VAST News

Page13 Nov. 1994

MeOnASnowmobile?
Never...
Well,Maybe
JustOnce
A First'Time
Riderls Captured
ByTheSport,AndCaptures
InWordsTheJoyCI Hiding
By.loyceScanlon house. eycs on. If we wercn'[ tln our
PoultneyValley Thcn camc tjre bis dav - Char- snowmobilcs we would never sec
i '
S n o w m o b i l eC l u b M e m h e r t l i e a n t l I : v r c r n r . r t c d - uts5 m k e a thcsc gorgeous sights. Thc lanij-
t, long ridc *'irh rhcm and offered owncrs gavc thcir permission for
e on a snowmobile? mc lhcrr cxtra slcd. OI'course I our passagoon thcir propcrty only
Thoscnoisy machines
*3'
l
!
had trccn practicing, but hadn't ounng mc wtnter scas0n and the
lhat throw up cloudsof bern out of thc back mcadow as hard work o[ voluntcrrs kcpt the
! v ^' smokc whcn thcy are yct. Now I was rrn my own! What trails in good condition. Our dav
sllrtcd and ridc all hours of rhc a great fceling! I witsfrcc as a was fabulous and I could hardlv
night kccping us okl lirlks awake. bud. No, not quitc, wc wercn'I wait until we wcnt out asain liir
Ncvcrl Wcll, maybe jusr onc flying, but wc wcnt up sontc prct- anothcr all-tlay tnp.
Linrc. Jusl occasionally, to pack ty tmpresslve hills and canrc By this tJtnc wc were wcll into
down the snow for cross-counlry down some that left mc white- . thc scason and the trails wcrc
skiing. That was the original knuckled with hcart racins. And nicely packcd. The wcarher had
thought. Nice quict days cross- then there werc thc watcr-haz- warmerl somcwhat and frostbitc
counuy skiing in a snowy woorls, ards! How does one gct a 3(X) lb, wiu no,longcr a problem. Maybe
just
"n and down gcntlc slopcs, vchicle designcd lo run rn snow il was thc rrcw clothcs, maybc it
bcyond the back dooryard, some- tr-rsucldcnly lcap ovcr a stJcarn was thc excitcmcnr of going out
umcs so quiet one could hear the which was supposed n be frozen cvery day, or perhaps hc en-
flakcs comc down. ovcr by now? Charlie, with a look
'I'his thusiasm sharcd witlr othcr snow-
had bcen a dream of mine of incredulity in my direction, mobilers, b9t I wasn't cotd for fte
lor ovcr 25 ymrs while living
said,'Just follow me." And tlrat rest o{'the wintcr. It was the besr
down in Ncw Jcrscy. Vermont my triends is rhe key. Leam from winter of my entire life.
was hc placc for mc whcrc the JoyceScanlon retkedto P , L, rv -nr, usr urrwtqw uttstu :, alf,rln an experienced driver. We madc And, do you know what I want
snow piles up on rolling hills. wayto g€taroundln lhewlnrq woods.Now,mowrmblllnglr herfirstroye. our way up winding trails to the for Chgsrrnas rhis year? you
Now that dream is a rcalrty in Am I deviating [rom the plan? Our new toy is a lamaha 2-up mounlain stops of some of the guessed it, a snowmobile of mv
Poulurcy. But last winter the Not nre!Well, maybejusr abir and I'm on fte brk jusr for the' prettiest counlry one has ever laid very own.
snow was so deep we had no So wlntam I doing oJrsideon the ride.What a ride! Tlie dips and
choice but to purchase our fust coldestday this pastwinter of bumpswhich we wt re checkins
snowmobile to groom some trails. 1994?My noseis cold, my feet out felt like a buckirrgbroncojisr
Thc plan was to ridc out in the are fr:ezing, we haven'teven out of the chute-My lmr butti
mornlngs to scl s{}me trrks and starteCour run on the trail and al- By thc timc we got to Grampa's
ski afterward, but likc cvcry readyI haveto makea pit-storr, Knob wc wcrercarl,,for sorirehot
snowmobiler drscovcrs, this sport -rhat
(shouldn'thavehnl alt .,i11.s collcc andlunch.Tireskv was
is addictive and the more miles for breakfast). The lhcrmonrctcr cornllowcr blucantl the views
you put on your machine the saysit's - l6 but it fcelsmorc hkc wcrc spcctacular fr0m everyside.
ill()r('cr('uscs yrxr find l() pltl on 4{) below.Of course,I know wlry
s ( l n l cl u ( ) r ( : . ' l t r s t r i u l n c c ( l s - l}ut, nry or my, whcredid rFrey
I'm hcrc- lny brainhasnot fro- prrltlrc latlicsrrxrnr'/
| i r ( x ) l n r n l ll r r t l t h u t l r a i l c o u l d u s c zcn up yct. Wc volunEercd!o go 'l
his wasa baptr.sm by fire - or
s()nlc tr)()rc,artrl tlpn thcrc ts a wrrhCharlic Monroeto look at- maybc by srxrw- brrtwhatcveril
lrrrrlgt: out by tlirdseye that nccd.s thc tnil laid out in Bomoseen
for was, it u;asgrcat!| tvasrcadyto
vrrnc rcpairing and it gocs on anrl rlrcVAC Ridc,ur.llcsidcs,we comebackthc tollowingrraianO
on. Ycs, I still love to ski, but Itavcbcen to lirvc our groom thosctrarls. ifrc "ncxirimc,
just.dyrrrli
only on well-gr<xtrncd snow- ncw snowmobile a grxrl rrxrrpin I'll wearthrecpairsotsrrks antJ
mobile trails. (l(:(:psnow. drink
no coffcc bclorulcavin,:the ?OartVaOeriffi
..Sasquatch
Valley
SnowrmHo - or,,granrry"
Devil lnhersecond
itiifCf,oO.