8160-R3_MSA_October2022_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

Deadlines for club news is the 25 th of the month prior to the publications. Please submit articles to editor@mesnow.com

four stroke smoke and cheered your favorite snowmobiler to a win. More things to follow as the year goes on. We will be one of the snowmobile clubs given the honor of helping to sell Super Raffle tickets at the upcoming Maine Snowmobile Show.October 2l-22-23 at the Augusta Civic Center. Friday night, the 2lst is our night. Come see us! We’d love to meet you. Make new friends or renew our old friendships. If you have questions on our Northern Trails we’ll happily answer them if we can. We sincerely hope each and every one of you have the opportunity this year to visit our Club, try out our trails, but most of all just enjoy the serenity of Northern Maine. Nowhere in Maine is the snow whiter, deeper or colder. Nowhere are people friendlier and genuinely glad to meet you. Nowhere else can you experience wide open vistas like here, breathtaking scenery, the occasional wildlife on the trail, (careful this is their home too). And after you’ve ridden to your hearts con tent, stop in and see us at the lodge. You’ve heard the stories from other people who have made the trip. They’re all true. Come experi ence them for yourself. Looking forward to meeting you all. Respectfully, Kim M Ouellette, Secretary Fall is Here! The air has a nip, the leaves are changing, and big things are happening for the Portage Lakers! We survived a super busy month of summer of fundraising, now the small crew of guys are cracking the whip to get the new building up and closed in before snow flies. They are making quick work of the project and things are really coming together. As always, if you are interested in volun teering your time, please reach out to Bruce Laveway or Glenn Cusack and they will let you know the work schedule. All help is much appreciated. We would like to thank everyone thus far that has made donations to help fund this project. The generosity of our members and community is amazing! We will be hosting our monthly meetings on the first Friday of each month at 6:30 at the Portage Municipal building. All are encour aged to attend the meetings. We love to see new faces and hear new ideas. Check out our website portagelakers.org if you would like to join our club, make a dona tion, or see our schedule of events. Jen will be sending out memberships soon, so please watch for them. Love our trails? Join our Club! The Portage Lakers work hard and play harder! Until next month, PORTAGE LAKERS sc Portage Lake, ME How about those Fall colors!! Always won derful. Hopefully a precursor to wonderful snowmobile season. As mentioned previously, trail work has begun. We will be evaluating, the week of (9/26), the havoc that the winds from Fiona may have caused. Please give Dan Champany a ring (207-376-6534) if you have any time to assist with trail work. And, of course, feel free to work on the trails in your neighborhood. If there are large trees down, please notify Dan before removing. Some landowners have requested notification before cutting into short lengths. Besides seeking a reroute of the East Shore Road crossing, there are no other imme diate issues. A reminder, the Christmas party will be a potluck supper at the Duff’s on December 10th, 5:30 social and 6:15 supper. The 4th annual Snow Fest co-hosted with the Embden Pond Association will be held noon to 3 PM Tammy Kenney Club Secretary CENTRAL REGION EMBDEN TRAVELERS sc Emden, ME

winter. Brush has to be trimmed; some bull dozing gets done, ditching, bridge repair and mowing the trails. It takes many man-hours to get this finished in time for grooming. It has been an extremely unsettled time since August, as we have lost 5 members or landowners so far this year. We are saddened by the passing of such generous people, who always helped with the club and were great volunteers. Richard Brown worked behind the scenes and helped others to work on the trails. He was a hardy soul! Karen Hilt was a long-time member and benefactor, always willing to bake pies or cook for our Thanksgiving/Landowner Sup per. She was a delicious cook and we always waited to see what kind of pie she made. Louise McPherson was a founding member of the club and helped in every way she could to build our new clubhouse. She cooked for the workers and came to check the progress while her husband Vinal, was putting the poly on the inside tongue and groove or staining the log siding. She was a very positive person and loved to see the work being completed. She was always willing to help out the club. This couple was a dynamic pair of workers. Caroline Gough and her husband (Arnold) were landowners and were always willing to help us figure out a new trail or a detour around a problem area of the trails. She was such a great cook (all homemade) and when I worked on the harvester for them, we always received warm treats and hot chocolate when the weather turned cold and we had to get those potatoes out of the ground. She was a true Aroostook County farmer’s wife. Gene Gough, a club director for many years, just recently passed away. He was the most generous person I ever knew. He was always willing to loan his equipment to the club or do the work for them. He could always figure out a way to fix a problem and knew how to fix all of the machinery. He was a great cook too, always bringing something to eat to the potluck suppers, even if he came alone. Many club members made food for the gathering after his committal and they deserve a huge “Thank You.” We will miss all five of these members or landowners and thank their families for loan ing them to us for the work they could and did do. These people are members of a different generation and we hope we see some replace ments for them. The club will purchase a Christmas light in their memory for the Aroos took Medical Center’s “Lights for Life” huge tree on the hospital grounds. We will always remember them. We are disappointed to report that we have had more damage on our business-advertising billboard. Why would anyone spray paint on our signs purchased by area businesses to sup port our club? When a business purchases a spot on our billboards, the club pays for the sign and the mounting of the sign and we look after them year-round. The business pays an annual fee to support the club and to have their advertisement on the billboard. Now we have to replace the sign at our cost. Is that our thank you for providing a groomed trail for sleds or a trail (which we have been bulldoz ing and ditching) for ATVs? There are very few clubs that provide trails for both sports. That is a real balancing act with landowners. In closing, we’d like to start out with a few activities, maybe every other month. The directors will make some decisions about this. Stay tuned-watch our Facebook page. Looking forward to the winter! Sue Maynard, Secretary. O ROCKABEMA SNOW RANGERS Patten, ME Woo hoo it’s the 2022-2023 snowmobile season!! Rockabema Snow Rangers began with a landowner’s appreciation dinner, we know that without them we would not have a snow

mobiling season. THANK YOU, landowners! Bob Howes- President started out our club meeting by introducing Ron Blum from Katahdin Area Trail’s. Ron was asking for support to create a new trail system in Patten. These trails would be for those would like to enjoy the woods and like to walk/bike in the area. RSR members voted to support Katahdin Area Trails thinking that this would improve the visitors in the area. Dan Ruttenberg-Treasurer reviewed our financials and was excited to share that we were granted the Capital Grant! Which in turn means that we are able to move forward with a purchase of a 2012 Pistonbulley 400!!! Krissy Ruttenberg- Secretary explained that we now have a website up and running! www. rockabemasnowrangers.org, Folks are now able to make payments for memberships or donations online. Jon Harvey (Big Jon)-Trail Master, explained that we will need to build a brand new section of trail due to logging on a section of ITS trail 112. Dee Hunt- Member Chair has set a goal of 150 members for this season, we got so close last year with 136. Rockabema Snow Rangers were all glad to be back together and excited for the season to come. You can expect some fabulous trails this season!! Krissy Ruttenberg-Secretary Big Valley Snowmobile Club welcomes you to the 2022-2023 season! We plan on an exciting season. We have a spaghetti supper and membership drive on October 15th at the clubhouse. Please drop us a message either on facebook, email at Bigvalleysnoclub@gmail. com or let one of the members know in person if you will be there! We hope to see you there! Follow our facebook page for details on the time! (Big Valley Sno Club) We had an appreciation dinner for our landowners on 9/24 at the VFW! Be sure to respect landowners when you ride, it’s a privi lege! without them we don’t ride. We have many more events to come this year and can’t wait to see you on the trails! Hoping for a snow filled season! Happy Fall, Y’all. We’re all sincerely hoping everyone has had a wonderful summer and now you are plan ning your winter recreation fun events. For us this far north, it is completely conceivable we will have measurable snow staying on the ground anytime in November and December. (It has been known to even snow a little in October.) In early September, we met and elected our 2022-2023 slate of officers. David Con nors remains as President, Erwin Jackson, our Vice-President, Judith Taggett, our treasurer, Kim M Ouellette, our treasurer. Roland Tag gett will be our trail master. After 7 years he has this job down to perfection. We have a few changes upcoming on our trail, more info to follow, but fear not this will only improve our already pretty spectacular trails. Just a few things on the docket for this year. We will definitely be serving hot meals on Saturdays at our nice warm comfy lodge. Our menu will be posted each week on our website, St. Francis Sno-Angels. Visit us on Face book. We’ll have updated postings each week on our menu, upcoming events, snow condi tions, etc. March will hold our annual snow drags. This is an event you definitely want to attend. You haven’t tasted anything like our chili, hot dogs, hamburgers, mixed fries, etc. until you have stood on the banks of the St. John River, within a stone’s throw of Canada, felt the wind in your face, inhaled the smell of BIG VALLEY SNOWMOBILE CLUB Island Falls, ME ST. FRANCIS SNO ANGELS St. Francis, ME

NORTHERN REGION MOLUNKUS VALLEY SNO-DRIFTERS Sherman, ME

Happy Fall to you all! Well here we are new season is starting up! Memberships are rapidly coming in, trail work beginning and pot lucks too! Excitement in the air @MVSD THE ONLY CLUB WHERE THERE ARE NO STRANGERS ONLY FRIENDS YOU HAVEN’T MET! LEAVES ARE CHANGING AND IT WON’T BE LONG BEFORE WE SEE THE WHITE STUFF! YUPPERS WE ARE EXCITED! WEWANT TO THANK EACH ONEWHO STEPS FORWARD AND LENDS A HAND! MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK! OFFICERS FOR UPCOMING SEASON ARE AS FOLLOWS! PRESIDENT ~Deb Long Treasurer~ Steve Bechard Trail Master ~Rick Long Assistant~Shawn Southard Club Board of Directors~ Earl Cummings ,Rick Long ,Chad Lane, Chris Smith ,Chris Cummings & Roger Bouchard! Thank you All for your Dedication of Vol unteerism it’s Greatly Appreciated! Until Next Time Keep On Keeping On! Deb Long :) Hi Gang, Here I am typing right on the deadline, as the winds from hurricane Fiona have taken my WIFI out for the last two days!! Only have a couple of things to talk about so here goes. Our annual Landowner Appreciation BBQ was held at club President Keith Sanford’s home in conjunction with the Katahdin Val ley Wheelers ATV Club. The meal of smoked beef/pork,pulled pork, chicken, salads, des serts was prepared by Keith, with members from both clubs lending a hand. Along with a great turnout from our landowners, we had some special guests including present MSA President Alan Swett, past MSA President, John Monk & wife Melanie, and 2022 Snow mobilier Of The Year, Ossie Stanley from the East Branch Sno Rovers. Everyone seemed to have a great time, even when the power went out for over an hour. Thank you to all who made this a great event. Memberships are coming in at a record pace, and we may be in membership record territory again this season. Trail work has already started, and with the 50--60 mph gusts for the last couple days I think the guys are going to be pretty busy. Our Caribbean Cruise raffle ticket are all gone I am told, but there is always one that shows up -- LOL!! Well, It’s bird season so the Mountain Lion and I are going to take a stroll down on the back 40!! Jim Splan, Reporter @ Large P.S.-- You can shoot 13 birds a day in Benedicta! P.SS. -- You can bag 3 moose in Benedicta! P.SSS -- You can shoot 7 turkeys in Benedicta! P.SSSS -- Not everyone has a mountain lion!! Vice ~Roger Bouchard Secretary~ Kim Qualey Membership~ Heather Willett BENEDICTA SNOW GANG Benedicta, ME

CHAPMAN RIDGE RUNNERS sc Mapleton, ME

The potato trucks keep rolling by and we can hear the harvesters going on early morn ings and until late into the evening. It’s a rite of passage, just like getting the trails ready for

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