They became social media celebrities during their snowmobile trip from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to Fairbanks, Alaska, a trek of some 5,000 miles, in March and April 2023. Now, the “3 Old Guys” – Rob Hallstrom of Park Rapids, Minnesota; Rex Hibbert of Soda Springs, Idaho; and Paul Dick of Grand Rapids – are gearing up to hit the trail again.
This time, the snowmobiling seniors are steering their sleds – snow conditions permitting – from Grand Rapids to the eastern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, a distance of “between 3,000 and 4,000 miles,” Hallstrom said.
ADVERTISEMENT
If all goes according to plan, they’ll hit the trail sometime in February and complete the trip in three or four weeks, traveling about 200 miles each day.
In the meantime, they’re hoping for more snow.
“Overall, the snow has not been very good,” Hallstrom said. “Snow is pretty iffy. Just taking off in Minnesota here, I think it’s going to be touch and go.”
At 67, Hallstrom is the youngest of the crew; Hibbert is 71, and Dick is 74.
Smoother sledding
While the trip to Fairbanks was a test of man and machine that required bushwhacking through extensive areas of wilderness, the trio this time will ride an established network of snowmobile trails.
From Grand Rapids, they’ll head south around Lake Superior, cross into Canada “someplace by Sault Ste. Marie” in Michigan and ride through Ontario and northern Quebec, Hallstrom says, following the north side of the St. Lawrence Seaway all the way to the Labrador coast.
ADVERTISEMENT
Or, at least as close to the coast as the snow will let them go.
“Last time, we were trying to find a trail or route through the wilderness,” he said. “This time, we might be trying to chase snow and find routes that have snow on them.”
They’d hoped to make the trip last winter, Hallstrom says, but lack of snow forced them to put the adventure on hold.
“It was really frustrating, and this year hasn’t been much better, but at least we have a little bit of snow,” he said. “They are starting to get some snow on the East Coast now, so that’s good.”
Appetite for adventure
A retired electrician who lived in St. Hilaire, Minnesota, as a teenager, Hallstrom’s appetite for adventure dates back at least to his early teens and winter camping trips with a buddy to the Fourtown, Minnesota, area at the edge of Beltrami Island State Forest, his wife, MaJeana Hallstrom, said. As a teen, Hallstrom and a friend took the ferry from Grand Marais, Minnesota, to Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior to hike and camp.
He also worked as a wrangler for a hunting outfitter in Alaska (driving a Ford Bronco from Thief River Falls), made several canoe trips with friends and family to remote parts of Canada and once rode the 3,000-mile Canada-to-Mexico Continental Divide route on a dirt bike with two other motorcycle adventurers, she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
To name just a few.
“In 2018, he and I drove our modified 1972 Ford Bronco 6,000 miles round-trip from Minnesota to La Paz, Baja, Mexico,” MaJeana said. “We met up with 12 other vintage Bronco enthusiasts in Yuma, (Arizona), where the Baja adventure began.”
More recently, the 3 Old Guys snowmobiled from Grand Rapids to Churchill, Manitoba – and back – in 2019. They also have raced in Cain’s Quest, an endurance snowmobile race in Labrador that’s more than 1,800 miles long.
“All three of us have competed in that a number of times, so we’ve been out (to Labrador), but we’ve never driven snowmobiles all the way there,” Rob Hallstrom said. “And there are so many famous riding areas. The U.P. (Upper Peninsula) in Michigan is famous for snowmobiles, and Quebec, especially, is known for its beautiful trail system.”
About the snowmobiles
The 3 Old Guys will drive Arctic Cat 600 Riot snowmobiles, which Hallstrom describes as “sportier” than the Arctic Cat Norseman sleds they drove to Churchill and Alaska.
“The (Norseman) was more of a utility sled,” Hallstrom said. “This one is not a utility sled.
“We’re kind of excited to try it out. We’re also not used to riding it, so we hope it works out good for us. I’m sure it will.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Because they’re riding on established trails and expect to stay in towns along the way, Hallstrom says they almost decided to travel without sleighs for the upcoming trip. Ultimately, though, they decided to pull sleighs to carry enough gas for daytime refueling stops and avoid the hassle of trying to find gas stations in the middle of the day.
They’ll fuel up the sleds and the gas jugs in communities where they stay each night. “Just in case,” they’ll also carry sleeping bags, Hallstrom says, but don’t plan to bring a tent or wood stove.
“We just don’t see any reason to have it on the trail system we’ll be (riding),” he said. “We’ll be coming into motels at night, things like that. ...
“But you never know what’s going to happen – that’s what makes it an adventure.”
‘Very accustomed’
Their spouses “are pretty used to us” making trips like this, Hallstrom says. No surprise that, perhaps, considering all of the adventures he’s had over the years.
“My wife just kind of rolls her eyes when I start bringing out the maps or something,” he said. “She knows I’ll be doing something.”
Over the 45 years she’s been “hanging out” with him, MaJeana Hallstrom says her husband “most certainly” has given her reason to worry from time to time.
ADVERTISEMENT
“My mind has imagined grizzly bear attacks, taking a canoe over an unexpected waterfall, going through the ice, having a medical emergency in the bush, and, of course, freezing to death,” she said. “When they took their trip to Churchill, he added a new one to that list: They met up with a wolverine.”
Still, MaJeana says, she has become “very accustomed” to his adventures over the years.
This trip seems mild compared with some, she says, and Rob spends “hours and hours” meticulously planning the trips he takes – route mapping, contacting local snowmobile clubs, making arrangements for lodging, finding points of interest and making phone calls.
MaJeana says she’s most worried when Rob seems uncertain, as was the case before the 2023 Alaska trip, when he expressed concern about crossing the Richardson Mountains, a rugged mountain range in northern Canada between the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
The number of followers the 3 Old Guys have accumulated on Facebook and the information people share also has helped alleviate concerns, MaJeana says.
“Right now, I think the only uncertainties they have going into this trip is running out of snow and how they are going to get the snowmobiles back to Minnesota,” she said.
Initially, Rob Hallstrom said he didn't think Arctic Cat would be able to haul the snowmobiles back to Minnesota, as they did after the Alaska trip, but he learned Friday morning, Jan. 31, that the company indeed will be able to bring the sleds back.
ADVERTISEMENT
That came as a pleasant surprise, he said.
Facebook updates begin
As with the Alaska trip, Hallstrom’s daughter, Kasie Plekkenpol, will post regular updates on Facebook, with highlights from the 3 Old Guys’ time on the trail, and historical and background information about the stops along their route.
Perhaps they’ll build even further on the celebrity they gained during their trip to Alaska. The 3 Old Guys Ride Across North America Facebook page has more than 40,000 followers.
Truth be told, Hallstrom says, he’d just as soon “fly below the radar” a bit.
“We didn’t plan on that happening – it just happened,” he said of their Facebook celebrity. “And on that trip, it was extremely important, because we would come into a town of 300 people that doesn't have a hotel at dark and need a place to stay and need something to eat. And because of Facebook, they knew we were coming, and they would be welcoming us. It was just unbelievable.
“People definitely know who we are.”
Editor's note: This story was updated Friday morning, Jan. 31, to reflect that Arctic Cat will be hauling the 3 Old Guys’ snowmobiles from Newfoundland and Labrador back to Minnesota, upon their completion of the trip.
The Trust Project
