Dad and I ready to be interviewed.
Jim's home | Motorcycle home | 10k Home
Still at my Dad's in Rangeley, ME now. Will start heading west on the third leg of this trip on Thursday morning. The road is already calling me. I contacted Tom (Tkelley) in Wisconson yesterday and he graciously offered to put me up for a night before he heads down to a Moto Guzzi rally in North Carolina next week. I suspect I'll be at his place 4 days after I leave here. Will also camp at his sister's farm near the Tunnel of Trees in upper Michigan. Will have 2 other nights on the road before that. I plan to ride along the St. Lawrence seaway and camp near the Thousand Islands area. Not sure about the next night.
If you're into snowmobiling this next part will interest you. Yesterday my 97 year old father drove us to the Rangeley Country Club in his F-type Jaguar to be interviewed for the Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club. They're trying to preserve the history of very early snowmobiling in the Rangeley Lakes area. My Dad built the first house (camp) here in 1968 and soon bought a snowmobile. Ronnie Sargent who ran a construction company back then became one of the first Bombadier dealers in the early 60s. Bombadier produced their first snowmobile in 1959. It is now recognized as Canada's 17th most important invention/innovation. They were called "Skidoos". Craig said they originally named them "Skidogs", but a secretary made a a typo and the Skidoo name stuck. Over the years, Ronnie accumulated over 8,000 slides of people snowmobiling. They did a lot of snowmobile safaris where groups would go ride and have cookouts, even making french fries. All unhealthy food they say. Ronnie had 3 sons, Craig, Steven and Eric. Steven and Ronnie have passed away, but Craig and Eric were there conducting the interview. Great to see them after nearly 50 years!
After mic'ing us, they sat us down in chairs facing still and video cameras on tripods, with floodlights on us. I didn't realize it was going to be such a formal thing. Dad, who has been interviewed many times was asked about his life. He went though a condensed version like a pro. He's written about 95 books in his life, mainly science books for young people. But also "Our Universe" published by the National Geographic Society. Taught astronomy at the U of Southern Maine, and ran their planetarium. Has led expeditions for years all through Russia in search of large meteorite craters, fragments, etc. Ever heard of Tunguska?
Dad and I ready to be interviewed.
A plaque my brother had made to be installed on the exterior of my Dad's house. It's similar to what you see on famous people's houses in London.
A page from the local phone book showing how many Gallants there are in that area.
Moving on to snowmobiling we discussed the early Bombadier models, the drag that Ronnie Sargent made to groom trails, the club rides and so on. Prior to the interview, Dad dug up some old 16 mm motion picture footage he had taken of various things including snowmobiling. He, my brother Jonathan and his then wife Harriet produced a short movie called "Spring Holiday" where they drove up from NY to the camp for some fun. They had to shovel snow off the roof so the doors would open, then shovel snow down to the kitchen door so they could get in. I've been told that the snow has been so deep they drove snowmobiles over the roof of the house. Then there was lots of footage of snowmobiling. At times, Dad sat on the back of a snowmobile facing backwards, filming riders behind him. We used to drag sleds behind snowmobiles that looked like dog sleds. You'd stand on the backs of the runners and hold onto handholds. Tons of fun to do that. We brought a viewer device made by Braun to the interview to show them the movie. They positioned the video camera to capture the movie as I hand cranked the spools of film around and around. Took me a while to figure out how to set up and operate the viewer. Picture of me at about 13 years old in snowmobile gear attached to this post.
The film viewer.
A shot of me when I was about 11 in early snowmobile gear.
I learned a lot from both Craig and my Dad during the interview. What a treat. At the end, one of the video assistant guys asked Dad's opinion of the recent news about UFO information being released by government agencies. Dad likened it to astrology. No scientific evidence whatsoever of extraterrestrial life. And if there were as he said, it would take them tens or hundreds of thousands of years to reach us from other parts of the galaxy. Then they'd see what state our planet was in and just turn around and begin the long trip home.
For a little exercise I hiked up to the nearby gravel pit. It's at most a couple of miles from my Dad's house. Snowmobilers go there to ride up and down the pit's walls. My brother and I never dared to follow the crazy tracks that led all the way up to the tops of the walls. Fun to play around there though.
The road to the gravel pit.
The gravel pit.
Moose hoof print on the road.
A pond near the gravel pit.
The road has begun to call me. Have been poring over maps to plan my route, and researching things to do and see on the web. The forecast for Thursday looks good (rain on Wednesday) hopefully it'll hold for a while. No matter though, west-bound I will be. I figure I'll be home in about 2 weeks.