8236-R1_MSA_January2023

MSA Club News

October. Too much snow in the trees and too wet on the ground with the ground and water not being frozen yet. We will hit it again the week after Christmas!!

Eddie, Tyler, Barry and whoever has had a little bit of time have been out getting the trails ready and ready again for SNOW. We have built 3 new bridges this season, brush ing, cutting, sawing, trimming, signing, paint ing, staking, bush hogging, heavy and puffing (yes that’s correct). It isn’t ALL fun -trail work is tough, but certainly worth every minute to produce the trail system that we all take pride in presenting to our snowmobile riders. ABIG JOB WELL DONE to all that make this hap pen season after season - THANK-YOU. Just like to wrap this (got to get back out to work on trails again before we get the NEXT storm), by again saying THANK-YOU to ALL of our LANDOWNERS, MEMBER SHIP, and VOLUNTEERS that make this all happen. Besides, what else am I going to do all winter, now that I am retired? Gail’s “honey do list “ is put on hold till the snow is gone -she and I plan to ride a LOT more this winter , I may even let her take point this year, NO NO NO .... P.S. Probably by the time you are read ing this article -POLLY and JEFF G. will be proud new grandparents - CONGRATULA TIONS on your new arrival. Holiday Greetings, fellow snowmobilers. It really is hard to believe that 2022 has come and gone so fast, what a year! As all of the festivities wind down, it is time to get to the business of getting the trails into riding condition. Dale, Greg, Mike, Don and Hunter have been busy, brushing, cutting, building, signing, staking the trails, along with securing landowner permissions, and seeking to increase the membership as well. Looks like the crew will putting in the “OHIO STREET” Bridge sometime soon. They will have to attach the cable again, as it has a tendency to wander downstream as the spring rains come. As you are reading all of the articles in your MSA PAPER today, you will undoubt edly be reading numerous stories about a lot of the clubs that have been affected by the most recent weather event - HURRICANE ELLIOT. This had almost all of the ingredi ents to really set up the whole state of MAINE to get us a white CHRISTMAS, and cover the trails with a white blanket. Well, we missed all that by a little (2-3 inches of rain instead). That’s okay -things are starting to freeze over nicely. We will have to regroup and hit the trails again, do the snow dances, and await the snow that 2023 will surely bring -it was on my list to SANTA. Let’s wrap up this up for today. Just want to wish ALL a very SAFE and ENJOYABLE snowmobiling season. Thanks again to ALL of our LANDOWNERS and VOLUNTEERS that make this truly a “ WINTER WONDER LAND. Please ENJOY and have FUN. P.S. -NEXT MEETING at DALE & JOANN’ S -THURSDAY, JANUARY 11th @ 7: 00 P.M. BARRY E. RYAN VICE -PRESIDENT All of us at the Paul Bunyan Snowmobile Club hope that you had a very Merry Christ mas and that the New Year is treating you well so far! Hopefully by the time you read this we will have some rideable snow in the Bangor area and be able to get out and enjoy the fruits of all our labor! Our incredible volunteers have been work ing hard to get the trails prepped and ready for riding, as well as get all our equipment prepped for the season. Overall things are in good shape, but, as everyone knows, there’s ALWAYS more work to be done ha ha! Big congratulations to all the MSA Super Barry E. Ryan Vice President KENDUSKEAG STREAM RIDERS sc Kenduskeag , ME PAUL BUNYAN sc Bangor , ME

Raffle winners, as well as the top selling clubs, great work everyone!! It’s always awesome to see all the clubs and members work together to make this awesome raffle happen! Thank you to our membership team for working hard on catching us back up closer to our “normal” membership numbers this year, awesome work and great to see! I’d also like to thank the MSA and the East ern Maine Snowmobile Club for hosting a very informative and enjoyable regional meet ing back at the end of November. It’s great to see how much the MSA does for each of our clubs and for snowmobiling statewide!! We always try to get out to do trail work, as needed, whenever weather and volunteer availability permits. Feel free to reach out to us on Facebook or drop us a line at paul bunyanscbangor@hotmail.com for details on when and where we will be working, as we’d love to include anyone who is interested in helping out! Volunteers are ALWAYS wel come and VERY MUCH appreciated, many hands make light work!! We generally hold our meetings on the second Wednesday of each month during the season, starting in September, and would love to have anyone who is interested join us! We usually post meeting information on our Facebook page ahead of time, but feel free to email or message us on Facebook with any questions! Sincerely, Paul Phillips – President Another month has passed and no snow. Our directors and members continue to meet to share a potluck supper and address club issues. The main concern right now is the high-water problem on the trails, especially if the ground doesn’t freeze soon. On December 7th we had our annual pot luck Christmas Party/Yankee Swap with lot of good food and fun. Our January Director’s meeting and potluck supper will be held on the 2nd and 4th respec tively. All members are welcome and encour aged to participate. Beginning January 8 through March 12, we will serve breakfast every Sunday from 7 to 10:30 am. You can enjoy eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, coffee or hot chocolate and juice, all for just $9.00 adults, $5.00 for kids under 12. The breakfasts will be held regard less of snowmobiling conditions. Please check out our Facebook page for more information. On the last Sunday of January and February we will serve a pancake breakfast. On January 14th we will have our annual PUBLIC spaghetti supper from 4:30 to 6:30pm at the Clubhouse. Until next time, THINK SNOW and be safe. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Janet Murphy Director and Membership Chair Hello Snowmobilers, By the time this comes out in January, we hope that the season is well under way with all trails snow covered and smooth. As I write this on 12-22-22, the 11”-12” of wet heavy snow here in Monmouth has settled down to 9” of hard, crusty snow. In Rockwood, Carey rolled the trails to pack the snow and get a start on a smooth base. As of now we are ready for the season. The groomers are all set, we have operators ready to go and all we need is cold and snow. But... the forecast is for 50 degrees, including 1”-3” of rain and 65 MPH winds. Not the Christmas present we snowmobilers are hoping for! We have our February Cash Calendar Fund raiser going on and it is not too late to get your names in the hat. Here’s the deal; for $10 a BLUE RIDGE RIDERS sc Rockwood, ME PINE TREE sc Milford , ME Hello Family and Friends, Fellow snowmobilers,

ticket you get your name in the hat and there is a cash drawing every day in February. The cash prizes range from $100-$500 daily and the prize on last day of the month is $1,000!! You can still get tickets in a variety of ways. You can call, text or e-mail Kate 508-954-4005 kaitypalmer@gmail.com Facebook messenger Kate or Blue Ridge Riders. Get your tickets soon! GOOD LUCK! As I sit here and write this, we are getting Dec. rain. We did have some snow and some of the ITS trails were being groomed, but who knows what will happen now. Hopefully we will keep a base.... By the time you read this let’s hope we are doing some riding. We are all ready! Happy 2023 to you all and ride safe. Sue Killam A good start to the season with approxi mately 20 inches of snow from the storm on 12/17/22. Unfortunately, it looks like wet weather for Christmas weekend. We are done working on the groomer and the current plan is to start grooming after Christmas, weather permitting. The kiosks have been repaired and the trail signs have been posted. We would like to thank AFM for repairing the By-Pass Trail after they were done cutting. We will be sharing the CCC Road with log trucks from the York Road to ITS 86. Use Caution! Our first public cook out of the season will be Saturday, January 14 th (Martin Luther King Weekend). Rhonda Arey The Clifton Area snowmobile members have been busy working on trails, getting their machines and equipment prepared all in antic ipation of getting enough snowfall to put them all to use. We are very fortunate to have been able to add seven new members to our club membership roll this year, with more expected as well. These younger energetic members are a welcome sight to our mostly older group. We have put them to good use and have been able to get some much-needed work done and more to happen along the way. We have been able to establish a continued home for our equipment with the new owner of the property that we have called home for the last several years. That will give the Club time to raise money and to possibly establish a future plan for property of our own. Our meetings are currently being held at 207 Bobcat Road in Clifton at the home of our Treasurer Jan Logan. We meet on the first Sunday of the month at 4:30pm. As in previ ous years, baked goods and drinks are avail able as well. Clifton Area Snowmobile Club We have accomplished so much this fall! I still can’t believe it! As many of you may know, we have some reroutes and trail clo sures this season. We will get through and hopefully you will all find it to be acceptable! John Troyan, Dan Sullivan, Dave Sullivan, Pete Plourde, Nate Hilton and Mike Carroll have been working on getting our lot cleared! We now have our own spot to park our stuff! Thank you to Bill and Deane Brewer for their patience while we transitioned over to the new lot. They have graciously allowed us to keep NARROW GAUGE RIDERS Monson, ME SHIRLEY BOG TRAIL BUSTERS INC. Shirley, ME CLIFTON AREA sc Clifton, ME EBEEMEE sc Ebeemee Township, ME Happy Winter to All from Ebeemee!

Upcoming events Sunday Jan 8th - Board of directors meet ing 5:00 p.m. Club dinner 6:00 p.m. potluck Membership meeting 7:00 p.m. Fundraising We have a new fundraiser just starting up! This is a black powder rifle we will be raffling off. We will only print 200 tickets and they will be $5 each. Tickets will be available at all clubhouse functions and from members. Trails Up until the first heavy wet snow we had met every single Sunday starting in October and had most of the trails cleared out and brushed. The heavy wet snow and high wind has brought down a lot of trees and branches ... Which means we pretty much have to start all over again to make sure when we do get rideable snow the trails can be open safely. We meet at the clubhouse every Sunday at 7:30 a.m. the coffee will be on and there’s always homemade baked goods. I’ll keep this one brief... so do your snow dance! Pray for some cold weather to get the ground frozen and the water solid! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! A Happy New Year to everyone! And we will see you at the clubhouse or on the trails! Troy G Trail Grunt Welcome to 2023 fellow snowmobiles. We hope that you ALL had a little time to enjoy all of the holiday festivities with family and friends. WOW - we really almost had the ultimate CHRISTMAS present of most recent memory. HURRICANE / BLIZZARD ELLIOTT just didn’t have quite enough cold air to make it a WHITE CHRISTMAS (not GREEN) to blan ket the state of MAINE. That really would have been great. Alas, was not to be, yet. GLENBURN LAKESIDE RIDERS sc Glenburn , ME

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