‘Twas a Saturday afternoon, though without the aid of a clock, it’s hard to tell what time of day is morning, noon or evening. Sun’s up at ten to six in the morning and down at quarter to ten at night.
We had finished hauling the last of the moving boxes up to the town dump, and brought some to the grocery store clerk, who requested them for transportation of produce. The patio was set up, barbecue intact and reading chairs set out. I took the chance to be busy doing nothing, sitting on my patio chair, revisiting a favourite read, with my dawgie (that’s what I think you’re supposed to call them out in the country) at my side, resting her purdy little gold head on her paws. (Purdy may be taking the country dialect too far)
I sat in the sun, outdoors, for the first time in months and peacefully exhaled into a deep, relaxed reading session.
The time came to retire inside when clouds covered the high white sun and I got a bit chilled. As I wandered in, an invitation came to put the police quads to good use.
“Want to come play?”
Of course we did! We saddled up our Rhino, buckled our belts and followed the leader into the bush. Now, when I say into the bush, I mean the wooded area around our town where people have laid snowmobiling and ATV tracks, so its not really all that rugged and primal. But certainly a new thrill to us! The winter melt meant there were many a giant puddle to drive through, and we laughed as I suppose only green city folk can when we realized our motorized vehicle was designed to traverse water and over fallen branches.
We climbed, I ducked my head to avoid snapback branches, I shrieked with delight when we went speedy fast and was content to marvel silently when we took a break where Ross River meets the Pelly River and we took it all in. I hear the area looks beautiful in the summer when the trees are all green and the river ice has broken.
We planned picnic trips and boat rides to fish and winter snowmobile treks up the mountains, although I suppose we will conduct them under the guise of official police “patrols” in order to warrant the free access to all the motorized toys that will take us up, away and over.

Labels: adventure, Ross River