Out of the few hundred people at the Fair Grounds for the latest version of the VKH ‘Vintage Snowmobile Rally & Breakfast’, the fact I was the only one wearing ‘short boots’ should have been a huuuuuge red flag that maybe I should have stayed home and hired an Intern for the day.

…due to a lot of reasons (mostly ‘severe uremic neuropathy’ [more here] brought on by stage-4 renal failure twelve-years ago), I’ve become a little unsteady, especially when walking over uneven paths. Which, of course, also involves snow drifts. I managed to do okay during most of the day while taking photos of the Vintage Event, by staying on the snow that was hard-packed by the many dozens of snow machines. But then, in my eternal quest for a great shot, I kind of went off course and fell sideways into a deep, deep snowbank far away from where people had gathered. It was just me, holding my camera high in the air, wearing my little low-rise snow boots, swimming with one hand through a pile of snow trying to reach out to the corner of a nearby barn so I could lift myself out of the snow.

Thankfully I did manage to get out of the drift, despite all the odds working against me. I then went through the barn, instead of going around it like I had planned like an idiot, and found a great place to take photos of the snowmobiles as they left the Fair Grounds on their 12km journey. Unfortunately, however, my ankle-high boots were packed full of really cold ankle-high snow and, even after emptying the snow from my boots, my socks were soaked… basically, I was freezing my feet off and a loooooong way away from my car.

…anyway, I did manage to get some pretty cool shots, and eventually I did manage to get to the car, get home, and put on some warm socks and, after twenty minutes or so, my feet did stop feeling like they were dipped in lava.

Soooooo… please enjoy the photos below, and don’t forget to leave a comment… seriously, let me know what you think [Part One is here]. Thanks.

*…those are lyrics from 1997’s classic “Tubthumping” [video here], by UK-based Chumbawamba, from their album ‘Tubthumper’: “Truth is, I thought it mattered, I thought that music mattered, But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter! We’ll be singin’, When we’re winnin’, We’ll be singin’: I get knocked down But I get up again, You’re never gonna keep me down! I get knocked down, But I get up again, You’re never gonna keep me down!”.