A Trip of Firsts

As the Mobile Ghetto rolls on down the road to its next destination it gives me time to think of all the first time events. The first time on the road in the new/used fifth wheel, the first time rescuing abandoned kittens and the first time using a hydraulic (#33 Ton) log splitter.  Wow! How much more fun can a guy stand!

The hits just keep on rollin’!  Next stop finds us at our buddy Dave’s new house getting reacquainted with his wife, Penney and two daughters Nikki and Maddi and their new puppy Bucky. Dave shows us his place and away we go. More firsts! We got to go see the girls play on their High School soccer teams. Having never watched High School soccer before it was interesting to watch the difference from Junior Varsity to Varsity. Sort of like watching the Experts vs. Masters at an OTMX race. The Expert/ J.V. are good but the Master/Varsity are just smoother and more polished, interesting.

Next I find out that Wednesday is lawn mowing day and Dave can’t wait to mow the lawn. I find this a bit strange until he busts out his “Lawnmower”. I realize this isn’t really a lawnmower it is smaller version of a NASCAR with blades for mowing! Not only will this thing do about 25 mph in the front yard but it will accelerate, stop and spin a 360 so fast you need a seat belt! Just when I think it may give my KX 450 a run for its money Dave informs me he has ‘tweaked’ it a bit to get more speed out of it. I watch Dave make a few passes roostin’, spinning and cutting lawn scary fast when he pulls up in front of me and says I need to give it a try. I thought about running back to the trailer to get my helmet but jumped on without my safety gear. Holy Schmokers, it is immediately obvious I am not qualified to handle this thing. I give it a few passes to see if I can get the hang of it but wisely decide to give it back before I crash this sucker and end up in the Emergency Room again. Dave takes over and proceeds to set a new neighborhood lawn cutting record lowering his best time from the 32 minute range to just under 30 minutes. I am thinking maybe Penney had better consider getting him a helmet and shoulder pads. Just sayin’.

The next first comes after a trip to the shooting range with our pistols. Dave has been spending some of his spare time teaching his girls to shoot and polishing his own skills with his 9mm. His time on the range has paid off because he is shooting very well and often enough he has gotten into reloading his practice ammo. This is where the first comes in since I have never reloaded before. Being retired law enforcement, along with Dave, I had always shot factory loaded ammo. He has acquired all the equipment to reload his ammo and is willing to give me a crash course in reloading. Interesting stuff but much like the lawnmower I suck at it after watching Dave bust out reloads like a professional. I get enough practice after a few hundred rounds and move from the beginner class to novice in reloading. Like I said, another first.

Between all this fun we manage to get in several mountain bike rides and spend some time playing with their puppy Bucky who seems to never run out of energy. Poor Bucky has to go on lockdown when we go mountain biking unless Cheryl stays behind to watch him. Since he is like having a doggy Dennis the Menace he requires constant supervision. Dave shows me some great mountain bike trails and even gets to expand his horizons when we get dropped off near the top of the mountain and make our way down a trail Dave has not yet ridden called ‘Hard Guy’ which is appropriately labeled #33!  I loved that.  It takes us about and hour and a half to make our way down and another hour and a half to wipe the grin off our faces.

We spend about a week and a half mountain biking, shooting, dog rough housing, soccer watching, dual sport exploring and being exposed to a few more firsts when we finally say good bye to the DeRoco clan and head on down the road. I can hardly wait until next year but in the mean time I need to practice with my pistol and spend some more time on my bicycle if I want to keep Dave in sight. But I think I will pass on the NASCAR mowing because I don’t have ¾ of an acre of lawn to practice on like Dave does.

#33

“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”