The Camping Chronicles: 4 Wheeling

My dad brought 4 ATV's camping. It seems like we went to the perfect spot for the ATV's, as there were trails for them everywhere. Every other camper there had 4 wheelers and/or motorcycles. It was great fun having them there. The one latrine was a long walk away from our camp, so having the ATV's was very handy for going to the bathroom.

Morgan and the cousins LOVED having rides on them. It didn't matter who was driving it, Morgan wanted to go with. Here's Morgan and Mattie with Grandpa.

Anna and Mattie with Aaron.

Morgan with Grandma.

On Friday Aaron and I went on a nice ride with my parents. We choose a trail to follow and followed it. It was pretty and fun. We followed a trail that pretty much was sideways. Meaning, the wheels on the down side of the mountain were a foot or so lower than the wheels on the upper side of the mountain so you had to sit on the side of the 4 wheeler because that was now on top and you didn't want to topple down the mountain.

Here I'm looking goofy and getting ready for that ride.

Here's a photo that my dad took of me while we were 4 wheeling.

My mom! A pro.

This was first thing Friday morning. A bathroom trip was necessary so Steph and I, with our sons, piled onto a 4 wheeler to hasten the trip to the latrine. As I said, first thing in the morning, so don't judge me too harshly for my appearance!

After 4 wheeling that night as we sat around the campfire I decided it would be a fine time to make a confession to my parents. All of my siblings knew about this. It was something that my parents didn't need to know until enough time had passed. Here is the story we told.

Four years ago Aaron and I started liking each other. For an excuse to hang out with him I invited him and his sister Chanel to go 4 wheeling with me and my brother Chris. We only had 2 ATV's at the time so we would have to double up. This, of course, was all part of my plan. I would ride with Aaron and Chanel with Chris. We just went to a place down a canal road near my parents home. The location had a couple big hills with steep tracks. I'd been there before and was too afraid to go up the steep hills on the 4 wheelers because it always felt like it would tip over backwards. So Aaron was driving this machine for the first time, and I rode in the back. He came to the steeper of the hills and started up. I wanted to impress him so I wasn't about to tell him how frightened he was making me. Up he went. He was in 2nd gear and we were losing speed in the little 2 wheel drive ATV. Right when we were nearing the very top it got steeper for about 2 yards. We needed more power so Aaron down shifted. His thumb was still on the throttle full force so we got the power! The power made the 4 wheeler flip over backwards. I remember it all so crystal clear, like it all happened in slow motion. I fell off onto my back into the dirt on the slanted slope. Aaron immediately fell onto me, squishing the air out of my lungs, and then comes the 4 wheeler over the top of him. But before it could fall down the hill end over end, Aaron pushes it off to the side.
Meanwhile, Chris is up on the bluff enjoying the view of Lake Lowell when Chanel calmly points out that we were no longer upright.
After the 4 wheeler was securely off of us Aaron hurries off of me and apologizes and asks how I am. Well, my back hurts a bit, but I say I'm fine, scramble to my feet and ask after the condition of the 4 wheeler. Later I realized that I really should have asked Aaron if he was okay. :) But with the help of Chris, he and Aaron push the ATV up the hill and it starts. My back had a pretty good bruise, and I think Aaron scratched his leg, but other than that there was no evidence of an accident, so we felt no need to report our blunder of inexperience and fear to the parental units.
I'm happy to report that they took the news rather well. No one was grounded or anything. In fact, they even let Aaron, Chris and I go on another ride the next morning. Perhaps we will confess something else in another 4 years.