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34th Annual Big John Memories

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The Snow Was Great, The Sleds Ran Just Fine!!!!

Source: Dave Hagen
9 Mar. 08

Again this year we had a wonderful fellowship and fun ride!! Nobody got hurt, lost or angry!! We missed Don Larson for the first time in 15 years and hope to see him back soon. Tom Orne walked away with the Perseverance Award this year, driving overnight from Rockford, Illinois through the biggest snow-storm of the year in Madison—and still riding a full day upon his arrival!!! Dave Hagen participated gratefully in the fellowship but skipped the riding this year due to Doctor's orders following surgery just 12 days before. Lucky for Dave he is the record-keeper on attendance and he kept his streak alive by invoking a combination of the Lightfoot- and the Alford-Rules of Exception.

Bill Schroeder outdid himself this year by procuring a new 4- cycle Yamaha luxury sled in order to keep up with John on his Arctic and Roy on his Yamaha (brand loyalty being what it is among our group). Those of us riding the old-style 2-cycles should begin feeling guilty for not buying Eco-Credits from Al Gore, but that goes away whenever we pass these fancy new sleds on every curve.

Cheryl and Wade and their crew did a bang-up job again at the Village Inn (A Gracious Country Inn—except for the BJ week) showing us that they weren't intimidated after experiencing the Big John Outing for their very first time last year. They took excellent care of us, in spite of our bawdy behavior. Rhonda was as polite to us as ever, and baked us some absolutely delicious pies and desserts!! We were able to convinve them to allow us to return for another year on February 3-7, 2009.

The sledders that partook in the 2008 expedition (and their # of trips) were: John Pearson (34), Roy Bewick (33), Dave Hagen (31), Paul Bewick (28), Bill Schroeder (26), Tom Elmquist (26), Jim Alford (19), Tom Orne (17), Lee Branwall (9), Barry Melchior (5) and Rocco Angarola (4)!

Dave Mohr was able to keep us out of harm's way this year and we were ever greatful for his steadying hand. We love to follow Schroeder in circles but nobody knows the Chequamegon like Dave!!

We're all looking forward to celebrating John's 90th Birthday before next year's trip.