Wreck in the Dunes

 *Please excuse my brief hiatus from the blogasphere. I had an incredibly busy Christmas season with my little online business and it kept my every spare moment filled up with fulfilling orders and creating new work to keep up. But, I am back! So I will do a little blog dump of some of what we've been up to in the mean time.* 

The boys enjoyed a little ride around the camp

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go out to the Imperial Sand Dunes just across the border from Yuma in southeast California. Thousands of people flock from all over with their side-by-sides and their toy haulers and spend the weekends camping in the dunes and blazing around in the sand. We joined a group of Alvin's coworkers with their vehicles. 

Alvin has been eager to try out a UTV in the sand dunes. I, on the other hand, did not quite see the appeal. So Alvin insisted I have the chance to go out for a bit to see what it was like. The minute we sped off and up the side of a dune I felt very insecure and pretty sure I was going to come out of the dunes maimed or dead if I stayed in the vehicle a moment longer. I decided I'd try being the driver rather than the rider for a change and once I got behind the wheel and felt a little more in control I actually really enjoyed it. We bumped around the dunes awhile before zipping back to camp. 

Back at the camp, I sat around with some of the other ladies while the children played around in the sand. At some point, a young man came running up asking for help. He said his dad had wrecked their UTV and they were pretty sure the dad had broken his back and some ribs. And, to complicate matters, as they tried to leave the dunes to go to the hospital their truck got stuck in the sand. Some of the men went and helped drag them out and they headed off to the hospital. Meanwhile the ladies regaled me with stories of all the injuries and deaths that occur in the dunes on a yearly basis.

While all this was going on, and my already rather extreme anxieties were being stoked, Alvin and one of his buddies went zipping off in the side-by-side they had rented earlier that day. After awhile, I got a call from Alvin saying he was ok but the side-by-side was not. Somehow, his buddy had managed to flip the thing, causing pretty extensive damage to the vehicle and minor damage to the both of them (he was a bit bruised and sore). 

I am very thankful that they were both ok, but I have to admit, if Alvin was trying to convince me of the safety and practicality of owning a UTV, he did not do a very good job of it 😆.