7817-R1_MSA_Nov2021_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

our Sunshine Girl, Beverly, for the delicious brownies she brings to our meeting every month. Okay, so all we need now is some COLD weather and a little snow in November. Work on that please. Terri Major, Secretary On October 23, 2021 Byron was 32 degrees. Get ready! It is coming! We had our meet- ing at the Roxbury Town Office and a handful of people showed up. Our next meeting is November 15, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Our groomer is still out for maintenance and hopefully we will hear soon from Trac Inc. We have quite a bit of excavating to do on our 88 miles of trails due to erosion and motorized vehicles. We have a bridge replacement on the Twin Moun- tain trail on November 7, 2021. The Lohnes Farm Road to Route 120 or some call it “The Rock Garden” will be excavated. We need a lot of brushing and signing on the trails. If you are interested in helping or donating, here is the link roxburysno.com Mark your calendar for January 22, 2022. The club is having a trailside cookout on the intersection of Con- nector 16 and ITS 117 in Byron. Hope to see you there. Slippery Sliders Secretary Michelle Young Slippery Sliders, sc Roxbury, ME Well it is a new year and a lot of things have happened in every club. The pandemic has changed just so many things, lives, people’s thoughts, behavior patterns and just so many things. It does seem like a lot more people are snowmobiling. Which is a good thing. Now if we can just talk them into joining the local clubs, we would be all set. But, let’s face it if the state would just make the final move and have people join a club when they register we would all be set up a little better. Our club has been busy working on the usual bridges, signing and brushing. We never realized that branches could grow so fast. OMG they are so hard to keep up with. With the groomers the size that they are now, you have to cut up just as far as you go out on the sides. For Halloween some of us ladies opened our club up to serve hot chocolate and goodies to the little ones on their journey around town. It was cold, rainy and windy. They really appre- ciated it. Not one of them left the room without saying Thank you. Don Whittemore and Bob Weston went out “Trick or Treating “ for two local children because they were in quarantine. They didn’t want them to miss the fun. That is just a little bit of what our club does. We are very busy and we love it. Please join a club. Any snowmobile club and volunteer to help. We need you. Club Reporter Anita COASTAL REGION Trail work and maintenance is now in full swing. Initial passes on the trails are show- ing things are in pretty good shape. There were very few blow-downs, and it looks like we need to rebuild just a couple bridges. We purchased a used brush hog a few years ago and just had it completely rebuilt. This piece of equipment has saved us countless hours is brushing back the annual growth on our trails. If you have time on Sunday mornings, plan on coming out to the clubhouse around 8:30 to help with the trails. Bring a 4-wheeler if you (Continued on Page 18) SACO PATHFINDERS Saco, ME Find us on Facebook Webb River Valley, sc Carthage, ME

Every so often a snowmobile club will receive some AWESOME, unexpected and GREATLY appreciated help. Well, it’s hap- pened to the Poodunck Club part of last year and all of this year. In alphabetical order,Cody Penley, Connor Averill, Curtis Errington and Ethan Woods have been OUR “trail angels” this year!! These 4 boys have done SO MUCH to help our aging club members, it is unreal!! The hard work they all have done has been nothing short of a miracle!! I understand there will be another young feller joining them in the future. It’s these kinds of kids that make one feel like our country DOES have a good chance of being a great place to live again. We can’t THANK THEM ENOUGH!!! Glad that Dave Berry’s job is getting some much- needed help!!! THANK YOU, MEN!!! We received some bad news after we sent our groomer out to get the necessary repairs before winter. Well, with 19 grand in the bank, I felt comfortable sending it out. Guess I thought WRONG!! It came back with a 22 grand bill!!! Yea, TWENTY-TWO GRAND!!! OUCH, now THAT hurts!! We could be OK, IF and that’s a BIG IF, we don’t have any major problems this winter???? Thanks to an increase in both the Club and Munici- pal Grants, we should be OK but only IF??? Hopefully, we have another successful Bless- ing of the Sleds; I’m keeping my fingers crossed. As of right now, the Blessing will be held on Feb 12th (That part is for sure) at the Moun- tain View Campground. That is right on ITS 82 and we have held the Blessing there before. If not there, it will be backing at the Mexico groomer building, just off ITS 82, where we held it last year. This is our 25th year so we want to go ALL out and have a BIG turnout!! If you know of ANY outfit that would like to participate, PLEASE let any Mexico or Dix- field member know. We welcome any and all. Of course we will have the usual awesome food, sweatshirts and “T’s to sell, and hope- fully, some great raffle prizes. This is Mexico and Dixfield’s largest fundraiser so PLEASE come support YOUR sport. In closing, I am going to ask something I never figured I’d have to, on behalf of the club. What a shame it would be if our groomer couldn’t go out a few times this winter because of lack of money for fuel?? It only takes a few days of neglect to get them really bad. Our club, especially the groomer operators, HATE not having smooth trails!! THEY HATE IT!! So, I’m going to send the club a few bucks to help with all our latest expenses. And I am looking under EVERY rock and stone to find more money for us. I am checking into other grants as we speak. Still, I’m going to send the club a little Christmas bonus, just in case. I know MANY of you do just that when U send in your memberships. And that is GREATLY APPRECIATED!! So, if you have a spare (ya, right) buck or two, this Christmas, think of the smooth trails we have and how much we all appreciate them!! With that being said, the Club wishes everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEWYEAR Club Reporter, JH Hi there! We had our second meeting of the sea- son. Lots of work has been done already on our trails. Except for some brushing in a few places, our trails are looking pretty good. However, have you ever heard that old saying “working like a beaver”? They REALLY take that old saying to heart. Those little guys have constantly rebuilt EVERY beaver house that our local people have torn down. AND they do this in record SPEED! Gone today.... back tomorrow. The area has been flooded more often than not. I heard the trappers are on the way to save the day. We have made all the necessary plans for our landowner dinner. Jerry has even lined up some entertainment. We also want to thank Rock-O-Dundee Riders Oxford, ME

updates and the life and times of the Norway Trackers. Que the music and snow dance. Dan Trouant, club reporter

MT TOM, sc Sumner, ME

We’ve had a couple of meetings and had a couple work days so far. We still have some work to do but we’re in pretty good shape if it were to snow tomorrow. We are excited about this season, as we are adding some new trails, and have a great group of faithful members always ready to help. Fingers crossed Old Man Winter gives us a great winter of riding. To all the clubs out there, thank you for your hard work and keeping the trails open. VP Ben Hadley Fellow Snowmobilers, How has everyone been spending their time this fall? We have had some really nice weather. The Narrow Gauge Snowmobile Club of Strong has been in Bridge Building projects. Our Hutches Bridge down by the Flats near town fell in disrepair. The crew got together and rebuilt it late summer. Our latest project is the Scott Paul Park Trail and bridge. The trail has been resurfaced and made hand- icap accessible during the warmer months. That bridge was made wider and rebuilt. Big project that was made possible with grant money and through the help of High Peaks Alliance and their assistance to retain grants to make this project successful. The next bridge is out at Gilkey Hill Trail. That project is in progress as we speak. As if that is not enough, we had a Cord of Wood Raffle in October. One lucky fellow had it cut, split and delivered by our club members. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets. So, as you can tell we are excited about our trail system. Hope you all will get a chance to ride our trails this season. Please remember to join a club this year. All the clubs depend on your support to continue to make a great and safe riding experience. Think SNOW everyone. Check out our website and follow us on FaceBook. Laurie Bowman Norway Trackers Norway, ME Find us on Facebook norwaytrackerssnowmobileclub@gmail.com Hello Sledders, Memberships are rolling in as well as Super Raffle tickets. Thank you and good luck to everyone who has purchased tickets from us. If you would like tickets, please contact us as the due date is fast approaching. We are excited to announce that we have purchased another new-to-us Tucker. This one is a ’93 Tucker 2000 that will replace our ’74 Tucker. It is in good condition, but does need some repairs that we are tackling to get it ready for snow. Our ’92 Tucker only needs a couple minor attentions and our ’76 Tucker is heading for the paint booth. Trail work is progressing nicely. This fall we are concentrating on repairing our many bridges. The Norway Trackers are fortunate to have a good dedicated work crew. Thank you to everyone who helps with the never-ending trail work, equipment maintenance, and all the behind-the-scenes work. Mark your calendars! We are hosting our open house and light parade on Saturday Feb- ruary 19th. We invite everyone to check out our trail system, our equipment, and grab a bite to eat at our open house and then show off your sled at the light parade. We hold our meetings on the first Tuesday of the month. Thanks to one of our family members, we have been holding potluck meet- ings in their heated garage. We have also been Zooming them which seems to work well. We encourage everyone to attend either in person or on Zoom. We are printing new maps and have a new decal design this year. We will be sending these out in the membership packets. Follow us on Facebook for event information and NARROW GAUGE sc Strong, ME

Leeds Stump Thumpers, sc Leeds, ME

The club will continue to have closed meet- ings, with officers only and staying Covid 19 conscious until further notice. If you would like to attend a meeting to present business, please call me at 524-3301 or Gary at 462- 5758. Staying Covid safe, we had our 2nd drive-through landowner appreciation diner on October 2nd, from 3PM.-7PM. Typically we have a great sit-down meal, club members bring a casserole or dessert. The club sup- plies the pulled pork, brisket, ribs and smoked chicken. There are door prizes for the land- owners. Overall, a small token of our appreci- ation for the snowmobile club trails on private property. There were 24 landowners respond- ing and a total of 92 meals passed out. A big thank you to Gary and Mel and our volunteers that helped prepare and pass out the food. I sold super raffle tickets, which gave me an opportunity to meet and greet all that attended. Let’s hope that next year we will be able to have our regular appreciation meal. We were blessed by Phil Crain campaigning for club membership last year, and reached a total of 51 family memberships. We now have a 2nd MSA director opening thanks to his efforts. The dedicated trail signs are being worked on. The Murphy sign, which was put up 2010, now needs to be replaced, and the posts are in for the Buckley sign. Our goal is to put a roof over the signs to preserve them. Our slate of officers was elected as follows: President- Brad Barker Vice president -TBD

Treasurer- Tammy Judd Secretary -Brad Barker Safety -TBD Membership -Gerri Murphy

Super Raffle Tickets -Mel Deschambault Activity director- Melanie Deschambault Trail Master -Gary Deschambault Assistant Trail Master- Rick Dion, Mike Fazekas, and Douglas Barker MSA first director- Brad Barker

MSA second director -TBD Club Reporter- Any guesses?

A big “Thank You.” to the MSA editor for putting our tribute on a full page to our four members. Acknowledging them for their years of volunteering.

Respectfully submitted, Brad Barker, President

Streaked Mountain, sc Buckfield, ME

Greetings all, Snowmobile season 2021/2022 is fast approaching, evident by the changing of the fall foliage. I hope everyone has remained healthy over the past year and ready to take on the winter. The guys have been working on trails, usually gathering Sunday mornings at 8:00 at the Tucker garage. They are always in need of more hands and welcome anyone willing and able to help. Maintenance of the groomers is also taking place so they are in tip top shape for the season. I think the only thing missing is the snow. Club meetings are the third Wednesday of the month at 7 PM at the clubhouse on Morrill St. Please encourage all your friends and neighbors who ride the trails to join the local club and the MSA. Let them know how much work and money goes into the trail system and bridge maintenance for the pleasure of all to enjoy. Respectfully, Leah Frechette, Club reporter

Poodunck, sc Dixfield, ME

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