7397-R4_MSA_Dec2020_MaineSnowmobiler

Family Fun Bob Flagg

was during this next period that I found out just how much FUN sledding was when you shared it with family and friends. There were Family Snowfest / Win- ter Carnival events all around us especially in February when school vacation week came around. We travelled by sled when we could and when the ones we wanted to attend were too far we trailered. Pine Tree Camp Ride-in was my first intro- duction to the concept of touring. When I looked at the 45 members of the Portage Lakers who rode in by sled I was blown away. You do remember that a lot of sleds were still using bogie wheels right? Then I met some hardy folks from Fort Kent who hooked up with the Portage Lakers and realized that there was a whole lot of the Great State of Maine that could be ridden right from home. I kept showing up to the different events that I would see

in the MSA paper and at some point I was asked to think about being an Area Coordinator for The Central Region. I traveled a lot during the weeknights to visit clubs and every weekend to enjoy the company of like minded individuals. FAMILY AND FUN was the glue that held it all together. I grew to appreciate the hard work of the members and the fragile relationship with landowners that made it possible for me to travel by sled hundreds of miles in a day. 11 years after being an Area Coordinator I was honored to become the Presi- dent of the MSA. During that time period, I got married, we had a son, and spent a lot of time enjoying the best season of Maine. The number of clubs grew, the number of sled manufacturers dropped, and the suspensions just kept improving (well except for that AC Trail Cat front end experiment). About

then I got interested in how to maintain a trail. I’d been in the County, up to Jackman, and over to Rangely and seen what trails could be if maintained by right sized equipment. We started building pipe drags that we could haul around our local trails with our trail sleds. We designed one that was regularly pulled with a 340 Phasor. My local club would travel over to the next town for supper and I’d follow them pulling the pipe drag. If I couldn’t go fast I might as well groom… We had our own vision of fun and tried a whole weekend of fun, Start with a Friday night Dance (Valentines was near), Have a day on the lake and invited the local families to a skating rink, three legged races, rides for the young’uns, a poker race by sled, a bonfire Sat- urday evening, and finish up the weekend for fun with the boys. Radar Runs!!!! Mother Nature didn’t always cooperate and it

was a lot of work and costs when it didn’t so after too many years of Coastal winters we gave it up. I started taking my family vaca- tions for a week of sledding up in Island Falls. I have such fond memories of being outside with the family and traveling around. I got my nephew to come up and got him hooked. Now he has a family of his own and his kids are enjoying the sport as well. I’m hoping his son stays inter- ested as he get’s older so I still have someone to help me with trail work and rides after school instead of just screen time. I don’t know how many years they have been doing it, but Rangely stills does their Snodeo event, East Branch SnoRovers still do Winterfest family events. Many other clubs have events listed in the Maine Snowmobiler which bring together families. So all you grandparents teach your grandkids to enjoy the

outdoors. Go to the races and watch the kids race everything from 120’s and 200’s with all the seriousness of the seasoned racers. Embrace the changes around the sport and just try to get the younger crowd to take some ownership of what was built on the shoulders of the older generation. If it wasn’t for the ‘old folks’ and the generosity of landowners there would not be a 14,000 mile trail network to enjoy. Teach the younger generations what it takes to keep it going and growing. I for one will keep doing my part to bring joy to the future generation of sledders. It is FUN after all to share. As for the enti- tled crowd, I feel sorry for them. But if we don’t make what we do relevant to them they will always be takers not givers.

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