Update From the Country!

Greetings to all of my family and friends! I pray you had a wonderful week-end! It was a long week-end for my husband and I. We took off for the dunes in Florence, Oregon on Thursday morning and got back yesterday. 

We had a great time. The weather was perfect for the coast. We had mostly sunny skies and the temperatures were in the mid-60's. We had a one morning when it was cloudy, but the clouds burned off by noon. 

I tried to tweet something everyday to keep those of you who follow me on Twitter, updated. 

Unfortunately we forgot the cameras so the pictures you are seeing here are from last year. They give you a little idea of how beautiful it is there. 

This is a picture of the campground. It's a real nice place. My husband belongs to the Odd Fellows organization, this is their campground there in Florence. There is nice restroom facilities with showers for those who camp with tents. And if you camp like we do, with a camper trailer, there are hook-ups for those.  It's a real family type place. There isn't a bunch of rowdiness and it's pretty much all quiet after 10-11pm.

Here is a great picture of the ocean. There is a lot of beach that ATVs can go on. It was quite fun riding on the beach along side of the ocean. There was a lot of different types of ATVs out there.

Here is another shot of the beach and ocean with the dunes in the background. I am glad my husband had these pictures on the computer otherwise I wouldn't be able to show you even these!


I promise to not forget the cameras next time! Or the batteries for them!


We did have a wonderful time though. I have never been to the dunes so it was quite the experience for me. And being a beginner rider on a quad it really was different than riding around here at home in the dirt. But I am told that sand quadding is much different then dirt quadding. 


Ever since that fall Calvin and I took a couple of months ago I have been pretty freaky about going up and down hills here at home. There I had to go down and up quite a number of them. However, if I could, I would go around a small dune if I felt the pitch was too much for me. There are a couple of places I wouldn't go to at all because it scared me so. 


The one place everyone likes to go to is Competition Hill. That is a BIG dune! And people ride down it and come back up it all day long. I will have a picture of it next time, so you can see how big it is. I stayed on the top and watched people. 


There is also a place where experienced riders go, they call it the Tree Shot place. It has very steep trails that circle around trees and down at the bottom of the trails the sand is very, very soft and lots of people get stuck or fall off of the trail and have to be winched out. The boys (Calvin and our son Nathan) loved it. They even helped a couple of other riders who got stuck.


I did pretty good for a beginner. Managed to stay on the quad all of the times we went out. I even went down some of the trails that I couldn't do the first day out there. Then.... there was Sunday..... our last ride out until our next visit..... What can I say? My darling husband, who knew I was fighting the fear of tipping, falling, flipping end over end.... you name it..... took us on a trail through some trees. We were going to go down to the lake behind the campground. I had been doing real good. I even did some baby loops on the side of one of the dunes. We were going along at a pretty good clip, not too fast, and I saw a root from one of the trees sticking out. I just knew it was going to get me. So.... I tried to avoid it.... the quad started tipping to the left, my foot fell off the peg, I am squeezing the clutch handle and the brake handle trying to get the quad to stop, I ended up getting sucked under the quad. The quad ran over my left leg and shoulder. I don't remember hitting the ground. But I remember getting ran over. That hurt like crazy. 


Calvin, Nathan, Kerry and his son Brodie were there beside me instantly. At least it seemed that way. My dear husband was scared to death! So was my son! Nate said he just stopped his quad and he jumped off it and ran to me. He just knew my quad was sitting on top of me. It actually rolled a few feet away from me. After making sure nothing was broken (and nothing is, just badly bruised) they helped me up. I drank some water. Then found a bush to tinkle behind. (I'm surprised I didn't tinkle my pants when I fell!) Then I went back to the root and kicked it! I know, I know, it didn't do much good, but it helped me feel better. Unfortunately it was buried at the other end, otherwise I would have pulled it out of the ground so no one else would get hurt. After looking around, we could see other quad riders had gotten into accidents at that site. 


I get back on the quad and we start out again. So now I am pretty shaky, taking the turns real careful and what happens? I took a turn, my front wheel gets hooked up and I crash into another tree! I end up bending the tie rod. My husband, such a patient man, takes a branch and somewhat straightens out the tie rod. Nathan rides it down to where Cal was parked, and we abandon our ride down to the lake. I had had enough. I was hurting. Now my left thumb was jambed, along with jerking my already sore left shoulder. I just wanted to get back to camp and be a big baby. 


Actually I was hurting pretty good and knew I couldn't take another accident, no matter how minor it was. So my sweetheart took me back to camp and left the rest of our group out there playing. Only when we get there, Nate had already beat us to camp! Come to find out, we had an hour to get everything loaded and packed and out of there. Our time was up.


I was sad that we had to leave. But at the same time, I was glad to be headed back home. 


We pulled into the driveway around 5:30pm last night. After partly unloading the camper, Cal and I took the little car down to the grocery store to buy some dinner. We barbecued some hamburgers, ate left over potato salad. Then we sat in the hot tub for about an hour. Afterwards we watched the 10 o'clock news. Then we crawled into bed, kissed goodnight and it was snoring happily ever after... or at least until 6am today. 


So now we are back to reality. No more fun in the sun for awhile. Unless we continue to get good weather here at home. It's a little cloudy today, but the temperature is nice. 


Next time I will have a better plan for the dogs as well. They did go with us, but I felt bad because they were either locked in the kennel, stuck on a leash or locked inside of the camper. I am going to find or make a little pen for them to stay in, outside. One with a cover to keep the sun off of them. That way they can be outside and not have to be on a leash. They will like that better, as well. 


I hear my dryer has stopped, so it's time to fold clothes. It's crazy how sand gets into everything! 


I do hope everyone had a good weekend. And thank you for those of you who prayed for our daughter, Jennifer, this weekend. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. She is getting some more testing today, so far the baby is looking good. 


Until I write again, may the Lord bless you and keep you and your family safe.


Oh, by the way, if you want to, you can receive this blog via email. Just put your email address in the box to the left where it says to subscribe. You will receive an email every time I update this blog. I promise not to fill your mailbox with a ton of emails! So, do take advantage of this convenience. And as always, I welcome your comments!