2004 Poker Run

02/02/04

What a weekend! Between eating way too much, drinking way too much, screaming way too much and staying up way too late, my system may not be straightened out in time for the season opener at Lee in April. The weekend ended with over a dozen of my son’s 17 and 18-year-old friends screaming and hollering with us in our living room during the Superbowl. Everyone, including myself, was excited that New England won and that Tom Brady was picked as Superbowl MVP, but those boys were even more excited at half time when Janet Jackson performed. The music stunk, but the hardware was cute.

The 5^th annual Busch North Scene poker run for charity was held on Saturday the 31^st and was by far the most successful to date. $8,174 was raised for charity, more than double the amount we have raised in prior years. A lot of thanks go to a lot of people for the weekend. Oquossoc Marine and Polaris were generous enough to buy lunch for all riders at the Gingerbread House in Oquossoc. They also provided sleds for Busch North Scene publisher/Editor, George Campbell as well as a couple others. George tried all the sleds to be sure he got the best one and finally settled for a much-too-powerful-for-him Polaris 800 which promptly fouled a plug and ran at about ½ throttle all weekend, rendering it somewhat useless but perfect and safe for George. Joe Bessey started the weekend off for us on Friday night by having a huge bonfire at the Saddleback Motor Inn and providing us with a great buffet and live music. The place was packed full all evening and most of us socialized and danced well into the early morning. As we were leaving I found out that one of the best drivers on the BNS tour is also one of the best spotters. The driver, who will remain nameless, stopped me on my way to the car and explained where he’d just seen lurking police cars and what direction to leave the parking lot. Nice job, thanks!

Saturday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed in time to have a good breakfast before registration. After getting registered and discussing who would ride with what group and what time they would leave, riders started to flock out of the Rangeley Inn parking lot. Most fell in behind tour guides and members of the Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club who were kind enough to come up with a route for us and to assure that the trails were in top notch condition. The ride was very nice, trails were real good and the people at the checkpoints were all very pleasant and happy to see us. I didn’t see any accidents or mishaps at all this year, although, we did lose Woody.

Woody is George’s sister in law’s boyfriend and is a great guy. We had a lot of fun with Woody all weekend, but Woody, being from Ohio is a real flatlander. Woody had never been on a snowmobile before the weekend so George let him take his Arctic Cat out and practice with it on Thursday, again Friday and a bit before we rode on Saturday morning. By the time we left on Saturday, Woody had quite a lot of experience riding. In fact, Woody had nearly a tank full of gas worth of experience. I know this because, when Woody missed the left turn that we all took and followed a couple sleds that he shouldn’t have, he promptly ran out of gas. Woody managed to find a ride back to the last checkpoint on someone’s sled, then caught a ride with someone in a car back to the Rangeley Inn, where he slept away the rest of the afternoon. After looking for and worrying about Woody all afternoon, and finally finding him in bed, we really never did figure out what happened. It could have been George’s Time Deficit Syndrome telling him that he had filled the sled last week when it was actually last year. It could be that Woody sneakily drained off the excess fuel so the sled would run out and he could go back and sleep off the remnants of Friday evening’s fun. We’ll never really know, I suppose.

During lunch at the Gingerbread House, I learned a couple things. "Rooster", Rangeley’s self proclaimed mascot, got a bit too close to the bonfire on Friday and singed most of his facial hair and part of his head. Being an independent sort, Rooster took care of the problem himself by shaving the parts that were singed. Problem was that he must have done it without a mirror and he looked a bit cockeyed afterward, making him an even easier target for the comedians on Saturday night. I found that Dale Shaw is not only a better driver than I am, but also a better pilot. The paper airplane he threw at me during lunch at least landed in the vicinity of my table, the one I threw went high, hit a beam and crash-landed. I’ll stick to writing.

After visiting all the checkpoints and riding back to the Rangeley Inn we dealt poker hands, raffled off dozens of great items and auctioned even more items. Auction items and raffle items were generously donated by various individuals and businesses, with a lot of help from the Rangeley chamber of commerce. Without all of these people we wouldn’t be able to donate anywhere near the amount we did to the charities, they all deserve a huge thank-you!

Andy Santerre was awarded with the driver of the year award and mentioned that "mom-of-the-year" Sue was at home in North Carolina taking care of new daughter, Sara and said Hi to everyone. Carey Heath was obviously very happy to find that she was voted fans favorite this year by a tremendous margin. While she was on stage, an impromptu vote was taken and Carey was also awarded the unofficial "best looking driver" award for the umpteenth time.

The evening wrapped up with comedians Rob Steen and Joe Carroll, who kept the packed house screaming and laughing for an hour or so, followed by live music from the band Maine Street. The comedians were excellent but I think they might want to consider taking Rooster on tour with them, between his Rooster song and the fancy shave job, he’s a hoot in his own right. I still haven’t decided which I think is funnier, Billy Penfold wanting me to autograph his new boxer shorts or Mike Penfold standing next to his dad in a "Racing with Jesus" shirt. My wife, Robin, was kind enough to bid on and buy me a great new pair of Sponge Bob boxers and then model them for all to see. Although she looked a heck of a lot better in mine than Billy did in his, I’m still not sure if she deserves the provocative moment of the weekend award or if that should go to Janet Jackson’s right boob.

As always, send Questions, Comments, Hate Mail, and Indecent Proposals to, Fish c/o Busch North Scene or e-mail them to fishy@gwi.net