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	 	 VAST
	 	 VAST NEWS
NEWS
GOVERNOR PHIL SCOTT HITS THE TRAILS: “ABSOLUTELY PERFECT” 
SNOWMOBILE RIDE THROUGH NORTHEAST KINGDOM
By Dan Johnson
So how cool is this... The Canaan 
Border Riders were contacted by Joe 
Flynn, who is secretary of the Agency 
of Transportation for Gov. Phil Scott. 
He asked if we would like to help with 
setting up the governor’s “Capital 
for a Day” agenda. This includes a 
snowmobile ride with a few cool stops 
along the way.
I contacted John Hull, president of the 
Northeast Kingdom Snowblasters, 
and Chris Roese, president of the 
Brighton Snowmobile Club, to plan 
our three-club route together. Amanda 
Wheeler, who is Gov. Phil Scott’s press 
secretary, then informed me of the 
stops we needed to incorporate and 
the times we should be at each stop. 
Side note... trying to keep politicians 
and their “people” to a schedule is 
near impossible!
With the task of building a route 
behind us we then got ready for the 
day. It was agreed we would start 
our day in Island Pond and decided 
to meet at the Kingdom Market. 
The scheduled time of departure 
was 8 a.m. sharp!! Gov. Scott pulled 
in towing his own sleds behind his 
own pickup and got unloaded. We 
promptly left at 8:27!!! (See side note 
above)
Chris Roese led us out of Island Pond 
with John Hull behind him, then 
myself, the governor and his daughter 
Erika, Krista, CBR secretary and first 
lady, 20 sleds of the governor’s inner 
circle and three of my buddies to trail 
behind and keep everybody in the 
group and on the right path.
The trails leaving Island Pond were 
immaculate. Freshly groomed with an 
inch of powder on top and covering 
the bows of all the trees. Crisp and 
beautiful! When we got to the NEKSB 
trails John took over the lead and 
moved the governor to second in line 
to quicken the pace. The group snaked 
through the woods on untouched 
flawless trails, only stopping long 
enough at each intersection until my 
buddies gave us the thumbs up that 
the group was intact.
We arrived at East Branch & CBR trails 
and I took the lead. I asked Gov. Scott 
if he was ready and he smiled and said 
let’s go. Any of you who have ridden 
the famous and newly reopened East 
Branch know that its aura just entices 
one to pick up the speed a bit. Well, 
every time I turned around to look 
how Gov. Scott was doing, he seemed 
to be pushing my bumper in an 
attempt to get me to go a little faster. 
Who am I to say no to the governor of 
Vermont!!
“Govna” can ride!!! When we got to 
the end of that trail and we had to wait 
a few minutes for the group to catch 
up, I asked him “how was that.” He 
said with a very big smile... “I used to 
race sleds... oval track. But these trails 
are amazing and so much fun!!!”
The sunshine lit up the sky as we 
made our way into Canaan, dropped 
Gov. Scott and his detail off at the 
school for a tour of the DEC program 
and the rest of our group made our 
way to the Time Out Tavern. Jen and 
Dave opened early so we could stage 
there while we waited for the tour to 
end. Jen put out a wonderful selection 
of light morning foods and drinks 
for us to enjoy. Amanda’s schedule 
dictated we leave by 10:45. Gov. Scott 
came up, had a quick bite, met and 
thanked Dave and Jen and we were 
off... 11:17!!!
While we were lining up to go the 
governor asked me if I thought he 
needed gas. I told him if you were full 
when we left you SHOULD be fine 
and off we went. (OOPS!)

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