We go there every year and every year he takes one day out of his very busy schedule and takes us for a ride that is always one better than last year. He owns the hotel we stay in and grooms the trails. He took a shine to us the first year we went there. People in Michigan's Upper Peninsula love the revenue brought in by a good winter. They treat us very well.

This day he promised us a ride to remember. I have never seen the man in a bad mood and as usual he is ready to go. He borrows one of his own rentals and along with his wife, we head off on a day trip through Seney Wildlife Preserve. He makes sudden turns into places we didn't even know existed. We spend the entire day riding through two feet of snow that has been touched by no one. We stop along side a river with its banks coated in snow and ice. You don't dare step off the trail because you will sink up to your waist in the loose snow. It is absolutely breathtaking here and the only sound heard is the snow crunching under our boots and the water flowing gently past us.

We take several posed shots by the rivers edge, then move on again. A little further down the trail a large branch has long ago fallen across the trail. I stop under the branch and throw him my camera. He takes a couple shots of me and the rest of our party behind. We move on again and the trail opens up into a very large field and he stops. He gets off his sled and yells back at us to stay in his tracks. We see the large stumps sticking out of the snow so we obey. He begins riding around the field. I can see his is looking for his exit. Visibility is very flat making it hard to see, Not to mention it is snowing very hard now. He stops at a large dead tree and jumps off his sled. He walks up to the tree and pretends to make a phone call. I can see that the phantom at the other end of his imaginary call has given him good directions and he is once again confident. He gets back on his sled and resumes finding his way out of the field. By the time we find our way back to town we are very tired and hungry. We head back to our rented house to share dinner and drinks, exhausted and thrilled at the fantastic day we had been given.

I don't know how he is going to top this ride next year.

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