You are hereTrip to Coloma, Mich.
Trip to Coloma, Mich.
By Bill Luebbers
On February 3, 2007, three club members — Bart Rockow, his friend Tom Washburn, and I — headed out on an impromptu trip to Coloma, Mich.
At this time, there was no snow up north — or anywhere else for that matter — and we were itching to ride. No one from the club had ridden in southwest Michigan, as far as we could tell, so we didn't know what to expect. All we knew was that they were getting pounded with a huge lake effect snowstorm for several days in a row, and it was very, very cold out. This then was our exploration of the area.
On February 2, I loaded up my gear and headed over to Bart Rockow's house. Jeff Harris met up with us for the evening, and we had a few beers and played pool and FoosBall. We went to Fatman for a fish-fry and then to The Duck Inn and shot some more pool. So far, we were having a great time.
Early Saturday morning, Bart and I headed out on our journey. We had to first go to O'Hare Airport to start Michelle's vehicle, which has been sitting for a few days. Bart wanted to make sure it would start for her when she got back from a business trip.
We got into the O'Hare parking area, towing Bart's trailer, without a problem. Michelle's vehicle started right up. Getting out of the parking lot was another story. We had to pass through the exit gates. It looked like there was no way that we could pass through the narrow lane, but we had to try anyway. The attendant claimed there was no other way out. We barely made it through, and only had 1/2 inch of clearance on either side of the trailer.
As soon as we hit the freeway leaving O'Hare, we heard a scraping noise for a few seconds, and then nothing. People that were passing us were pointing at our trailer, so we pulled over at the first exit ramp and discovered that we had lost the trailer ramp. A weld had broken where the lock was. We had to circle back to try and recover the ramp. It took two attempts because the ramp ended up in the far left shoulder of the freeway, and the other vehicles were flying by. This was a very dangerous situation. Somehow, Bart managed to get over to the left lane going only a few miles per hour while everyone else was going 70 mph. Believe it or not, Bart pulled over in the left lane, stopped, retrieved his ramp and loaded it into the back of his truck, got back in and pulled back into traffic while everyone else was swerving to get out of our way. All without getting killed. Very exciting indeed.
After dodging death, we keep driving toward Coloma, Mich., and ended up in white-out conditions. As you can see from the pictures in the gallery, we could barely see the road at times. Once we were in Coloma, we met up with Tom Washburn, who arrive about an hour before us. We followed him to the Coloma High school for our drop-off point. There were about 15 other trailers there, but you could hardly see them in the storm. We unloaded the sleds from the trailer in very strong winds and really cold temperatures, but the excitement was enough to keep us warm.
We knew the trail started right there in the parking lot of the school, but with the snowstorm dumping snow and the wind blowing it all over the place, we couldn't see it. So, we drove around the area until we spotted the trail signs. This was trail #259. We decided that our trip would be Coloma to Paw Paw. By looking at the map that was posted on the trail, we knew that we had to take #259 to #59 and just keep on riding until we got to Paw Paw.
This was a blast! There was so much snow blowing around that we were riding fresh powder the whole way! You could see the previous sled tracks, but they were getting buried by the drifting snow almost as fast as we were making them. At times, we could see fine and we were scooting along at a good clip. At other times, we had to ride side by side very slowly. You couldn't see 10 feet in front of your sled! You had to look straight down in front of your skis to see the tracks of previous sleds. It was the only way to know if we were on the trail at all. This added to the adventure quite a bit. It was all good! LOL
Our first pit stop was in Hartford at a place called Keeler Keg and Kitchen. This was where we first had an idea of how many crazy snowmobilers were willing to ride in this blizzard in such cold temperatures. Let me tell you, there were plenty! The parking area was packed with riders from all over the place. It seems like everyone was in southwest Michigan this weekend! Somehow, despite all the riders, we were able to get a good seat inside the place right away. Bart, Tom and I all had a nice big bowl of chili to warm the insides a bit. I had Chili Alfredo, basically a chili with chicken and Alfredo sauce. Very yummy! The beer was good too. From there, we continued on #59 and found a nice play area that was out of the path of the driving wind. It was one of the few places that I could get the camera out and safely take some shots. Bart took some very good shots of me playing around, and I tried to take some good ones of him and Tom. It was great riding in some real powder for a change.
From there we continued on Trail #59 and rode to our next pit stop in Lawton called Big T. It was a cool bar with tons of different beer to try out. We only had one or two though and decided it was time to head back. We didn't really know our way around too good, and it was still blowing snow very hard everywhere. We didn't quite make it to Paw Paw. We wanted to get back before it got too dark out and decide to take the same trail back to the high school.
On the way, we once again stopped at Keeler Keg and Kitchen and ended up sitting in the same place. I had a nice big patty melt this time. While there, we overheard that I-94 was closed down because of the weather. That didn't sound too good, and we started to wonder about alternative routes to take out of town. We finished our meal and headed out again. Our pace was much faster this time since most of the trail was familiar, at least the parts we were able to see on the way towards Paw Paw. Soon, we were back at the high school and loaded up. A quick stop at the local McDonalds for a hot chocolate and to get out of our snow clothes was in order to get comfortable for the ride home. It turns out that they had I-94 opened up again before we left, so all was good. Once we got out Michigan we were able to pick up the pace and put an end to our adventure.
I'd like to point out to everyone that the trails in this whole area were the best marked trails I have ever seen. The clubs that take care of this area deserve a big hand for all their hard work. Every intersection had a trail map posted. Every place a street crossed the trail was marked with the street's name. Every third or so trail blazer was marked with the trail number. Every turn was marked maybe 25 yards or so before the actual turn where it was marked again. For the first few turns, that through us off a bit until we realized the system being used. Then it was great. No surprise last second turns.
We didn't get a chance to really explore all the trails in the area of course, but what we did ride on was better than we thought it would be. The trails were nice and wide for the most part, and the fields there were not all plowed up and rough like they are here in Kenosha County at the beginning of the season. Most of the farm fields that we rode through were fruit orchards and the trail wound its way through the little fruit trees. There were also a couple of wooded areas to enjoy. Our total ride miles came out to 48 miles each way.
We will be keeping an eye on southern Michigan from now on as an alternative area to ride. Many times, they have snow when we do not, and it's only 21/2 hours away. It's definitely worth a visit, and there are a lot of areas we have to explore yet.
