Greetings and welcome!
I did manage to go to Caldron Falls Flowage Sunday after the game. It was frozen all of the way over, though on the river section you could see where it froze at different times and there were seams.
I actually walked out at Landing 11 a good 5 feet or so (as deep as I was willing to get wet..). Out there it had 1.5″ plus of good ice according to the trapped air bubbles. Bouncing my 200lbs brought no cracks. It was good ice for a first skin. I wouldn’t go much farther out without safety gear, but it is a very good start.
The pictures are a little grainy because I took them right at sunset, but that came with a reward too.
Shortly after that I headed to Lakewood and Townsend. I could still see the lakes a little and both Waubee Lake and Townsend Flowage appeared to have a first skin on the lake.
With daytime highs in the 20s and lows in the 10-15ºF range this week we will be making ice, and it will be good ice. There is no snow insulating it, so it should freeze into good clear ice.
This morning on the way to work there was a little snow. We had barely a dusting here, but closer to Wausaukee the side road had a snow covering and it was snowing pretty good. It didn’t amount to much or last long, but it was enough to be slippery this morning.
Something I neglected to mention on Sunday was the lake effect snow in the UP. The early forecasts had Vilas Co for 5-8, and some of the central and eastern UP could see 15-18 inches.
I can’t tell you what they got, but I can tell you that the areas east of about Escanaba got absolutely pounded all weekend and into Monday too, at least according to the radar. With air that cold and wind that strong lasting 4 days, the blessed areas had to just get slammed. That would probably be one direction to consider for a pre or very early season ride.
I want to give you the heads up on an upcoming event. The first Saturday in December brings the 10th annual NEW Low Buck Vintage Rider’s antique snowmobile show and swap meet.
It will be at Gateway Bar at the stoplight in Crivitz December 7, 2013 8:00 am-5pm. They always have a lot of really spectaclular and one of a kind snowmobiles there. and I have scored a few deals at the swap meet too. Here is a link to a slideshow of vintage snowomobile pictures that I took there last year.
Speaking of the NEW Low Buck Vintage Riders, Club President Jeff “Autolube” Schwaller made the cover of the WSN magazine with a writeup of his antique snowmobile mission last year. He set out to do 500 miles in 5 days on 5 different mint vintage Yamaha snowmobiles. It was quite the adventure, complete with rain, breakdowns, and all sorts of stuff. You can read about it in the WSN or here on their message board. http://newlowbuckvintageriders.com/forum/index.php?topic=370.0 .
I am off to the blue room to work on a snowmobile. I have a friend’s Cat in there getting the full treatment. Tonight I will be reassembling the suspension. It got new inside wheels on the axle where the front shock mounts. Those were delaminating the rubber. I pulled the suspension arms and painted them up with two coats of rustproofing gloss black. Every wheel on it is getting new premium bearings, and all of the shafts will get cleaned and either Never Sieze, Locktite, or grease coating as is appropriate. Last to go on will be the new slides.
Like I said, it is getting the treatment. The reverse chain case will get a new return spring to prevent sudden engagements like happened on the XLT about 10 years ago. The exhaust gets header paint, the engine get some work, on and on.
I have another one coming in that needs a lot of work once this one is done, and then I can start on mine. I like the new job, but it is putting a squeeze on my shop time. At that point I am off to go and get some work done.
Have a good Thanksgiving and thank you for visiting!
RJB