FREEPORT – Duncan Daly of Freeport likes to “putt along,” as he puts it, when he takes a ride through the woods on his snowmobile. Daly, president of the Tri-Town Penguins Snowmobile Club, says that way, he gets a better appreciation of nature.

“I might see a moose lying in the snow,” Daly said. “Some people will tell me, ‘I didn’t see that.’ I’ll tell them they were going too fast.”

Daly, 65, a 1968 graduate of Freeport High School, began snowmobiling when his children were young, at the old Sand Farm, which is near the Desert of Maine. His wife, Martha, rides along from time to time.

“I like getting out and being in nature,” said Daly, who works as a mechanic for the Lisbon Public Works Department. “I just putt along.”

The club has started its monthly schedule, meeting the last Tuesday of each month from September to April, at 7 p.m. at the Durham Fire Station, 615 Hallowell Road. New members are welcome. Daly invites anyone with questions regarding the club to call him at 865-6188, or trail master Bernie Coombs at 725-4621.

He answered questions for Tri-Town Weekly regarding the Tri-Town Penguins and what its members do.

Q: What do the Tri-Town Penguins do for functions, and how often?

A: In the fall and winter we meet the last Tuesday of the month, at the Durham Fire Station, at 7 p.m. In the spring, we’ll have a landowners’ appreciation dinner. We’ve been doing this for three years now. We want to show appreciation for them letting us use their property. And we have club rides.

Q: Any new trends in snowmobiling?

A: Not too much. The sleds get faster and faster, and we hope people use common sense when it comes to speed.

Q: Where are your trails?

A: Freeport, Pownal and Durham. They’re all just club trails, but they interconnect to places like New Gloucester, Auburn and Poland. We’ve had people who have gone to a camp in Temple.

Q: How many are in your club? Are the numbers going up or down, or about the same?

A: It goes up and down a little bit every year, but it’s between 25 and 30 members. We have five business memberships, like the North Freeport Store, that help us out with expenses. He has a big parking lot and he plows the whole thing so snowmobilers can park there.

Q: Do you go on long trips? If so, where and what do you do?

A: I have a hunting camp down in Washington County. We’ll do a friends’ drive, and drive up there with our sleds. We’ll drive by car 500 miles on a long weekend, like Presidents Day weekend. We’ve done as much as 200 miles in one day.

Q: How do you raise money, and how much do you need to keep the club going?

A: There was a substantial amount in the checkbook when I took over. We have $20 in dues per family and $35 for businesses. Some is for us, and the rest is submitted to the Maine Snowmobile Association.

Q: How much time do club members spend grooming trails?

A: We have three people who do that a lot. Two of them are retired, Richard Dyer and Robert Greenleaf. Wayne Franklin still works. We have other people who do it, as well. It depends on the snow conditions. Sometimes the three of them will spend 10 or 15 hours a week, and maybe more. We do get some reimbursement from the state at the end of the season. Everybody uses the trails. On Sunday mornings, we make sure the trails are free from blowdowns, and safe. We put bridges back and repair them after heavy rain.

Amelia Bowie hitches a ride on the sled of her grandfather, Duncan Daly of Freeport, who is president of the Tri-Town Penguins Snowmobile Club.