Changing Rides

Dan enjoying his Yamaha Rhino on one of his daily rides in the Silver Lake Basin.

We were in our forties when my husband Dan and I decided to skip the mid-life crisis by jumping right into our second childhood. It all started when our son, Erik, came up to me one day and said, "That's a cool four-wheeler Dad's got out there in the garage."

Busy at the computer writing a murder mystery, I was only half listening to him. "Don't be silly, your dad doesn't have a four-wheeler," I told him, as I was killing off the husband in the story.

"Ooops! Forget what I said," Erik said, disappearing before it occurred to me that something was rotten in Paradise.

I slid the keyboard shelf under the desk, and then marched out to the garage. Like a king, Dan was sitting in a lawn chair, sipping a beer, admiring his new toy. "What the heck is that?" I said, in a not-too-pleasant voice.

"It's a 400 Kodiak. Wanna take it for a spin?"

Me on an ATV? "I don't think so Dan. We can't afford this, you know."

"Yeah, we can," he said, and he did work a lot of overtime that year.

It was months later, at camp, when Dan finally convinced me to take the Kodiak for a ride. I didn't want to, but just to get him off my back I agreed to go. That's all it took; I was hooked. I confiscated it, so Dan bought a 660 Grizzly.

Rain or shine, every time we had a chance to ride, we rode. We considered ourselves quite the cats, prowling through the woods, riding roughshod over the hills and into the valleys, going where no man (without an ATV or a good pair of legs) had gone before. Life was good, because we had our beloved, reliable Yamahas. And then last spring, Dan injured his neck, in a work-related accident, making it uncomfortable for him to ride.

We spent the first half of the summer waiting for Dan's neck to get better. One day, while twiddling our thumbs at camp, our neighbor pulled into the yard on his new ATV. It was one of those side-by-side rigs that we used to scoff at. We had liked driving our own machines. We had liked the maneuverability the lighter, narrower machine promised. We had been quite comfortable with our narrow-mindedness until we took our neighbor's new ATV for a spin.

Judy and Diane, under all those layers of clothing, returning after a day of rock hounding.

The next day, we sold the Grizzly and Kodiak to a friend. We drove to Meyer's Enterprise, in Ishpeming Michigan, and looked at the 2006 Rhino. Being used to the dual suspension, the four wheel engine braking system, and the On-Command four-wheel drive with the differential gear lock on the Grizzly, it was a no-brainer. We bought the 660 Rhino...and the fun began.

The first thing that impressed us about the Rhino, besides the low-dust diet of one ATV compared to riding two, was the comfort. Not only were the form fitting bucket seats comfortable, steering wheel versus handle bars was much easier on Dan's neck. We were so awed at the smooth ride and at how well the Rhino handled the road, that we were actually glad that we couldn't go over 40 mph.

We started taking longer rides, sharing the driving time. We discovered roads, creeks, rivers, and waterfalls that we never even knew existed. I found all kinds of interesting rocks (for my garden and rock collection) in all kinds of interesting places. In the fall, it wasn't unusual for us to return to camp with a heaping load of wood topped off with partridge. Dan shot more birds than he ever had in a single season. Also, we had hauled several trailer-loads of firewood with a bed-full on the Rhino.

From mid-July to deer season, we put on 2840 miles. So, yeah, we encountered a couple problems. The first time we needed to change a spark plug we were miles from camp loaded down with firewood. After we unloaded the cargo bed (the spark plug is located under it), Dan got out the nice little tool kit that came with the Rhino only to find out that the spark plug wrench wasn't long enough. We limped home, and once there, Dan was able to rig up the wrench with a piece of pipe to make it useable; we'd been using that rigged up wrench ever since.

Two different times, I've had a stick get jammed under, and then shoot up through the floorboard on the passenger side. Both times Dan was the passenger. Luckily, because of his quick reaction, both times, he avoided some serious leg piercing.

The specially designed drive system air intake, on the Rhino, helps prevent overheating, and keeps water and mud out of the drive case, but the vent is located between the seats. Every now and then, when I hear the engine sputtering, I have to remind myself to keep my gloves, jacket, or whatever away from the vent.

We had bought the half windshield, which we like a lot. It works great for deflecting bugs, yet allows in that rush of air. With the canvas top snapped on, it feels like being in a wind tunnel. The flapping sound of the canvas can be irritating, but we like the convenience of being able to store the top under the passenger seat, and the ease of snapping the top on or taking it off. We like to use it in rain and on hot sunny days. On colder days we prefer not to use it, because the airflow (with the top on) seems to drop the wind chill (where we're sitting) dramatically.

We've noticed that dust comes up through the drainage holes in the floorboards. Not a problem. It just led us to the discovery of another use for duct tape.

Dan trekking through a mud hole in the Silver Lake Basin.

We were pleasantly surprised at the Rhino's maneuverability in rougher, tighter terrain. With a width of 54.4 inches, (only 9.1 inches wider than the 660 Grizzly) and a ground clearance of 12.1 inches we've been able to go everywhere we have wanted to go. We don't go to all of the steep and rugged places we'd gone to with the Grizzly and Kodiak. But that's okay; we'd been there, done that. It's up to the individual ATV operator, though, to know the laws that apply to where you ride. Some designated trails may have restrictions on width of the vehicle.

Now that winter's here, Dan uses the Rhino at home for plowing. The blade is 6 feet wide, two feet wider than the one he had on the Grizzly. He notices a lot more power behind the plow; the dry weight of the Rhino is 449 pounds more than that of the 660 Grizzly. We live near Lake Superior and average 184.7 inches of snow a year, so it's a big treat for Dan to have this new setup. He enjoys his plow so much he plows out our neighbors. Needless to say, our neighbor's like the Rhino, too.

In the spring, we'll be looking forward to cruising the woods again. Last year, we discovered places we didn't even know existed because we put on so many more miles than usual. We'll be looking forward to revisiting those places, and discovering new ones. Whoever said life begins at a certain age, didn't know what they were talking about. Life begins when you find you dream ATV.