February 2005

What happened to winter? Has anyone seen it? I guess there is not much one can say about the lack of winter/snow except "what’s with this"? Hang in there, it’s only the first part of February and hopefully they are predicting some sort of precipitation this week, hopefully in the form of snow. We have had to close off the trail system thru Dick Person’s Sheep Farm as well as John Rogers fields due to lack of snow. Evidently there has been a rash of 4-wheelers going thru and these trails are specifically posted "NO 4-WHEELERS and NO WHEELED VEHICLES". Guess some people can’t read. These trails will be closed until we get more snow at the request of the landowners. So please obey the signs and stay off these particular trails. They are gated once again and will not be opened until there is enough snow for riding & grooming. What this means to some of you members not all that familiar with our trail system is that you cannot go from Laconia via Trail #15 N to Belmont. This trail starts at the bottom of the by-pass by Shop ‘N Save and goes up along side the by-pass, over Morrill Street, thru the Sheep Farm and into Gilford by the "Flying Diaper" Church, across Rte. 11A and eventually on to Rogers Property. This entire stretch is closed. Dick Person’s counted 9 4-wheelers crossing his sheep farm property and when he closed his gates after they’d gone thru, when they came back, they proceeded to travel down the entire length of Morrill Street, most likely down Hoyt Road until they caught back up with the trail. I would say a good 2-3 miles in total length of road travel. So please respect the landowner’s wishes and obey the signs. If we lose this trail we are literally shut down as we’ll be landlocked in Gilford. Thanks for your understanding on this matter.

A very big congratulations to Marc & Heidi Bourgeois on the birth of their son, Trey Robert born on January 25th. Trey weighed in at 6 lbs. 5 oz. and was 19.25" long. We wish the family much happiness. Looks like we may have a "baby Bourgeois" attending our grass drags some day, who knows?? Maybe he’ll pick up where his Daddy left off!!

Now if only those Dickson’s would have their baby. Kris & Mark are due on February 14th but almost everyone we talk to says Kris will be going early. We really expected her to have had her baby by now as well, which is why we’ve held off doing the newsletter, figured we’d get both births in at the same time. No such luck. So you’ll have to stay tuned next month to see their exciting news!!! Hang in there Kris!!

Also we’d like to send out congratulations to Caroline & Jason Drouin on the birth (so to speak) of their newest venture. Caroline opened a new restaurant in town at the site of the old "A Small Café". Her new restaurant is called "Caroline’s Sunrise Grill". It’s just up the street a bit from Lakeport Landing. We have eaten there several times and can say from personal experience it’s fantastic. We wish Caroline & Jason well and urge you to try it. She’s open for breakfast & lunch 7 days a week and if you stop in be sure to tell Caroline you are a member of our club. Good luck Caroline!!!

If some of you are receiving this newsletter either via snail mail or e-mail and have changed your mind and don’t wish to receive it at all, be sure to let Jill know. Either e-mail her or give her a call. It’s been a while since most of you made out your applications and may have changed your minds. Some of you are receiving this via snail mail as your e-mail copies were returned at the last mailing so your names were added to the snail mail list. If you’d like this changed, contact Jill regarding that as well or e-mail her with your correct address.

We held our annual Safety Course in December and handed out 30+ certificates that day. The class was a bit smaller than usual and the children seemed to do just a tad better this year with their test scores. It was a good group of children and I’d like to thank the group of instructors this year who include Dave Glazier, Jim Fortin, Jon Bossey, Bill Bickford, Jeff Bonan, Nancy Gahm & Jill Ferguson. Without these volunteers this course would not happen. This course is given each year in memory of Bud Wool & Jack Willey, who both put their hearts into holding this course every year prior to their deaths. They’d both be very proud that we have continued their tradition each year.

There really isn’t much else going on at this time. With the lack of snow we don’t have much to report on. The County Ride is on hold for the time being and if there is one we will get the word out. Be sure to continue to check the web site periodically for updates. Linda is very good about posting any breaking news & event happenings. We did manage to get the Lakeport Landing draw bridge rebuilt in place back in January and for those of you who showed up to help on that cold, snowy day, a big thanks. We actually had enough people so we could split up into two groups and the second group finished the pallets at Irwin Motors. The group over there was able to fashion some on/off ramps where the tracks come together so machines should no longer get stuck there as in previous years. Thanks to all of you who helped out that day. We barely got it done under the wire with the snow coming down pretty good. I believe Linda has posted some pictures on the web site of that work party so be sure to check them out. Both groomers have seen limited grooming to date but are ready to roll at the first sign of groomable snow. The Laconia groomer has had new brake rotors, shoes & line installed just recently so should be good to go. All we need is some of that "white gold".

If and when we do get snow, we’ll see you on the trails and please be sure to ride safe!

John Ferguson - President
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