Sunday, June 15th / Saturday, June 21st 2014

Oppps - stuck and need winch!!

It is rally day today.  With three quads down for the count, there was some wrangling around and the only one to stay here in town was Jimmy and he was feeling a bit under the weather!!  He had too much fun last night!!
Several of us "had too much fun" last night and I hear that Preston did an incredible "Running Man" impersonation.  It was mentioned that he perhaps ran at least 5 miles, never once leaving the man cave or spilling his drink!!   Now that,  I would have loved to see!!
We managed to start the rally by 12:30 which was pretty good considering several in the group only had about 3 hours sleep!!  Remarkably, there is no rain as yet but the sky is overcast and super threatening!!

A little muddy - A LOT MUDDY

Leoville warm up shelter

The first part of the trail was real muddy although that really was not a big surprise considering all the rain we have had over the past month.   Many of us got stuck, some requiring the use of a winch to extricate ourselves from the mucky mire while others simply hopped off their machines and walked them through the mud.  Thank heavens for chest waders!!
One little girl - Susie (on her first quad ride), riding behind Evan (a new fellow riding with us this year) was rather rudely introduced to the ugliness of the mud by getting plastered with the evil stuff in the first mud hole we came across.  Unfortunately, that was to be the theme of the day for her as she was by far the "dirtiest"rider of the day!!  She was a trooper though and somehow managed to enjoy the day!!

Scott O

The snowmobile club has been busy at the shelter and there is now the makings of a deck.  Although it is not quite finished, there was a good start to it and once it is done, it will look awesome.   The shelter has the front end of a snowmobile up on the roof of the shelter (a nice touch by the way) and of course Scotty had to climb up there for a "Kodak" moment.  What a goof!!

Back on the trail and more mud.

Evan at Vimy trying to clean the mud off his quad.
It was shortly after this that his engine seized and he
had to be towed through the rest of the rally behind the Commander.

Getting the rad clean!!    When going to leave though, this
fellow forgot he was in "forward" and sunk his quad in the lake.
Luckily the snorkels stayed above the water line!!

Preston, Scott, Jill, Kim, Chris

We all managed to get to the half way point without any breakdowns.  Preston, who had already passed his last years breakdown spot was all smiles!!  Maybe this would be the rally that he actually finished without a breakdown!!   We filled up on hotdogs and once that was done, headed for the last half of the rally trail.   The rain had stayed away so far but the skies were starting to look threatening.

Kelly

We took the "dry" trail back and that in itself was an oxymoron.  There was NO "dry" trail!!  We did come across another rider stuck up to his eyeballs in the mud and it was a good thing that Scott and Jill were riding with John and I (ahead of our own group) as it took both winches to get this young man and his mud laden, frozen girlfriend out of his predicament!!  Apparently he had been struggling for over an hour to get out and that would have been a lost cause.

Preston and Casey in the Commander

Scott, Kelly, John, Marie and Jill

Kimmy and Jill

The beverages flowed freely and I think everyone had a good time.  It did start raining before we made it to the final trail that would eventually lead us back to the north grid but with the final beer stop at the grid, we sucked it up and drove the final 8 miles into town.  We got back with an awesome sunset in the sky and it just getting dark.   All in all, it was an awesome day with only one quad breaking down and that was Evan and Susie.   Preston, on the other hand was doing the happy dance as he had finally completed a full rally without a breakdown.  He was more than happy to tow Evan home as in his mind (and who really knows what goes on in Preston's mind) he was "giving back to the community"!!   What a goof!!   One truly has to love Preston!!

Scott and Jill

Scott, Jill and Marie

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Sunset.

Casey

Back at the yard, it was time to get the burgers, smokies and potato salad ready.  Thank heavens I had made the burgers the day before and had the salad ready.   Preston, Kayla and Kelly all had to get back to Saskatoon tonight for work in the morning so they quickly ate and headed out.  Midnight is probably not a good time to travel but one has to do what they have to do!!  Next year, maybe they will take the Monday off…..it is better that way!!
With our stomachs full, and beverages consumed,  eventually everyone found their way to bed.  Another day over and success on the trail.    Life is Good and even better when spent with great friends and family.