Snowmobiles

Snowmobiling is a big deal up here. In fact, the Sauk County snowmobile trail runs through Tom's property, below the ridge, and they showed their gratitude this year with a gift certificate to Home Depot. Tom likes the fact that they maintain the trail so well, because he likes to hike and they do a fine job of keeping things cleared during the winter, which makes for a good hiking trail the rest of the year when the snow is gone.

The sad part of this, however, is that snowmobiling is another sport with a high alcohol content. I mentioned in a conversation the other day that it would be a good year for snowmobilers -- we have already hit the average snowfall for a winter season and it has just begun -- and someone said, "Well, it's just another excuse to drink beer and drive fast."

I assume this was an exaggeration, but it is true that we have already had the first local man die in a snowmobile accident. A guy about my age from the Dells apparently went off the trail, into a ditch and through some trees up near Adams. They didn't find him until the next day, and the report is that "speed and alcohol were factors". The family reported him missing the day after he had been out there, but I get the impression they knew he was out there, after dark and that he was drunk (or at least drinking.)

So we will have to pray for the safety of the folks on the trail down below. This is a big family activity, so there are young people out with their parents. Would be a shame to have it turn into a tragedy.

My good friend Steve Yarbrough had a snowmobile when he and Bonnie were doctoral students at Penn State. He loved it, and he was out alone one day (sober, I hope) going through fields and such without a marked trail, when he went across a snow-covered pond. The snowmobile went through the ice, and he got soaked to the skin. The pond was shallow and Steve got out without serious injury, but then he had to hike back through the cold and snow two miles to the house, with his wet clothes turning to ice on his back. He wound up with pneumonia and got rid of the snowmobile.

On the good news front, some local tavern owners have come up with a plan to provide rides for customers who may have overindulged. Sauk County was the only county in the state without such a program, and now that is being remedied. As I mentioned before, Wisconsin leads (?) the nation in drunk driving and Sauk County is ahead of the Wisconsin average. This is a step in the right direction, since it provides help for those who need it when they need it, without imposing all sorts of unnecessary restrictions on those who know how to enjoy themselves responsibly.