Saturday, June 15 / 2013

I arrived home from my night shift to a maze of trucks, campers, trailers and quads in the yard.  The children have arrived!!  There were a few beer cans lying in the grass and I will have to have a chat with all the little lovies about the proper disposal of empty cans later on today!!
It is still raining and actually rained really hard for a long time during the night.  I cannot imagine how far beyond "wet" the trails are!!  Of course this little fact will not deter these boys from the trails.  They came to ride this Father's Day weekend and they will ride....rain or shine!!
I managed to sit and relax for about an hour before the kids all started to wake up.  Jace was the first one into the bus and being such an awesome Mom, I had coffee ready and waiting.  He needed tylenol... said something about a headache and I wondered why he would be supporting one of those!!
Eventually all the kids and their dogs were awake and I had a few more requests for tylenol!!  Perhaps I am glad that I was working last night and not witnessing the gong show that went on in the man cave.  It sounds like John and Casey were the last ones standing.  Of course John is still in bed this morning while everyone else is up and at it!!
Once four pots of coffee were done, it was time to get breakfast ready.  Despite the fact that I was informed that I would not be responsible for feeding everyone, that indeed proved not to be the case.  I was the cook!!
I got busy and fried up bacon and sausage, then made eggs and toast.  An awesome breakfast for some hungry party animals. Everyone ate and was happy and I do believe the headaches were starting to ease.
As the kids got ready to head out into the rain for a day on the trails, I was busy quickly doing up the dishes.  Thank heavens for paper plates as there was not many to do.  While I was doing the dishes, I decided to join the kids on the trail today.  I had caught my second wind by this time and felt I could ride trails today.  So what if it was raining....I am not salt nor am I sugar....I won't melt!!
Before long, we were all loaded up and ready to go (John was still in bed!!)
We headed down the North Road to Mile 8 Trail and stopped there for the first refreshment of the day.  Man, you would think that after all the partying last night and the headaches this morning that a beer would be the last thing these fools need!!

Oh Oh.... water in Casey's belt so had to make a quick repair.

Jace had intended to do some of the Chitek Lake trails but when he saw how incredibly wet and muddy the Mile 8 Trail was, changed his mind and decide to take the cut across trail over to the Hueard Lake trail.  This cut across trail should prove interesting as well with all this damn rain.

Moose (aka Scott), Jeff, Jace and Kimmy

Our second stop was on Cut Across Trail where Casey had issues with his belt.  Once it gets wet (wonder how that happened!!) the quad just does not want to move.  He made some quick repairs and we were on our way once again.
This trail proved to be a bit of a challenge because of the rain.  The usual "wet" areas were filled with water and I prayed that the bottoms of these small "lakes" were hard.  As it turned out, the worst of the water could either be avoided or the bottom was fairly decent. Thank the Lord!!
We eventually made it to the Huard Lake Trail and took a short detour to the Lake.  Here the boys played in the water (cause there just wasn't enough on the trails)!!

Jace, backing into the culvert at Huard Lake

Chris.....adding his twist to the pic!!

Lined up at Huard Lake 

Getting deep so had to back out

From Huard Lake, we headed over to Vimy where we would stop and decide which way we were going to take home.  We haven't made many miles today but it was pretty challenging trail and with my power steering going in and out, it was tiring for my arms and shoulders as well.
When we arrived at Vimy, the week's rain had made the usually calm, babbling creek into a raging, deep torrent of water.  This crossing could be dangerous if one was not careful.
The current was enough to take your quad and carry it down the creek.  This is most definitely NOT my idea of a good time.   As it turned out, everyone got across without any difficulty.  Casey rode my quad across as I was not inclined to do it.  I hitched a ride across with Chris in his side by side!  Kimmy managed to get across and made me look bad at the same time.  She said she as scared shitless but you certainly wouldn't have know it by the way she crossed.  She is getting to be an awesome little rider - a fact that was mentioned a few times on the trail today by the other guys.  What a nice compliment for her and certainly a compliment for Jace as well as he guides her through her learning process of  "Quadding 101".
With the creek crossing behind us, we decide to head back to Mile 8 Trail and take the opposite side of the trail.  This would eventually lead us to Eddie's Trail then to Mile 3 Trail which would lead us back to the North Road and home.
Once we accessed Mile 8 trail, we met up with John who had eventually gotten out of bed,  got ready and came out to the trails to try and find us.  I was surprised to see him and he was actually lucky to find us.
We then made a bit of a detour and stopped at the new snowmobile shelter before heading to Eddie's Trail and then over to 3 Mile Trail.  It was here that I was going to leave the group and just travel the East Grid home.  I was getting tired by this time and needed to get off this stupid machine that kept challenging me with no power steering!!
John suggested that I remain with the group until we hit the North Grid, then I could carry on home while the others stayed for a refreshment.  That was probably a better suggestion than me heading home by myself just in case something "happened".  At least staying with the group until the North Road would ensure that if anything did happen on my way home, the group was behind me and would be able to help if necessary.  Alway a better thing than riding by yourself....not that I was anticipating anything happening.....but as everyone knows....shit happens.
Mile 3 was nastier than what it had been when John and I had travelled it a few weeks earlier but that was not surprising.  Once we got to the marshy part of the trail there were a few stuck quads but I was not one of them and managed the nastiness without any trouble.  We were soon at the grid and I headed home.  I had dibs on the shower!!
Once I was sparkling clean, I got the potatoes wrapped and ready for the bbq while the stragglers rolled in.   John got the bbq going and had the spuds on and cooking.   We were all hungry.... me, I needed to eat and go to bed!!
Jimmy had requested a potato salad for tomorrow's supper so while I was waiting for the baked potatoes and my steak, I got the potatoes peeled and cooked for it.  I will have everything ready for tomorrow's supper before I leave on the rally.
Once I ate, it was to bed for me and the kids and John partied into the wee hours of the morning.  I did not hear a thing the whole night!!  It was an awesome day and despite the fact that I am exhausted, I loved riding with all my kids today and would do it again in a heartbeat.