July 2…. Wheels in the sky

SO FREAKIN’ AWESOME!

Maybe even as good as the helicopter ride!

We are staying next to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, a vast interconnected series of beautiful tan sand dunes, stretching for miles along the Oregon coast.

The area is just criss-crossed with crowds of 4 wheelers and side by sides. Hordes of them. Gaggles. Swarms. Flying every which way, up and down the dunes, and along the trails at the edges. So of course I had to try that.

Susy and I rented a Honda Talon 1000R, a two seat side by side. A screaming beast of a machine. Zero to 100mph in less than a second. Well, it felt like that anyway. 😉

We had to watch a short safety briefing video before riding, and it was designed to scare us out of the madness we were about to undertake. 500 ft tall dunes, with steep cliff-like drop offs, water bogs like tar pits and danger from crazy drivers. Susy came away wondering if what we were attempting was smart.

Once we got out to the staging area, the guy showed us how to start the machine and pointed at the steering wheel and said “Have fun!” Not much preparation required before taking our lives in our hands.

I started slow, just getting a feel for it. Weaving in and out of the entry trails, and easing my way up and down a few dunes. I ended up crossing through a bunch of machines just milling about. Drove through like I knew what I was doing and waved to them. Couldn’t tell if they waved back or showed me the raised finger of friendship.

But then it was time to open it up. Gas pedal to the floor and hang on. Really had to hang on, that thing was fast. At one point I saw 60mph on the gauge, but I was too busy steering and dodging dips and bumps and trees and screaming for the crazy joy of it. My old 4 wheeler would hit 30, down hill and with a tail wind, but this machine was a monster!

Up and down, spinning and twisting, dodging cliffs and bumps and other machines. I was screaming. Susy was screaming. It was a fantastic experience. So very much fun.

We checked the clock and it had only been 30 minutes, we had 90 more to go!! Susy kept asking me if I would have more fun without her, and I kept saying of course not, her joy just makes it that much better for me.

Wellll…. she finally got me to understand she was not screaming for joy, she was honestly terrified. Sobbing and screaming. I guess me driving straight off the cliff one time too many broke her. She had enough. I took her back to the truck and then I kept going.

Up and down and around, full throttle on the open places, dipping and weaving along trails. Taking the trails and curves faster and faster as I gained confidence, I rounded a bend and had to slam on the brakes as another machine came at me head on! We both dug in and slid to a stop, our front bumpers almost touching. Whew! That could have been bad. After negotiating our way around each other on the narrow trail, I decided to move back out to the open area so I would have a better chance seeing oncoming traffic.

Finally it was time to head back, so as I flew up a dune that I had gone across many times already, I was just a few yards left of my previous track and suddenly there was no more dune!! It dropped off hard in front of me! Fortunately only a few feet, but at my speed it was enough to send me airborne. The front wheels left the ground, and immediately started to drop. Then as the rear wheels crossed the peak, the front of the machine slammed face first into the sand. BAM! Then the machine continued over and slammed the roof down to the ground and I briefly registered that I was upside down, but I continued my roll and WHAM! I was back on my wheels!

I had to wait a bit before the stars cleared from my eyes and then to assess the situation. I hopped out, inspected the machine, top to bottom, all around, inside and out. It was still running fine and nothing was broken, including the driver, so I hopped back in and gave it some gas. It responded like normal, no unusual noises, no complaints whatsoever. Disaster averted!!

It took me 10 minutes to make it back to Susy, a distance that would have only taken me seconds before my little crisis.

Such a great day! My back hurts. Maybe I have a concussion. I could have wrecked a $22,000 machine. Would I do it again?? Hell yeah!!!👍