It’s been a month since I rode my ATV, and it’s been two since Traci rode hers, so yesterday we decided to go for a short ride. We rode out straight from the house, which is only the second time I’ve ridden through town on my ATV. Both times now I’ve gotten a lot of strange looks from people when riding on the pavement. We took the well-maintained (boring) gravel roads up to the Book Cliffs and rode up Alrad Canyon near Kenilworth. The last time I was in Alrad Canyon was last year in late June, and there was a nice waterfall near the end of the canyon. I was hoping there would still be some runoff this late in the year, but the waterfall was dry when we got there yesterday. That’s as far as we went, though the trail goes a bit farther up the mountain and eventually turns into nothing more than a cattle trail that leads to the top of the Book Cliffs. We headed home after a quick snack at the dry waterfall and made it back just in time to start dinner. The ride was only 25 miles and took less than three hours, but it was a nice getaway. It was also nice to get all the dried mud off my tires from last month’s ride. 🙂
Bradley was spending some time at Traci’s parent’s house today while the rest of the family was here at home. When Traci called over there to let them know she was coming to pick him up, she learned that he had just barely fallen while going up the stairs and had cut his chin open pretty badly. They were getting the blood cleaned up while Traci drove over to pick him up, and when she came home she left him in the car and asked me to come outside to look at him. There was a small gaping hole in his chin that obviously needed stitches in order to heal well, so she ran him to the emergency room while I finished fixing dinner. I was pretty surprised when they got back home just as I was finishing my dinner–normally E.R. trips take about three hours for us. He got four stitches, which is a far cry from the 28 stitches I got when I cut my chin when I was about a year or two older than he is. This is only Bradley’s second time getting stitches, so he’s got some catching up to do if he ever wants to pass me up, and with the way that kid is I’m sure he’ll do it eventually.