In the Beginning

Tomorrow begins (sort of) the road to Alaska. Actually we will start the trek Monday, but I'll be leaving tomorrow for a 3:00 P.M. meeting at the Quality Inn in Sault Saint Marie in the U.P. (for you non-Michiganders, that's short to Michigan's Upper Peninsula).

The meeting is a get together to coordinate everything before we (team one) departs at 8:00 A.M. Monday morning. If team one has a complement of snowmobiles (and at this point, I don't actually know if the team is full or not) there will be 24 "sleds" leaving on Monday morning.

Tomorrow should solve the answer to a few unanswered questions, such as: where is the first scheduled stop (as well as all later scheduled stops) and why are they not following the Trans-Canadian Trail all the way?

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Crossing the bridge at the Straits of Mackinaw started to get the adrenalin running (the next three weeks should be great experience).

It's now Sunday and I failed to get yesterday's blog finished and posted. It is probably just as well, even though I still don't know much more about all the stops along the way. I have, however, learned that the first stop (for lunch and fuel) is in Grand Marais followed, in the afternoon, by the ride to Ishpeming to finish out the day. That makes for a four hour morning snowmobile ride followed by an estimated 4 1/2 - 5 hour ride in the afternoon (not too grueling, but they're just getting started!).

By highway the entire trip mapquests out at about 4 1/2 hours (that of course assumes a clear highway).

That's not bad for the first day, but when you think about doing that for the next nineteen days you can begin to get a feel for the scope of this project. Then too, the fact that some of the trails may or may not have been plowed out, and considering that the weather could be 20 degrees fahrenheit or 40 below - it's downright scary!

The reason that MichCanSka chose not to take the "Trans-Canadian Trail" all the way, is very logical when you think about it. MichCanSka wanted to make this an international expedition and, therefore, chose to include five states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Alaska) and five Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Sasketchawan, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon Territory). How cool is that?

The trip begins with one lap around Sault Saint Marie's "I-500 Snowmobile Track" and then it's - hit the trail! Circling the I-500 track might not seem like such a big thing, but when you consider that in forty one years they have never permitted non-racers on the track, you begin to get a feel get for the respect that MichCanSka has so rightfully been accorded.