Adventures of a sandy kind.

Right about the time when your milk teeth have just popped out, you are bound to do something which is either too cute for words or downright funny. My cute moments have been photographed and the funny incidents are too often repeated and laughed over again and again. The most often repeated story about me is how I would cross a room to get to the other side. 

My sister in her boundless enthusiasm would run across hardly caring whether she fell whereas I would hug the walls and circumnavigate the room rather than cross it without support. I guess I was born with the risk taking gene malfunctioning. Consequently, I have rarely fallen, nor have I have ever got any broken bones or sprains. All I have is a faint discolouration on the knee which I think was a result of me tripping accidently and hitting the same spot twice.

With just minor bumps and bruises and the occasional milk tooth falling out, childhood passed without any major aches or pains. Fast forward to a couple of weeks back. I had finally attempted my first major roller coaster at the age of 27 and fared better than I expected. 

But now a new challenge lay before me. Sand dunes in all their bumpy splendour.

We had gone on a weekend trip to Oregon and we had planned a day at the dunes. We were supposed to ride these All terrain vehicles (ATV) which is a cross between a motor bike and a car on the sand dunes. I had misgivings about this adventure trip right from the beginning.  Initially we had decided on taking one which could seat two, but the price for renting a two seater was way too high. So there was no way out. I had to go solo.

I fitted myself a dusty helmet, a dirty pair of gloves, and a huge pair of goggles. The ATV's were lined up outside in two rows waiting for us.My heart started hammering, and my fingers were icy cold. 

I hung around at the back delaying sitting on the vehicle. Pretty soon there was only one vehicle left for me to climb on. The guys had kindly left me an RTV right next to Reni who was sitting in front of the line. So I climbed on and instantly clutched the handle bars for dear life.

I let go for a few seconds for the ceremonial thumbs up at the beginning before clutching the bars again.

Right about then my instructor yells, pointing at me "Your going to go first!". By some insane twist of fate my line would move out first with me leading. I was prepared to be the last or maybe even a non starter. Mind blank, I turned the ignition and accelerated.  I felt like Nemo (the fish) peering through a glass bowl with bulging eyes. Luckily I was off without any major glitches. I relaxed a minuscule amount.

The vehicle was very inconvenient to handle as it kept going off in every wrong direction. But I was slowly getting the hang of it. The ATV was open, a first for me since I have never driven a motorbike. The dirt roads

were bumpy and the vehicle noisy. But I thought I did better than some of the other guys. Soon enough we were on the dunes with vehicles zooming in every direction. Our group soon scattered and I rode around a bit on flat ground getting a hang of the vehicle while the others zoomed on hills and valleys. Reni would come up to me time to time to check if I was alright. I would nod and he would nod, our conversation

limited by the helmets and the noise from the engine of the ATV and then he would head off again. The second time he came up to me and said something which I couldn't catch and he turned and sped up over a dune. Our pact had been that we would stick together. I thought he had said follow me and therefore I followed.

Thumb on accelerator, eyes focused on Reni I started on my first high speed uphill. Next thing I know I am hitting the ground. I have no recollection of how exactly my feet or my arms left the vehicle, 

but I do believe several of Newtons laws of motion combined forces against me and pushed me over. I looked at the vehicle in a daze as it kind of circled all by itself back to my starting position at the bottom of the dune. Then I looked over my shoulder over the hill, where I had last seen my husband. Only the sand dune stared back mocking me.My first major fall. My left arm was hurting badly and there was sand in my mouth which I couldn't spit out since I was wearing the helmet. As I struggled to get up my first clear thought was that I shouldn't waste fuel. So I got up and switched off my ATV. Since I was still alone , I decided I might as well I would sit on the ATV and wait for someone to show up.

Unknown to me , Reni was coaching someone else under the impression that it was me. But he soon figured out he was talking to the wrong person and started looking for me. He saw me sitting all alone on my ATV apparently unmoving. And as he approached me that's when the tears started sliding down my cheeks.

If I thought on the sand dunes was the end of my adventure I was proved wrong. Getting out of the sand dunes was also a great adventure given the fact that I couldn't drive. It was a sheep, wolf, hay and a river crossing situation. I couldn't drive and I couldn't be left alone. Reni had to drive his own vehicle and we both couldn't drive on one. Fortunately I managed to get back on level ground with some help from others. There ended my adventure on the sand dunes.

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 I got my first X ray taken. I don't remember if I have ever been X ray ed before. A swollen tissue is all what I have, though the ache is still there even now two weeks later. I am never again riding any vehicle that does not have doors or seat belts. If I had the power I would go back and level those sand dunes! I prefer a room with a wall for support any day!