Last winter my ATV broke. It’s 20 years old but in OK shape. I depend on it to plow my driveway. During an extremely cold spell the poor little thing crapped out. (In some ways, so did I.)
A forgivable situation. With temperatures hitting -42, pretty much everything, man and machine, is at its limit. The plucky little ATV had done its best.
Hunkered by the fire fretting over the impassible driveway. I came to a realization. I, Curmudgeon himself, could conceivably buy a replacement ATV. What a concept! I don’t generally think like that. The dead but honorable ATV came to me by roundabout means and on the cheap. It’s a treasured asset in a price category I’d never otherwise enjoy. Buying new just never enters my head.
I can’t help it. I’m frugal at a molecular level and ATVs are expensive buggers.
Considering the alien idea that I could go full American and finance anything I wanted; I daydreamed of awesome gasoline burning wheeled entertainment devices. Then, as cabin fever took hold, I discovered The Emporium Outdoors. Suddenly I needed an Argo in the worst way. (The more ridiculous the machine the more I’m attracted to it. Argos straddle the line between ATV and personal tank; crack to a weirdo like me.). I was entranced by a nice Canadian guy and his excellent dog and especially his epic Argo…
Damn! I meant just to have a screenshot to encourage you to visit The Emporium Outdoors. Unfortunately, my screenshot makes it look like I host the video (which is not true at all). Whoops. (I hope this isn’t a faux pas!). Click on the link to go there. It’s wonderful low key fun watching The Emporium Outdoors.
I came close but didn’t make the leap. Fear won over impractical hopes. I’m just plain terrified of payments. Also, my goal was a practical solution to driveway snow, not a new toy. Fun was low on my list of priorities. Isn’t that sad?
(Sigh. Being an adult sucks.)
As the winter wore on (and the guy hired to plow our driveway blew out transmissions and axles) I rejected (in succession) the purchase of ATVs, UTVs, Argos, and eventually even a plow for my truck. (The last thing The Death Wobble Express needs is a quarter ton of stress weighing down the front axle.)
Time passed…
Winter ended and I fixed the little ATV. I had to admit I’d been asking too much of it. If snow gets too deep it lacks the grunt to push the ensuing mountains of snow. Regardless of snow conditions, it’s not a warm machine for bitter weather. It’s always a race to see if I’ll get hypothermia before it freezes up.
I bit the bullet. I bought a heated cab that happens to have a tractor under it. It has a handy feature; it actually starts. Sadly, it came with payments; Lord help me! I couldn’t face another winter without better equipment; fear of frostbite overcame fear of bankruptcy. Life is a conundrum.
As part of this purchase I took my imaginary new ATV / Argo for a walk. I led it out behind the barn, told it about how much fun we’d have together, and put a bullet in it. I can only handle payments on one thing at a time and the tractor burned my options for the immediate future. Being an adult REALLY SUCKS!
Fast forward to this fall. The weather has been aggressively miserable. Plans of sailing, camping, and small game hunting all faded; crushed by dreary rain and cold snow. It just didn’t work out.
This week the sun came out for a few glorious days. It was still cold but at least the scenery wasn’t sodden. It awoke the longing within for a mechanical toy. (Apparently, I hadn’t killed my dreams?)
Tractor payments or not, I needed a fix. I found myself standing in an ATV sales lot; wandering amid terrifyingly cool debit monsters with wheels. Later I started tire kicking a couple of used snowmobiles. What was I doing?!? The LAST damn thing I need is a 15-year-old snowmobile rotting in the backyard! That night I wound up staying up late watching videos of Argos and snowmobiles. There’s no reasoning with the heart. I had it bad!
The next day I was struck with a flash of obvious. Pay attention because this matters:
The best time to go on an adventure is now.
The best equipment to use for your adventure is the equipment you have.
My old ATV had been repaired. It’s well past its prime but it starts. It was a firebreather of its era. Lately, it does nothing but tow my woodsplitter… but I own it. Why not?
Warning ramble:
This summer I’ve watched people tell me wistful stories of the sailboat they’ll get when they retire (or win the lottery). It’s sad really. I’ve left them behind on the dock while I sailed away in my puny handmade plywood sailboat. They talk, I sail.
I’ve seen it even worse with motorcycles; I’ve done many cross country trips and invariably I’ll stop at one town or another where someone tells me about the awesome Harley they’ll have someday. (It’s always a Harley, even among people that can’t recognize that my Honda cruiser is not a Harley.) I nod like I care and in some ways I do. I honestly hope they escape the cage they’ve built for themselves. I doubt they will; people like their cages. I roar away on my mid-priced (and now aged) Honda while they’ll never leave their backyard except in spirit. They talk, I ride.
Sun’s up, it’ll snow again soon. Ride now or be a schmuck waiting for the perfect time that never comes. That’s the question life asks. So, what’s it gonna’ be?
Half an hour later the ATV was perched on my old utility trailer (which no longer has a little sailboat on it). I was happily en route to a trailhead.
I’ve never done recreational ATV trail riding. Time to rectify that mistake.
Add in that trips beat politics every time
https://isleroyaleforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4098
Michael and Esme should be on the marketing payroll at Argo. I nearly pulled the trigger on one myself. For me recreational ATV riding was okay… but I enjoyed it as part of the camping experience as our intrepid Argonauts do.
Good for you on resisting the Argo too. I am currently completely debt free. And lord… I am glad that I am. If the economy takes a dump the last thing you want to be on the hook for are toys. Get out with what you have and make your time count.
I just got out this year for a serious burn on my road bike and loved it. Maybe you, me and BW Bandy should meet up in some godforsaken corner of the country and do coffee one day. 🙂
if you ever get over to Central WI, Harrison Hills ATV area by Merrill, WI is amazing trail riding and hooks up with a large network of trails. One could ride from Merrill to Michigan solely on ATV trails (also the ATV trails share a lot of snowmobile trails, so you can go even farther if you wait for the white stuff)
Build your own…..OzArgo! Bog stock 1.2L VW air-cooled boxer 4, Bug floor-pan, suspension lift job (the van had the cool taller rear suspension bits), plywood cabin with heating (exhaust heat exchanger with a re-purposed radiator and fan) for winter, exchange for topless rig in summer…..as many off the shelf scrounged parts as possible. Slip a DMV drone suitable mordida in between its dribblings to get plates, hitch up the boat trailer and go. Perhaps a PTO or beefed alternator for running other toys, and an MG42 remote mount like the Hetzer to stitch up hecklers and tailgaters. Ok, the PTO is probably going too far…
My take on ATV’s is that they’re one heck of a lot more convenient than taking care of a horse or a mule – and a lot cheaper on the upkeep side of things. ATV’s are noisy, stinky beasts (mules can be too) but they’re easy.
Is this the pony trailer that is now reclaiming it’s man card?
My kryptonite of late is looking at new trucks. It started with a Instagram ad of the “All New 2020 Jeep Gladiator” descending a rocky trail. The picture made it look like a fine beast of utility. But the model that took my breath momentarily is the fully optioned hardtop pushing $50K. Really?!? No!
Then I regrouped my thoughts. We have a 17 year old Ranger for hauling mulch and plywood, a 13 year old Element with AT tires that positively goes like a cornered cat on snow and a 16 year old Accord V6 that will more than adequately hauls ass and groceries. The Ranger is getting ragged, but my last Accord went 23 years and 518K before being taken out by a kamikaze Celica.
And best of all I’ve not had a car payment since 1998. Frugality wins again.
Yep, that’s the pony trailer. It has been repurposed from use to use many times. Most of the time it’s for hauling firewood and trash. This year it’s a boat trailer and ATV hauler. Put a lot of miles on it. It’s now at the age when I have to keep rewiring the lights… that’s my least favorite part of owning a trailer.
Funny you should post this… I’ve been in a deep depression about the coming winter. Can’t sleep. Drinking beer to get tired to go to sleep, staring at TractorHouse and EquipmentTrader ads looking for the cheap bit of equipment that with a little TLC might get me through what I fear is coming, prepping tractors like a mad-man until 2am because it was still above freezing… Last year damned near broke me and every piece of equipment I had. Sitting on open-station tractors in -30 temps I could run for maybe 30 minutes and have to go back to the machine shed to warm up both me and the tractors. Last year I used the IH560 to blow out the driveway and… Ever notice no matter where you sit at the campfire the smoke goes to you? Same with snow and a blower. Cleared the driveway, cleared the road, backed straight into the ditch across the road and never even saw the trees lining my driveway as a marker. After I drove out I looked at the tracks. 18″ either way would have had me under an IH560 in the ditch. Got lucky there. Later that week My Good Wife was using that same tractor to clear the driveway so I could get in from work. Love that she did it, feared for her safety. I’ve lost three near relatives to roll-overs, I don’t need another. Today I pulled the trigger and bought a skid-steer. Bobcat S510 with a heated cab. Yes, I have a payment. $180/mo. That’s cell-phone money. I’ll still run that old Ferguson, maybe still blow snow with the Farmall, but if My Good Wife is going to get me home she’s doing it in a heated cab, with working lights and roll-over protection. I’ve been cheap for long enough. Now that others depend upon me, upon us, I’ll pay the money to do it right. I hate spending the money, but I’ll pay it to not go through last year again with equipment as old and as decrepit as me.
We both went through the same thing. A bad winter will kick your ass! Good move with the skid steer. In my area skid steers are probably more common than little tractors; I think I was swimming against the tide getting a tractor. I hope you have great luck with your machine. I’m hoping for the best with mine but won’t be sure until I’ve used it a bunch. BTW: $180 is pretty reasonable. I’m impressed.