Our day was in the making weeks before the Hugo’s Bar Pig Roast and Bean Bag Tournament occurred. I had stopped out at the Brimson watering hole with a friend on our way home from having a delicious dinner together at the Pequaywan Inn. As we bellied up to the bar, she pointed to an advertisement announcing that for twenty bucks you could purchase a Pequaywan Area Trailblazers and Voyager Snowmobile Club raffle ticket. The big prize for the July 20th drawing was a Polaris ATV.
“My sister bought a ticket,” she explained. “I’m going to get one, too.”
We laughed at the possibility of her winning the ATV out from under her sister as we enjoyed our cold one. A couple weeks later, I bought a ticket, too.
When the day of the drawing came, my friend and her family got together before going to Hugo’s Bar in Brimson where we hoped we’d be the ones driving back home on a new 4-wheeler. But first, my husband, who was dubbed “trail boss”, took the group on what he likes to call the “Lake Tour.”
We started by taking the extra-long way to Donna Lake. One of our party mentioned they had seen bear tracks in the woods and was a bit nervous about the possibility of running into one in the wild. Though we’ve seen many traces of them on our adventures, we’ve yet to run into one on the trails.
Next, we went to Kookoosh Lake. I was too shy to share one of the traditions we created when we first moved up to the area. However, my husband isn’t ever shy and demonstrated the custom to our crew.
Through cupped hands he hollered “KOOKOOSH!” over the expanse of the water. It echoed back clearly in acoustics only nature can offer. It’s a fun word to listen to in an echo, with the final fading out of a faraway sounding “oosh.” Whenever we partake in this practice, I like to think of an inhabitant of the habitat wondering what sort of bird would make that kind of call.
We hit both King Lake and Leone Lake before stopping at the Pequaywan Inn for a drink and some appetizers. We wanted to save room for the Pig Roast that Hugo’s was hosting during the ATV drawing. The waitress/bartender/ cook took good care of us, and the combo platters of appetizers hit the spot.
There is a great view of Pequaywan Lake from the trail that shoots down Pequaywan Lake Road which we took all the way back to Hugo’s, with a short pit stop at Divine Lake. I wasn’t paying too much attention, however. My eyes were on the trail that took us straight up and straight down and straight up again. My hands were on my handlebars, gripping tightly.
It was a blast, but I was quite ready for a drink when we got to Hugo’s. The party was already hopping with the bean bag tournament stretched over the field next to the bar. Folks were tucked under a few tents, as it was both hot and rained on and off all day.
Hugo’s Pig Roast provided people with piles of food on their plates. Looked like a good deal for fifteen dollars, but all of us were still full from the appetizers. It didn’t stop us from looking longingly at the plates that most people were using two hands to carry the weight of back to the tables.
When it came time for the drawing, we teased each other. Who would be the big winner for the day? Alas, it wasn’t to be. None of us won the ATV nor the runner-up prizes. We moved on to stop at our last lake of the tour. Stone Lake isn’t quite a stone’s throw from home, but close enough that we planned out our next move as the day turned into evening.
We headed back to my friend’s and gorged ourselves on taco salad, the lament of passing up the opportunity for pork forgotten. She spoke up to say we all won that day even though the new ATV wasn’t parked in the driveway.
I agree. I made some new friends that are the kind of friends you feel like you’ve known forever, even though you just met. I heard they are already planning their next trip up North. The “trail boss” is already talking about how he can expand the “Lake Tour.”
