Please Support Me...

I will participate in the Black Woods Blizzard Tour, a 3-day snowmobile event to raise funds to support individuals living with ALS. I need your help to reach my personal fundraising goal. This is a great time for us to work together to support those living with ALS and to spread awareness of the urgency to find treatments and a cure.

Please consider sponsoring me. With your help, we will be able to make a difference in the lives of people affected by this disease. 

Why I Am Riding...

This is my Aunt DJ and Uncle Cheech. Cheech was a butcher, hunter, muskie fisherman, wood cutter, card player, comedian, snowmobiler, UTV rider and so much more. I loved him dearly. In early 2021, he began to lose his balance and have trouble speaking. He was later diagnosed with ALS and started on a decline that robbed him of use of his legs, arms, hands and speech. It didn't, however, rob him of his spirit and he, with the help of DJ and his sons, fought to live as best he could until he passed away in September 2022. 

The ALS Association and his local hospice provided resources that allowed him to live in his home throughout his journey. I am riding to raise money for two reasons: First, to find a cure for this horrible disease. Second, so others afflicted with ALS can continue to receive resources and services necessary for their care and comfort. I ask my friends and family to join me by making a donation in memory of Jim Grauvogl, my Uncle Cheech.

Watch this 30 second video to learn more!

Thank You!

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December 16, 2025 Update

I can’t remember when I last rode my snowmobile on southern Wisconsin trails in December, let alone December 13. On Saturday, I dropped off in Prairie du Sac and took a 65-mile ride out to Denzer, Leland, Black Hawk and Witwen before returning to town and then running over the Bluffs past Devils Lake to Baraboo and back. These are the trails I’ve ridden since I was a little kid with Dad on his 1970 Polaris Mustang. I think of Dad when I pass a certain cedar tree that splits the trail on the Mill Hill. That tree has stood there forever and is a sentimental reminder of the hundreds of times I passed it while riding with people I love over the past 55 years.

And that brings me to Uncle Cheech. He has been gone three years and memories of his ALS struggle are always near. Some are funny, like when he tried to wash windows outside his house and fell. He wasn’t hurt but shouldn’t have been doing it. I teased him that if he really wanted to go into the window washing business, he should buy a van with a rack of ladders on top so he could do it right. He laughed.

Most memories are not funny at all. The disease slowly, progressively took every bit of his strength until he could only blink his eyes to answer questions. That would have been bad enough but he was also in so much pain that Aunt DJ had to give him morphine per instructions from his hospice provider. If there is a good way to die, it’s not the ALS way.

My connection to ALS took on a new dimension when my childhood friends Larry and Sherry lost their 41-year-old daughter Mary in October. Larry and Sherry cared for her at home until the end. I stopped by their house a day after Mary died when the hospice company was loading the equipment needed to care for her. I was reminded that this horrible disease requires a lot of people, supplies and equipment to support a loved one.

So I am again riding in the Black Woods Blizzard Tour to raise money in the fight against ALS. This year’s ride will loop from Duluth to Lake Vermillion to Two Harbors and back on February 12-14, and I ask for your support to fund research, services and equipment for persons and families afflicted by ALS. Please help in a couple of ways:

1. I will again ride with the names of ALS victims written on my windshield. If someone in your life has died from or is afflicted by ALS, please send their name and I’ll add them to my list.
2. Please sponsor my ride through a donation. This is easily done through the Black Woods website at https://www.neversurrenderinc.org/site/TR/Events/General?pg=personal&px=1019323&fr_id=1240.

Thank you for your friendship and support.