There was a great turnout for the Paul Prill Memorial on Saturday. Dozens of people at a time stopped to offer their sympathies and condolences to Kyle and his family. Many people signed a petition and gave donations to fight drunken snowmobiling. The REAL snowmobilers stepped up big time to support one of our own, whether in person or in spirit. Although this was a sad occasion, it was an amazing display of the camaraderie that snowmobilers share.
The Hamilton County Express and Rich Lupia @ Upstatesnow.com were here to cover the memorial. We were honored to have law enforcement officers show up in support. After the memorial, I took a ride with Kyle’s family down to the end of Indian Lake and back. I’ll keep the details private, but I can tell you it was something I’ll never forget. Kyle and Rachel were able to achieve some degree of closure Saturday and I believe that was made possible by our willingness to lovingly support them in their darkest hour.
I want snowmobiling to be safe and fun for everybody who rides. The alcoholic sub-culture of snowmobiling has always been there, but the stakes are higher and the margin of error is much smaller with the speed of today’s snowmobiles. Don’t let Saturday’s Memorial be the end. It must be the beginning! If you’re unconvinced, please take in this short video:
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If we don’t take a pro-active and aggressive stand, we’ll continue to stack up senseless fatalities and broken lives. Don’t wait until it knocks on your door to do something about it!
Midweek Outlook:
The village trails were groomed and frozen flat by Saturday morning when I rode them out to the Memorial. By the time I came home late Saturday afternoon, they were mashed potatoes and gravy with some dirt spots showing up. It was fun riding, but it doesn’t last for long like that. I’m sure there was further deterioration on Sunday although I wasn’t out riding to verify the conditions. Lakes were still holding good snow cover as of Sunday evening, but that will go to slush and perhaps standing water by Tuesday as temperatures remain largely above freezing through that time period.
Tuesday’s rain shouldn’t be enough to break things open and it will get steeply colder mid-late week. But unless we get a significant fresh coating of fresh “white paint” soon, we may be punching our one way ticket to die-hard season. It was a better winter than last year, but we look forward to better next winter.
