| This morning we took off for Colebrook with it. We took
New Hampshire Route 3 from Lancaster,
through Northumberland, Groveton,
Stratford, and Columbia.
The more you drive this thing the better it runs! Rick Johnsen, the director of the Poore
Family Homestead Museum lives up on Fish Pond Road, we were to meet with him and proceed to Colebrook
to see some folks about ads on the web sites. He also had some pics for me showing the President of the New Hampshire
Historical Society presenting a grant to the North Country Conservancy for the Poore
Family Homestead. |
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| We drove into the snow covered (6 inches) parking lot at Fish Pond and walked around a little.
You had to watch where you stepped, there was so much deer crap. The pond was still ice covered, but ready to break
up and pretty mushy. |
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Looking at the Mog from part way across Fish Pond.
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Same spot as the picture on the left, zoomed in.
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Up in Colebrook we saw a few store owners about ads on
the web sites and bought some glass cleaner for the Mog windshields. My daughter cleaned the windshield while Rick
and I were in a gun shop doing a panorama. When we stopped at Bouchard's
this dog was giving the Mog a once over. Next to Ray Davis Real
Estate to get some pictures. |
| On to Stewartstown, NH where we
did a photo shoot for an ad for Solomon's Store. Their specialty is meat, but they also have an excellent selection
of food... and... shoes! |
Across the bridge over the Connecticut River to Canaan, Vermont where we had dinner at the diner and moved the
pictures from Rick's disks into our laptop for ads and stories. |
As we left the diner a few drops of rain fell! I panicked, as we had planned on returning to
Lancaster before the rain so we could tarp the roof of the radio van. George had to remove the racks and 2 covers
to get it into the shipping container. We had tarped it before I bought it so water wouldn't get into the insulation
and start rusting of the van as well as ruining the interior panels. I had forgotten to throw in some duct tape
for sealing it up. Fortunately Rick had a friend at the garage around the corner who gave us some duct tape. Folks
coming out of the restaurant and driving by looked a little oddly at me on top of the strange vehicle taping away
like mad trying to beat the rain. Whew! Now we could continue without worrying about a little rain!
Looks like the Mog is high enough so you can reach the phone lines! |
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| After dinner we followed Rick up to Beecher Falls, Vermont, which is on the Canadian border, to visit a historical
site and get some pictures. Then on down to Canaan Vermont to see one of his friends who has a camp way up in the
woods. We found the place ok, but were unable to proceed up the road as a car and truck were in the way. Rick's
friend came walking down the road just then, so we were able to move one under its own power, and push the other
out of the way (by hand). Rick and my daughter hopped in the back and belted in, and his friend got in front with
me to show the way. He had a log skidder parked in the yard so we weren't worried about getting stuck. We had fun
trying out the sophisticated intercom system to the rear. It was amazing how well it worked. |
The first part of the road was gravel and rock with patches of snow, uneventful. Then we hit maybe a foot of
granular melting snow on top of a few inches of ice. All went well for a while until we hit a hill on a curve that
was kind of steep. We were in 1st gear all the time, 4 wheel drive and diffs locked. I only had the one set of
chains, so we installed them on the front tires. The stock Mog chains are really well designed to remain in place
with relatively easy installation once you figure them out. The second time it's simple! |
| With the chains on it started with no spinning. As we climbed higher, the snow and ice deepened. Finally on
the last steep hill before the camp the end was reached. We stopped as it began to dig four holes. We walked up
and met his sons and friends who were boiling sap to make some maple syrup. After chatting a while and giving a
guided tour of the Mog, I gave it one last try in 2nd gear. Got a few feet further, but that was it. With chains
on all fours and perhaps chains with biting links for ice it would have made it. The Mog chains look like they
are designed for over the road use as well as mud. |
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One of his sons rode down with me, with the rest snowmobiling or walking ahead. With the Mog in 1st gear the
walkers made far better time than we did. We removed the chains and headed for home. We crossed into NH at Colebrook
to gas up (it took 12 gallons, which isn't bad considering the miles and type of driving). We crossed back into
Vermont to VT 102 south to get away from the route 3 traffic and not have to keep pulling over.
Crossed back to NH Route 3 in North
Stratford for the rest of the trip as there are plenty of places to pull aside and traffic had eased. |
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