2017 and I, come head to head

Well, my new year and new optimism started out just fine, for the first 2 hours, then January went down hill. Flooded basements, broken washing machines and general bad karma began to set the tone for the new year. I think I still have PTSD from January.

I needed to get away. What better way to relax and have fun than an impromptu trip to the lake for snowmobiling with my friend Heidi? 🙂

We stayed at the Tiny Cottage, which was warm and toasty now that we have had it winterized!

8am and coffee on – we got our gear together an headed over to Boat Sport to pick up Heidi’s sled which was being serviced, and mine which I was renting. Well in prime January form – Heidi’s sled wasn’t ready yet and it took me almost 2 hours to check out for the sled rental.

Eventually we got out of there and Heidi hopped on the back of the 2- up we rented and off we went to meet our friends Arch, Peter and Will. They were gracious and generous to let us rookies tag along for the day, when we knew all they wanted to do was go all out and ride!

We got lost on the way there. The boys waited. And waited.

Eventually – – we showed up.

Arch set the tone with 1 rule: 1) ride as fast as you are comfortable, everyone waits at T’s and stop signs, you won’t get lost.

I was driving. I was trying to keep up. I was #3 in a pack of 4.

There was a sharp turn in the trail and I hit the gas instead of the brake — we crashed! HARD! Into not very small trees — and a swamp. For a split second, I thought I was going to kill myself and one of my best friends, and how sorry I was about that.

Then I realized we weren’t dead. We weren’t even hurt (except my ego and maybe a sprained wrist).

I was really embarrassed. And Sorry.

Peter and Will pulled our sled out. Arch must have realized we weren’t there at one of the stops, and turned around to find us all staring at my cracked up sled.

Arch fixed it (he is amazing that way).

I didn’t take pictures.

Arch put me on the back of his sled. Heidi was in charge of driving the rental (she has a lot more experience than I did).

I was a much better rider than I was a driver.

We stopped at Moon Dance – had a bloody mary (I could do that, I wasn’t driving)

We headed back to the trail and had a wonderful, long day of riding. The snow was fresh, the trees were blanketed and beside the hum of our motors, the woods were eerily quiet. We stopped at Pitliks for lunch and met our dear friend, Jan there.

We rode some more and had 2 more stops along the way.

It was getting late in the afternoon, and I didn’t want to drive in the dark, so we headed back. Our group split up – Peter & Will headed back to Three Lakes while Arch gave Heidi and me a personal lead back to Eagle River to return our sled.

On the way back we stopped in town to check out the Ice Castle!

It was a full day of fresh air, a little trauma/drama and a lot of fun. I was exhausted.

It was getting dark and Arch had a long ride back to Three Lakes and was going to meet some of our 3L friends (Tom, Steve, Nancy and Patrick) at Lindy’s Hideaway. It was on the way home, so we stopped for one beer. Heidi wanted two.

We ran into our friend Kari! Heidi ran into another friend from her Chain-skimmer days. We were having fun, but I was TIRED. Heidi had a 2nd beer and I barely let her finish before I made her leave because I needed time to wind down.

Military Road is usually a beautiful drive, windy roads through the Nicollet National Forest. I was hungry, very tired and then….I was really really sorry….

January was not being good to me. Jeff was going to kill me. Heidi was NOT happy with me – WHO CRASHES TWICE IN ONE DAY??

We sat in the woods for 3 hours waiting for a tow truck. Not.One.Car.Passed.

The Tahoe got wenched out and we ran over to Mai Tai Tiki Bar where we grabbed a pizza and headed home.

Silver Lining? It IS a New Year — we have to look for the silver lining, right?

Heidi and I are still friends. Nobody was hurt. The truck wasn’t THAT damaged.

In fact, we went back 3 weeks later to sled again with the girls (Jeff made me take my own car)….you will hear about that FANTASTIC and WONDERFUL Trip very soon!

2017 will not get the best of me 🙂