What Do I Need?

[Leta]

At the hopefully-new-location (made the offer today, fingers crossed!), the nearest bus stop is 1.5 miles away at a Park & Ride. This is where the kiddos will catch the big yellow limo to school, and where we can catch the big blue and white limo into town. (This fact of being deeply rural but still pretty close to the bus stop was a big selling point for us.) If you'll look to the left, you'll see that I am far north, and we get Lake Superior effect snow, i.e., dumped on.

My kids are quite small, 5 and 2.

I am trying to think of something that is not as expensive as a car/truck that we could get to get us the 1.5 miles in the winter.

In a few years, the littles will be able to snowshoe, DD can somewhat right now... OK, how awesome will be if this happens and when I'm a great grandma, I get to listen to DD telling her grandchildren, "Back in my day in 2012, I had to SNOWSHOE to get to the schoolbus!! Uphill, both ways!" Ha! Sorry, back on track...

So far I have come up with:

- A dogsled. We actually have one, and a well trained dog. I couldn't ride, though, while mushing, unless we got more dogs. And this would only work to drop DD off at the bus and then turn around and go home. I couldn't exactly leave a team of sled dogs at the Park & Ride and then pick them up hours later when I was done with my errands. For sheer storytelling, though, a dogsled is right up there with snowshoeing.

-A snowmobile. But with two kids? I dunno.

-A four wheeler. Again, though, two kids.

Any ideas?

 

[Leta]

Okay, upon rereading, I'm not sure if I made myself clear: I want something that handles the snow better than the typical automobile, and costs less to insure.

 

[pinkfox]

mabe something along the MUV lines (multi utility vheicle) or UTV
some of the side by sides are now available in 4 seater models, but even if not the bed is large enough to easily rig up seats with sports harnesses for saftey... for the older kid to ride quite safely in the back assuming low speed.
and i KNOW you can get a kit for the polaris rzr to rig it as a 4 seater model too!

http://www.sidebysidesports.com/rzr4seatercage.html

there not exactly "cheap" and you could probbaly find a used 4 wheel drive truck for less than youd pay for ne of those things new, but they are good go anywhere work horses great on gas and usually not bad to insure for "farm use" (sports use they tend to be expensive though)

i have seen people rig up "seats" for the cargo rack on the big ATV's but i dont know how much weight the cargo rack can hold so im not sure how much of a good idea this would be...

i know a good carseat would work, so probably untill about 3-4 years old, then your back to the starting point.

if its just a case of the littlest not being able to snoeshoe that far, you could always make a human pulled sled for the youngest to ride while you and the oldest shoed in...? definatly the cheapest way...
another option to this would be to actually sled train the dog (dogs dont pull naturally they need to be built up for it even mushing dogs...) but instead of the dog truly mushing you would snoeshoe walk the dog and the kids would ride the sled the dog would pull...then take the dog into town with you if its salfe and its just for a couple of very short stops and use the sled to haul the shopping home via dog power lol

 

[Britesea]

Trouble is, most Bus systems I know of only allow service animals onboard...

 

[SSDreamin]

A snowmobile would probably be the most practical in the UP. I'm used to snow, but my eyes bugged out with the snow we got when I lived up there! My first shock came when I asked the neighbor why they were putting those extremely tall flags beside all the fire hydrants and he said they sometimes STILL have to dig to just find the flag! If you are rural, the roads may be a problem, even for an ATV. Down here, you can get a sled pretty cheap, can get an attachable pull behind for 'extra' people, and they are keyed so you technically could leave it at the park and ride. I would guess they'd be as popular, or more so, there.

What about cross country skis? Not exactly portable on a bus, but they're usually fairly reasonable price wise.

But mushing would be cool

 

[FarmerChick]

I would go with snowmobile. They have 3 seaters. Sure it would be safe because your speed would be very slow....you would not go full speed with little kids to the bus stop.... You can easily control that speed and it would double as an emergency vehicle if needed in winter, and don't forget, a darn fun toy in winter for everyone!

snowmobile seems to have a few uses....go for it!

 

[Leta]

I don't think I've ever seen a tow behind for a snomobile, which is funny, because I live in the snowmobiling capital of the world. But you can get used snowmobiles here for a reasonable amount of money. And I've actually seen them parked at the Park & Ride, come to think of it.

Cross country skiing is a good one! Same problem with the dogsled, though- what to with the skis if we are going into town?

Our dog is trained to pull the sled. DH did dog weight pulling as a kid, so he trained Nellie as soon as she fit into the harness. She pulls both kids no problem, but two kids + weight of the sled + me would be too much for her for three miles, round trip. So I'd have to be on foot the entire time, running through deep snow. Come to think of it, that sounds like a pretty bad@ss workout, especially for six miles (two round trips) per day. I'd look like a marathoner. Which would be better than my normal winter pudge.

I actually love the idea of a multi utility vehicle. They are kinda pricey, but I could look for a used one, and I don't think I'd be required to insure it. I really like the thought that we could use it around the farm, too. They look like something that could plow the driveway.

I would like to be able to manage with just one car at least until DSS moves in with us full time. I think we can pull it off if we have a method to get to the bus stop. DH works far too early to take the bus, but he is home around 1 p.m., so between afternoons with an available car and bus service close by, I think this is doable.

 

[Leta]

I googled "snowmobile tow behind" and ended up on the Equinox coach trailer website. No wonder I haven't seen one of those before- they're for kids! The snowmobilers that congregate here are far too rowdy to bring children with them! The bars are within stumbling distance of the sled parking area, though, so they get lots of business.

Anyway, those look very, very cool. You can get them for four wheelers, too, which I think would be ideal. My dad might even have his quad still stashed away at my uncle's. It would mean a 1000 mile trip one way to go pick it up, but we'd get to visit my family. I'm sure I could sweet talk my dad into a semi-permanent lend/lease type situation if invoked the name of his precious granddaughter who loves school so much. (Seriously- finger, little, wrapped, to a completely ridiculous degree.) If that worked, we'd have to pick it up, and buy a blade for plowing the driveway and a tow behind to get the littles to/from the Park & Ride. That would be affordable for us, and it would really work because we could use it any time, there wouldn't have to be snow on the ground.

Geez, I love this forum! Y'all are such a fount of information!

 

[Seven Hens Farm]

The "tow behind" sleds are called Cat Cutters I think and are made by Arctic Cat. They even have ones with heaters in them. They have been around for years so I think finding a used one would be easy enough. I guess my first thought about leaving a snowmobile at the park and ride would be 1) if the darn thing would start again and 2) someone stealing it.

 

[~gd]

I don't think I've ever seen a tow behind for a snomobile, which is funny, because I live in the snowmobiling capital of the world. But you can get used snowmobiles here for a reasonable amount of money. And I've actually seen them parked at the Park & Ride, come to think of it. Maybe they have come up with some improvements since I left the Frozen North, but the drive belt on a snowmobile used to throw a lot of stuff out the back, not just snow and ice, but sticks and stones also! We used to ski behind horses using a rig much like water sking. Tried it once behind a skidoo and I have the scars to prove it! Maybe at a lower speed the 'rooster tail' would not be a problem.~gd

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