The Highwaymen

 

  This is the follow up to the Edmund Fitzgerald story, even though I never actually finished February's story.  Partly because life got in the way, and I haven't had time, partly because it was such a horrible trip that my mind is pushing those memories away to the point that I've forgotten some of the details.  It's the details that put you the reader, almost on a snowmobile going along with us on the trip.
 
  It was just a bad bad trip from the word go.  Broken trucks, broken sleds, broken trailers, EVERYTHING was broken, thankfully no bones were.  It's our annual end of season four day trip.  Riding 100+ miles per day is not out of the ordinary.  In February 2016, we rode 17. Total. In four days. SEVENTEEN.
 
  It was so bad that when the entire Frankenfast crew was fixing trailers and sleds at 11:00 PM so we could get home in the morning, that Eddie, Danny and myself jumped in a truck and drove to Whitefish Point and apologized to the crew of The Edmund Fitzgerald. It was necessary, and had to be done.  They had the last laugh in the form of a few more broken parts on the ride home, but we eventually made it.

  Lessons learned, life goes on.  But we now have a deep respect for lost souls that obviously haunt Ichigan's Upper Peninsula.  And we will no longer be using Gordon Lightfoot's song as we have in the past.  We all know the song word for word, and stop what we're doing when it comes on the radio.  Text messages go out to the group, "Tune to (insert radio station) and we all do.  Before we left The "U.P." we all decided we'd be back.  Tails tucked between our legs, battered, beaten, bruised. Defeated. We headed home.

 

  Trying to be positive, I remembered one of my sayings. The problem isn't the problem, your attitude about the problem is the problem.  So over the next few months, we fixed broken sleds, fixed broken trucks, trailers, and attitudes.  Not exactly sure when it happened, but "The Highwaymen" became a song that kept inserting itself in our lives, almost like it wanted to be our new inspiration.  The lyrics are on point with our "we'll be back again" attitude, and it's found a place among the Frankenfast crew.

clicky ---- > The Highwaymen

  With the necessary repairs in place, we put together an impromptu ride yesterday.  Just 3 of the crew on what we refer to as a "shakedown cruise."  Not riding hard, or far. Not riding to a particular destination.  Just riding for the sake of riding, to expose any potential problems with equipment in hopes of time to repair, yet again, before our big trip in 2 months.  So off we went, to a somewhat "local" location, not even knowing where we'd end up when we left.  No maps, no idea where to unload, no idea what we were getting into.

  Found a local "tour guide" who up to that point was just a nice guy in a bar, who had no idea who we were.  "Tom" not only pointed us in the right direction, he took time out of his day, jumped in our truck and actually drove around with us showing us where to ride and park.  Tom even took us to a spot to unload the trailer, and had his wife pick him up there.  All this from a complete and total stranger.

  We ended up unloading at a boat launch near a rather large lake.  Not Gitche Gumee large, but large enough.  I saw all three sleds sitting on the ground, getting warmed up near the lake and found myself thinking about the men from The Edmund.  Thought to myself, "Hey guys. I apologized in person.  We good?"  

  And off we rode.  Unfamiliar trails, unfamiliar area, no maps. Not sure about the repairs we've made, fully expecting at least a few minor problems.  We rode for a few hours, some really nice trails, some long clear straightaways, didn't beat on the sleds, but didn't baby them either.  Just kinda bombing around on some new trails.

  What happened next was NOT expected. At all!  We rode, and played in the snow. That's it!  Not even a fouled spark plug.  Zero issues, zero problems, just ride ride ride.  We actually rode further yesterday than we did in four days in February.  We had a blast! That's how its supposed to be.  Riding back to the trailer on my Indy Storm, we cruise past the actual boat launch with the sun hanging low, and I thought of the following pic as a thank you to the crew of The Edmund Fitzgerald.  I honestly believe after some hard fought lessons, and Highwaymen attitude adjustments, The Edmund crew has switched from making us miserable, to watching over and taking care of us.

  Thanks guys!!!