Not another weather post...well...sorta....lol

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Attak man

New member
This slow start to the season had me thinking about what we used to do to find out where to ride... before John Dee....before computers....before cell phones....and I remembered a time way back (about 20 years ago)...when we had a start to our season like this...couldn't ride here in tomahawk, and the lake ice was thin.
My riding buddy and I were at a local watering hole...having a couple (or more).. we couldn't ride, and being single guys with nothing to do...that's what we did...lol

We were the only two people in the bar....the owner...had the weather channel on...and the weather guy was talking about 1-2 inch per hour snowfall going on in the hurley area with 15 inches already on the ground..so...I asked my buddy how far hurley was...only 80 miles??? I know that sounds dumb...but even though I only lived an hour and twenty minutes south I had never ridden up there, and knew very little about lake effect snow.

It was like a light went on...he would pick me, and my sled up at 7 am...and north we would trailer....we both hurried home to get to bed.
He was there bright and early the next morning...we made it to hurley in record time...unloaded the sleds...and headed east...from ironwood, to wakefield (I don't remember if we had to get stickers)...we went to a place the locals called the PIPELINE..it was a big hill with these big humps spaced evenly up the hill...the snow was so deep..I couldn't believe it...we played all day...curving...jumping..and yes digging out....put on less than 60 miles..but rode hard for 14 hours...I was never soooo tired, and wet (from snow and sweat), and sore....but had a grin on the face for a good week. We only saw 5 other sleds the whole day.

What a blast!!

To think we rode waist deep powder on a 1989 exciter and an old formula Z ...lol

Yep...the good ol days....before john dee...all we had was the weather channel (if you had cable)...and long distance phone calls to bars and resorts for info.....but of course...the snow was deeper back then ;)
 
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jr37

Well-known member
Cool story. The good old days really were good old days.

I'm a little surprised you could work an '89 Exciter that hard all day and keep it together. Everytime I squeezed the trigger tight on mine it blew up.
 
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Tankjo

Member
Come on man!!

jr37 said:
Cool story. The good old days really were good old days.

I'm a little surprised you could work an '89 Exciter that hard all day and keep it together. Everytime I squeezed the trigger tight on mine it blew up.
Click to expand...

Johnny, those old yammy"s were awesome! My 292gp took me all over the harrison hills, untill my dad blew it up!! HA HA!
 
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Firecatguy

New member
the way I chased snow in the past was the watch weather channel then call Phone lines to local clubs and the bars in the area.......
 
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79_srx

New member
Back in dec 1988 we left madison at bar time to drive until we hit snow, well we ended up at red light rally. what a blast snowing so hard and only -5 out .we were on 79 srx,79 exciter,85 srv. the snow was so deep for them sleds had to stay on trails (learned the hard way stuck stuck stuck) i remember going to silver city and we all ran out of gas 1 mi from town. on day 2 we found black jack ski hill as we were trying to turn around 4 guys stoped to ask us where to find gas . it was 4 friends from our home town! Later that night as we were at a dance bar(silver $)the 7 of us met up with anouther 4 buddys! we all stayed at davies motel. what a blast we had
 
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EXCESSIVE FORCE

New member
Same here...We started our reign of terror on the yoop back in 1983 and Ironwood was where we started going.It seems to me that we found out about the area from a friend that had relatives there. I know what you mean about lake effect,as the snow was up to the roofs of many of the houses !! This was unreal to us,because we had NEVER seen that before......I had a 1980 Pantera and had to put my buddy away(who had been talking up his Yamaha Exciter)on Sunday lake..... THE GOOD OLD DAYS !!
 
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otter

New member
I had the same reaction back in the 80' when i started going to the U.P. and saw tunnels to get into businesses because of so much snow, good thing I was rockin a 1978 enticer, lite enuf to dig out when we got stuck, and that was often
 
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Attak man

New member
My exciter was awesome...put over 10,000 miles on it...never even fouled a plug...I know they had a bad rap...but mine was good.

I would have loved to run a 292 yami in that powder...that would have fun...actuallly an old GP 440...or GS 300...would have been a blast.
 
chords

chords

Active member
This slow start to the season had me thinking about what we used to do to find out where to ride... before John Dee....before computers....before cell phones....

Lets go back even further before Weather Channel. It was the Newspaper with 2 day old snow depths & snowfall and a forecast already outdated. The local TV news included a short weather slot using a chalkboard and a big H or L and some jagged arrows and some stiffy in a suit.
It took me many yrs to figure out why Gaylord (N Lower) would get hammered consistently with snow and NE Lower just a few flurries or inches.
NOW I know. Its all about location & LES.
 
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Attak man

New member
chords said:
This slow start to the season had me thinking about what we used to do to find out where to ride... before John Dee....before computers....before cell phones....

Lets go back even further before Weather Channel. It was the Newspaper with 2 day old snow depths & snowfall and a forecast already outdated. The local TV news included a short weather slot using a chalkboard and a big H or L and some jagged arrows and some stiffy in a suit.
It took me many yrs to figure out why Gaylord (N Lower) would get hammered consistently with snow and NE Lower just a few flurries or inches.
NOW I know. Its all about location & LES.
Click to expand...

Can you imagine John wearing one of those 1970 plaid "weather man" suit coats, while standing next to a chalk board with an H and an L on it (with one of those pointer sticks)??? LMAO!!!
 
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sifarmer

New member
wow

What I would give to have lived through the "good ol days". Im not being sarcastic at all. The stories sound great. I remember when every almost farmer down here had deere spitfires and trailfires. They would load em up and head to st germain area or tomahawk a counple times a yeat and never worry a minute about snow. Id love it to be that way again.
 
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frnash

Active member
Attak man said:
Can you imagine John wearing one of those 1970 plaid "weather man" suit coats, while standing next to a chalk board with an H and an L on it (with one of those pointer sticks)??? LMAO!!!
Click to expand...
Now that I'd like to see: John Dee as the new (click →) Sonny Eliot, Detroit's favorite legendary weatherman of nearly 60 years (from 1956 until his retirement in September, 2010)! ;)
– “He was just the best. How can you not remember while it’s deer season, where we’re from Enga-ringa-dinga-dine?”
[Strange, I remember it as "Enga-denga-ringa-dinga-dine" -FRN]

– “He would tell us the temperature on the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula and then take the Keweenaw Peninsula off of the top of the state of Michigan, and hold it in his hand and squeeze it and it would squeak like a dog toy.”
Click to expand...

From CBS Detroit, November 16, 2012: (click →) "Metro Detroiters Remember The Legendary Sonny Eliot". (← Be sure to watch the embedded videos!)
 
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chords

chords

Active member
I started to include Sonny and in my orig post, but figured only You (nash) and I would be the only ones to remember. I believe Sonny actually created the squeaking noise with tightly closed lips while twisting his finger on the Kee Pen. HER- man was another town? he did that with.
 
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