Wear a Brain Bucket!

In the late 1970's my Dad worked hard and we played hard too. He had a rail dune buggy that had won the Baja 1000 race. We had multiple motorcycles and he had some 3 wheeled vehicles that had 70 HP Kohler motors on them. We went riding/driving every weekend.

The 3 wheelers weren't really made for off road use. I've never seen anything like them before or since but they were very fast! They had a bucket seat and you sat in front of the big motor. On pavement, if you didn't spin the tires, they would easily beat our motorcycles. Dad loved those vehicles!

We were out at Miller Springs (just below the Belton Dam) and Dad was on his 3 wheeler and I was following him around on my motorcycle. He decided to take off at a high rate of speed and go flying across a wide open area. The grass was tall so you couldn't see obstacles that you came upon until it was too late. We had been punishing his 3 wheeler climbing hills and riding over rocky areas. So we're zooming across this prairie at about 50 mph and I'm right on his tail. Suddenly I can only see a dust cloud in front of me and nail the brakes. The wind carries away some of the dust and I see Dad is upside down still strapped into the 3 wheeler. I ran over to help him and find that he's OK. I got him unstrapped and he climbed out from under the beast, his helmet was scratched almost all the way through. I asked what happened and he had no idea, there was nothing around that he could have hit to make him wreck. Upon further inspection, the 3 wheeler frame had broken and it had fell and planted into the ground catapulting him upside down and sliding through dirt and gravel. If he had not been wearing a helmet..it would have scratched the top of his head completely off.

After seeing that crash, I never even drove the dune buggy without a helmet. It pays to wear safety equipment! More riding/racing stories to come...

Tough Times

Most know that Dad hasn't been doing very well for quite some time now. He has avoided making a will and getting his affairs in order like the plague. This week he decided it's time...I'm hoping that his sudden sense of urgency on this isn't a sign that he's ready to give up. Hopefully, he just finally decided that it would be smarter to have that stuff ready in case something goes awry.

He's been down in the dumps lately because the heat has prevented him from doing much outside. He hates being cooped up! I'm sure that his next project is going to be to see how many people he can get to go to the family reunion in September. Several years have passed since he truly believed that it would be his last reunion. He just keeps hanging in there! The joy that he gets from attending that event and hunting season is his driving force.

I'm lucky to still have both parents and thankful for that. It's been gratifying to see our family pull together to protect and help each other. I plan to post more of the fun stories including Mom and Becky. Check back because I'm trying not to inundate my friends with all my blog posts.