It was a world away and years ago, but I will always have great memories of childhood in small town Wyoming. Even though I am a city girl, I jump at every chance I get to do the things I loved growing up. We have even taken up a new hobby- riding 4-wheelers, and I still end up having accidents. Never bad ones, but I do sometimes end up hurting myself. The last ride we went on I managed to fall off once and hit a tree once. Overall, I was quite happy that was all that happened. My husband got a good laugh about me hitting the tree once he found out I was ok. I was trying to grab the brake but ended up on the gas. Wham! Bent the bumper on my bike and took a good chunk of bark off the tree. I hurt my pride and, thanks to hubby, everyone knows about it.
As a kid we always had motorcycles around and as a teenager we moved out of town and got 3-wheelers. We lived in a little community with about 10 or 15 other families. The other kids had dirt bikes or 3-wheelers a well. Our dog Coco was not fond of kids on motorcycles. A couple of the boys were really scared of her because she would bit them every chance she got. One boy was always around on his motorcycle. We referred to him as "buzz butt". I think Coco chomped him a lot, but it kept him out of our yard.
One day I wanted to ride but I was out of gas. Dad told me to siphon some out of his truck because all the gas cans were empty. I got the section of green garden hose that was cut to size for this purpose. I knew the mechanics of what I needed to do but had never done it. I put the hose in the tank and took a good hard suck on the end of the hose. Wow- it wasn't in the tank far enough so I got a big hit of fumes. I had to lay on the ground for a while to fight the instant head rush and following headache. I tried to put the hose in further but didn't have any success. Dad told me the truck was probably to low on gas to get any out. I have never tried to siphon gas again.
I never got injured beyond some bad bruises and bumps. I learned quickly to keep my feet on the pegs on the 3-wheeler because if I didn't the back tire would grab my leg and throw me off the bike. I landed in a sticker bush once. That sucked. Also, if I was on behind someone and they went up to steep a hill or popped a wheelie I could slide right off the back. When those moments came along I would get up, dust off and get back on. It was fun to be out with everyone. We could ride three at a time on one of the bigger bikes (best to be in the middle or the driver). It was our fall after-school activity. Once the snow came the cold chased us all indoors.
