Run the Rapids

Being from Minnesota and living in California, now is the time of year I start to miss the winters…for at least a day or two. This longing for the snow and cold brings back memories of some of the winter activities of the long Minnesota winters; activities like snowmobile skipping.

Now riding a snow-machine is great fun, especially when you are racing across lakes, cruising at high speed through tree-infested forests and, of course, on the “poker runs”, a drinkers game where you ride your machine from bar to bar, obtaining one card per stop, all while drinking famously. On these poker runs, people often run into mail trucks or barb-wire fences by the time they complete a hand of seven-card stud. It's all great fun.

It is during these wise and meaningful pursuits, some genius came up with the sport of Snowmobile Skipping. Snowmobile Skipping is a competitive sport where you ride your snowmobile across open water. What better idea that to locate that one piece of water that isn’t frozen and then try to ride across it?

A while back, one of my bright spark friends decided that riding through the lush landscape and 100mph runs across flat, open lakes was no longer sufficient to get his game on. He decided that he should “run the rapids” on the Moosehead river in Mooselake, Minnesota. He sunk. Apparently calm water is optimal for this insane sport and rapids do not typically possess this characteristic.

We found him shivering and nearly hypothermic at the door of our house. Even better, our German Shepard was barking furiously and trying to attack the strange-acting, snow-suit-and-helmet-wearing alien. He lived to ride another day.

Sometimes I wonder why I left Minnesota. Maybe I’ll go watch Fargo again, just to refresh my memory.