Noah Meador

A Winter Weekend

It was freezing cold, we were all exhausted, and eager to reach the house. After an 8 hour drive through icy roads and thick forests, we finally pulled into the driveway. An old cabin style ranch, our home, was a welcome sight after an eight hour drive. We took out our heavy luggage, crept into the unlocked door and fell into our beds. In the morning, sunlight spilled through the frosted windows. I woke up, walked down the creaky stairs and saw the rest of my family awake, gathered around the kitchen eating breakfast. 

My family welcomed me with a “Good morning”. The old seat creaked as I caught a smell of smoky, sizzling bacon. In seconds, we enjoyed the rich meal along with delicious, crispy hash browns. I ate like a famished man, and the food on my plate was gone in no time. After I finished eating, my family and I were reconnecting with our cousins and uncles. My extended family, a loud group full of energy, would always tell jokes and stories. We sat around the kitchen table laughing and talking, sharing stories for about an hour. 

The hour passed and someone asked me to check on the gates around the house. Bundled in layers, thick and heavy, against the freezing wind, I stepped out into the cold. The wind hit my face like a sheet of cold steel. I walked around the property checking all of the gates. For the most part, it was fine, but one gate appeared damaged. My gate’s hinges, creaking loudly in the wind, hanging on by two old rusty screws. While I was checking for any unlocked gates or damage my cousins attempted to start the snowmobiles. After I completed my walkaround, I asked them how it was going.  Ashley, my youngest cousin, said “we're trying to start the snowmobiles but dad didn't show us how.”  So I showed them step by step how to start one until we had a problem. They were unable to start the non-electric snowmobiles, as the pullstart was too hard. I told them we would worry about it later because we didn't know how many of us were heading out. 

We came back inside and asked who was coming. My dad, a patient and experienced snowmobiler, said “ Everyone’s coming." So as my younger cousins and I waited outside for everyone to finish putting on gear, and clothes, we started a snowball fight. Snow flew everywhere. I got hit right on the side of the neck, and cold water ran down my back. Laughing and playing, we kept the fight going until everyone was ready. 

After everyone had finished and stepped out of the house, we began starting our snowmobiles and preparing to embark on our adventure of the nearby National Forest. We eventually took off for the mountains, engines humming and snow in the air behind us. The cold air stung my face, but I didn't care, as I was having a blast. After about an hour of riding around, my dad asked if I could take care of my cousins because he and my uncle had to take my brother back because he was extremely cold. I told my cousins we would ride towards a cool spot and then head home.

Everything was going great until Ashley’s snowmobile slowed and eventually came to a complete stop. The snowmobile engine turned silent, slumbering like a hibernating bear. I turned around and parked next to her. She was at the bottom of a small hill. I asked her “what happened” as I shut off my snowmobile. She said “it just shut off!” I saw that she was panicking and didn't know what was going on or what to do. “Were going to head back,” I said. She asked “what about the snowmobile?” I told her “My dad and I will come back for it after we get you and Cooper back home.” Ashley climbed onto my snowmobile with her snow filled boots.

We made it back where everyone warmed up by the fire and joked about how something like this happens every Christmas. A few jokes later, my dad and I rode the snowbanks back up the mountain. We found the snowmobile and we examined it to figure out what was wrong. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we noticed that one of the spark plug cables had shaken itself loose from its plug. Dangling by a single wire, the spark plug floated like a halted balloon. We had rescued our snowmobile from a tow all the way home and were able to get home just as the sunset and light began to dim in the trees. Inside we joked and laughed while eating cookies and drinking milk. It wasn’t the day I had hoped for, but it became a memory and a story that I will always remember.