Responsibilities I take seriously
 | Rob Crowe
Columnist
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There are some responsibilities I try to shirk and some that I make sure I get done as well as possible.
One the responsibilities I tell myself is serious is to faithfully run three of the snowmobiles in my yard at least once a week. Now there are lots of snowmobiles in my yard, most are over 20 years old and it would take varying amounts of time to get them in operating condition (some, like forever), but three are regularly run because … well, just because, every gearhead knows the reason for that.
Two aren’t mine, the 500 Polaris belongs to my son Travis whose current location courtesy of Uncle Sam is in Southern Mississippi. Just a
little hard for him to regularly use the sled, so the responsibility falls on me.
The next is my son-in law Robbie’s classic 340 Everest with running lights bolted on the extensively repaired hood – doesn’t look too good but we aren’t running any beauty contests here in Hill Lake Township. Robbie lives in an Elk River apartment with my daughter and doesn’t have the garage space so guess where it got parked this Christmas past?
The last is my own 440 Panther. Its claim to fame is the ability to carry myself, my three young daughters and the two Springer Spaniels … all at one time.
Anyway, as I was saying, serious business to crank up each of these aging beauties every Saturday and put them through their paces. I start with whichever is the closest, crank it up and head out across the field with whichever dog or girl is quick enough to hop on before I leave the yard. If a dog, the trick is to move the head at the proper time to avoid the occasional lick. If a girl, the air is pierced with shrieks timed like Chicago Democrat voters, early and often.
The 500 is run mostly on the field with the little girls held between myself and the handlebars. I stop at the edge, gun it and the tach needle twirls to 8,000, the shrieks start and the G’s push them back against me as we barrel across the quarter mile of the field, best to let off the throttle halfway across, the brakes work pretty good but the distance is way too short.
Sometimes I ride it alone, then after several runs across the field I head to the hard ice on the turnaround and practice 360s. Don’t let Travis know my technique needs some practice ’cause I’ve had it tip up a couple of times, no problem but I really don’t want to try to explain a crack in the shiny hood.
The 29-year-old Everest is a classy ride in spite of its age. Here the trick is to warm it up first, then make several laps of the field at full throttle to keep my handling skills sharp. I do this until I hear the slight tingle of detonation from the aging motor, then back it off and drive a couple of laps or give the dogs another ride.
The most time is spent with the Panther. I usually warm it up and then load on everything in sight and tour the property. As I said before, all the creatures in the yard can ride at one time if need be. It is tough to try to keep the varying combinations of creatures on the sled for the whole ride, but not impossible. The dogs ride blissfully with their noses in the wind. Little hard for them to balance, the seats being designed for two-legged creatures, but they haven’t complained to my knowledge.
After we explore the extents of the homestead with varying combinations of dogs and girls, we shut off the sled and head into the house for hot chocolate. There the little girls are just as enthralled with playing with the straws in their hot chocolate as they were with screaming across the field on a ridiculously fast snowmobile.
Sometimes, Washington with its jumble of politicians, journalists, pundits and scandals seems a little too far away to take it too seriously. For me, that is every Saturday when the responsibilities of being Dad come to the forefront.
Rob Crowe chairs the Aitkin County Republicans and raises kids and cows on a farm near Hill City.
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