Hello,

I’ve been reminiscing on Ruunaa’s rest day with all its delicious food, drinks and sauna, as well as good service. It’s nice to go back to those moments when you’re trying to get to the top of a forested hill in front of you while pulling the toboggan, or when you’re dressing yourself with woolen interlayer, so that you can withstand the cold and splurge on the food that has been brewing in a thermos.

Here in the terrain, it is difficult to determine the timing of the rest day, because of many variables. It’s a good situation for me, having fully served citizens (pensioners) in my on-call squad, as it’s been a bit easier for them to be able to prepare for a maintenance trip even with a sudden call up. A rough date was scheduled, of course, but while I was rummaging my toboggan somewhere in the Koitajoki terrain, I realized that I only had food left for a few days. In that moment, I sent a message to Sakari Lahti and Eija Vierikko, that I would book a cottage in Ruunaa and they should start preparing for departure, picking up my father-in-law’s van and some equipment and food from my home in Ylistaro. Kari Niemi, the lender of the van, was given an afternoon to empty the car instead of the desired two-day warning period. Apologies.
Fortunately, the father-in-law is used to sudden situations.

The rest day appealed to me also because Esa from Customski would send a serviced pair of skis, aluminum and carbon fiber poles and a new toboggan. Special thanks for customer service!
The toboggan is still Somas, but a newer version. I was particularly fascinated by the shape of the bow in the toboggan, as that might lighten the load. And I wasn’t disappointed, even though I had to pull a toboggan packed so full again, that I could barely lock the straps around it.

All the goods found their way to the rental cottage in Ruunaa; topographic maps, a woollen collar knitted by my wife, items from the Simpele service point mailed by Jorma, camping food, leisurewear, linen and, above all, sausages, beer, danish pastry, lollies and chocolate. The battery tools collected from storage by Heidi were needed to tune the pulling harness, and Saku took a pack of manual ones. As soon as we got to the cottage, Eija inquired about the feeling of hunger, and it became clear to her in no time that the stove and oven should be made hot without delay. Especially when I heard that the food was Karelian stew and potatoes. What a delicious dish Eija had already made smartly the day before, and now that the potatoes were cooked, the food would have become well seasoned and be prepared quickly.
It was good. Indeed. For dessert, coffee with Runeberg tarts, so feeling satisfied was too subdued an expression. Thank you very much to the chef.

The next day was, well, judging by Saku’s scoff, something other than a rest day, but still. Without skiing, at least. There was soaking, fist laundry, drying the tent and zipper lubrication, pulling harness repair, stretching, battery charging, darning woollen gloves (by Eija), checking equipment, treating the new toboggan, and arranging topographic maps for the next stage. Fortunately, on top of this, sauna and the rest of the Karelian stew. These and good company helped with the recovery, even though there was a lot of hustle and bustle all the time.

How nice it was on the cottage morning to put on dry clothes, walk to a ready set table, lower water from the tap into a glass, turn on the coffee machine, take a warm shower and throw yourself into the framed mattress in the evening. Partly to appreciate these ordinary things in life, I keep on going on this journey.

Thank you Eija and Saku for coming to Eastern Finland for a maintenance gig. Thanks to Heidi for knitting the collar and gathering things for me, and to Kari for lending a car and searching for maps.

-Jukka