If you've seen the movie "UP", you know about the talking dog...and how his attention span is always brought up short when he sees a squirrel.
Well...my Hubby shouts "squirrel!" every time he sees a dirt bike. EVERY time.
He grew up riding dirt bikes, and raced motocross. He misses having a bike. His last bike was his favorite out of the 15 or so that he has owned over the years, but that was nearly 15 years ago!
I've often encouraged him, telling him that we can all ride the four-wheelers, and he can ride his dirt bike, but he always insisted on keeping everything family oriented.
Last summer, when we bought our son a dirt bike, I could see the writing on the wall.
Last Weekend:
I took the kids hiking - which was a little bit of a mistake, as the majority of the trail was either solid ice or slush...but we just HAD to get out of the house. Hubby was working. On the way home, in the car - they were talking about how excited they are to change seasons from snowmobiling to riding wheelers/dirt bikes. I told them that if Daddy wants a dirt bike, he should just buy one, because we don't know if he will get sick like Auntie or not. I didn't continue the thought I was having with them. But - I would HATE for him to get sick and be physically unable to ride in 5 or 6 years, and then regret not riding while he IS able to ride.
I stopped to fill up with gas, and grabbed a mini-nickel and another used-car-newspaper, just in case Hubby could find a dirt bike in them.
Later that evening when he got home from work, he pulled out a few phone numbers.
AHA! THAT explains the evenings I have returned home from 4-H meetings or church night and found the computer on!
I helped him with craigslist, and soon we were looking for his dream bike.
He stopped for a few quiet moments, held my gaze, and explained his reasoning for buying a dirt bike. He has several "slush funds," and one has been sitting in the safe untouched for years. Several years ago he sold his dad a custom saddle, and still had the original cash from that. While it is a good idea to have a slush fund, it is money that is just sitting in the safe. It would be better to use that money to buy a dirt bike that he can spend time with his family, dirt biking with Cody and us girls on the wheelers. I wasn't going to argue with him. Besides, in buying a used bike, the bike has already taken the biggest hit in depreciation, and if we would need the money, then we could sell the bike again. I agreed with him. I told him that I would like for him to have a bike while he is able to use one, since "we don't know what could happen." whether he gets hurt at work, or gets in a car accident....I didn't mention HD, but he knew exactly what I was thinking. I beat around the bush talking about accidents and broken legs. So while neither one of us didn't name the elephant in the room, we both acknowledged his presence. Hubby was pleased that we were "on the same page" and I had to wipe away a few tears. We both knew what the future could hold...and that he should ride while he still could.
It's pretty awesome that we are always on the same page - sometimes without even talking about it. God sure knew what he was doing when He put the two of us in the same room together those many years ago!
We found the bike he wanted and it was still available. The bike had a LOT of extras, but was being sold by an out of work contractor. He was willing to barter on the price with us. Hooray.
Wednesday:
Unloaded the kids sleds off the sled deck...
Thursday:
Friday:
Found all our gear and packed snacks...
This Weekend:
Hubby didn't have to work on Saturday, and we headed to Great Falls, MT to check out the bike. We had a tie strap come loose on the ATV, but managed to tighten it down before we lost it off the sled deck. I climbed up and straightened all the straps out and thought that I would need to pay closer attention in the future. I used to leave this up to Hubby to handle...but he might not always be paying attention anymore...so...mental note to self: double check his tie straps! We found the guy's grain farm and the bike was everything he wanted and more. We came home with SEVERAL boxes of spare parts. After purchasing the bike, we quickly grabbed a subway and headed back out of town towards home!
Hubby is a pretty quiet guy...his sister calls him a "flat liner"...but I knew he was SUPER excited when about every 15-20 minutes he'd say, "well....I'm pretty excited about this..." He also thanked me a couple of times for supporting him...and I choked down my emotions and squeaked out, "I'm just real happy for you to have this bike..."
We pulled into Radersburg (you can't drive past there without stopping to ride!) and unloaded all the toys. We hardly got out of the truck doors and another rider came over to check out his bike! Hubby's cousin was there with his family, and Punkin was so excited to ride her wheeler, she didn't even want to say hi before she took off! I showed her a loop to take and off she went. We got the Little Man lined out to do circles in the parking lot, while I stood there waiting to catch him when he was ready to stop. (His bike is quite a bit bigger than he is, but he should be able to ride it for many years - when he is ready to upgrade, I think I'll keep this one for me!). Hubby took off for a few laps to test out the new bike.
His cousin pulled up next to me on his bike and said, "it sure is good to see him on a bike again!" We agreed that we would HATE for him to have waited 5 or 6 years, and then be sick and physically unable to ride and always regret not riding while he had the chance. It was so great to watch everyone chase each other around in circles. I wasn't fast enough to catch Little Man the first time he FINALLY motioned that he wanted to stop, and his bike landed on his ankle. He toughed it out, though, and kept riding. We worked out a better system to give me a little more warning and I caught his bike every time he wanted to stop. He even got it up into 2nd gear and doing a bigger loop after that. It was just great watching Hubby chase Punkin on her wheeler and take her on a bigger loop, and then come back and follow Little Man around the parking lot. I cherished the afternoon...and didn't want it to slip away, but time has a way of catching up with us.
It was a great day...we finally loaded up and headed home...anticipating the next chance we have to get out and do some riding. We have to figure out how to catch the Little Man, so we can head down the trail...everyone is so excited, we can't seem to talk them into any more snowmobiling this year. hhhmmm...mommy would like to get out on a couple of spring rides still...but I'm being out-voted.
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