Motorcycles!

My husband got up at 6:15 a.m. this morning gathered his motorcycle gear, loaded his bike, picked up his friend and off they went to spend the day riding in the wilderness. He’s not back yet, and it’s 7:00 p.m. They usually stop for dinner on the way home, so no worries.

One time he and a few friends went riding in a mountainous area. They went a little too far and realized they were going to have to ride back to the staging area in the dark. It was about a 2 hour ride back and the roads looked a lot different in the dark. Therefore it turned into a 4 hour journey. One that my husband doesn’t want to repeat. Yes, they had a GPS (Global Positioning System), and the little black arrow pointed them back toward camp. But it didn’t really tell them which of the several crisscrossing dirt roads to take through the various mountain ranges. I started getting phone calls from wives about 8:00 p.m. “Have you heard?”

Tom told me later, he started to get nervous when they realized their gas tanks weren’t going to make it. And their water was getting low. We often talk about what we’d do if we got stranded somewhere. We always carry matches, emergency blankets and granola bars in our backpacks. But one never thinks it will really happen. Prayers were breathed as they paused for a moment to discuss directions and discern their situation. They decided to keep going for a bit longer. A few minutes later they saw headlights on the road in front of them. An old truck rattled toward them. They flagged the driver down and asked him if he had any gas. “Nope. This thing runs on diesel.” When they told him about their situation, he said, “follow me…I have some gas at my cabin”. The driver led them back to his cabin (out in the middle of nowhere) and poured gas into their tanks. “You parked your truck WHERE?” He refilled their water supplies. “You’ve got a long way to go yet.” They finally got back to the truck about 11:30 p.m.

Oh…Tom just walked in the door. He looks like he's in one piece. He is telling me they rode in the Copper City area and went about 91 miles today. He rode his friend’s KTM525. (Tom's bikes are a KLX300 and a WR250)

Well…I haven’t gotten to the subject of parenting yet...but I will soon. My oldest son, who moved out a couple of months ago, just called us. It seems his car is having problems. And he is low on money. I’m always praying for wisdom in knowing how much to help a 19 year old and how much to let them figure out on their own.