Stork Spotted on Gunflint Trail

     It is very unusual for a stork to be seen on the Gunflint Trail especially in the winter.  So I guess you could say Friday, February 27th was an unusual day.

     It started out like any other Friday for most folks on the Trail.  Those involved with the Winter Tracks Festival were a little busier than normal.  Most people were excited for the evening to come with WTIP broadcasting live from Trail Center beginning at 5:00PM.

     I was at Trail Center working the registration table for Winter Tracks.  When my shift was done I sat down with friends to listen to the broadcast and get a bite to eat.  I don’t think I had even ordered my food yet when everyone’s pagers started going off.

     About a dozen people got up and hurried over to the front desk to listen to what the page was for.  "This is the first call for Gunflint Trail First Responders and Ambulance for a woman in labor at Gunflint Lodge."  Half of the people could sit down because they were only trained in firefighting while the other half of us stood anxiously waiting for responders to call in.  Each of us was doing a mental checklist of who was left up at that end of the Trail with the majority of us at Trail Center.

     First Responders and EMT’s began responding in droves.  There wouldn’t be any room for me to get my Stork pin on that ambulance ride because it was a full house.  I didn’t really think the baby was going to come even though her contractions were pretty close together and it was her 5th baby.  The chances of delivering a baby in the ambulance weren’t very good.

     The expectant mother was believed to be a nurse and her husband was trained in the medical field as well.  When the ambulance was within 2 miles of the hospital the baby could wait no more.  The ambulance had to pull over and everyone got a front row seat to the birth of a bouncing baby boy.  The father was in charge as the ambulance crew sat by in awe because they had just witnessed the miracle of birth. 

     I was at Trail Center happily visiting while the miracle happened and so I did not get to see the Stork on the Gunflint Trail.  Disappointment doesn’t come close to what I felt when I realized I had missed out on the chance to be a part of such a thing.   But I had a plan to try to get the Stork to visit the Gunflint Trail more often.

     This baby boy was officially the first Winter Tracks baby, kind of like the first baby of the New Year.  Some people try to conceive so their baby has the chance to be the New Year’s Baby(so I say) so why not convince people to try to give birth during Winter Tracks?  We could offer special rates for expectant mothers in their last weeks of pregnancy.  We could have a lottery type prize like they do for those hole in one tournaments.  If someone did give birth on the Gunflint Trail during Winter Tracks then they would win "x" million dollars. 

     I think my idea is a great one.  Storks should frequent the Gunflint Trail more often so that I can have the opportunity to get my Stork Pin.  It may sound a little unusual and there may be some women who may not want to deliver at the hospital in town since they can’t give epidurals or do c-sections there.  But maybe, you never know.  I know I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open for the next Stork spotting on the Gunflint Trail and I dare anyone to try to keep me out of that rig when the Stork is visiting!