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December 06, 2001



Shaved head, Moosehead
By Rob Dibble

Rob tells us what he did during his holiday vacation (Part I).

I don't know what you did over the holidays, but I had a great time, generating some of my most memorable vacation stories ever. I think everyone will get a kick out of this because when I go on vacation I am like Chevy Chase's brother (i.e., a silly moron). And my brother-in-law Eric is a close second.

Snowmobiling
Dibbs takes his son, Ryan, for a ride in the wilderness.
To get this story rolling, we must go back to the day before Christmas. I go to get my hair cut, and my now-former barber proceeds to shave my head. I had told her to take the top down to about two inches and get really close on the sides. Not really that unusual a request.

But to my chagrin, she just shaved off the whole thing. Now I love short hair, but when you're going 50 miles south of the Canadian border, and the temperature gets down to 20 below zero, this just won't do.

Things really get going now. It's 9:45 a.m. Dec. 26. I'm meeting my wife's sister and her husband at 10 a.m. I come outside after being packed an hour ahead of time (which is a miracle in itself in our family). My wife had locked the snowmobile trailer the night before because someone had stolen one of our decorative reindeers a week earlier.

This wouldn't have been a problem had the temperature not gotten down to 10 below. But it did. Now I can't hook the trailer up to the truck because the stinking lock is frozen solid. You must be kidding. Now 45 minutes and a hair dryer later, we are rolling down the highway. What was said during those 45 minutes can't be repeated. Let's just say I'm lucky to still be married.

As we're checking in, our message-board welcome is addressed to 'Mr. Dribble and Family.'
As we hook up with Jo's sister Kristen, her husband Eric slams his throttle thumb in the car door (just like Chevy in "Caddyshack"). Seven hours later in Maine, his thumb would be ready to explode, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. The trip up was a lot of fun. Gale-force winds were blowing us all over the highway. But our wives had packed for six months, not five days, of snowmobiling -- and that added some helpful weight to the trucks.

What was a blast, though, was my idea to take along my kids' Motorola Talkabouts. They are awesome and a lot of fun for young-at-heart trucking wannabes. Speaking of the Talkabouts, my wife wanted me to add this story. As we are nearing our goal in Maine, it's now a blizzard. We are barely staying on the mountain road.

Twenty miles away from the resort is a sign, with a big moose on it, flashing lights on the top, "Moose crossing next 35 miles." My sister-in-law, Kristen (who graduated with honors from Boston College) asks us over the airwaves, "How do they know when a moose is going to cross? Is there a sensor in the woods?"

Oh man, believe me when I tell you we laughed the rest of the way. And we are still laughing now. Jo adds this little dig, "Wait, Harry, don't forget to press the crossing button." And the week was just getting started.

As we're checking in, on the message board there are these very nice "hellos" and "welcomes." Except that mine is addressed to "Mr. Dribble and Family." Right at the top of the board. That's a nice "hello and how do you do?"

And that's just the beginning, check back Wednesday for Day 2.

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ALSO SEE
Rob Dibble: 2001 archive

Dan Patrick page: 2001 archive

Dan Patrick: 2001 Outtakes archive

Dan Patrick: Ask Dan archive

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