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Frederic, MI Trail Conditions
(It's a long page folks... scroll down!) |
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JOIN THE SLEDHEADS OF FREDERIC CLUB ON YAHOO! |
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Wednesday May 14, 2008 Noon Its been raining all day here in good old fredericoville. Really nothing exciting going on. This has been a slow year for mushrooms but we are going to go and try this afternoon. My trip to kzoo for the weekend was fun. My 2 brothers and I went to the wrestling match, thats the first time we have all 3 done anything together in a long time. Melissa came down with me and hung out with her cousins. I suppose it wont be long till its time to start cutting the grass outside both here at the shop and at home. I had an email this morning from a guy named Nick that said he rode 4200 miles this past season, alot of it around here but also some in the u.p., I sure wish I could get that many miles in......He was wondering if I knew how many inches we had here during the winter. I will have to check with JC on that one. The webcam was down a couple days again because the ip adress got changed again. I have to see about getting it on a permanent ip......there isnt much activity on it anyways at this time of year unless you watch me letting the beagle in and out.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 10, 2008 9:00 a.m. Its another nice sunny morning here at Lake Margrethe, calm and cool out and I am so excitied.....I am heading off for Kzoo and tonight is WWE wrestling,,,I have ringside seats, so anyways off to the highway and south.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------ Thursday May 9, 2008 7:30 a.m. The sun is popping out nicely this morning here near the shores of Lake Margrethe. Its been cloudy and dark the past couple days along with cool temps....Mushrooms are hard to come by so far, we went last night and only found 3....My little one Haley made the front page of the paper this week from the kids night out event they had at the high school last week. I brought my pontoon home a couple nights ago and have to get that cleaned up and ready to hit the lake. I am going to try steam cleaning it this year to get the standard lake grime off it. Wade and I got back from Lake Geneva monday night about 8. We made it all the way the way thru Chicago with no traffic jams and the only stop we made was at Bass Pro at Gurney Mills. Off to the weekly C/21 office meeting. Sales are still slow although Greg who is a regular customer at Sledheads is buying his snowmobile cabin which is going to close next week. He is excited about getting a place here and getting it ready for the next sled season......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday May 5, 2008 7:24 a.m. central time Another very sunny pretty morning here in Lake Geneva. Yesterday was a great day here and it was a nice celebration of my friend Freds life....lots of people and stories, the interesting thing was that Fred was a doctor and professor and so many of his friends didnt know him as a bowhunter as some of us other guys did. I was surprised that how people wanted to know that side of him that only knew him as Doc......Lake Geneva is about 20 plus miles around and there is a sidewalk that goes all the way along the lake shore around the whole lake. I took a small walk down it yesterday morning and the mansions on this lake are really something to see. At one point in time the Maytag family held a majority of the property along where we are at but the homes are huge and stunning. They do have boat tours here around the lake and I wish we could stay long enough to do that......I better get rolling here as we need to get packed up and head back towards grayling.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------ Sunday May 4, 2008 7:30 a.m. Its a beautiful very sunny morning this morning here in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. My friend Wade Davis and I left grayling yesterday morning about 8:30 and headed this way, It was about a 450 mile drive.....This is a very pretty resort town and of course it is all centered around the Lake.......On our way here we stopped at Bass Pro, then Cabelas and then a visit to my favorite place near my sisters called Mickeys Gyros in Worth Illinois and then a quick visit to my sisters in Palos Hills.....Met a bunch of guys down at the pool last night that were here on a golf outing and they took me out and showed me the town nightlife.....so the reason we are here is for a memorial service for an old friend that we knew. Dr. Fred Kasch was 94 years old, he is an old bowhunting friend and if you remember my story from last spring when the family and I went to SanDiego we stopped to visit Fred and his wife at their winter home in california, Lake Geneva is there summer home. A few years ago Fred came up to grayling and we went bowhunting together. He was a pretty incredible guy for his age, still always excerising and 4 years ago when he was 90 he went on a bowhunting trip to Africa where he took 3 animals....He said that when he got to africa they had a wheel chair waiting for him because they heard a 90 year old guy was coming and he just laughed at that when he saw it......One of his other favorite stories was about him going to the 1936 Olympics in Germany where he saw Jesse Owens run and that Hitler was there but refused to acknowledge Jesse because he was black......So another old timer has gone on to the Happy Hunting Grounds up above....just before I left home my little one Haley said to me, "Dad, I bet Fred is doing push ups up in Heaven" I told her I bet he is......He still loved doing his push ups........I just looked at the counter on the page and see its only 9 hits away from 700,000. Let me know if you are the lucky one....Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 2, 2008 Noon thirty Kind of a rainy day in frederic, it rained really hard last night. Going to look for a few mushrooms tonight and hope to snag a few. I went out looking with my almost homeless friend Rob the other day and we found 8 between the 2 of us and about 100 fake ones..... not much else to report from old fredericoville...The web cam is working and the beagle is outside exploring the yard....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday April 29; 2008 10:50 a.m. SNOW!!!! Its snowing...... I like the looks of that........ Tuesday April 29, 2008 6:45 a.m. Its a chilly frosty 20 some degrees here at Lake Margrethe and in frederic this morning. I know that because I just checked the webcam, after a nice phone call yesterday with Dan the Man he told me the problem with the camera. Its been working all the time but with dsl every few months the ip adress gets changed for some reason, so it was as easy as getting the new ip adress and logging in.....I still have to get Rebecca to switch the hot link but if you want to get on just put in this number 66.255.196.34 etbut I will tell you its not very exciting if you do go to it....I have 2 views of the parking lot, the temperature and a view south past the swamp and the gas station......The big news around here is still the fire from last week, I see a few more videos on youtube pop upped about the fire so if you search youtube for grayling forest fire you will get them, its amazing how big the flames were.... Real estate is still moving slow but I do finally have a sale coming up near lake margrethe and still a Lakefront home for sale for $309,000 and a very nice snowmobile cabin and pole barn just outside of frederic for $99,900 that is just coming on the market.....Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday Afternoon 3:00 p.m. I have had alot of calls today on people wondering if their places were still standing..... We went and checked out the damage first hand this morning, there were still trees and stumps burning, telephone poles that had burned off had 10 feet of pole still hanging from wires. There were places totally gone with just a chimney standing and others burnt all the way around but the home still there, everything is black and ugly...we took a video clip of what was left of Jeffs 2 place trailer and one arctic cat and one skidoo, you try and figure out which is which, there was a puddle of aluminum from everything that melted in the trailer. It looked just like overflow from a foundry,,,here is the video.... I have the internet working back here in frederic but the web cam still isnt broadcasting right, Its working and all where I can see it but cant connect to it from the internet, I guess thats my next project.... Friday morning April 25, 2008 6:40 a.m. After having our cars packed up with what we wanted to save just in case the fire came this way, we realized that it probably wasnt going to make it over this we. Everybody was on the phone keeping everybody informed on what was going on. We decided about 7 to go for a ride in my truck and see what was happening ourselves. The road was blocked up by the corner by ole barn. The karen woods nieghborhood had been evacuated and we headed up into there thru a trail, getting down to one of Cathys friends houses it was pretty smokie down in there we ran into an officer who said the fire was just a few hundred yards thru the swamp, which was basically straight behind madsens cabins just west of skips sport shop. We got out of there and had to go back west on 72 and took the snowmobile trail across to the high school and got into town thru there. Starting at 7 11 and Subway there was no power and the whole business loop south of that was closed off and it looked dark that way too. The speedway station however still had power and was very busy. About that time I called Rob who said he was down at Bears Den Pizza so we went down there to see Rob, and Mo and his wife. They both have cabins in the game club and when Rob left there the woods were on fire and so was his cabin. Niether one of them knew if they had cabins left or their sleds. When I walked in being the comedian I am I said I was there to finish the leftovers, and Rob had half a sandwhich left which he said he couldnt hardly eat because he was sick over losing his place that he has been coming to since the early 60s.....Well I did eat his sandwhich but I told him I felt bad eating a homelss guys food.......After leaving there we made it back home here and about 10 I headed down to the lake for the second night in a row with my bow where I have been shooting suckers. That has been fun and 2 nights ago I got 5 of them but last night I wasnt shooting as well as I only got one and wanted to be back home by 11 to watch the news.... About 11:15 Rob called me and said that him and Mo must be living right as Robs deck burned off the house and his wood pile burned up but the place was still standing. Mos place which is maybe 800 feet away was still standing too, but Jeff snowmobile trailer and sleds burned up as did 2 of Mos neighbers houses......I had just told those guys at the pizza place about the big fire 20 some years ago where my brother in laws log cabin was surrounded by fire and it burned his wood pile and picnic table but never touched the cabin. It must have been an omen that I told them that story........I am off to town to check things out........Pete -------------------- Thursday Appril 24, 2008 6:40 p.m. BIG FIRE IN GRAYLING! I started getting phone calls in frederic about 3 asking me what I knew about a fire,,,I didnt know anything at the time and was on the phone with my internet provider trying to get my internet and the webcam up and working.....Melissa called me on my cell and I told her to hold on and then I could hear her screaming,,,, she told me about the fire burning in grayling and I looked out front and south towards town and could see the giant smoke flume......by the time I made it to town the traffic was backed up 3 ways at the corner by the clark station, and I stopped at the century 21 office and talked to Bob and Scott who had headed south out of town on i 75 and the flames and smoke were so bad they had to turn around and drive back to town the wrong way on 75... I called my friend Rob who has a place in the grayling game club and he had already left and his place was burning, I have heard several stories about burnt places but dont know for sure what is what. I will post more after I know for sure......They have evacuated a couple neighborhoods and my girls were worried about us, we have all our stuff we wanted to save in the cars but I dont believe its going to come our way.....all I have to say about that is that we will have a bunch of unpacking to do......which I suppose is easier then sorting thru a burnt out house....So thats it for now. I have no internet in frederic for now and I hope when they figure it out that things work smoothly including the webcam.... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday April 21, 2008 1:15 p.m. Its almost a nice 80 degrees here in frederic, thank goodness it stays nice and cool here inside the building. It seems that the webcam is not working properly, its working fine here in the shop but I cant connect to it thru either of my computers. I was gone for a few days and got on it once while I was gone and then couldnt reconnect again so I will have to check into that. If you can get on it o.k. right now please let me know. Most of the snowpiles are gone outside finally but there is still just a couple little piles, so just getting things cleaned up from the winter...... I got back home saturday afternoon after spending 3 days in Kalamazoo. Now unfortunately April 15 will have a new meaning to me besides tax day as it was the day a very close friend died in Kalamazoo. On December 15 my friend Mac Gregory called me and told me he was diagnosed with Lukemia. He said they gave him 3 to 4 months. I made 4 or 5 trips down there to see him since then and just like he said he continued to go downhill from december. On friday the 4th they moved him into hospice and we stopped to see him that sunday the 6th on the way back from Florida....I did get to talk to him 2 more times later on that week and he still able too. Mac and I met in January of 67 just a week before my tenth birthday and he came along at a good time in my life as my dad had died about a year and a half before that. From that time on he was my friend, mentor and dad. Thankfully for him he pretty much set me on the straight path and helped me all through my life. It was with him when I was about 12 that I started learning about real estate as he was buying and selling land and about 20 years ago started a Remax office in Kalamazoo, he was always after me to come down there but I still loved it here in grayling. So Friday afternoon he was laid to rest in Kalamazoo...I certainly will miss him both as a good friend, father and mentor..... Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------- Monday April 14, 2008 10:30 a.m. Its a sunny cool morning here in frederic, there was frost on the windshield at home this morning and the lake still has lots of ice on it but it is melting away from the shores. We had some snow on the ground I think it was on saturday morning but that melted off right away. There were a couple guys from grayling and frederic that I know that made a trip riding to the u.p. in the shingleton, seney and munising area this weekend and they said they had a great ride they said.....but back to reality in frederic, if you have watched my snowpiles on the webcam you see that the piles are slowly dissapearing....nothing else exciting going on. Another business in crawford county bit the dust in the past week. The Sawmill in downtown grayling closed up. I did a little survey this morning thru downtown. I decided to count the storefronts on main street and was surprised to count in those 2 blocks that there are 32 store fronts. In that 22 of them are open and 10 are closed, so thats about 30 percent of the stores closed up downtown.....then take into consdieration some of those store fronts are really proffesional offices rather than stores, lawyer, accountant, optometrist, walk in clinic, title company, and that really doesnt leave many stores to downtown.....Its tough to run a business anywhere but northern michigan makes it just a bit harder..So thats about it for todays economics lesson......Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Thursday April 10, 2008 7:30 p.m. Well here I sit in frederic, have been here all day. Dreary out but the weather says the u.p. is going to get slammed with snow tonight. The ice on lake margrethe is starting to look dark but for the most part the lake is still covered. I was out by Cub Lake by Bear Lake earlier today and Cub Lake was still white and solid with ice. The snow piles are going down here in the yard here in frederic. Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday April 8, 2008 Noon Thirty Here in downtown frederic, I got a video loaded up from our trip of our crab catch and release...so here it comes..... ------------------------------------------------- Monday night April 7, 2008 8:00 p.m. Home again in good old grayling. We actually got home last night about 8. I spent all day in frederic and just didnt get around to getting on. The lake is still frozen all the way across and there is still snow scattered about in the woods but it was up to about 60 today.....Just trying to get things picked up around the yard in frederic and change things over to summer. We ended up leaving Ocala saturday morning and headed up to gainesville to visit with a friend for a while and then headed north about noon. It poured rain all the way thru georgia and it took us forever to get thru there. Driving onward most of the night except for a couple rest stops we went just north of lima ohio where I took a highway west towards fort wayne. Passing thru lima made me think of Greg and his wife that always come up to frederic, then just north of fort wayne in angola I was thinking of Denny and his wife from the potawamini snowmobilers that come to frederic to ride too....we headed up out of fort wayne and went on to Kalamazoo where we stopped to see my mom and another friend....so then on home,,,,,we went about 3500 miles round trip......a nice trip but a faster mode of travel would be nice......thats it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday 9:10 a.m. I just got off the phone with flatline Jack and he said he went riding last night. 2 tracks and in the woods. He said it was about 45 out and soft but still good riding. He figures today or tommorow will be about it for the grayling area. He said he rode about 20 miles........ Saturday April 5, 2008 8:30 a.m. I had a whole nice big paragraph written up yesterday morning about this time and went to upload it and somehow it got lost.....just before I hit upload I thought about saving it but didnt....so hopefully I will rewrite that in the next day or so.....we are in ocala now... we left ormond yesterday and headed to ocala where we stopped and visted friends, then on to gainesville where we stopped at Bear Archery and then on to get a motel room, thats where the fun began,,,,we must have hit 20 motels all with the same answer, they were full...apparently there is an art show, track meet and a dog show going on there, so we started heading south.... and ended up back in ocala where we hit 3 motels before we found one.....so now its time to head north again. Just checked out the webcam and I see frederic is losing the snow.......I was told a couple days ago that Seney in the u.p. is grooming thru sunday so if you want a last ride call Don or Diane at the Fox River Motel in Seney to find out the scoop.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday April 2, 2008 4:20 p.m. We are all here at the library at Flagler Beach about 10 miles north of ormond. I have to say I am proud of my little Haley who rode her bicycle all the way here from ormond. About a 9 and a half mile ride.....Cathy here and I rode up here and it took us about 2 hours to do it....they were to tired to ride back so I rode back and got Melissa and my van and came back here to get them......a beautiful sunny day for a ride along the shore like that. Had a couple other emails from readers down in this area too....We went to Epcot yesterday and that was a full day as we left at 8 in the morning and didnt get back till midnight. Ran into to different sets of people from grayling that we knew....Gail the dogcatcher and Joe Smock and his family.....actually Joe was across the park and we saw his wife and son......its funny how you can be so far from home and run into people like that.....thats it for now the girls are ready to go...thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------- Monday March 31, 2008 7:00 p.m. Well here I sit in a parking lot waiting on the girls to come out of a store as usual...I at down at the ocean all afternoon reading a book on a nice lounge chair, it was nice with nobody around but it seems between sleeping and reading I got a little fried. My arms are burning and so are my legs.....it was cloudy out and I didnt think I would get as bad as I am....talked to video jim while I was at the water and he said he went for a great sled ride around range 40 yesterday in frederic, he said it was his last ride of the season....We are all just kind of laying low since we have been here but we did go hit the daytona flea market down by the speedway yesterday and I have to say we all saw something on the way there that I wished we didnt. We were only about a mile down A1A from where we are staying and the police had the road blocked but as we turned I could see the wreckage of a motorcycle and 2 bodies covered in the road. They both had yellow tarps over them and I could see the guys boots sticking out from the one and I figured the other was his lady...Just like with sledding you dont know when you might not make it back. I bought the paper this morning to see if there owas a story in there on it but nothing. Then later on the news today they said it was a couple here from England and they were investigating if alcohol was involved or not. Even though I dont have a clue who those people were it really set hard on me just seeing the brief few seconds of what I did see......It just really makes you think.......I think we are heading off to EPCOT tommorow....thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday March 30, 2008 10:50 a.m. Haley and I are sitting here in a restaurant in ormond......she has been on me to bring her down here because they have free wi fi and she just had to get online to register her new webkinz toy.......I started out early this mornng with about a 15 mile bicycle ride down the shore and back along the intercoastal waterway....a nice morning to do it.....yesterday Orlando was fun for the girls while I was at the sign show....I saw some great things there and am will be adding them to my sign business.....those video led screesns are the ticket....we left orlando last night and got back home about 10:30 and melissa and I went down to the ocean and the crabs were out in full force, we caught 8 of them....then haley was bummed that she didnt go with us, so we will try it again tonight....we took them back to the beach this morning and let them go and it was fun watching them all run off in different directions....thats it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Saturday March 29, 2008 Noon I am at the sign show in orlando and just came across free laptops to use, so i thought i would throw a quick update on....just checked out the webcam in frederic and its dead there. Nobody has been in the shop so far today and even the bar parking lot is empty......I guess the season is over....I am seeing some pretty cool new signage ideas and maybe learning a thing or too....the girls are out exploring international drive and probably spending money that i dont have......we released the crabs we caught last night early this morning and will go back and try to catch more tonight. Went for a nice bike ride along the ocean this morning and even got chased by a couple little frisky dogs.......thats it for now , back to the show. thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------- Friday night March 28, 2008 9:00 p..m. ROAD TRIP.....The girls and I left grayling yesterday afternoon at 2:30 and did the all day and and night power drive which landed us here in ormond by the sea at 4 this afternoon. 25 and a half hours and 1300 miles. We are just north of daytona at a friends condo......we got here and haley had to dive into the pool right away and we went down to the beach looking for shells. We drove down to knoxville and then went east to north and south carolina and down along 95 to bring us to ormond... We are all tired and I just wanted to get a quick update on. Just came back from going down to the water with the girls where we were chasing crabs and catching them in a bucket. Those little things are fast and fun to try to catch up with. We caught 4 but only got 2 in the bucket.....Heading off to a sign show in orlando in the morning. Sledheads will be open. I talked to a guy tonight that had rode the blue bear today and he told me it was getting soft but he did see a groomer again today. I have my calls from the shop transferred to my cell phone so I dont miss out on anything. Talked to Toledo Bob on my way thru ohio last night and he said they were glad they did their ride when they did. Amys main concern was who was watching my beagle....she is in good hands.....Tommorow will be the last day open for Sledheads for the season..Thanks to all of you that came in this year and I look forward to another hopefully good winter next year. I will update again on here as I can while we hang out down here....It was 87 when we got here... Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday March 27, 2008 8:00 a.m. Its 26 out this morning so the snow firmed up again overnight. Yesterday was about the same scenario as the day before, great snow first thing in the morning then warming up in the afternoon and then back to firmed up again at night. Had a call from Toledo Bob and Amy last night about 6 and he called to report on their ride which he said was awsome...They spotted groomers and rode the starvation lake loop and jordan valley, that seems to be the best spot. They were very happy that they made the trip from Toledo for their last ride of the season. I only spotted a few sleds around fredric all day yesterday. I probably wont get to the computer for an update tommorow so you will have to try the webcam to see what is happening. I set it on 8 different views last night. Thanks for checking in.....off to the C/21 weekly meeting. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday Noon Toledo Greg is in here right now to report how great the riding is, he just finished a ride from this morning of about 40 miles . He rode the blue bear tuesday and today and the only traffic was the jordan valley groomer they ran into right away yesterday and it was heading south from starvation lake to 612. All they saw was 2 other snowmobilers!. So far over 100 miles of primo riding on mid season conditions. Greg says he bets Monclova Jim will be sorry he didnt believe there was snow up here...... Wednesday 9:30 a.m. I am going to post a trail update that I got from John the horny groomer who takes care of the trails out by the blue bear loop and jordan valley. He has done a heck of a job on grooming and this is his report I am posting next...... This will be the last report unless something really big happens.We are doing limited grooming on all the JVTC trails,and for thr most part they are covered and very rideable.The warming and high sun angle is taking control of the situation and by friday I think the only rideing will be in the woods. The snow on the gas lines and off trail is 18 to 24 inches ,so if you trailer out there is still a lot to be had.Remember , the season ends on monday, 1 april,and there will be locked gates on private land,the only legal rideing is on state land. Have a great summer doing what ever it is you do , nancy and I will be getting out the Harley and saddeling up the mules.See you here next fall when its brushing and signing time again! the horny groomer Back to Pete here again, if I hear any other trail news I will post it......Pete Wednesday March 26, 2008 8:15 a.m. The snow hit us good yesterday with us getting about 5 or 6 inches here in frederic by about noon. For those lucky enough to be out riding at that time they were in for a great treat. One guy came in that started out at 4 mile road at the truck stop and rode the blue bear connector to the blue bear loop and up to alba and the jordan valley trail and he said it was absolutely awsome along with the groomers being out on the blue bear loop again......by late in the afternoon it had warmed up and when I was in town about 5 the snow that was there was pretty slushy so I would say that affected the trails but still plenty of lube out there. Now overnight it got cold again and my driveway at home and the road was hard and rutty, but I was surprised when I got here to frederic and the snow feels soft here when I drove thru the snow outside. I had a call from Toledo Bob and Amy yesterday afternoon and they were talking about coming up this morning for a final ride. I told them to go out to the far parking lot and start from there. Its hard to tell how it will be thru the weekend, still lots of snow in the woods and like I said yesterday we just have to take it one day at a time. Its about 18 degrees out right now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday March 25, 2008 9:30 a.m. Gosh I love this,,,,snowing and blowing and about 20 degrees out. Its a nice heavy system snow so it wont blow off to easily....Too bad it seems like everybody has given up on riding. We are supposed to have another couple inches by this afternoon, BUT there is a chance of drizzle in there too. Just had a call from a guy wondering about how its going to be this weekend.....all I can say is we have to take it day by day....I have been saying for years I would like to see us have a 16 week winter and it seems that we have finally had it....... if you cant make it enjoy the views from the webcam. I am glad I finally got my flag down. It has been stuck at the top of the flag pole for a few weeks and with these high winds I would have been a bit worried today. A friend with stopped by the other day with his bucket truck and got it down for me, you might have caught it on the webcam. He does tree work around frederic so if you need any tree work you can get ahold of me for his number..... Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------- Monday March 24, 2008 10:20 am.. Another chilly northern michigan morning, it was 8 below on the outskirts of grayling eariler this morning and 1 degree when I left home about 8:30......its up to a nice comfy 18 degrees now. Still about a half inch of new snow that we got yesterday. I just wish it was still about the beginning of January......I see that the fatality count for this year has creeped by last year and we are now at 22 deaths. I havent wanted to say this for a long time because I didnt want to speak to soon but thankfully there were no fatal accidents in our county of Crawford. Thanks for checking in. Pete Sunday March 23, 2008 12:45 p.m Happy Easter to all......Believe it or not its snowing here in frederic right now.....just what we need....I only saw about 10 sleds around frederic yesterday.....I am only here right now because I needed to grab some things I needed at home...Haley had me up at 6:30 this morning to see what the easter bunny had left her......I cant convince her to wait for Greek Easter which is not until April 27 this year....I think the greeks do that just so they can get everything on sale.... Thats it for now, heading to gradmas for dinner, thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday March 22, 2008 9:30 a.m. Another cool but sunny morning here in frederic, its 18 degrees out and 2 guys were just in wondering where to ride to and of course I sent them out onto that blue bear loop and jordan valley. This cold weather has been holding our trail for us so that is good even though there arent many sleds out. I would guess I saw about 30 or 40 sleds in frederic yesterday. Trails around here are still ripply as no groomers are running but west of town jordan valley is doing a great job on a great set of trails......then again things are backwards as I talked to my brother last night in kzoo and he was riding his sled out in Decatuer and said they had 8 to 12 inches down there.....why cant we get that up here? I am pretty excited this morning because in about 25 minutes tickets go on sale to the WWE wrestling that is coming to kzoo in may and I am going to get my tickets.....I havent been to one of those in 20 years and it just sounds like fun... So thats about it for today, Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Friday March 21, 2008 8:20 a.m. Its been another nice cold night holding our snow and its about 16 degrees out right now. About 1:30 yesterday I decided I was tired of hearing how great the blue bear trail was and went for a ride to see myself. I left frederic and rode the trail 679 which is still snow covered and a bit rippley but still an o.k. ride for this time of year. Where the trail turns north to go to starvation lake off cameron bridge road it was a different story. Absolutely amazing, nice and freshly groomed and flat as a table all the way to starvation lake. I had called Diane at the lil country store in starvation lake to see what she had heard about the trail and she said people were saying its the best its been all year. I went and stopped at the store when I got to starvation lake and told her how right she was. When I left frederic my plan was to ride the trail to starvation lake and then back down the west side of the loop towards the parking lot 12 miles out on 72 because thats what I heard has been groomed so nicely.....but while at the store I ran into Bill and his son Will from Dearborn. They have a place at Pickeral Lake and had just started. They said they were heading for Jordan Valley and asked me if I wanted to come along. We headed north out of starvation lake and up the trail to Alba which was just as nice and groomed as what I had just been on. The spots along 131 just north of Alba were a bit dry and rough but as soon as we got north of town it smoothed out again. We made the turn down into the south end of the jordan valley trail and rode it all the way to the north end which comes out up by Elmira and stopped and got gas at the store. There we turned around and rode right back thru the Jordan Valley trail. We never passed any sleds at all thru the whole thing but we did see a few deer standing down by the river. Unbelieveable smooth for a late winter ride......back thru Alba and down the trail to Starvation Lake where we headed down the west side of the loop. Where the loop turned to go back north Bill & Will turned around to head back to their place and I continued on to frederic. I got back to Frederic at 5:30 after a super great 115 mile ride. If you want to do the same ride, you still can as its still cold, I would say go to the parking lot 12 miles west of grayilng and unload there and do that loop north from there and to alba.....no kidding the conditions were so great you would really think its still mid january......Thats about it for now as my daughter Haley is bugging me to use the computer so she can play on her Webkinz. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday 11:00 a.m. I forgot to mention earlier today that the new Arctic Cat show is in Midland today from 4 to 9 at the Hang Time Sports Complex, get off at Starks road and go south to wackerly. Flatline Jack and Video Jim are on their way right now....... Thursday March 20, 2008 8:00 a.m. Its about 23 degrees here at lake margarethe and there is a light snow in the air and some flakes on the cars. Not much to get excited about. 2 sleds rode into the shop yesterday and they were happy with what they were finding on the trails. Dave Klemish came by too and he said the blue bear out west by the west loop was freshly groomed and they were the first ones on it, and except for the icy spots they had a great ride. Dave said they only saw 3 other sleds, so a few people are out there trying out the trails......with the cold staying a bit longer I bet there will be a few people trying it out on saturday.......heading off to my weekly century 21 meeting......things have been slow in real estate, last year at this time I already had 7 deals done, and so far I am still batting zero with my last closing being in november..... so after a good winter at Sledheads and no spam involved there, it looks like the real estate business might bring me to the spam isle......Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 19, 2008 9:45 a.m. Its 33 here in frederic, it stayed warm all night so the snow is still setteling and melting. No signs of any riders yesterday, but Dave Klemish did call me yesterday and he said he is coming to ride today. I would bet that the woods is great riding now as everything has had time to soften up. I see by my bandwith monitor that my readership has gone down drastically so I guess that means everybody is about ready for spring. Thanks to all of you that came in this winter and helped out by keeping me out of the spam isle. I cut the camera down to 4 views during the night but will keep it going till all the snow is gone and them might cut it down to a couple views. I got my new registration stickers in the mail yesterday for my pontoon so when the ice is gone I might get it in early this year. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 18, 2008 9:55 a.m. FRESH SNOW!! Well its a start anyways, only about a half inch of nice fresh snow this morning in both grayling and frederic, for a while this morning in grayling there were huge big flakes floating down. Schools in gaylord, vanderbilt, wolverine and johannesburg are closed this morning, I dont know if that was due to snow or ice......It will be interesting to see if any sleds come thru today. I have plenty of work to do so I will be here in frederic anyways. Still plenty of snow in the woods for off trail riding but the depth is continuing to melt away. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 17, 2008 8:15 a.m. Here I am at my moms house in Kzoo again, a cool morning in kzoo and there is really no snow around here, but on the other hand I feel lucky we still have so much in grayling and frederic. There were only a few sled out and about yesterday and our snow cover is continuing to drop, but there is still plenty enough for off trail. I saw by the webcam that it is 18 in frederic right now but it looks like my driveway snow and ice is getting thin.....I guess we just have to wait and see if we get a last blast this week otherwise its about time to break out the pontoon. I worked the motorcycle swap meet at Wings stadium yesterday and did a short video cip that I will post below here.....heading back towards grayling shortly. Thanks for checking in. Pete Saturday Night 10:45 p.m. close to March 16, 2008 No Sunday morning update as I will be in Kalamazoo. I am going to help my friend that does all the big Bike Shows at the motorcycle swap meet at Wings Stadium on sunday from 11 to 4......so if you make it to that show, look for me and say hi....we will be selling shirts left over from Daytona Bike Week.......I stayed open in frederic on saturday till 5. Over the course of the day I had reports of poor trails but also reports of great trails.....its just getting to that time of year. Its to bad friday warmed up so much that it hurt us, because today it only got to about 30 so every thing stayed hard. On friday I had a couple in that said they had a new puppy and the wife was insistent that she was naming the dog MO MO after the snow chant......Also had a couple in saturday morning that had rode to the bridge from Frederic on friday and they said it was great all the way up but coming back down along the pellston side was rough.... We just got back home from a play at the grayling high school, time to hit the sack so I can get up early and head south. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 2:50 p.m. Traffic has been slower than I figured it would be today. Below is a video clip of a group that just came in and they are reporting great conditions out towards Bear Lake, starvation lake and Mancelona. They said there is even a decent amount of snow on the trails for lube that way. Here is the clip.... Saturday March 15, 2008 9:30 a.m. Its a pretty quiet morning here in frederic and its about 25 degrees out. I see my parking lot has turned from nice snow yesterday to a skating rink this morning. Yesterday was a turning point in the trails as they were all nice and white still in the morning but with the warmth of yesterday they were getting brown towards evening. I talked to riders yesterday that said the trails were still rideable and off trail was great. So now we are closer to the end. I talked to JC the other day and he said there was an interesting possible winter storm that looked like it could hit us next thursday,,,,,,one more blast would be nice, so we have to watch that. So today if you ride out there it will be very icy........Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Friday 1;00 P.M. Darn, who ordered this rain?? Its been raining on and off and its about 42 out right now. That isnt doing us any favors......On the bright side, St Patricks Day party at the swamp saturday night.......call Bob at the swamp at 989-348-8816 for details. I will keep you posted if we get a fresh couple feet of new snow.... Friday March 14, 2008 10:00 a.m. Its sunny and about 36 degrees right now. I got here about an hour ago and it was about 18 out. The good thing is the inch of snow we got yesterday morning never left us yesterday so thats a plus. Who knows what toll the sun will take today. The woods still have a ton of snow in it and the trails are still 80 to 90 % covered. This might be the last weekend. Traffic has been slow all week, I looked at my sheet from last year and a year ago yesterday we had 60 degrees, so this cold weather is nice to see....I am sure not ready to see winter end yet....Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday 11:20 am.. I got here to frederic about 10:30 and the only tracks in the drive were some dog tracks. Its about 29 out and kind of a misty rain. Only about an inch of new snow here too. As soon as I got here a guy pulled in in his truck and said they were going to ride but they didnt like the freezing mist so they were holding off for a while...then a couple minutes later the first 2 sleds of the day pulled in and they said they figured the freezy mist would be gone in a while and that trails were pretty good, so I made a video clip of them which is coming up below here. I will keep you posted of any worthwhile changes. Thanks for checking in. Pete Thursday March 13, 2008 8:10 a.m. Its 22 degrees and we have about an inch of new, grainy, salty snow overnight. I see from the webcam it looks about the same in frederic. I have to go to my weekly c/21 meeting this morning so I will put another update on later this morning after I get to frederic. We did lose snow yesterday as I can see the level coming down in the woods. My prediction for this coming weekend is that there will still be enough to ride the trails and there is still alot in the woods, but this might be it...Yesterday after I posted my update it only took about 5 minutes before the phone rang and it was Ohio Mike wanting to tell me his story, I had someone there and we never did get to finish talking. Now a question that I am looking for an answer to, If anyone knows what kind of motor Arctic Cat uses for their 4 stroke please let me know. The ring gear, or flex plate as you might call it on my 4 stroke broke the center out of it. Arctic cat says they are out of them till august, but I bet its the same plate they use in a small car.....please email me if you know. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 12, 2008 9:45 a.m. Its 26 out and we had just a micro skiff of snow here overnight. There was on ski doo here in town when I first got here. I saw him walking up to the door at Cathys Cafe, unfortunately Cathys closed up a couple weeks ago. There were some big flakes coming down late yesterday afternoon but not anything that really stuck. A couple days ago I decided to call the courthouse in grayling to find out how much tickets are. I have heard so many rumors I decided to find out for sure. The one thing that really gets me is that the first thing everybody does when they get a ticket is ask the cop how much it is and they say they dont know.....thats a croc if you ask me, you know if you lied to them they would have a fit but its o.k. the other way around. Riding on or across the railroad tracks (which by the way has no type of signage but you are supposed to know the difference on where you can and cant cross) is $120. No helmet $105, $140 ride against flow of traffic, $110 no registration, $80 no trail permit, and the biggie is chasing deer $265........best thing I can tell you on the railroad tracks is only cross at approved crossing like roads and just plain stay as far away as you can from them. Now here is a good one, Ohio Mike who belivevs in his own mind that he is the chosen one to represent all snowmobiliers. He was here this past weeknd and without the aid of his riding partners , Bad Leg Barry and Flatline Jack he went out for a ride and somehow went over and thru his windshield and did a face plant in a creek....yes he is the Chosen One.......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday afternoon 2:30 I forgot to say earlier that the gaylord groomer was here last night about 5:30 when I left. Sled traffic has been very light today around town and just a while ago I drove back from gaylord along old 27 and while the trail looked darn good I didnt see one sled on it. Had a message this morning from Tom the Hugger from Cleveland and he said he got some great riding in too on the streets of the big city. Now a message to Lee down in Canton, your buddy Brad stopped in a while ago and he said to bad you werent here too.......Till morning...Thanks for checking in. Pete Tuesday March 11, 2008 11:25 a.m. Its pushing 36 here in frederic, it only got down to about 20 last night. From the weather that I saw last night they said we are going to start a slow meltdown which looked like we might just be making it thru this coming weekend for riding. You will just have to keep a close eye and see what really happens. I had a call yesterday from Ken down in Dayton, Ohio and he said that with the snowstorm they had that they had a great day of riding down the city streets there, no chance of anything but a sled moving thru that snow......thats a chance you do not get very often. There were some sleds out and about on the trails around here yesterday, I have not seen any sleds yet today. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 10, 2008 9:00 a.m. - 11 degrees right now in frederic. I sure do love this cold, so nice and crunchy under your feet as you are walking out there. My parking lot here looks well worn as you can see every track left out there from yesterday. If we only could have the snow ohio and canada got. There was a group of guys that were supposed to come to our cottage to join another group that was already here and they couldnt make it out to get here...My brother came up from Kalamazoo yesterday and he and I went out on a nice 65 mile ride, we rode to grayling and over to the cranberry trail up to Dingmans and back to frederic. I was amazed at how white everything still is out in the woods, including the trails considering we are getting into the late season. Only time will tell what will happen for this coming up weekend. The sled traffic for frederic over the course of the weekend was pretty steady.....One more quick story, my brother and I got back here to the shop from our ride and my 4 stroke wouldnt start, it seems that the bolts that hold on the ring gear for the starter fell off, that would be the first breakdown ever for my 4 stroke, just glad it did it here right in front of Sledheads......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday March 9 , 2008 10:10 a.m. Another chilly one here in frederic, I got here right at 9 and it was about 3 below zero, its worked its way up to 7 already. No new snow but still everybody that has been this morning is saying how great the trails are and thats what I heard all day yesterday. Thank goodness for the cold.....Considering the time change sleds are out early this morning. I talked to a couple people that rode to the bridge and back yesterday and for the first time I heard about a place south of Cheboygan that is called The Bluffs. Of all the years in here I heard about it twice since yesterday and it sounds like a great place to ride to, I need to try and do that. You know this winter there are a couple regulars that I havent seen yet this season, one of them is Illinois Mike and the other is Tom the Cleaveland Hugger.......on the other hand we went to a wedding reception in grayling last night and came across another batch of characters, Ohio Mike was there, Slow Sled Dave, Flatline Jack and Irregular Missy.....it takes all kind of sledders out there........I had an email from a guy down in Dayton Ohio and he said they had 16 inches of snow fall in 35 hours,,,,why cant we get that up here. He said it reminded him of the old days in gaylord when we used to get that snow. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------- Saturday March 8, 2008 8:45 a.m. The first person thru the door this morning was Polaris Larry and his side kick Bumble Bee Bob, you might remember Larry from a couple weeks ago who kept having excuses to not come here and ride, well he finally made it but now he says its to cold but he is going to brave it. It was about 10 below a bit earlier but is up to 7 degrees already. This nice cold weather is giving us great trails. I talked to many people who rode towards starvation lake and jordan valley yesterday and they all said it was great. I was over in Lovells yesterday and ran into Toledo Bob & Amy and they said trails were great too....They acutually spotted me up on the roof of the Lovells Restaruant & Lodgin, they were coming out of the Riverside Tavern and Bob hollered over to me...I was putting a for sale sign up on the restaurant when Bob spotted me...we had a nice talk and then they rode on to frederic and stopped in here to say hi too.....I talked to one of the sheriff deputies this morning and he said there were alot of trucks and trailers of sleds on the highway all night, so that means there should be a good showing around here today. No signs of any snow coming and we will have to wait and see what this coming week is going to bring us. I have heard Ohio Mike is in town but he hasnt showed up here yet.......Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Friday March 7, 2008 10:50 a.m. Its about 18 degrees and sunny out and we did not have any new snow overnight and there is not anymore predicted for this weekend. There have been a surprising amount of sleds already and except for some icy spots and corners they are reporting really good riding conditions. There is more snow towards starvation lake as usual. So this might be the last decent weekend, we just have to play it by ear for now....Kieth from Fays Motel just rode in and he says nice conditions out there, the grayling groomer will run saturday night as there is no need to fix anything on the trail yet. Just a while ago a couple guys from st clair mi were in here, they are regular readers and one guy was the super chicken and the other guy the hound dog........so if only I could get out there with them guys...... I also heard a rumor Ohio Mike is heading this way to ride for the weekend. I have been forgetting to write for a couple weeks now that Ohio Brian headed back home after spending a whole month here.......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday March 6, 2008 7:45 a.m. There is a nice light snow in the air and we have about a half inch of new snow out there and it looks like there is the same amount in frederic right now and its about 20 degrees right now. I really dont think we are supposed to get much more snow than this but at least its a little slide lube. We had a pretty interesting trip to lansing yesterday. It ended up with our whole family going including the beagle. I had to pack my van full of luggage for the 14 students and deliver that to their motel. There about 900 students there all together for this youth in government conference. We went to the capital building and saw the house of representatives in action. You can watch over them from up above. If you have never been in the capital it is a very pretty thing to see inside. I met Representative Joel Sheltrown and talked to him about his bill which I believe is 4323, where dirt bikes and atvs would be able to ride into frederic in the summer time. He still thinks that is going to get handeled....it just takes time to get those things thru.....then after we were done looking around the capital building we went to another place across the street and got to spend about a half hour with Jennifer. No not the governor but Jennifer the aid to Senator Tony Stamas. She filled us in on the daily life of a senator and what he does which was interesteting. We made it back home about 9 last night, all in all it was a fun day. Lets keep up the snow chants....Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 5, 2008 8:25 a.m. A quiet cool morning here at Lake Margrethe. Its about 15 out and not a flake of new snow. I talked to JC this morning and its a quiet forcast ahead with only about 1 inch predicted by tommorow night. At least he says for the next week temps will be normal which is about 32, which should help us keep our base. The few sleds that did ride into frederic yesteray were reporting pretty good conditions out there. I hate to think we are on the downhill side of the winter but I think we are getting closer. I am heading off to lansing this morning by driving a van full of luggage for 14 students in Melissa Class. Its a youth in government class and they are going there for a few days and I am just going down and coming back. The shop is open and I think some snow chants are in order. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 4, 2008 Noon I have been here since 9 and have only seen a couple sleds. Its 23 degrees out and things are hard as a rock, with maybe a half inch of new snow we got yesterday. Last night about 9 I checked out the web cam and saw about 5 sleds sitting across the street. This cold will help keep the base but we need a nice shot of fresh snow on top of it all. Just been running trying to catch up on things from being gone yesterday. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------- Monday March 3, 2008 9:15 a.m. Its a nasty rainy morning both in grayling and frederic, its about 35 degrees in frederic and I can see by the web cam that we have lost snow since yesterday. Today for sure will be no day to be riding, but yesterday on the other hand was a very nice day for riding as we never did get any rain or drizzle at all. For a sunday sled traffic around frederic was extremely slow. I am at my moms house down in Kalamazoo....I got here yesterday around 3 and am heading back home to Grayling here shortly. I am sure glad its not as warm up north as it is here, but I guess why I like up north because of the cold and snow.....the rain is supposed to turn to snow later today in grayling and frederic. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday 10:15 a.m. A guy was just in that called himself the yooper, and he said to tell George from Sterling Hts, that he missed a great ride, The yooper has already burned a tank of gas this morning and over 120 miles , been down to Fife Lake and back and says trails are great.......sure wish I was riding with him too.... Sunday March 2, 2008 10:00 a.m. Its kind of sunny and 22 degrees here in frederic. I have only seen a few sleds out so far, but the nice thing is that there is no drizzle like the prediction said last night. The prediction for today was drizzle this morning with maybe thunderstorms later today.......I sure dont want to see any rain but on the bright side most of the rest of the week said cold and snow, so next weekend is looking good, right now anyways. Had alot of people in and out yesterday along with a couple people who got to spend more time out at the campfire than they would have liked to, no thanks to their sleds breaking down and waiting for their friend to come back and pick them up. Well remember my friend Jack from a couple weeks ago who pretty much dropped dead at Big Buck but has been lucky enough to remain alive. Well he decided he was well enough this week for him and his wife to take a trip to munising.....they left grayling thursday to head north and stopped for dinner at La Senorita in gaylord, his wife wasnt feeling to hot when they left and by the time they got to Indian River they were turning around and came back to the gaylord hospital, it seemed her heart was racing and wasnt right......they ended up at the hospital,,,doesnt that sound like a couple made for each other?? Just like her husband they say nothing is wrong with her and they were in here riding close to home yesterday......Hard to believe, but that heart stuff is pretty scary to me.......I just hope they get to keep riding.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday afternoon 3:00 p.m. A quick video of a bunch of mohawk riders heading for the trails..... MORE MOHAWKERS Sat 5:00 p.m. Saturday March 1, 2008 8:45 a.m. Sleds were already fired up and ready to head out for their ride as I drove thru the motel lot at the grayling ramaliday inn.....and when I got here to frederic there were sleds already unloading in the back parking lot....looks like a great day for riding with about 3 fresh inches of snow and 22 degrees out. Gotta get things ready for the day here so thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Friday Night 6:45 p.m I am still here in frederic, right now its snowing and 22 degrees. Sled traffic has been light today but if you look at the webcam and see the bar parking lot right now you wouldnt think so.....earlier I was in gaylord and there was kind of a misty rain even when it was 24 degrees. We have only had about an inch and a half of new snow. The gaylord groomer was here about an hour ago so thats a good sign. Till tommorow morning, thanks for checking in. Pete Friday February 29, 2008 Happy Leap Year!! Its 20 out and snowing here in frederic, we are a ways off from 7 inches of new snow....so far we are up to about 1 inch but on the bright side snow is still coming down. There have been about 10 sleds in here already this morning. I will do another update later on this afternoon just to let you know how things are going.....I had and email this morning regarding the annual phatman shootout that happens in gaylord this time of year. Here is a link to copy and paste to see more info on it. Its going to be at the airport instead of otsego lake this year , http://www.amsnow.com/SNO/CS/forums/206220/ShowPost.aspx Also tommorow up in Seney is the Veterans Ride out of the Fox River Motel, My friends Jason & Jeff are on there way here to pick up some things out of the trailer Jeff has parked outside so they can head up and participate in the veterans ride. They just called me and are excited about that. Don puts on a heck of a ride up there and someday I would love to go on it too. Its bad enouogh I havent been to the u.p. in 2 years now. I also had another email the other day from a reader that read me the riot act because I was telling people to put my stickers up and that it was vandalisim.....so to clarify that I do not condone anyone vandalizing places with my stickers.....but ask for permission. I have put them in many places and always had permission.......so hopefully that is clear....Lets keep up the snow chants.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Night 8:50 p.m. I did hear back from JC this morning and his prediciton is that we could have up to 7 new inches of real snow by morning.....come on JC I hope you are right. He also said the long term 30 outlook for march says normal temps.....About 11:30 I headed out from frederic on my sled and went to Fays Motel to meet Kieth and a couple of his friends. We headed out to the air to ground range towards lovells and right on time at 1:30 we were treated to a spectacular air show compliments of the USA military. 2 A 10s flew in and started out by dropping smoke bombs at targets from high altitudes. It seemed as they made each round around they would come in a little lower. By about the 10th round they were coming by at about mabye 300 feet and would let out a blast from there guns which must shoot 300 shells in about 2 seconds, they can pepper the length of a football field in this time. What a sight to watch them come in and do that....it gave me goosebumps.....we got to watch all this within about a quarter mile of their targets.........from there we rode on to Lovells. On the way back to frederic from lovells I would rate the trail all the way back to frederic on the 1 to 10 scale at mostly a 15.....you couldnt ask for a better run, enough powdery snow on the trail to lube your slides and leave a cloud.....all in all it was a great 68 mile ride. Thuursday Februrary 27, 2008 9:00 a.m. Another ice making, trail hardening, non snow producing night. At 7:30 it was about 10 below zero here in frederic and its crept up to 8 degrees now. From the forcasts I saw we are supposed to have some snow on the ground here on friday morning. I have a call into JC to see what he thinks.....I think a big round of MO MO NAH CHEE CHEE NAH's are in order.....EVerybody that is riding that is coming in is still saying how good the trails are. I might still slide a ride in later today. Cathy and I hit the cross country ski trails at the Mason Tract yesterday afternoon and that was nice....There was a couple that came in yesterday and rented a 2 up sled and went out for a ride. Bob and his wife are from down by st. louis mo, and it was the first time on a sled for them in over 30 years and they said they had a nice ride too.....My cottage is still open for this weekend if anybody is looking to come up and have a nice place to stay.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday February 27, 2008 8:15 a.m. A nice sunny 2 degrees here in frederic this morning with not a drop of new snow overnight. On the bright side trails are still holding thanks to the cold. We could use a shot of snow as some areas around us have had it. There is some signs of some showing up in the next few days and temps are to stay below freezing. I talked to a group that went up to wolverine and thru chandler hills, to elmira, alba and back to my place at lake margrethe and they said everything was perfect. I have been thru chandler hills when its been good and when its been horrilbe so they hit it just right. Doesnt look like Cathy and I are going to get to ride today as I have the suspensions out of both of our sleds just doing maintenance on them, so instead I think we are going out to the Mason Tract east of grayilng and do some cross country skiing. I could use a little excercise anyways. One thing I have been forgetting to mention all winter is that if any of you are heading off riding to an area away from frederic and happen to stop by please pick up some of my sledheads stickers to put up in your travels.....I have people stop in all the time because they tell me they see the stickers everywhere, I just have forgotten to push that this winter. Also for the first time in about 3 years I just got in a new batch of Sledheads ink pens so grab a new pen next time you are in........Now just a short story from last night, you know how sometimes you get a flashback on something, it made me think how many of you might have done this in your younger years back in detroit,,,,,I poured myself a glass of vernors last night and decided to throw in a couple scoops of ice cream in it and as I was taking a drink of it I had a flashback to my childhood of going to the Vernors factory in detroit, I think it was on Woodward. I would go there with my mom and dad or grandparents and get a cream ale and always liked watching the bottles of vernors getting filled.....thats the short story. So thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 26, 2008 10:10 a.m. Its 28 out and just a light dusting of snow has started in the past hour or so. We didnt get any new snow overnight. We will just have to wait it out and see how much we really get today. Sled traffic was very slow yesterday around town and I have only seen a couple so far this morning. Keith stopped by with the grayling groomer late yesterday afternoon so I know the grayling trail is in good shape. I updated the list outside on the sled fatalites yesterday which is at 16 so far this season. Last night Cathy was coming back home from Traverse City and just past where the sled trail crosses 72 and almost to Western Trails motel a big black lab ran in front of her and she hit it. She called me and it was dark. It had taken the front right side of the van bumper off and at the time she didnt know what she hit. It was dark and just a shadow that she saw. I told her to come home and Melissa and I went back up there to see what had happened. I felt so bad when I found him, no collar on him and he was a good sized dog and from his face I could tell he was pretty old. I know somebody is missing their pet this morning. I have made a few calls but havent found out where he goes. Animal control was going to go pick him up..... Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 25, 2008 10:20 a.m I have to say I was a bit dissapointed this morning when I walked out of my house only to be greeted by 31 degrees and a light misty rain in the air. We did lose some snow in the past couple days and driving thru town and here in frederic the snow looks dirty and worn.....now we need to do some heavy snow chanting. Lets see what happens tommorow. Traffic was light but steady on sunday around frederic, I even got the fire going again. A couple of friends of Ohio Mike were in over the weekend and they said Mike whimped out and didnt come up with them......On saturday Team Ski doo was in from Saginaw and they were missing Polaris Larry who didnt come up last time because of a bum knee and this time he used hockey for an excuse...how many times can he use excuses before he isnt polaris larry anymore?? I think today is going to be slow here so I believe I will try to get my mess of an office cleaned up. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 24, 2008 9:30 a.m. I hear the first sleds of the morning pulling up outside right now. Its sunny and 18 degrees out. All the trails and crossings I looked at on the way up here are still nice and white. The thing that is saving us is the nice cold temps at night. It was up to about 34 yesterday and its supposed to do that again today. For the first time since its been running I shut down the webcam for a bit yesterday afternoon as I think it got blinded by the bright sun. The picture was just a mess and I dont know for sure but I think it was the sun doing it. After I started it back up it was fine and still is. For the second time in the past week I spotted what I think is the same coyote in the same spot about 3 miles south of frederic. He was standing just inside the woodsline this morning....those things are fast and you do not spot them very often. I went to a Century 21 awards banquet in grayling last night and I recieved a levle one sales award....my year last year in real estate was pretty good, but you dont have to be a super salesperson to get that award, but on the other hand there were alot of people there that didnt even get to that level... That was an interesting and fun evening.....Lets just hope for the storm on tuesday....Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 3:00 p.m. A beautiful day in frederic, about 32 degrees out and I would say medium sled traffic for a saturday. I just came back from the vintage sled show up at the Keg. A nice showing of old sleds and I did a video clip too so for those of you that couldnt make it. For you "older folks" it might even give you a few good memories...... Saturday February 23, 2008 8:50 a.m. Just how I like it, a nice chilly 2 degrees out. That is keeping our base nice and hard. Now if the storm blows in on monday like they are talking we will be setting really well. Sled traffic ended up being very steady yesterday and I am expecting a busy day today. I have already seens sleds riding thru town this morning. A couple days ago I had an email from Matt Melling in Jackson asking me if I wanted him to bring me up coney dogs from the Jackson Coney Island...of course I said yes.. I kind of forgot about it but last night about 6 I answered the phone and it Matt saying its the coney express heading for frederic. He got here with a nice batch of 16 coneys which we started in on...and yes thats what I am having for breakfast this morning...Thanks Mell.........Also for display purposes I borrowed Jacks paramedic disected sweat shirt to hang in here, you definetly do not want your shirt cut up like that. Cant think of anything else for this morning, so thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday February 22, 2008 9:00 a.m. I am not to sure what to think about this coming up weekend as far as riders coming north. The phones have been relatively quiet and it just seems slow around here, but we did have alot of riders in for a thursday, I guess time will tell. JC said this morning on the weather that we are not expecting any new snow for the weekend and that it will be a nice sunny weekend with temps around high 20s and then monday, tuesday a new snow storm coming....I like the sounds of that. So what we have on the trail now is what we get for the weekend. Trails are in nice shape as of now.........Not much else to say in that department. This morning I stopped in at Skips Sport Shop to see Jack and he had his arctic cat sweatshirt hanging up and told me to take a look at it...It is a really nice embroidered one that probably cost $80.....I took a look at it and then it hit me, he was wearing it when he went down at Big Buck a couple weeks ago. The paramedics cut it off him, all the way up thru the middle of the nice embroidederd cat head and across the shoulders. Well he had it sewed up so it looks a bit like the sew job you see on tv when they do an autopsy..... He is just still lucky to be alive and the doctors still dont know what happened to him.....Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday February 21, 2008 10:15 a.m. Another cold morning with temps earlier at about zero and we are up to 20 now. No new snow to speak of overnight. Cathy and I ended up on a short ride yesterday just up to the Stampede for lunch and then back to frederic....Now to point something out I did something on the way back that I would never do on purpose and am still puzzled on how I did it.....and all I had at the stampede for lunch was one glass of water.....We left the stampeded and headed south on the trail just cruising along and then all of a sudden I realized I was on the rail road tracks....I still dont know how I got up on there and immediatley jumped off when I figured out that I was. The train hadnt been thru in a few days as there was no sign of the rails and I never even saw the rails as soon as I got off....so my point is to pay attention, I cant believe that for as many times as I have been up and down that trail that I even did that.....not to many sled out and about both tuesday and wednesday.....I have a loader coming this morning to pile snow as I am running out of space for the snow......boy I sure like saying that. Now if we can just keep the snow thru March......I am putting 2 video clips under here from the tv station from tuesday. Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 20, 2008 11:05 a.m. I am proud to say that for the first time this year I just rode a sled from my house to here in frederic. The trails are as good as you would want them to be and it was a nice 14 mile ride. Its 14 and sunny out and earlier this morning it was 14 below.....On sunday when it was raining one of the people that had one of my rental sleds called me and I had them leave the sled at their motel so they didnt have to ride it in the rain....so I was lucky enough to get to ride it back. I would say total snowfall for yesteray we had about 5 inches and it is still a fluffy lake effect snow. We only had about a half inch of new snow overnight. I went to TC yesterday morning early and got to the tv station about 7 and JC gave me the tour of the place, I stood off to the side as Stacey did the news and JC did the weather. Quite an operation to see and not what you would expect. No cameramen as that stuff is computerized and JC stands in front of the green sreen looking at monitors that have the maps on that he points to, so when you are standing there watching he is just pointing at the green wall and lining his hand movements up with what he sees in the monitor. He gets in there at 3:30 a.m. and he showed me all the paper work and places he looks to make up the weather forcast, not as easy as you would guess. I took some video clips that I will try to get on later, if not today tommorrow. I took Melissa out to the Grayling Generating Station so she could see how the place operates. They burn scrap wood to generate electricity and it was part of Job Shadowing Day for a class at school. Tonight I am taking Haley to the father daughter dance and shortly Cathy and I are heading out for our weekly wednesday ride. I dont think it will be a record long ride but I am ready to head out. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 19, 2008 5:45 a.m. There is about 2 inches of new snow and its 18 degrees here at Lake Margrethe this morning. The snow started about 7 last night and was a nice heavy snow when it started. I would say the start of the snow was more what we would like for riding as it was a heavier wetter snow. The other inch and a half that fell overnight is more of a lake effect snow and is just fluffy blow off the trail snow......I saw the weather sticker says its 13 in frederic right now and the new snow there that I looked at on the webcam looks like about the same amount as here. I am off for Traverse City so lets keep up the snow chants today. I had an email yesterday from Scott @ The Waters Inn regarding a new trail cam that they put up behind the Keg Bar, it looks north up the trail from behind the bar. http://www.thekegbar.com/trailcam Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday 5:30 p.m. Here is a group of kids that were riding in with their parents, they are from Howell and were having a good time, there is a light snow in the air just starting..... Monday afternoon 3:45 p.m. I am happy to say sled traffic has been pretty steady today and virtually everybody that has come in has said that it is not as bad as you would think. Even a group that rode here from Rose City heading for Indian River today. I have plenty of reports on groomer sightings in most areas too. I have not seen a groomer in frederic today but the people that did see them were very happy. I would not have thought it would be that good....so lets see what happens overnight. Brendan from Haslett who wishes he could come here had to settle for his mom and dad stopping by to say hi. Maybe he can make it next time. I will put an update on early tommorow morning and you will have to try to feel out conditions from my early report and the web cam. I am heading over to Traverse City early in the morning and JC is going to give me the tour thru the tv station and then I have a Century 21 training class all day. If there is anyway I can get on in TC I will try to throw on an update during the day. Thanks for checking in. Pete Monday February 18, 2008 9:25 a.m. I got here a little late today. The parking lot looks like a skating rink as most of the snow that was there now looks like ice. Overnight we had just a skiff of snow but at least the rain is gone. It got to a point yesterday where we were getting some pretty heavy rain. Only 3 sleds stopped in here yesterday and they were riding back from mackinaw and had to get to west branch to where there truck was parked. I only saw a couple other sleds all day, on the other hand business was still pretty good in here as the people that were staying for the long weekend were out driving around and stopped in anyways. I have already had a couple calls from people wanting to come up for a day ride. I would say that if you do want to ride to be extremely cautious as there is alot of ice out there now. There was a couple that had rented a sled from me that called me yesterday morning about riding it, I didnt want to see them riding it in the rain so I told them to just lock it up at the motel and that I would get it later. I went about 7 last night and rode it back to my house. It wasnt raining at the time and considering it was my only ride of the weekend I had a nice short ride. I think I will wait a couple days and ride it from home back here to frederic. I sure many of you noticed the camera was stopped and was just a view of the road heading south out of the shop here. I decided to stop it last night when I left as it was almost dark. When its dark you really dont get to see much on it anyways so, just to give it a rest I think I might shut it down to just one view at night time. What I need to do is get it so I can control it from my laptop at home that way when I first get up I can set it back to scanning town. I dont know if anybody will really be out riding today but I am here none the less and maybe can get some other work done......For any of you that might be a auto worker that is getting a buy out and want to move north, I listed the Lovells Restaruant and Lodging, If you want to move north and have a nice little business in Lovells along with living quarters it is a perfect set up for not ton of money. Just give me a call.......Thats about it for today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 17, 2008 9:25 a.m. This is not what I want to be writing about, it was 22 degrees at home, it says 27 on the weather sticker and 26 on my indoor thermometer here in the shop, but still it is raining outside.....it is slick as can be.....I sure dont understand how it can be this cold and still be raining. It seemed to be raining harder in grayling than it is here in frederic. The good thing is they say snow is coming starting around noon.........It was a great day of riding here yesterday and the Pfaff boys from Harbor Beach Boys stopped in and said they were wishing there wing crew Jerry, Justin, & Derek could have been here to enjoy the great riding......There were 2 accidents yesterday where they brought in the helicopter, one out by lovells and one out fletcher road by the kalkaska county line. I have not heard what happened after that. Lets see how this day plays out, I know alot of people are planning on staying thru monday... I did see the gaylord groomer rolling into frederic about 7:30 last night. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday 11:15 a.m. Ellie the Beagle gets a little company in her bed......lots of sleds in so far and a great fire outside to boot.... Saturday February 16, 2008 8:50 a.m. Well no new snow overnight and its nice and cold at about 5 degrees right now....The first few sleds just left here. Lots of sleds and people around yesterday for a friday so I expcet lot more today. Drove thru the motels this morning and a full house at most places in grayling and being a long weeknd I would guess many are staying for monday......I find it hard to believe but I am almost at a loss for words this morning and dont know what else to say.....but one thing I have been meaning to say the past couple days is that the beagle is happy to have her distant cousin Uno win the westminster dog show, my beagle Ellie even got a couple emails from people writing to her about it........Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------- Friday Night 8:00 p.m. Here I still sit at frederic as there have been alot of people around, heading out shortly..... I forgot to talk about the World Series of Ice Drag Racing going on in Gaylord this weekend behind the airport. Its off Milbocker road if you want to go. Next weekend in Waters is the Vintage Sled show at the Keg Bar....I am putting a video clip I took earlier today under here of a bunch of girls on their Girls Weekend Ride........ Friday February 15, 2008 10:20 a.m. 15 degrees with light snow in the air in frederic, we had about 2 more inches of snow overnight. Watching JC this morning on the weather he says we are going to get hammered again on sunday and monday,,,,,nice to see us getting good snow for a winter......trails are excellent and there have been alot of sleds in here already this morning. Planning on a good campfire outside tommorow. I still have a couple rental sleds available for this weekend.......I learned yesterday that the cool high tech groomer that grayling back went back to the manufacturer because of a design flaw.. Ohio Brian has been hanging out here for almost a couple weeks and he told me after riding on the grooming behind that compacting groomer the trail was awsome and hard as a rock,,,to bad its gone now. Had an email the other day from Tom aka the Cleavland Hugger....He hasnt been in yet this year but I am sure when he does he will have a hug for me........I have not written about my friend Jack all week that had the incident last weekend up at Big Buck....He was out of the hospital and back to work on monday plus he came here to get his sled back on monday too.....He says the doctors say there is nothing wrong and that he did not have a heart attack......sounds scary to me but Jack sums it up by saying that, himself, video Jim and Bad Leg Barry were all staring at a drop dead gorgeus waitress and it affected Jack moreso than the other guys.....video Jim on the other hand has been taking alot of flack for putting the liplock on Jack......at least it all worked out well. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday Februrary 14, 2008 7:00 a.m. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! Its 15 degrees and we had just a skiff of snow here at Lake Margrethe overnight. Supposedly we have a storm heading on us some time today, but for the first time in years we already have plenty of snow everywhere, a little more sure wouldnt hurt any. The size of my parking lot at the shop is continuing to shrink from the snow piles. Once again it was steady with sleds at Sledheads yesterday for a weekday. Cathy and I headed out on our ride yesterday by riding the blue bear out to the far parking lot and then hitting the cranberry trail, taking that down to the back of camp grayling where we took the short cut across to what I like to call Fee Fee Lock Key.......also known as Fife Lake.....after a warm up at Gordys Place we headed into the Grand Traverse trail system. Rode over to Ranch Rudolph which is closed on wednesdays. Trails up to this point were absolutely perfect, freshly groomed, lots of snow everywhere with snow laden trees. We followed the loop up from the ranch towards Kalkaska which is about 25 miles long and rode into Kalkaska and stopped to get gas and a warm up at Arbys along with checking out the arctic cat dealer in Kalkaska.... From there we headed back toward twin lakes and blue lake then hit the blue bear back to frederic.u They had free maps of the trails along the way with great trail markings. I picked up some extra grand traverse maps so if you come in and want one, just ask me....... All in all a beautiful day of riding and getting back into frederic 139 miles later at 6 pm. I sure wish I could do that more often......I see Rebecca my webmaster got a link put up to the webcam above next to my Century 21 card. I still need to have her add instructions on how to access the camera once you get there. When you get the log in screen just leave it at annonomys with no password, just click network connection on 512 and hit o.k.. and you will get 3 minutes on the cam.....before having to refresh.....Off this morning to my weekly real estate meeting and then into the shop, I think its going to be a busy weekend. In closing today I need to send a Happy Valentines greeting into cyberspace to my friend Charlie who passed away 3 years ago today,........Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 13, 2008 7:00 a.m. Its 5 below in frederic and we had about 2 inches of snow overnight. I came up here early to plowar and get things done so Cathy and I can go riding today. Good steady sled traffic all day tuesday. I had a group of guys from Sweden stop in and will put their video clip below this. They said they made a wrong turn in Sweden and ended up here for a week of snowmobiling. They wanted to go get something to eat and asked which place had the best looking women....well I looked at them and said hey this is Frederic......They were having a good time. Had another group of guys stop in where most of them were from east of Indianapolis, I talked to the one guys wife on the phone and got her on to the webcam so they were out there waving at her and then as we were doing that another guy stopped in who was from the same area in Indiana and those guys were all saying how its a small world running into someone from practically your own nieghborhood 500 miles north of your home.....one of the other guys with the group was from Las Vegas and he got his wife on the webcam too so she could see him having a good time. For the most of the time the camera is always scanning stopping at 7 second intervals on spots I pick for it. When you see it stopped on something its because I have control of it and am fixed onsomething half way interesting or I just plain forgot to turn it back on.......Heading back out now and hope for a great day of riding. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------- Tuesday February 12, 2008 10:50 am.. 15 degrees out and no new snow overnight, but the snowplow left me big piles around the lot to plow. I havent seen any sleds yet this morning and all the trail crossings I looked at look perfect for riding, it is now 11:35 and I got hit with a bunch of sleds, everybody says trails are great. ...thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 11, 2008 10:25 a.m The blowing winds have slowed up but its up to 17 degrees. We had about 2 inches of new snow overnight. There have been a few sleds zipping about frederic this morning. It never really got about zero yesterday. A group of riders came in yesterday and had a girl with them that had fallen off her sled and hit a snow bank and broke her arm. I gave her and her boyfriend a ride to the hospital and her friends went back out on the trail to bring her sled back in. Also if they are their friends are reading this, their helmets are still here at the shop. I have been watching this cam in alaska lately and in fairbanks yesterday it was 48 below zero....it just shows a picture and the temp.....you can check it out at www.arcticcam.com , I like the cold and snow here but I think the 48 below would be a bit extreme. Sled traffic was pretty slow in Frederic yesterday. The highway south of gaylord was closed around noon yesterday due to numerous accidents on it and then to top it off there was another accident on old 27 just south of Marsh Ridge where a guy with a sled trailer coming down the hill hit another car, closing that route south too.....for a while we had pretty steady highway traffic thru Frederic. Its not to often you see a traffic jam in Frederic. Thats it for today. Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday Noon thirty, Still snowing and blowing, people coming in are mostly in cars but I am surprised at the amount of sleds I see over at the bar......I am printing a letter below this that I got from Denny Jones from the Potawatomi Snowmobile Club in Indiana regarding closure of their trails..... The Potawatomi Snowmobile Club, of Steuben County Indiana, was informed by the Department Of Natural Resources that after this season they will no longer help fund our trail. We were told they just don't have the funds to continue. Since the early 70's the Potawatomi Snowmobile Trail has provided riders with 22 miles of some of the most senic trails in the state winding around the lakes, hills and woods of Steuben County. On the trail we have three trail heads, two gas stops and six restaurants for riders to warm themselves and enjoy the good food. We encourage everyone to ride our trail and experience the hospitality we show our guests in the lakes area of Indiana. Of the five snowmobile trails in the state of Indiana we are the shortest trail in terms of miles, but as I mentioned we are the most senic. I think this is just the begining of the end of the snowmobile trails in our state. We would like anyone to E-Mail their comments about closing our trail to our club President Dave Cox at kimmer7674@yahoo.com and he will forward them to the proper people of the DNR in Indianapolis. DENNY JONES VICE PRESIDENT POTAWATOMI SNOWMOBILERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 10, 2008 9:45 am. Blowing and snowing and zero outside right now. A winter wonderland in the grayling and frederic area. I got up early and went and plowed, I would guess we had about4 to 6 inches, hard to tell about the blowing. Took the flag down out front of the shop last night and when I got in here this morning it was pretty cold here in the front room and for the first time ever my pilot light blew out on my gas log fireplace... I lit her back up and now just waiting to get it nice and toasty again like I like it in here.......I also checked the webcam at home this morning before I left and noticed that I had left it off scan mode last night and it was fixed on the side view where I had the campfire yesterday.....the first 4 sleds of the morning pulled up here about 9 just to look at the map out front and I have seen a couple others go by on the trail across the street. I havent done a video clip all week so in just a little bit I will post one just to show you how blustery it is outside.....My friend Jack is in the hospital over in T.C. and seems to be doing o.k. so far.......Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------- Saturday February 9, 2008 9:00 a.m. It 32 out and we had about an inch of new snow overnight. The roads all over were wet but when I got to the high school the roads turned to snow covered and just the way they should look.....Went thru the Ramada Inn and Days Inn this morning and thats the way it should look every weekend. So many sleds and trailers I couldnt even begin to count them....I am sure its mostly from the For Women Only Ride but still its a huge group of sleds, trucks and trailers....I wish I would have had my little video cam with me......anybody looking for an inexpensive sled I have a nice 97 440 polaris here for $1495....the cold spell is going to hit us tonight so that is a good sign and it looks like more snow all this coming week......about 4 yesterday I got a call from my friend video Jim...he went riding with Ohio Mike and his gang along with my friend Jack who owns Skips Sport Shop that I talked about yesterday morning...Jim said he needed me to come to gaylord to Big Buck to pick up Jacks sled, I immediately couldnt believe Jack had crashed as he is a cautious rider but Jim said he hadnt crashed. I grabbed my trailer and headed up to Big Buck, when I got there they were all standing outside and I could see the somber looks on their faces. Ohio Mike and the gang are usually pretty happy go lucky guys, they said they had just finished dinner in Big Buck and Jack said he felt the heat come on, Bad Leg Barry said to Jack that he didnt feel it but then Mike said as they turned to walk out Jack just hit the floor passed out, no pulse, video Jim and another guy did CPR on him and the paramedics were there within 5 minutes. Jack was back concious again by the time the paramedics were there and they took him to the gaylord hospital and then last I knew they were transfering him to another hospital. The guys said if it wasnt for Jim and the other guy that Jack would have been gone. Life can change in an instant, be sure you love and cherish every day you have with your family and friends. Its just lucky that they were stopped instead of riding on the trail. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------ Friday Februrary 8, 2008 9:00 a.m. Another morning starting off in frederic, 25 degrees and no new snow. The trails and crossing I looked at on the way here this morning all looked nice and ready for an weekend of heavy sled traffic. There were already sleds down getting gas at 8:30 when I got here.....We had dinner last night at the Ramada in grayling as it was Cathys birthday and the place was full with women who are there for the For Womans Only ride for Easter Seals....That is always a big event....after dinner Cathy and I went cross country skiing which takes you out behind the ramada and thru the grayling golf course, its pretty nice out there at night and you can see plenty well in the dark. There must have been 2 dozen deer running all around the golf course as we worked our way thru there......Funny thing this morning I was taking Melissa to school and I saw an expedition backed up to skips sport shop, as I was driving by I saw it had an ohio plate and all of a sudden a bunch of guys were jumping out of it....I wondered what was going on but kept on towards school......well after I dropped Melissa off I went back to Skips as its a usual stop for me and lo and behold it was Ohio Mike, Bad Leg Barry, Slow Sled Dave and one more with them that I dont know....anyways it turned out it was them jumping out of the truck because of someone making a strange but bad odor in there.......They are here to ride for the weekend so I will have to put up with them showing up here later on. Ohio Brian has been hanging out here too the past couple days as he is trying to get his sled in better shape to ride.....Other than that I cant think of any sled worthy news to tell you for now. Thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday February 7, 2008 11:30 a.m. It was 3 degrees first thing this morning and is up to 23. No new snow overnight... sleds coming thru this morning have been light......have had a few visitors and readers in this morning including the state cop who some of you might have seen on the webcam... He is the wiegh master and he stopped in and said he was just checking to see if I was overwieght....his scales only go to 30,000 pounds and he said he was leary letting me on one....anyways I did hear of a sled wreck yesterday out by lovells where they airlifted the guy to T.C. I saw the helicopter going by yesterday afternoon. He had a back injury but is doing o.k now from what I heard from one of his friends. I know that they are from ohio...If you know anybody looking for a nice place to stay this weekend, my cottage is still available at Lake Margrethe......I know of one visitor so far on the web cam from England and my Steve in North Carolina got on it yesterday too....I would still like to know if you have a problem getting on it and here are the instructions again on how to get to it.... put in this ip adress in your browser... 66.255.212.166 after that you must download the software, after that you get a log in screen, just leave annoymous in the log in screen, no password and just click 512 for connection speed....most everybody gets the software first time, I had to try it 3 times on my laptop at home before i got it. after you have the software all you have to do is log in and you get 3 minutes..the camera gives you 11 different shots from around frederic, at each stop it dwells for 7 seconds then moves on to the next shot. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 1:45 p.m. For a wednesday sled traffic has been steady and surprises me......Just a reminder , nobody has booked into my cottage yet this weekend, so if anybody is looking for a nice place to stay, give me a call at 989-344-7669....thanks, Pete Wednesday February 6, 2008 10:30 a.m. A nice 2 inches of fresh snow fell overnight. Its a light fluffy snow and its 27 out right now....I got here right at 9 and have been trying to plow, but darn, sleds keep coming in and I have to come in and wait on them......I am surprised how many I have seen already this morning.....we havent lost hardly any snow the past couple days even though it got about 32......the forcast is for a little snow each day thru the weekend...... Heading back out to plow. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------------------- Tuesday 10:20, One thing I forgot to write about is that I just got a new pile of Helmet Mowhawks in, many colors, they are $19.95 each and 2 bucks more if you want it shipped....just let me know....Pete Tuesday February 5, 2008 9:30 a.m. Its 34 degrees in frederic this morning and there was no new snow overnight. It has stayed about the same temp all night but luckily not alot of melting went on. I did hear a sled zipping across the lake at home first thing this morning.....Snow is supposed to come still this week......and thats about all there is on the sledding news. Its now 10:05 and I am back to typing. One thing I have been forgetting to do is a big THANK YOU to the Mulcahy family from Jackson who were nice enough to think of me and bring me coney dogs from the Jackson Coney Island...one of my favorite stops when I am down that way...they were good..... I had a heck of a trip back from kzoo yesterday. I left at 7:30 and the transmission in the van started slipping, I could go about a mile and then would have to pull over, put it in nuetral and then go again, I could go about a half mile to three quarters of a mile before I had to do it over again... well it took me about 3 hours to get to rockford and I had called a friend to go get a car dolly and my truck to come retrieve me, by the time we met up on the highway I had made it to the 125 morley exit.......we loaded up the van and made it back to grayling at 4:30... an interesting trip to say the least, and it was sure scary getting thru grand rapids a half mile at a time during morning rush hour, thank goodness it ran all the way thru the s curves.... So thats my story for today, taking the girls to the Hannah Montana movie in Midland this afternoon......we bought tickets for it a couple months ago online and they are very excited. Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 4, 2008 7:15 a.m. Coming at you this morning from my dear old mothers home in Kalamazoo, there is about 2 fresh inches of snow here in kzoo....I got down here yesterday afternoon and am heading back this morning.....From what I can see on the web cam there was no new snow in frederic overnight. Sled traffic was for the most part light yesterday but trails were better than saturday afternoon. Livonia Darrel was in and was missing Farmington Jason from a good ride....."Why do birds suddenly appear" (I think thats their theme song}.....Tim from Fowler was in and wished his "Little Buddies" Gene & Mike were here riding with him instead of being in Florida. Jason and Jeff rode back into frederic about 1 p.m. on their way back from Mackinaw city. They said trails were good from Mackinaw to Indian River and from Indian river to gaylord was horrible, then from gaylord to frederic was good also. Thats the same story I have heard from other riders this week...... It was also nice to meet all the new people that stopped in to say hi. Its surprising how many people come in and say Wheres Pete and that they have come in to say hi or meet me.....I really appreciate it and I hope I dont disappoint you when we meet,,The fun thing about Frederic is everybody is in a good mood, they are out riding and they stop to say hi and its just usually fun....So anyways I hear my mom moving about downstairs, have to go say good bye to her and am off to the highway so I can get back to frederic early this afternoon. Thanks for checking in. Pete --------------------------------------- Sunday 11:00 a.m. My chubby friend Roger and husky friend Mel stop by to tell about their ride from to and from the u.p. from frederic....we didnt really talk to much about the ride, just a bunch of laughing.... Marty Richardson from California just stopped in and said he is having a good ride this morning... here is the new clip.... Sunday February 3, 2008 9:30 a.m. No new snow overnight and its about 25 degrees out right now. I have seen a few sleds out and about already in fact the first one of the day just pulled up out front.....Not really much to report but Jeff & Jason rode out of here towards Mackinaw yesterday about 11 and made it there at 4, they were beat up and decided to get a room and ride back today.....my chubby friend Roger and his crew made it back to Frederic from St St Marie at 7 last night. Their 2 day trip ended up at 409 miles and Roger was sore too after the ride back...maybe this morning the groomers hit so Jeff and Jason get a smooth ride back here. Oops I see I left the webcam on the port a potty view all night. My girls were up here playing around and I set it over there so they could play around and forgot to turn it back on scan.... I am pretty sure I have the only outhouse cam in the state....... Thats about it for now. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday February 2, 2008 9:10 a.m. Off to a quiet start and 26 degrees in frederic this morning. A couple people have been in so far but I havent seen any sleds yet. I even already have a fire going outside. No new snow overnight. I ended up riding with Jeff and Jason yesterday and we rode up to vanderbilt and went and rode in the piegon river forest...we were the first sleds everywhere we went and it was nice riding but we couldnt stay as long as I would have liked to. A nice 95 mile round trip cruise....Just got off the phone with my chubby friend Roger and he and 4 other sleds left frederic yesterday morning about 10 and headed north. It only took them about 20 minutes to get shuttled across the Big Mac and they rode on to Trout Lake, Hulbert and Raco, then on to Sault St Marie, arriving there about 7:30 last night with a 240 mile total for the day. They are riding back to frederic today down thru cedarville to st ignace and on back to here...sure wish I was riding with them....The Hummel gang stopped by Frederic yesterday and they are from all over the USA, so the video clip is them telling where they are all from. Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------- Friday February 1, 2008 10:15 a.m. A picture perfect morning in frederic with everybody saying trails are good so far this morning. My friends Jason and Jeff got here last night about 10 and are camped out in the parking lot in their camper, I am going to try to head out for a ride with them this morning. We had about 2 inches over night and so far about another inch since 8:30.....looks darn good. The Limberg boys from ohio were in yesterday and aid that Hefty Geoff missed out on an awsome ride of 200 miles yesterday.. Today is my babys birthday and the little comedian Haley is 8 years old......boy that went by fast.... I still think about that night when we were in the hospital and Johnny O was in after his horrific sled crash and so close to death that night....luckily he pulled thru.....and Haley has grown to a nice little girl......So I am off into the snow....Thanks for checking in and Please Ride Safely.....Pete ------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 31, 2008 8:10 a.m. Still a nice chilly 10 degrees out here but the winds have died down. What a day yesterday, 50 mile an hour winds and a surprising amount of sleds out, but alot of places closed. I ended up going to gaylord yesterday afternoon and I thought the winds were stronger up there, hard to see at times. On the way back I drove along old 27 and only saw one sled all the way back to frederic and it turned out to be Ohio Brian.....he had been out riding all day. Got back to frederic about 5 and both the frederic inn and the swamp were closed. I had a group of guys from the Dayton area book into my cottage yesterday and they rode to starvation lake and said there were alot of sleds up there but they were looking forward to dinner at the swamp, and they were bummed when they got there and it was closed. The news last night was full of stories like that on places that closed early because of the weather. I am glad I stuck it out because we had a pretty decent day in Sledheads......The news said last night that it will be a nice temp weekend with the temps in the upper 20s so that will make it comfy for riding.....only a skiff of new snow overnight. Gotta run to my weekly C/21 meeting....Thanks for checking in. Pete -------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 10:30 Jim and Mark from Dayton Ohio just were in and are the first sleds in of the day, right now there are another 7 sleds here, here is a new video clip... Wednesday 9:30 a.m. Just a quick note to let you know how things are, there are many businesses closed all around northern michigan today, even Wal Mart in gaylord is closed but I just wanted to let you know Sleheads of Frederic is open........BUT if I do close its only to go riding, it isnt often we get conditions like this....... Wednesday January 30. 2008 8:45 a.m. Now this is more like it, snowing, blowing, drifting and cold. With all the drifting and blowing its hard to tell how much we got last night but my best guess is 6 to 8 inches. At 8 last night I was in grayling and it was raining hard and 42 degrees, then at 8 this morning it was 2 below zero and still is......Thanks for all the snow chanting......I had a group of guys in yesterday that were set on riding to Brimley today from frederic no matter what. I am sure they woke up very happy this morning....I changed some of the pre sets on the cam this morning as there is a flurry of activity over at the swamp. Its that time again for Wertz Warriors ride for special olympics. So far they have not been able to ride, but they have all their sleds loaded in 3 semis that are parked around the swamp right now and they are unloading to begin riding finally as I type. So watch the cam and the flurry of people around there now. To read about what Wertz Warriors actually do check out this special olympics site... http://www.somi.org/ There are usually around 70 to 100 sleds and their main celebrity is Mark the Bird Fidrych, the now retired Detroit Tiger Pitcher......I hope I can get out for a ride myself today. There is no school today so Cathy is at home with the kids....Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 29, 2008 10:15 a.m.. To bad we werent getting the weather they are getting in China right now.......unfortunately its 42 degrees out and things are heading downhill quick. It was in the 40s yesterday and I was surprised at the mix of brown I saw on the trails on the way home, then it started with the light rain about 8 last night. Schools were closed this morning because of icy roads and the trails I looked at this morning are close to mud.....not what I wanted to be writing....the bright side is its supposed to turn cold tonight and get back to snowing. So some snow chanting is in order here. I bought a new thermometer this morning that I am going to hang outside in view of the camera so you can see the temps. It will be on the building next to the port a potty cam.....I have been getting many emails on how to get into the webcam so until we get a button installed here are the intructions...... put in this ip adress in your browser... 66.255.212.166 after that you must download the software, after that you get a log in screen, just leave annoymous in the log in screen, no password and just click 512 for connection speed....most everybody gets the software first time, I had to try it 3 times on my laptop at home before i got it. after you have the software all you have to do is log in and you get 3 minutes..the camera gives you 11 different shots from around frederic, at each stop it dwells for 7 seconds then moves on to the next shot. Just heard a sled go thru the lot so somebody is out there doing a little mud bogging..... Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------- Monday January 28, 2008 10:30 a.m. A pretty morning in frederic, sunny and 34 degrees. Havent seen a sled this morning. JC says we are going to get some rain tonight and tommorow morning, but then back to cold and snow. It doesnt look like we are going to get enough to hurt us.....Have you ever wondered what a lottery winner from oaklahoma does, well he comes to frederic to go riding. Bill Stewart from Broken Arrow, Oaklahoma who has been a regular reader for a long time and a lucky guy to boot stopped in for a visit this weekend. Now I need to get to work and get some of my other duties done......Thanks for checking in. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday January 27, 2008 9:50 a.m. Its surprising the amount of sleds that I have seen out and about this morning already. Its now 10:50, havent been able to type with people coming in and out......lots of traffic yesterday.....had a nice visit with Dan the Man when he stopped in yesterday. He showed me a little more in the software on the webcam....it was nice to finally meet him and a big THANK YOU to him as the whole pan, zoom and tilt idea was his...and even though it took a long time to get rolling I think the wait was well worth it as I havent seen another snow cam out there that offers you what you can see here from Sledheads of Frederic. Also if anybody came across a blue bag with glucose test equipment on the trail yesterday please give me a call as it belongs to Dans brother......Livonia Darrel and his other brother Farmington Jason were just in here.....and yesterday Wade and Tye were in from chesterfield yesterday and they wanted to tell duane and troy that they were having a great time and they hoped that they were having fun folding clothes with their wives as they wimped out and didnt come north. Michigan Jeff was in and said he is taking over for Ohio Mike, many people ask me about Ohio Mike and wondered if he pays me to put his name on here, well Ohio Mike did make a genorous contribution to the webcam fund but he has never paid me to put his name on,,,,I think I might mention that to him, as this is the only "air" he can get......There is snow in the air right now but total over the weekend I would say we have only had about an inch and a half....Also it was nice to meet the many other readers who stopped in to say hi...I dont think I have said it yet this season but it always amazes me the people out there reading my ramblings, which makes me think of Mary Richardson in California who left a message the other day, he is coming to ride next month and also for his brothers retirement party from the national guard here in grayling, Seargeant Major Terry Richardson is retiring after 31 years in the guard. Good Luck To Him...Thanks for checking in. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------- Saturday night 5:30 p.m. Ryan from Romeo who is a regular reader and wanted to be in a video gets his wish.... Saturday 3:20 p..m Snow has been falling all day and we are up to a couple of new inches........here is a new video.... Saturday January 26, 2008 11:00 a.m. Got here about 8 this morning but people have been in steady plus I have had to restart my computer 3 or 4 times to get it to work right. Dont know what the deal is with that. If you have been watching the cam you see we had about an inch of new snow over night. For those of you who have never been to frederic today is the day to watch the cam between now and 3 if you want an idea of how much sled traffic is here....I am sure you will be amazed at the activity around town.....Glen was in this morning and brought me some marinated venison but he was heading home because of what happened yesterday to him on the trail, he said there were some guys coming the other way to fast, he missed the first sled but the second guy flew off his sled and crashed head first into glen, the guy broke his face shield and his wrist, and was bleeding pretty good, they got him taken care of but glen said if he wouldnt have been injured he would have done it for him.......SLOW DOWN GOING AROUND CORNERS........and remember the other people out there on the trails. I am wearing my all new hot off the press MO MO NAH CHEE CHEE NAH shirt this morning. If I get a chance I will do a video clip so you can see it.....I have both sweat shirts and t shirts in it.....Thanks for checking in. Pete ---------------------------------------------- way to fast around a corner Friday 11:15 a.m. I keep forgetting to tell you about this but if you ever want to stay in lovells, the lovells restaurant and lodging has 6 very nice motel rooms out behind the restaurant. I have lived in grayling since 1976 and never knew those rooms were there. The 6 rooms are all nice and clean and most have 2 double beds and they go for about 50 dollars......you can stay there, close to the great trails, a good restaruant, gas, and walking distance to the lovells tavern. Call Keith or Maggie at 989-348-9589. You will be pleasantly surprised just like me with their accomodations. Friday morning 10:30 Here is the video of the grayling clubs new snow processor, way cool! Friday January 25, 2008 9:30 a.m. 13 degrees and sunny on and off here in frederic, this week has by far been the coldest week this season. Firming everything up nice. We havent had any new snow in the past few days but in my back parking lot there is at least 6 to 8 inches that has accumulated in the past week. The last time I plowed the back was last friday I think, going to plow it again here shortly. Cathy and I had a great ride but not long enough, headed to gaylord and up almost to wolverine, |
