4wheelin' with kids

["Farmer" <pharmer@domain.elided>]

Just had a really good time with Sean & Sandy (the other Juniper of
Colorado) this Sunday.

We took the travelall, along with the two and five years this time.

Spent a couple of hours on some light & moderate trails between Colo Spgs &
Denver.  Light enough that in some places they were nicely graded dirt
roads, moderate enough that in one place my Travelall had to straddle a very
deep ditch for about 200' in the middle of the road.  Sean & Sandy's Terra
was narrow enough to be able to stay on the side of the ditch.  The Terra
did great, especially considering that it's new.

Although I tend to prefer the Scout for tight quarters, the travelall is a
great kid-haulin' 4x4er.  With just two kids in the back seat, there was
sufficient space for a DMZ between them.  In spite of throwing anything even
potentially useful into the back for five minutes, it still looked empty.  I
should have just tossed their bikes & sleds back there "just in case".
Hmmm, I do need a really good tie-down though - in case of an accident.
Since we don't have a console between the buckets up front, we put a
full-size cooler up there.  Then until the kids got really full, everytime
they'd open their mouths, Jen would stick some food in it.  Kept the first
half of the trip really quiet...

After gallantly fighting off sleep for several hours, my 2.5 year old was
left in a narcotic-like daze.  At that point he decided to begin kicking the
window with his foot, and screaming every time we hit a bump.  This could
have wakened his 5 year old brother, who was fortunately, fast asleep.  So,
Jen & I began announcing each bump as a "Baby Bump".  Ben liked that.  On
the way into a bump we said, "boop", then on the way out of the bump we'd
say "boop".  He also loved that - kids like silly noises.  Well, for about
30 minutes down a rough trail, Jen and I said "baby bump", "boop" and then
"boop" again probably a thousand times.  Could you imagine sitting in that
car for 30 minutes?  Have you ever seen Teletubbies?  It was kinda like a 30
minute vision of what hell must be like for neglectful parents.  Next time,
I'm bringing the dramamine for that little hurricane...

Otherwise, it was quite fun.  Thanks guys.


Ken & Juniper Farmer
pharmer@domain.elided
719-685-4634