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35th Annual Big John Memories

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35 Consecutive Years of Blissful Sledding!!!!

Source: Dave Hagen
9 March 09

[Sleddin'!]

This outing must have made history in the annals of Snowmobiling Lore!!! The same group of pioneers have hit the trails together for 35 years running, faithfully fulfilling the quest for wonderful fellowship and fun ride!! And again, nobody got hurt, lost or angry!! We missed Don Larson and Jim Alford this year, but the rest of the dependable gang rallied for the record year!

Big-John Pearson must have felt the nostalgia and euphoria taking control of his sanity because he presented each of the riders with Libby's time-honored secret recipe for special Hot Buttered Rums. Within an hour of the traditional imbibing with the Rums, however, John was sorry for his naïve action and he REVOKED Schroeder's recipe after Bill tossed down 6 or 8 in rapid succession and grossed out the whole town of Cornucopia with his swagger and bantering of innocent people for the rest of the day.

We didn't add any new 4-stroke machines this year and still stand at a population of 3 compared to the rest us low-tech sledders with the "So-Last-Year" 2-cycle engines. Those of us riding those old klunkers 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 that, after 3 years now, they've totally accepted our ridiculous behavior and poor manners. They took excellent care of us, in spite of Bill's embarrassing antics. Rhonda again baked us some absolutely delicious pies and desserts!! We were able to convince them to allow us to return for another year on February 2-6, 2010.

The sledders that partook in the 2009 expedition (and their # of trips) were: John Pearson (35), Roy Bewick (34), Dave Hagen (32), Paul Bewick (29), Bill Schroeder (27), Tom Elmquist (27), Tom Orne (18), Lee Branwall (10), Barry Melchior (6) and Dave Mohr (6)!

Dave is our life-saving trail-guide and was once again 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 celebrated John's 90th Birthday on this trip, even though we did it formally last summer. We carried over the expense of that birthday gift into this year's budget, in order to get John to pay a portion of his own gift!!

The 36th Is Already Planned for Tue-Sat Feb. 2-6, 2010!!


If you have a video playing software (Windows Media Player, etc)you could join us on a run through the woods here:

  • [Web Cam Video] Tom Orne's Web Cam Video

    [Our Founders]
     The Big-John Founders, sipping a Rum!
    [Group Photo 09]
    The 09 Group Photo, showing our age!
    [Trail Beer 09]
    A Well-deserved Trail Break for Refreshments!

    35th Annual Big John Memories


    For more information

    Dave Hagen
    PO Box 134
    Birchwood, WI 54817
    715-354-7503
    hagen050@tc.umn.edu

    http::/www.tc.umn.edu/~hagen050/project9k.html-- Revised: 9 March, 2013
    Copyright © 1999 Hagens' Hobbies
    hagen050@tc.umn.edu

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