We got to Big "Mountain", unloaded, and freaking Artie wouldn't stay running on idle. There was blue smoke EVERYWHERE and it smelled like burning ass. Whatever...I was there to have fun! We got geared up, decided to hook up with the random strangers we met in the parking lot, and were on our way. Me and Artie were clicking - and hitting the trail like we had something to prove (and after Monday, I felt I DID have something to prove). I was flying through the puddles, and careening through the huge dips. I didn't get stuck once, I am proud to admit! I had to rock it a few times, and was jumping on the foot pegs to get traction once or twice...but that thing didn't stop once.....until it died.
Yes, that is right...it died. It suffered a long and painful death, followed by a severe boot f*cking by yours truly. I was going through a dip, with water shallow enough that it didn't even soggy up my feet, and the thing stalled out. Or to be more accurate, it coughed and sputtered itself into a coma. There was noooo re-starting it, so we sat. Tom ripped the thing apart, trying to get it working for me again. He had the air cleaner off, the carb tore apart, and the spark plug out...nothing was helping. So, after 45 minutes of begrudgingly trying to bring the little sucker back to life, we all decided that it was no use, and we pushed it into the bush.
We left the little bitch to wallow in it's own self pity, and carried on our way. I was now riding b*tch with Shar, on the back of her Outlander. We had a blast! We rode for almost 5 hours, today...and we didn't get stuck! Actually that's not true...we sort of slid into a huge rut (somewhat reminiscent of Monday - shudder)...but we were getting it out. I was literally hanging, like a chimpanzee, off the right side of it while she was using the throttle, and we were getting it back to level. But I guess Danny is a little high-strung, and he came over and took over. So that was the only mishap we had all day.
We got back to the parking lot, parked the Honda, and Tom rode b*tch with Danny back to Artie. 10 minutes and we were back to his pathetic resting place in the wilderness. (yes, I said 10 minutes!) We dragged his sorry ass out of the bushes, hooked him up to Danny's winch, and dragged his pathetic sack of bolts back. It took a while, as he was holding Danny up in the huge ruts. At one point, Tom was hooked to Danny, and Danny was hooked to Tory. It was quite the spectacle.
We got the POS loaded back onto the trailer, and headed for the river to de-mud before loading. Ya, we got soaked...lots of splashing and squealing...but it was fun!!
And now, here I sit, cold and muddy, and hoping that one day I will make it through the trails all by myself. Make it through with the same quad as I started with, make it through without endangering anyones life (but maybe my own...cuz that's fun!), and make it through without another story to tell about a beast-from-hell that let me down! But until I can afford my own Can-Am, I guess I am stuck with the story telling :)
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