I guess we all know it’s time to put the sleds away and get the summer “fun stuff” out.   Winter isn’t long enough......  Maybe someone can work on a solution for that......  More “snow dancing” or something??????

We did have a great season – could have had more snow but the trails were great all winter.

The club had a very successful season financially also.  You will find a list of donors and amounts donated on the reverse side of this newsletter.  Without these donations, we would be unable to groom the trails daily.  So, it is very important that when you visit the Rangeley and Oquossoc area, that you patronize these businesses and it would even help if you let them know how much we all appreciate their donations to help out with our expenses.

You probably all noticed that there was no April newsletter.  One reason was that your club secretary was on vacation and the other reason was that since there wasn’t anything “new” to write about, we saved almost $200 in postage expenses by combining the April and May newsletter.

The May meeting will be held on May 10^th at the Rangeley Congregational Church at 6:30 PM.  Nominations for Election of Officers and Board of Directors will be taken at this meeting.  There are also a couple of Director positions to be filled.  Directors are elected for a three-year term and two of these positions end this year.  The Election of Officers takes place at the June meeting which will be held on June 14^th.  You will receive a newsletter with a reminder of this meeting.

We will be holding a meeting in the very near future to make preliminary plans for Snodeo 2004.  Anyone interested in being on the Committee, please contact us so that we can let you know the time, place, etc. of this meeting.    We are looking for suggestions for added attractions, improvements, etc.

We still have Snodeo 2003 hats left for $6.00 and a couple of XXL sweatshirts available for $10.00.  If you would like one, please let us know either through the web page or by mail. 

As soon as the ground is dry enough, we will be looking for volunteers to go out and remove trail signs, road signs, pick up trash left on the trails, etc.  If you are interested in helping us out, let us know.  The work doesn’t stop when snowmobiling ends!!!

Hats off to the Rangeley Fire and Rescue Dept..  We sure did keep them busy this winter with rescue calls.  It would be great if we could have an accident-free winter here, but the chances of that happening are probably nil with the number of snowmobilers on our trails all winter.  At the membership meeting on April 12^th, we voted to purchase another rescue sled for the Fire Department.  They do not have the funds for this equipment and there was a couple of times this winter when they had more than one call at a time and could have used another sled.   This can be considered a “thank-you” to them for all the time they voluntarily spend helping us out, especially during Snodeo.  Also, 70% of the cost of this sled is reimbursable through the State grant.

We will be attending the annual Maine Snowmobile Association meeting on April 26^th.  This is where the awards are handed out and we are hoping to come home with the “#1 Club Trophy” again this year.  (Webmaster - We won again!)

Until next month............

Please visit our Sponsors page to check out businesses who have donated or pledged to donate to our grooming and trail maintenance program for this season. Be sure to patronize these businesses when in the area. It is due to their donations that we have the great riding conditions we all enjoy!