The Great Motorcycle Wreck

The Great Motorcycle Wreck

Our adventures with Bubba are still talked about today. Bubba was our hero but mom and dads worst nightmare.

Bubba came to our house one day on a motorcycle he had just bought. He had been doing some work on the bike and was ready to try it out. So he was going to give us rides as he checked it out to make sure it was running OK.

We went to the back field where the muck is dumped after the barns are cleaned every morning. This field had a long dirt road that would be great for running a motorcycle at full speed. And at full speed is exactly how he was running.

After Alan and Jerry had taken their turns, it was now my time to go.

As we zoomed through the field Bubba hollered back at me that we were going to jump the muck pile. This really didn’t seem like a very smart thing to do but I was having so much fun I just hollered back to go for it.

Now, muck piles are not very good jumps. They are no more than straw and hay and manure. Not something one should be jumping with a motorcycle.

When the bike hit the muck pile it instantly catapulted me through the air. The only thing that saved me from injury was landing in the fresh pile that had just been dumped that morning. I smelled bad but I had no broken bones.

Bubba wasn’t as lucky. When he hit the ground the back landed on his leg. Nothing was broken but the muffler left behind a pretty good burn.

This should have been a lesson well learned but I’m afraid we went on to do other things even crazier than this.

Rescue Riding

Rescue Riding

One of our favorite past times was horseback riding. It seemed like horseback riding came natural to us. We use to go out in the fields with the old retired mares and hop up on them and ride them with no bridle, no saddle, just bareback. We would ride for hours.

When we were in our teens we began to rescue ride. This is where one person rides by as fast as he can and grabs hold of the guy on the ground and pulls him upon to the horse. Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn‘t.

Alan waited at one end of the field as I galloped from the other end. As I approached I positioned myself in the saddle and reached down. Somehow Alan didn’t come aboard like he was supposed to and I was slammed into the ground as the horse galloped on without a rider.

This wouldn’t have been so bad except we had an audience.

There was plenty of laughter as I painfully removed myself from the field leaving Alan to catch the horse.

Alan, The Great Animal Trapper

Alan, The Great Animal Trapper

I guess being attracted to animals is just a kid thing. Well I guess Alan had it worse than the rest of us.

Alan learned that there was a cat living under our house. Alan wanted that cat. He didn’t care how, but that cat was going to be his.

One day Alan gathered some food, went to the hole in the back of the house and waited. He waited and waited and waited. Finally after a long while the cat appeared. He wanted what Alan had to offer.

Sometimes we need to stop and just ask ourselves, “Is this a smart thing to do“?

Well Alan kept feeding that cat until the moment finally presented itself and Alan grabbed that cat and the fight began. Alan was determined he was going to hold that cat and the cat was determined he wasn’t. Needless to say the cat won the battle.

When Alan entered the house, he looked as if he had just fought a World War II Battle. He had bites and scratches everywhere.

The cat was never seen again.