Indiana Snowmobilers Association

Catch Up Time!

This year I started with a snowmobile tour in northern Quebec (on my bucket list) in January and during that tour I made a mistake in a corner resulting in a fractured fibula in my right leg. Thus, my snowmobile season was done for 2022. Dorthy, sorry you did not get to snowmobile. But I kept active in work for the Indiana Snowmobile Association (ISA), International Snowmobile Congress (ISC) and American Council of Snowmobile Associations (ACSA). So, let me tell you a little about what I volunteer to do for snowmobiling.

I enjoy this sport so much I want to also give back in the form of volunteering. Here is what I am and have been doing. As part of the ISA, I am editor of the Hoosier Snowmobiler that takes time each month during the months of September to April to prepare each issue. Also, we prepare the ISA Club Newsletter each month. These are distributed via members emails, and a few mailed to those who do not have an email address. This publication goes to our membership and to officers of State associations across the country and ACSA officers. I do enjoy being the editor but do wish ISA members would provide my input with pictures, notes and articles of things happening in their club or group. I have been doing this for about 12 years.

This year I did ask the ISA to find another person to handle its membership responsibilities. After doing it for over 10 years I felt it time for someone else to do it. By the way, the ISA is looking for an ISA member to help with the membership. It is all computerized and rather easy to do. We would like for any interested person to contact me to learn more about being the Membership Chair.

I am also the Charity Chair for the ISC. In this role I prepare a report about charity happenings in States and Clubs in the US and Canada. In February I send out a survey through Survey Monkey to all US State and Canadian Provinces requesting input to report at the annual ISC meeting held in June each year (in Illinois June 2023). I ask them to also provide the survey to their clubs to also report. This past year we devoted part of the survey to maintaining trails. The report is for informational purposes letting the public know that we do donate time and money to local and national charities and that most of our trial system is put in and maintained by volunteers. I have been doing this for about 5 years.

For ACSA I accepted the position in 2021 as Secretary/Treasurer maintaining records of all meeting of the board and executive committee and was reelected for 2022. The treasurer part is more reviewing bills to be paid and preparation of the budget each fiscal year that begins July 1st. In this position, I have had the opportunity to meet many snowmobilers across the country. I also do assist in creation of surveys through Survey Monkey for ACSA board State associations focusing on their needs and responses.

I am also the President of my club, Snow Drifters of Hamilton County. We do have meetings monthly between October to April. COVID did slow down our activities other that snowmobile trips. Most of our activities in the snowmobile trips we plan mostly in the UP of Michigan. You will find information about our club in the monthly ISA Club Newsletter.

Dorthy and I like our Can Am Spyder during the summer months. We did take it to Dubuque, IA for rides during the ISC Annual Meeting. We make short trips around home. We have plans to trailer it to Helen, GA in October for riding the south side of the Appalachian Range a few days.

Dorthy and I did take a Land/Cruise in August to Denali, Alaska and then cruise down the Alaska coast to Vancouver, BC. We did really enjoy the vacation until that last three days when Dorthy became positive for COVID. Well, it was not fun. The cruise line had to quarantine her from me for the three days. Then, when we disembarked in Vancouver, BC we were required by the Canadian government to quarantine for another 7 days before we could fly home. That week was the most boring and Wow was it the most expensive week we have ever experience where we could not do anything be stay in our hotel room. We do hope to get some of our quarantine week expenses refunded from the insurance for the airfare and cruise fortunately we had purchased. But all in all, the wildlife at Denali Park was spectacular and so was most of the cruise. Both Dorthy and I agree we will delay going on another cruise for a while.

We visit our children periodically in Bloomington, IN/Lowell, AK and Macon, GA. This year our granddaughter, Zoe, was abruptly taken for her college classes to a hospital in Kennesaw, GA and diagnosed on May 1st with Leukemia (age 20). She was air lifted from Kennesaw, GA hospital to Atlanta Cancer Center with life threatening conditions to her internal organs. A shocking notification. We have been able to visit with Zoe and family via ZOOM and in person in July. She and her mother, Lisa, have taken up residency in Atlanta after Zoe was allowed to leave the hospital in June. Zoe must visit the hospital almost every day for tests and transfusions. Zoe must not be exposed to public during this time and has little contact with her father. It is very stressful for the family with my son, Zoe’s father, continuing to work in Macon, GA while mother and daughter live in Atlanta. She did undergo a bone marrow transplant in late August and the progress is going very well but with not public contact for some time yet. We are very thankful to those who could donate blood and plasma for Zoe.