Good times, good times....

Well, here I am yet again with another post about my weekend I spent outdoors. Saturday morning, we had a yard sale at my mom's house. I spent a few hours working with that, and then I get a text message from Troy. It's somewhat of a joke....it talks of the activities that will take place at the Reed Farm. There was mudding, fishing, swimming, etc....come to find out, everyone was really wanting to go mudding. It had come a monsoon earlier in the day, so the opportunity sounded perfect! Well, I get a call from Tiffini, and she says "Are you gonna go with me so we can get ourselves a 4-wheeler? How can we go mudding if we don't have a 4-wheeler?" I'm a little stunned by what she has just asked, so I'm thinking "this has to be a joke". I had to hang up and promised to call her right back. I approach Kevin and ask him what he has up his sleeve. He is absolutely clueless. So I tell him to call Tiffini back and see if she is serious. That was a mistake, because it turned from me and Tiff getting 4-wheelers to him wanting Troy on the phone. And all the sudden I hear "Why don't we give them our 4-wheelers and get ourselves new ones?" WHAT? No way.... This is about me and Tiff. I just had the rug pulled out from under me and now Kevin is getting a new 4-wheeler? I don't think so.....
Troy, Tiff and Cierra come to the house to pick Tucker up (he had spent the night with us), but when they get there, Troy says that a car lot in Ardmore has some 4-wheelers for sale. He and Kevin take off and before I know it, I am the proud owner of a new 4-wheeler. Yea, he ended up getting one for me instead of for himself. It was my Mother's Day gift! Thank you dear!
Ok....so later on, we go to Troy and Tiff's to go mudding. The Hutcheson's are also there. Troy has an old Jeep that we can use to go mudding, but it's a stick shift. Tiff can't drive it, so I am the one who gets to drive it. We're using the Jeep so we can haul half of the children that are there. But first we have to get gas in it, and there is also a tire that is low on air. So the women load up to go.
Julie hops in the back seat and ends up sitting in something wet, so her entire hind end is soaked. Tiff gets in, and I climb in the driver's seat....and "flop"! The back of the seat flies back and I'm sitting way back like I'm about to drive through the hood, speakers thumping. We laugh til we're crying almost. We're ready to go, but where's the key. We look through the mud and pile of leaves, and rocks, and dead carcases that are in the Jeep to try to find the key. Oh, there it is....hanging from something on the rear view mirror. I grab it, and try to put it in the ignition. It won't fit. "Why is this not working?" Am I that stupid? Tiff looks at the key, and says it's not the Jeep key. So I put it back where I found it and notice that it came from a padlock that was hanging on the mirror. OMG....I AM that stupid! :) So once again we laugh about that!!!! OK...let's find Troy and see where the key is. Tiff says it has a green thingy on it, and I notice it sitting on the hood of the Jeep when I get out. So I get it, and voila....it works. I put it into what I think is first gear, but NO, it's reverse. Hello Cass' truck.....I almost hit it, but stopped it in time. I look at the head of the stick and notice that Reverse is where first usually is, and first is where second usually is, and so on and so forth. Alright, alright...I got it now. We head off to the store. I must say this Jeep is quite old, the steering is AWFUL, and I'm thankful that the car we met on the way to the gas station was WAY over on his side of the road. We're riding...hair and leaves flying everywhere in the wind. But it's somewhat calming....
I ask where the gas tank is located on the Jeep, and they tell me. We pull up to the pump, and Tiff so kindly tells me my hair looks like total you-know-what. I can't remember her exact words, but it was something along the lines of me and Kevin, and a wind tunnel. I don't know....
The 3 of us go to the back of the Jeep, and Julie and Tiff start looking at a way to get the back door of the Jeep open, because that's obviously how you get to the gas tank. :) Julie was sure of it because she saw Troy tying something to the back there. How that has anything to do with a gas tank, I'm not sure. Well, they can't get it open, so I decide to call Kevin to find out what to do, and at that time I notice there is the little twist top that you find on ALL vehicles. We bust out laughing!!!!! We twist it open and pump the gas! Now on to putting air in the tire. We put our 50 cents in, (yes, there is a charge for air now) and start filling the tire. "Julie, is the air going in?" "Yea, it's going in real good." "Are you sure?" She kicks it...."Yep, it's going in." We are all laughing once again. I'm looking at the tire, and I can't notice that it's looking much better, so we're all 3 bent over looking at it like we are mechanics. We decide it's working....then some man that knows Cass pulls up and is dying laughing at the site of us 3 women trying to fill a tire. Oh shut up is my thought! We can do this just as good as you, and look good doing it. Well, we could look good if our hair didn't look like it had just been licked by a hippo. But whatever.....
We get back to the Reed's and we're ready to go. So we all take off and line up getting ready to head back to the mudding area, and me and Tiff and some of the kids blow by them and we're ready to cross the muddy creek to get to the site. We're hooting and hollering like a bunch of wild baboons!!!! We hit the creek and we're slinging mud everywhere! WOO HOO!!!!!! That was fun! Now it's time to hit the trail, and we barely get started before we hit the first big mudhole. Well, my expertise in Jeep driving does not come in handy as we get it stuck. We are slinging mud everywhere. It's all down my left side, in my hair, in my mouth..... Tiff is yelling and having a good time, Brody is crying, and I'm laughing! Troy is shouting out orders that I need to do to get it out, and nothing is working. So he comes back there trying to get it out himself, but to no avail. Kevin and Cass try to pull it out with their 4-wheelers, but that's not working either. Oh well.....we leave 'er behind in the mud! She was a good Jeep....all 58 seconds she lasted. :)
We all shift around as to who is riding with who on the 4-wheelers. I take Kevin back on my 4-wheeler to pick up Walker's (he decided to ride with someone else), and we go back to where everyone is waiting. But no.....I get my 4-wheeler stuck. You have GOT to be kidding me! I have it down in the rut so far that the water is rushing up over the left side of the foot stand. I'm leaning to the right to keep it from falling on over on it's side and Kevin comes and makes me get off so he can get it out. I climb off, and he throws it in reverse and after a little bit he has it out. He tells me to keep it out of the ruts (remember this comment for later in the story).
OK....we're all back together, and we're ready to continue our ride. 3 minutes later, someone is stuck. I don't know who....there were so many of those instances. At least I wasn't the only one. We come to a spot that Troy wants us to wait, and he and Cass are going ahead a little bit to try to knock down some trees so it will be easier to get through. Tiff throws one leg over to dismount the 4-wheeler, Troy guns it cause he thinks she is off, and she comes off of that thing in the most excellent form of a cartwheel. It's like it was in slow motion....I see one leg coming over, followed by an arm, and then she lands with her feet and hands on the ground! Where's the scorecard cause I give this girl a 10! I love to see anyone fall (without getting hurt of course), and I am dying laughing. I cannot control myself. She's fussing at Kevin because she said all she saw when she popped up was Kevin shaking from laughing so hard. LOL!!!! Even Cass was laughing at her! Poor Tiff.... Anyway, we wait and wait for Troy and Cass to return....I have to pee. I am not a pee-er in the woods. We all know this. All the boys decide they have to go. That makes it worse for me. I have really got to pee now. I am NOT using the bathroom in the woods. Forget it. Cierra and Julie have to go. "Come on Ginger, let's go"..... FINE! The 3 of us walk back to a hidden area. I fear that if I squat to pee, I won't be able to get back up. Then they will find me laid back in briars, with my pants around my ankles. But I talk myself up that it's simply peeing in the woods, not brain surgery. So, the deed is done. I make it out safe and alive, free of snake bite (ref: prior blog post Yosemite:) ). Troy and Cass make it back and we continue on. Lots more of stopping and getting someone out of the mud, over and over. I get stuck again and Kevin tells me to stay in the ruts, and I won't get stuck again. Did he not just tell me at the beginning of the trail to stay out of the ruts? Whatever the case, we get done and we head up to the house, decide to order pizza, and everyone takes their turns taking baths to get the mud off......
I'm starting to get sleepy, so I'll finish the story in another post....