on the St Ignace side where we took off and by 5:20 we had crossed 3 more miles of ice and were sitting on Mackinac Island. We headed up around west bluff drive which takes you by some of the prettiest views and homes on the island and then right past the front of the Grand Hotel where we stopped and took pictures and video. From there it was up and down several other island roads and then we took the perimeter road around the 8 miles of the island. You know I cant go to long without some good food and on a cruise down the main street of the island I had spotted the dinner special at Sinclairs which was spaghetti. It was 5:55 and I really didnt want to cross the ice in the dark but she said the food would be up quickly which it was, trouble was that at 6:20 it was pretty dark. We headed back to the tree line and there were 2 sleds getting ready to go back to st ignace and I figured that was good we could follow them, well the first sled took off and I started to follow him when he took off way to the right. I had just come that route an hour and a half before and there was no way I was following him into that dark abyss......I could see my tracks and the tree line, so I was leading Alex and the third sled was following us too, and pretty soon the lost guy was following me to a trouble free follow the right line back to st ignace, at 7 we were loaded and going back across to Mackinaw City. What we did was kind of island hopping but instead of Oahu and Kaui, it was Bois Blanc and Mackinac.....a full day of riding. From Mackinaw City to the south end of Otsego Lake we were the first ones on the fresh groomed trail and it was absolutely perfect, it was good in the morning and didnt even need that fresh groom but even from otsego lake to frederic was great without the fresh groomer tracks....we were at the gas station in frederic at 9:45 making it almost a 12 hour day with 231 miles. Got back here into the shop where either the roof leaked really bad or the beagle peed on the floor so I had to take care of that. Cant figure that beagle out she was only in here from 5 to 10 and she never does that at home but it was a great way to finish off the night. A BIG thank you to my Buddy Bob Terry for helping us out and getting us to finish a great ride. Of course I shot alot of video of this whole excursion but its gonna take me a few days and segments to get that put together. And then Friday afternoon I have a date in the grayling groomer to do a video on that. Talked to Flatline Jack and Video Jim this morning and they were on their way to Cleaveland to visit Ohio Mike, when I talked to them they said the gps said they should be pulling in there at 11:45 and its now 11:36,,,I wish I was with them........Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 28, 2009 9:35 a.m. Its a nice 7 degrees out this morning and we had about a half inch of snow over night which will make the trails great this morning. Yesterday everybody that came in that was riding yesterday said the trails were immaculate, which makes today an even better day to ride. My brother is here from kzoo and he and I are heading out on a ride somewhere shortly. Last night we went up to gaylord and saw the harlem globetrotters...I had bought tickets for my girls and me to go and they didnt want to go, it was fun and entertaining. I talked to both Barry and Dave yesterday, two of Ohio Mikes best friends and they filled me in on his condition. They both said he is hurt very bad and that when the chain hit him it got him in the face and across one eye where it pulled his eyelid almost off. And it also detached a part in his eye so they are hoping to be able repair his eye so he can see thru it. I am not to good on these particulars but it is serious stuff. If anyone would like to send him a note or card here is the adress, it goes to Metro Health Systems Patient Mike Bagi 2500 Metro Health Dr. Cleaveland, Ohio 44109 My buddy Bob Terry just came in and he is friends with Mike too and I told him, and like most of us he said I just talked to him last weekend....Life can change in an instant..... Next I am pasting a letter below here that I got from a reader in ohio about what they experienced last weekend,,,here it is. I'm glad to here people remember you when it's time for a home or property. After all you do for snowmobilers, that is why I picked you to buy my cottage from in Gaylord. Anyway, I just got a call from my brother who is on his way home from snowmobiling in the Mancelona area. Wednesday, they were sitting along side of the tracks across from the Mobil / carryout in Alba along 131 waiting for everyone in their group to get fueled up etc. He said from the North, a train was coming down the tracks with a very large snow blade on the front. As the train neared he saw it was only 2 engines not an entire train. It began to slow down almost to a stop as it approached them. Just then a guy jumps off the train, while still moving, falls down in the snow, rolls down the hill, gets up and brushes off the snow, only to see it is was fully armed Michigan State Police officer on patrol from a train!! The train even had a Michigan Police Seal on the side. Of course he wanted license and registration from everyone in the group. The officer accused them of riding on the tracks north of Alba and was going to write everyone a ticket unless they admitted which 1 or two guys were on the tracks. When they explained that it was impossible because the gas station was the furthest north any of them had been, he was going to write everyone a ticket for being "within 25 feet of a train track" and in some places up to 50 feet is illegal. He stated that is the railroad right-of-way and they were all getting tickets. Lucky for them, the first three guys in their group handed the officer their military i.d.'s and he instantly changed his attitude. They were all given warnings not to even sit near railroad tracks let alone ride on them. Pretty interesting huh? Have you ever heard of them patrolling from a train? Just thought you would find this interesting. I would prefer if you did not post this e-mail, but please summarize and pass along. Talk to you soon, Brian LaVoy Next is my video of the Jordan Valley Trip I took on Sunday....... Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 27, 2009 7:30 a.m. Its a cold -20 below zero here at lake margrethe this morning, no new snow but I can say that the trails are nice and hard this morning. I finished up the new video last night and will post it below here. In this video I have a clip of Ohio Mike and Bad Leg Barry, and last night I got a call that Ohio Mike was severely injured yesterday when a chain snapped on a loader he was using to get a semi truck unstuck, the chain came thru the window of the loader and caught him across the face, he was airlifted to a hospital in Cleaveland so, please keep Ohio Mike in your thoughts and prayers, I will post more about him as I find out his situation. For next weeks video I will be riding in the big John Deere Groomer to show you what its like from the inside view. Here is the new video..... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------