Surprise Party and Quad Problems

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

 

I think she found the perfect spot for the picnic table.

Sunday was quite a day.  We learned a lot about our recent purchases of equipment and toys we had planned on taking south.  Please notice that I used the past tense of the word plan. I’m going to guess that you’ll be able to figure out where this blog is going to take you.

First I’ll start with the surprise part of the day. We were sitting in this huge, huge field with lots of dead flowers and overgrown weeds.  Now what would you think if I said the spot was perfect even though the field had a tremendous need to be mowed?  Well, It was perfect because who in the world other than us would do this?  I'm guessing not very many.  A picnic table was set up with chairs all around it.  McDonald’s was the food of choice.  Then, the surprise part started.  Everyone started singing Happy Birthday.  Now I know these people well because they are family and I knew no one was having a birthday but I sang along with them for just a bit anyway.  Then, I realized it was my birthday they were making a fuss about!  However, it just happens to be well over a month.

Check out the little decision maker they felt I needed.  Who?  Me?

It was a surprise birthday party since we would be heading south and they wouldn’t be able to share it with me.  What a surprise it was all the way down to cupcakes, banners, the birthday crown, the Birthday Babe necklace and presents!  Now was that ever fun?  It was!!  I didn’t know what they had planned.  I just knew that they had planned a family outing.  Surprise!!  I’ve always said holidays and special events can be anytime and anyplace as long we get together.  Well, this was absolutely a first and I'm sure one I'll never forget.  Some people go to fancy restaurants for special occasions.  They took me to a weeded field but I wouldn’t have swapped for anything.

We had a fantastic day riding quads.  The location was perfect.  The ground was fairly flat so there wasn’t much chance of real big ruts or rocks.  What we did discover is that the perfect little side-loading trailer that we just had extra work done on wasn't going to work …. at all!!  It'll load but it's a little light and not a simple thing to get the quads on and off.  It's actually a little tricky over the wheel because it’s just too narrow for a side-load and too short.  Then, I'm not so sure about hauling it the distance we talked about hauling it.  Obviously, we have a slight dilemma.  Slight dilemma is a gross understatement if we intend to take them south with us.

Posing

Now that wasn’t the only thing I determined.  I discovered that the perfect little quad that I knew would be ideal for me was just a little bit lighter than I really cared for.  I also discovered the lighter and smaller the quad, the more the body gets tossed around and that doesn't make for a very comfortable ride unless pavement is what you’ll be riding it on.  Don’t even ask about my back.

We’re not sure what we’re going to do.  Every solution we’ve come up with means a bushel full of more money.  We could have this little trailer made more secure but then we’re talking $$ and we still have only one little trailer.  We could get a bigger trailer but then we’re talking $$$ and two trailers.  Once the trailer problem is solved, we still need to deal with the smaller quad.  I could keep it one year and try it.  We could leave it here and buy another one down south ($$$$$).  Or, we could sell it and buy another one after it sells ($$$).  The other thing is we could just forget them this year and put the package together in 2012.  I think you get the point.  The little decision maker I was given as a birthday present didn't offer these answers on the little spinner.  I wonder if they can take it back.

Obviously, we’re a little frustrated.  It's way past time to head south.  We thought we were going this weekend.  Well, guess what?  We're not.  We have a couple problems to solve first or are they just issues? We’ll certainly be watching the mountain weather now a little bit more.   We'll see where it goes from there.  In the meantime, we're in the same location and we may be tethered to this place for a while longer while we work this out.  Maybe we just need a good warm beach and forget about them for now!

Getting instructions