Part 5 – Back from Robb Lake to the night at the cabin

We got back to the Tent, and a surprise was waiting for us. 6 more snowmobiles were parking there. It is quite funny, because it almost seams like all the Canadians have a special arrangement for the snowmobiles when they go and park. It always looks like each one has his own spot to park at. With the snowmobiles came the wives and daughters (and one mother – Nancy). They were relaxing next to the tent, enjoying the beer. I still can't figure out how on earth they knew we had beer… Dave & Brenda, Tim & Suzy, Mark & Nancy, and the daughters, Clair, Jennifer & Krista. What a pleasant surprise. We got some more beer out, Dave and the guys looked at his sled, trying to think about how to fix it, I looked at the photos with Suzy, the Moms sat outside, and the daughters got the B.B gun out, and started preparing it for the soon to be shooting range. Tim went over and helped them. Suzy and I finished looking at the pictures, and then I went over to see how the dads are doing. It was such a shame to look at 3 cans of beer freezing away while they all kneel down at the sled, trying to fix it. Gary and I talked about remaking Dave's sled into a hot outdoor bath to use on the frozen lake, using a pump, metal pipes, and the furnace as a heater for the water. We taught of having a garden hose connection at the side of the sled, so water could run into the sled. Inside the sled there should be a pipe with a few holes in it, so the water could shoot out in high velocity, giving a massage to the tired legs after a whole day of… ice fishing. Tim got the B.B gun working, and the girls set a beer can (empty, of-course) as a target. We could even hear a few hits every now and then. I joined for a few shots, and then we turned to play some of the local "ice golfing". Ice-golfing? What's the connection, one might ask… well, for every case of beer Mark bought, he got 3 red/orange golf balls. You have balls, just bring a bat, and play on. The game goes as follows: someone takes the bat, and set the ball on a small ditch on the ground. Then someone else comes along, and suggests to place it on an empty beer can. In my case, we placed 2 beer cans. Then the batter's job is divided into 2; Making the shot as funny as possible, and to guide the rest of the seekers to where the ball landed. The audience has also a big part. Once the ball landed everyone should try help finding the ball. 2 ways of helping: 1. look at the ball and point out to the seekers where the ball is. 2. Take a snowmobile and race down to get the ball. Oh, and drink beer.
After a few rounds of golfing, we got the bowling ball out. We set some split wood as pins, smoothed the runway a bit, and started on bowling. Now I know what Ben meant by ice fishing being lots of fun, "but I don't remember catching fish as the main issue there". We had the tip-ups in the holes, and some of us looked at them while we played. Yep, it counts as ice-fishing. We played for about an hour, and at the very last roll Clair got a STRIKE. We drank some more beer for that. Went back to golfing, and back again to beer and talking. I forgot to mention Dave's huge family sized M&M peanut pack he had. It was opened ever since we set the tent up, and it was all frozen. It tastes even better frozen. Anyhow, we finished it about when Nancy, Suzy, Brenda, Gary and I left. Yep, every good time has to end, I guess. I am not sure why, but it just does. We said our goodbyes, packed our stuff, got everything ready, and we were about on schedule for getting all the way to bear camp (2 hours) before dark. On the way out I sat behind Gary, Brenda and Suzy drove on Suzy's machine, which had no lights on it, and Nancy drove on hers (I am not sure, but we have a saying in Israel: never let facts change a good story). We got all the way to bear camp without any unusual difficulties. It makes a big difference driving with a sled at the back. It rocks the snowmobile on every bump on the "road". On bear camp we went to see little white river – a long river which goes from one lake to the over, until it drains to the Mississauga river. It was covered with ice and snow, but a very thin layer. The water was still running under it, and it was still "open", so you can't cross it. After a short refuse from the engine of one of the machines, we got out and back to Iron Bridge township building. Brenda had her truck waiting there, and we got the ramp set on the truck. The ramp was set at about 40 degrees, because the truck is quite high. The length of Brenda's snowmobile is the exact length of the back of the truck, when the back door is open. Before we set the safety chains on, Brenda jumped on the snowmobile, raced on the ramp, and landed exactly on the back of the truck, leaving 2 cm room for errors, which she corrected afterwards, which is also a hard task – the gear sets only in a certain RPM, in which the machine jumps forwards. That was surely inspiring. Brenda got her Truck, and drove off to get the trailer, so we can get 2 more snowmobiles and the sled back home. While we waited we helped Suzy locking her snowmobile to Tim's truck. Brenda and Nancy came back, and we got all the remaining stuff on the truck and trailer, and drove back to the cabin. We stopped on the road several times, just to make sure nothing slipped or fell on the way. We were good. We got back, and decided that next "morning" will be the best time to unload the stuff from the truck and trailer. We got our "personal gear", and went into the cabin. Yellow dog came congratulating us on our return, and Sandy was inside. She was expecting us to come back when we did, so the food was planned for that time about. We had some delicious chicken soup and chili. Over dinner we talked about the tent event, and told Sandy some of the stories from this years event. Gary reminded me I still have some obligations – I still need to clean the fish I caught. Luckily I got two of them – one to learn from. Gary showed me How the clean the fish on the bigger one, and then I cleaned the smaller one. It was a nice experience; I think much nicer then killing the damn thing. We finished cleaning the fish at about midnight, both tired but happy. We finished that, drank a beer or two, and went to sleep. We showered first, of course.