I still had that tree stump from my tree removal project in my yard and my waste service wanted to charge me (in addition to what I pay now) to remove it and I figured there had to be a better way. When I was hunting a couple weeks ago I was talking to my cousin Rob and he said that if I wanted to, I could drive up to his place in St. Michael and dump it in a community yard waste pile and while I was up there I could pick up the “Kitty Cat” and bring it home. This sounded like a good deal to me, so last Friday between wedding activities for a friend that was getting married, I made the trip.
We made quick work of dumping the tree stump in the waste pile (huge relief) and then I loaded up the “Kitty Cat” and I was on my way back home. A very quick turn around.
The “Kitty Cat” is what I would call a family heirloom. It is very important to me and was a huge part of my childhood. By definition the “Kitty Cat” is a 1972 Arctic Cat Kitty Cat snowmobile. My grandfather had the opportunity to purchase this brand new when he worked for Supervalu in Bismarck, ND. They were being given away in raffles in the grocery stores in the area and had an extra which they sold to him.
My grandfather wanted to give the Kitty Cat to his grandchildren to use and pass down from generation to generation. My older cousins Lynn and Rob got to use it first. Lynn used it a little bit, but my cousin Rob was the primary rider of this machine for a while and put many hard miles on it cruising around their family farm.
My grandfather passed away before he had the opportunity to see all of his grandchildren use it, but it was passed down to my brother Michael and I who were the next in line to ride it, honoring his wishes.
Michael and I also logged some serious miles on the Kitty Cat, we had tracks set up in our backyard when we lived in Fargo, ND and also used it at our cabin in Detroit Lakes, MN. We both loved this snowmobile but eventually it got too small for both of us and it was passed on again to my younger cousins Adam and Jordan.
Adam and Jordan may have ridden it once or twice but a 20 year old (at the time) snowmobile isn’t always 100% reliable so once it gave them any problems, it was no longer used. It was returned to us again when they out grew it and in my parent’s basement it sat. It did see some use from my cousin Ian, on my mom’s side of the family for a few years and his father (my uncle) actually took the time to fix it when it broke and keep it maintained. When Ian out grew it, it came back again and sat in my parents basement for a few more years until it was awoken to service a second generation! Great-grandchildren!
My cousin’s step-son A.J. was the next to use the Kitty Cat. Rob knew that my parents still had the Kitty Cat stored and what a great way to keep this tradition going, by starting on a whole new generation. A.J. rode it for a couple seasons, but a now 30+ year old snowmobile that has been in storage more than it has been used is starting to have some minor things go wrong with it and probably didn’t get used by A.J. as much as it did when Rob used it back in the 70’s!
When Rob mentioned that he wanted the Kitty Cat out of his garage I jumped at the chance to drive up and bring it back “home.” Even though my grandfather intended this as a gift to his grandchildren, myself and my parents have always been the caretakers of it and I like having it where I know where its at and it doesn’t run the risk of getting accidentally sold in a garage sale or something. The odds are also pretty good that the next one of the original grandchildren to have kids will be me and Shannon, so now that I got it back, I have a “few” years to get it all fixed up and ready for another round!
So that is the story….or should I say legacy of the Kitty Cat. I just hope that my kids will eventually one day enjoy as much as I did (pictured below) and appreciate where it came from and how much it means to my grandfather, father, and me to see a smile on the face of a child after they do a run around the backyard!
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