ATV madness!

What a long night! Last night our crew had atv sites. This is usually fine and a lot of fun! We strap on the nets and gear and ride to the location because it isn't accessible by car. We needed two atvs for the three locations we were running. Chris hauled one behind his van because he was the closest to our location. We also had one. After going down the wrong road into a cow pasture and then ending in someones yard (they had over 20 dogs) we had to find a way to back up the trailer and get out of there before anyone came out. It took a while because we had a goal to not turf the yard. As luck would have it, they must not have been home. When finally on the right road we followed Chris and went through SIX gates! We had to stop and unlock each one.

We finally reached the drop off spot and loaded up the atvs and headed out to the site... or so we thought. The only trail lead us in the wrong direction. We rode for an hour trying to find the right trail. Many times I had to get off to make a turn, stand on the side so it wouldn't tip, stop and fix the gear after it shifted, and avoid being wacked by branches. It is a good thing I'm not nervous going up and down 45 degree slopes on an overly packed atv with a driver that is stressed that we are late, therefore probably going a little too fast. We eventually come to a location on the gps where a trail should be. There is none. Maybe there was a trail there fourty years ago... the forest was a little less dense there so we tried it. I rode huddled behind Jason with my arms covering my head and face the entire way.

We reached site 17 finally! Do we have a corridor for the net to go in? Absolutely not. We broke branches, stomped little trees, and tied ropes to the bigger ones and pulled them back. Still we ended up raising the nets into branches. Chris said it would be best if we could walk to the next location (ours was conveniently placed at the end of the less dense strip). Aaron started out and was not making good progress because of the terrain. He ended up just coming back and helping us. One of the three sites was up. We opened the nets at 9:30pm (and hour late). After we were settled Jason and Aaron went scouting for the other sites for tonight. When they got back the five of us were all in the one site. We talked for a while but soon it was time to take the nets off. We all piled back on the atvs and went back to the truck. We met Chris and drove back out the six gates and the hour on the high way to get back to our hotel which at this point is after four. A good thing that came of the night was that Jason bought us all 99 cent vanilla cones from McDonalds! Tonight we leave early again for another set-up. Hopefully it will be smoother this time.