Prom Queen Nominee Turns Tom-Boy

When we were still living in Connecticut, I would ride our ATV (all terrain vehicle) just about every chance I got.  I loved it!  My son and I would head over to a friend's farm because he had a lot more space for us to roughhouse so to speak.  Now, one Saturday my son challenged me to ride it up an extremely steep hillside located at Paulie's.  So off we went and once we were at the bottom, my son gave me pointers along with a whole series of instructions of what to do and what not to do.  "Don't give it a lot of gas, Mom and remember to lean forward towards the handle bars so you won't tip backwards and flip over."  Now that sort of scared me...but, after a little more coaxing on his part, I thought that I was game for just about anything.  I mean I had been riding it for several years.  I mean I thought nothing of cranking up that thing to 40mph when I was racing with my son up in Caanon.  (Note the hair blowing in the breeze!)

I just had never gone up something so steep before and figured it was time.  So, there I was waiting at the bottom while my son made his assent.  Yep, looked easy enough.  I noticed how he threw his body forward just as he crested the top so the front end would, in fact, touch the ground.  I began my climb, being careful not to give it too much gas.  As I got closer to the top, however, and tightened my grip on the handle bars, my thumb hit the throttle a little too hard.  The entire front end lifted up off the ground and I was still a distance away from the top.  In that instant I was really really scared and with all my might I lunged forward!  I seriously thought I was going to go over backwards because back then I only weighed 125.  But, I was able to get the wheels down, up and over just by the skin of my teeth!
Whew!  Another adventure under my belt!

Although I never again tried to climb anything else that steep, I have taken it up the mountain here and have covered some pretty rough terrain with it.  So, the moral to this story is listen to your son when he knows more than you!


P.S.  I really was nominated for Prom Queen when I was in college.  I just didn't win!