how to avoid getting snow in your car

‘Boonies’ means middle of nowhere

It’s a new term for me, most of this trip was in the boonies

So we stop by a little boonie motel and ask the price- it’s not cheap enough- so we want to leave, we can’t- snowed in. we just stopped for less than a minute! So we go out and start shoveling snow from under the car- we still had a hard time leaving- but managed.

We found a small place which got a nice review. Dinner is at Sidney- an Australian restaurant filled with signs like ‘koalas next 10 miles ’ ,don’t swim

harks and other such signs , I have been to Sidney this time of year before- I don’t remember the snow- on  a cloudy ausy day, I was at a nice beach watching a surfing contest, I was there for an hour and a half, didn’t even see the sun, and got burned bad- couldn’t sleep on my back for a week-so this wasn’t Sidney, but they had good beef noodle soup.

So we ask around what there is to do in the town, the closest cinema is 30 miles away so we go for the main attraction- bowling

Michigan is already on my top 3 states list along with Utah, and Colorado- but they have 1 major flaw- still allow smoking

So we begin to bowl, and Alla is as competitive as I am, even in games we don’t play very well. So game on.

As always, names of local legendary bowlers are marked on each lane- and my 3 games did not even reach 300 combined. I will let you guess who won. At one point after Alla hits her usual 9- the machine breaks- so a guy jumps from a near lane- to assist- still not working so the guy runs behind the pins, the machine looks fine tome- I don’t notice that only 9 pins are set and bowl, soon as the bowl is half way- the pin scooper thing goes down and my bowl hits it, and I feel like the locals are watching a silly city guy who can’t even bowl. That guy turned out to be an employee, though he was playing next to us the whole time.

I became a bit sick after the previous day’s cold feet on the snowmobile- so this time we needed good winter boots for the dog sledding.

I am a bad shopper and a worse shoe shopper- nothing fits right. So this is the origin

Imagine flashback music…

It’s 1991, my first trip abroad to Florida for my cousins wedding. We stop by a shoe store

And my uncle gives me a pair of shoes to try, they are kind of tight, but he says- take them, they are on sale. I keep resisting and so does he.

Those were girls shoes, woman somehow like narrower shoes, I don’t. I manage to avoid my shoeish fate, but always having problem finding a feeting pair. But the problem remained- we still needed good shoes

Alla asks miss boonie on locations of shoe stores , and she says she has an old pair of shoes. Wonderfully the sizes match. She brings a pair of winter shoes- who look like new- expect for holes on the top of the shoe – for an 8 year old shoe- they were pristine.

Her husband(Mr, boonie) comes with a silicon sealer, and with the last drops  of the tube, seals every hole, does a good job, and seals the tiniest of holes.

So for 45$ a night for 2, + winter shoes (who cost more then 45$)-not a bad deal.

So Alla is set, now we still have to deal with the problematic one. Stores are closed, and Alla , now aware of the possibilities of free shoes- asks the dog sled guy for shoes for me- and I get his spare shoes- so shoe problem is over- these are strong comfy shoes- but I bet in the store they would be narrow, uncomfortable, pressing, suffocating, hurting and other reasons for not buying shoes.

 

How to avoid getting snow in your car is an old questions since Mr ford drove his car up here.

At first you walk in the snow and get in the car- so snow comes in- so you learn to hit your shoes- one against the other- before you come in

Now you have a suitcase- which drags snow- so you try to clean that too- but it’s cold so you do it quickly- and snow in your car

You open the trunk to get bags in, it snows, so snow in your car

You forget to wipe the snow of the trunk exterior as you open it- and get lots of snow in your car

I would tell you how to avoid it but I don’t know- my car is full of snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

snowmobiling photos

 when hell freezes over…
 racer overlooking the ice poolI am running really fast to catch this action photoracer laughing at naturewhat snow angles do to your hair!snow shovelingstuck in the mudsnow angles and the path of destructionposing, the pool behind is deep- jump in if you want tothe golf coursedah!

driving so slow- I actually took a shot of my selfthe sig speaks for itselfn premium only

sometimes it is better when they dont answer the phone

We drove north and passed the 45 degrees longitude (or is it latitude)- one of the two. From here it is closer to north pole, then it is to equator

I know this , because there was a road sign.
but the roads were in great shape, I initially thought of renting an SUV or something, but my toy car is doing its job

Our pet, is also working well, we named it wally, like the movie- wally is a GPS. But no, I still didn’t buy my own, borrowed it.

 

It was 1 pm and we started looking for a motel, we called a few who did not answer- then one of them did.

A creepy looking guy gave us a room, and I made one too many comments about it

But the room was nice and clean- all the motels we’ve been were the cheapest we could find- and yet they were all nice and clean

We wake up to a cold room, the clock was turned off and we quickly discover that there is no power- and worse-no water

Not even cold! No power means no water here, probably frozen in the pipes.

So we made more jokes to keep ourselves warm and moved to the main activity of the day – snowmobiling

 

I don’t get modern art, but this guy was fishy- a local snowmobile vendor –sometimes you get a feeling about certain people – I ripped out the document we signed, you know the one saying, we want sue if we get killed, or injured, and bla bla bla. Alla throws caution to the winds and convinces me to go, so we went along any was. I was wearing more layers then ever- 2 sweat pants and ski pants, 2 socks, shirt, sweat shirt, warm vest , ski coat, scarf, neck warmer, ski hat, ski gloves, 1 hand warmer in each shoe, shoes, 1 underpants and helmet- would you think it is enough?

Alla is wearing about the same amount of layers- so we start the thing and head out on the street- and find it impossibly hard to maneuver

We didn’t know this- cause Mr Art did not tell us- he was just- here is the light, here is the hand warmer- just stay on the trails and you’ll be fine

We barely made it to our motel, which turned out to be real nice people – I guess my creepometer does not work well at 2 pm

But the former known to be creeps told us about our Artist, which was kicked out of the chamber of commerce- shocked we were, and I was thinking, what the hek does it mean to be kicked out of this chamber?- the motel owner shared her displeasure of the guy, so

Creeped out , and barely able to turn we moved into the forest.

Soon we discovered a few things

The snow mobile moves a lot better on snow then it does on the road- it actually turns when you tell it to turn!

You don’t want to get stuck!

It is hard to unstuck yourself!

A tree is something to avoid!

It took us a while to learn to control it well, I was driving the 1^st part of the woods at great speeds of about 10 miles per hour

Squirrels were making fun of me, but then the road got wider and we got a bit faster.

So my racer took over (I think she was a sleep till then) and started racing

And being in the back is a scary thing – since you have no control.

One of the worst jobs ever is the guy who sits next to the race driver (the navigator) and all he says is

Left, right, left, tree, haa, hii, shit, ha again- and when they win , the driver gets credit

So I was feeling the same way- though I didn’t say left, right- since you can’t hear with the motor noise and the helmets

All I had to say was hi, ha , iiiii, tree…- but racer controls it well- and passes 40MPH.

A few minutes later I get on again, and on the wide part- get to 40 as well, but on the straight parts, she did it on the turns….

This is a new revelation for me- I was always the wild one-and I am being out crazed by racer- love it.

We get stuck a bunch of time, but manage to unstuck in a matter of minutes – unfortunately having to remove a small tree out of the way

So we go on and the view is spectacular- the trees are icy , and each branch looks like a popsicle- fresh untouched views

We stop by a little snow field for some more snow angles and notice wolves hoof marks on the snow- I think they were wolves- looked  like a big dog tracks, could have been a snow camel, but I say wolf

At some point the snow gets deep and we manage to get stuck bad, we start digging below the tracks to remove snow, ice and dirt- we manage to free it only to get stuck in a worse way- there are many riders on this road and soon a couple of guys pool over and we lift the thing and move forward. These guys own their own snowmobiles-they know how to ride here before they learn to walk.

Gas is running low and we had towards a gas station and some warm food- the road there is narrow and slushy- which is not the best of conditions

We reach a pool, about thigh deep and very icy, and manage to get stuck again. Alla gets off since the thing stands 45 degrees sideways leaned on the frosty waters- I stand on the other ledge to keep it from falling and maintaining balance, and grab to the handles and drive us out, while standing

On the ledge. Felt like a pro. Don’t ask me to do that again, not sure if I could.

We stop at a little lodge, for food and gas, there is nothing but snow outside, but this is actually a golf course- no golfers now.

The food helps, but my feet are freezing- socks are damp and the hand warmers barely help. It took us over 2 hours to get here and it is past 3 and darkness is getting closer- so we had straight back.

Unfortunately the road back takes us by the ice pool- but this time I cruise through it (moved right, actually passed it on left!)

We figured out each other strength- I am better on the tough areas and Racer is the racer on the faster parts

We get back in just after dark and still can barely maneuver on the asphalt road

We returned the thing to Art shyster who did not extra charge us(but tried to keep the security deposit slip, till racer pried it out of his cold fishy hands (did I mention I didn’t like the guy?)

We summed it up by “it was great and great that it was” a true once in a lifetime experience that we need to do once more.

Btw- the electricity running out was because a tree fell and hit a power lines- so the whole town was out- we didn’t know this in the morning..

 

Uppers- this is the nick name for the people of Michigan’s upper peninsula- they have very basic needs

The signs here are ‘food’,  ‘gas’, ‘clean restrooms’- they don’t need much- give them a snowmobile and a gas station every 20 frozen miles and they are set to go.

We are still headed north right now, the winds are blowing snow and visibility is 0 at some points- we stop often and wait for the wind to blow over

And I am kind of enjoying a hot white chocolate caramel drink- which is the closest thing to coffee I ever had ( I dislike coffee) but it’s hot.

Yesterday we left Indian river in northern Michigan soar and damp from the snow and moved north towards mackinaw, the northern most point of the lower peninsula, and badly needing a warm shower- and struck gold

A fairly cheap hotel, with a small indoor water park and buffet breakfast- what more would you want- so we drag the suitcases on the slippery ice, get into our bathing suits, rush out side to the snow and get into the Jacuzzi, so warm, so good… we had fun on the kids water slides and the pool.

Alla wanted to swim with dolphins, and this pool had a drawing of 2 dolphins at the bottom, so I guess mission accomplished- next time ask for live dolphinsJ

Mackinaw is fudge town America- lots of small fudge makers – so we walked around this morning to the best fudge maker- and sampled- I don’t think I ever had a good fudge before- in the past, I had fudge ice cream- but it doesn’t come close- each fudge is made of 110% sugar + other sweet stuff, we walked around the frozen closed town- and shopped in all the open stores (just 1 was open) – and I got myself wool socks- which feel so good, my toes thank me. We go to the good fudge store again to get more supplies (for gifts..:) yes, for gifts)

And pass the bridge between the 2 peninsulas which part 2 great lakes, Michigan and Huron, the amazing thing is that these huge lakes are partially frozen. We are headed now for our final major attraction / destination – dog sledging –wood cabin lodge, fire place and a day trip of howling fun.

 

p.s if you ever want to snow mobile, I know a guy.

 

From Munising Michigan, this is blown with the wind reporting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

captivating photos