Ridin' the redneck roller coaster

 

When I was a kid my grandparents had a house that was by a creek. It was a pretty big creek and the hill from the stream up to the house was pretty steep which made for hours of fun for us kids. We'd get a wagon and all pile in it together then ride the wagon down the hill to the bottom where we would then "crash" and all fall out. As a kid, it felt like the wagon was going 100 miles per hour as we rolled down the hill.

This past weekend while down at the little house in the woods, I decided that it would be fun to ride the wagon down a steep hill and see if it was as much fun as it used to be. The first challenge was to fit my womanly hiney into the wagon. Man, wagons are a lot narrower than they used to be! The second challenge was to ride down the hill and not hit a large log that was at the bottom. Seeing as how it was pitch black outside and the only light I had was from the beautiful bonfire I had built, it just made the ride down the hill even more exciting.

Manchild and Kidlet were sort of giving me the ornery eye because they didn't think I could do it, I guess. But I crammed myself into that wagon, picked up my feet and off I went. It felt like I was going a hundred miles per hour, too. Man, was it fun! I didn't hit the log and I didn't crash and fall out. I proceeded to do it 3 or 4 more times and then Manchild decided to give it a try.

He looked even more like Humpty Dumpty in that wagon than I did! I laughed my keester off watching him fold himself up and sit in/on that wagon. He made it down the hill just fine and came back up the hill laughing. Then he went again. By that time, my kidlet (who doesn't like riding moving things) finally decided that she'd give it a try. The first time down she screamed like death himself was pulling on her. The second time down she came up the hill laughing and by the third time down she was having fun. She and I dared Manchild to take the wagon ride again only this time, we wanted him to go down the steepest hill of all. He accepted our challenge but the wagon stopped about 3/4 of the way down the hill, tipped over and he just rolled out like an egg. The funny thing was that he didn't utter a single sound. He just popped up to his feet and drug the wagon up the hill.

We all had a great laugh over that. He just looked so darn funny rolling out on the wagon and onto the ground! After that we decided it was time to call it a night. The next morning, my kidlet wanted to capture everything on film so we decided to ride the wagon again. I was the first to go and I made it down the hill pretty well but then I came to an abrupt halt. I killed the wagon! Actually, one of the rear wheels disintegrated and the metal rim was bent all to hell. There was no way I could fix it. I'm telling ya - I killed it.

I'm now trying to find replacement wheels for the wagon so I can use it to haul wood for bonfires. And so we can ride it down the hill some more. It's too fun not to do! Try it some time...you'll have a blast.