The '3 Old Guys' and family members look back on epic snowmobile trip from Minnesota to Alaska

Apr. 21—They're home now — their successful snowmobile trek from Minnesota to Alaska in the rear-view mirror — but for the "3 Old Guys" and their families, the stories of that epic adventure, the hardships they overcame on the trail and the people they met along the way are memories they'll treasure for years to come.

The "3 Old Guys," as they dubbed themselves — Paul Dick, 72, of Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Rex Hibbert, 70, of Soda Springs, Idaho; and Rob Hallstrom, 65, of Park Rapids, Minnesota — completed the trek Wednesday evening, April 12, more than five weeks and 5,000 miles after leaving Dick's home March 6.

In the process, the trio — who drove identical Arctic Cat Norseman 8000 snowmobiles — became surprise celebrities, thanks to a

Facebook page that attracted more than 36,000 followers

by journey's end.

"It's almost spooky to us to have this many people watching us," Hallstrom said. "Everywhere we go, people know who we are. It's really different."

A retired electrician originally from St. Hilaire, Minnesota, Hallstrom had launched the Facebook page a few months earlier, mainly for friends and family to follow the trip. But with daily updates from Hallstrom's daughter, Kasie Plekkenpol of Minneapolis, and his wife, MaJeana, the Facebook page took on a life of its own.

Sometimes, Plekkenpol would craft those updates from little more than a few words Hallstrom would send with the Garmin InReach satellite communicator he carried on the trip. She'd often add bits of history about the remote areas the 3 Old Guys visited along the way.

"I would be working all day, and a lot of those posts would take me an hour or two to formulate and so I would often be up till midnight, preparing content for the day," Plekkenpol said.

The updates highlighted not only the triumphs, but the setbacks, such as when Hallstrom's snowmobile caught fire after a stick unknowingly became lodged in the engine while they were clearing brush on a remote trail near Flin Flon, Manitoba. Hibbert's snowmobile caught fire toward the end of the trip, as well, possibly from a pinhole leak in the fuel line, which they fixed by replacing the original fuel line with copper tubing and "some farm engineering," Hallstrom says.

Those are just a couple of examples.

In many ways, Plekkenpol says, those Facebook posts became a lifeline, often drawing the attention of people in remote communities who stepped up to offer everything from northern hospitality to assistance on the trail.

"It took off like wildfire," she said of the Facebook following. "And what I quickly realized was that, particularly after they hit Flin Flon and had the first snowmobile fire, that Facebook was going to be a tool for me to be able to help. And if we could keep the followers engaged and have a support system from back home where we can get in touch with other people, this was really the only way I knew how to keep them safe.

"And so it just sort of spiraled. We are still just in shock at the following they've received."

The original plan had been to snowmobile to Fairbanks, but the trio scrapped that idea the last day of the trip, when the engine on Hibbert's snowmobile locked up a few miles past Circle, Alaska. Hallstrom's machine had broken down the previous day, so with only one snowmobile to carry the three men and three sleighs, the decision was made to round up a trailer and haul the sleds to Fairbanks.

They had crossed into Alaska from Canada's Yukon Territory on Thursday, April 6.

"Our goal was to ride to Alaska, and we were 60 miles from Fairbanks," Hallstrom said. "We didn't feel like we needed to spend a week fixing snowmobiles to ride 60 miles.

"It just didn't make any sense, so we called it a trip."

Despite their experience as long-distance snowmobilers in such grueling events as Alaska's Iron Dog and the Cain's Quest Snowmobile Endurance Race in Labrador, Canada, nothing could match the challenge of snowmobiling to Alaska through some of the most remote, rugged wilderness country in North America, they say.

"Every day or every bend in the river brought up a new challenge, and every leg of the trip was traveling across rivers or lakes or old trails," Hallstrom said. "All of them had a different kind of challenge."

There was no day that was either the hardest or most enjoyable, he says. They spent many nights staying in cabins set up in various remote locations along the trail for use by people in need.

"It was just a super adventure, where it didn't really matter if things were going good or bad," Hallstrom said. "It seemed like you'd go around the next corner, and there'd be a new challenge — something different. It might be easier, it might be harder, but it was constantly changing.

"It's almost like somebody was just throwing up a challenge in front of us constantly."

Still, Hallstrom admits, there were days when he wondered if they'd make it.

"We don't give up very easily, but I know when my sled was on fire, I kind of thought that was going to be it," he said. "I've never heard of a snowmobile that caught on fire where you can survive the fire and keep riding.

"We did that twice, so I think that was kind of a miracle."

The trip had "so many miracles," MaJeana Hallstrom says.

"When they were up in the Richardson Mountains (in the Yukon Territory) and it was storming and it was really bad, they couldn't see the trail, and along comes a native person" to show them the way, she said.

Also, the breakdowns that ultimately led them to end the trip before Fairbanks would have been much worse if they'd happened in the roadless areas they traveled just a few days earlier, MaJeana says.

"These final breakdowns, they all happened on the road, basically, between Circle (Alaska) and Fairbanks, and I think that's a miracle," she said.

The lack of activity on the trails came as a surprise, said Hibbert, a rancher back home in Idaho. But the price of gas and other necessities, coupled with lower fur prices, likely were factors. It wasn't unusual to pull up to a gas pump and spend $500 filling up the snowmobiles and gas jugs.

"You'd get within 20 or 30 miles of a village, and you might run into an old snowmachine track," Hibbert said. "I thought we'd be on more broken trails — trapper trails and stuff — but man, we broke hundreds of miles, 1,000 miles (of trail) and just nobody had been there.

"That was very interesting, very challenging, but I was kind of surprised by that."

Paul Dick, a retired beer wholesaler and elder statesman of the crew, says his riding partners deserve a lot of credit for their GPS skills in navigating the rugged wilderness country.

"There's no way in hell we would have made it without them," Dick said. "I don't even carry (a GPS), but these guys did one heck of a job getting up and around over the Richardson Mountains and a lot of the other areas.

"I mean, there's no way I could have done it without those guys because of their skills."

Waiting for daily updates became a routine, MaJeana Hallstrom says. Updates would then be shared via a group text between about 10 members of the men's families.

For the most part, MaJeana says, she didn't worry too much about her husband and his snowmobile partners, given their mechanical savvy and long-distance riding experience.

"There were times when they were breaking down in the remote areas, and I got very worried," she said. "And then, they would move along a little farther into a more remote area with a storm (coming) and that made me worried because I knew they were going to go into an even rougher spot.

"Before they got to Fairbanks, those last two or three days or four days, it was really tough going as far as weather, terrain (and) snow, so I guess I took it pretty calmly for the most part."

The snowmobilers carried an array of spare parts, but there still were times they needed parts flown into remote areas. That's where Dick's son, Brian Dick of Thief River Falls, came into play. With connections in the snowmobile industry, the younger Dick was able to handle the logistics of getting parts where they needed to go — sometimes through sheer luck and coincidence.

"One guy sends you one way and if he can't help, they try to find another way," Brian Dick said.

Perhaps the most striking example occurred in the remote Northwest Territories community of Inuvik, where Brian was finally able to get spare clutch parts flown in after making numerous phone calls. Long story short, he eventually found Listers Motor Sports, a power sports dealer in Whitehorse, the Yukon Territory capital nearly 800 miles to the south, that was able to scrounge up some parts to get the "3 Old Guys" back on the trail.

A few days later, Brian says, that same dealer took parts from two brand new Arctic Cats of different models that were still in the crates and had them flown to Old Crow, the only community in the Yukon not accessible by car.

"They're amazing people, to do what they did to keep (the 3 Old Guys) moving," Brian said.

Because of that savvy and help from people along the way, there were only a couple of days they weren't able to ride, Rob Hallstrom says.

"A lot of the days were sunup to sundown — very physical riding, so it takes a beating on everything," he said.

Despite the trials of the trail — Hibbert lost 30 pounds, Hallstrom lost 20 pounds and Dick dropped 10 pounds — the 3 Old Guys never had any harsh words along the way, Hallstrom says.

"We got along fine the whole time, and that probably is in large part because none of us can hear each other so it kind of helps," he joked. "You say something bad to your partner, and he'll just respond, 'Yeah, I think I've got enough gas,' or whatever.

"We're pretty lucky that we were still friends after going through all that."

The people they met were a highlight, the 3 Old Guys say — especially in the remote northern communities.

"I enjoyed meeting all the people we did," Hibbert said. "It was mostly First Nations villages (in northern Canada), and they were unbelievable. The same when we got into Alaska, like Fort Yukon. That would have been the first village we came to, and boy, they didn't want to be outdone by anybody, so they were super accommodating."

With the trip of a lifetime behind them,

a meet and greet for the 3 Old Guys is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29,

at the Timberlake Lodge Conference Center in Grand Rapids. The men will share stories from the trip, and the hope is to livestream or record the event to post later. The event is open to the public, but organizers ask that people RSVP if planning to attend in person.

As for the snowmobiles, Arctic Cat is having them shipped back to Thief River Falls, Rob Hallstrom says. A volcano eruption in Russia delayed their flights from Fairbanks, but the trip home for the surprise Facebook celebrities was much less eventful than their memorable journey to Alaska.

"Not only did Facebook blow up for the guys, a volcano did, too," MaJeana joked.

What's next for the 3 Old Guys, only time will tell.

"We don't have any plans for another long snowmobile trip, but I certainly hope this is not my last big adventure," Rob Hallstrom said. "I love adventures and hope to go on many more, but we don't really have anything on the books right now.

"We're just going to drink coffee and read Facebook for a couple of months and think it over."