The Dirt Bug!

YES..... it's rattlesnake season on the Kettle Valley!

As an aside... after purchasing two "Baja" brand Chinese mini-bikes last year, I hauled them to BC for our summer Naramata trip.

B.C. as many of you know, has much more fluid off road regulations than Nazi Alberta does. In 1975, when I sat as a consultant figthing for the rights, which we were about to lose, to riding my dirt bike, ATV or snowmobile on public lands, I saw the writing on the wall. No matter what valid information and point of view we proposed, the government spurred by special interest groups with financial backing, closed much of the province to recreational off road use.

We were herded onto tiny tracts of land where we were regulated and watched. (Sound familiar to Native groups?) Since then of course, mostly due to ignoramuses (and you thought they all died 65 million years ago) eagerly watched by the ever present powers that be, even more public lands have been curtailed from responsible off highway usage.

Anyway, we tried to do a little Dirt Bugging on the KVR. This didn't prove particularly successful with little ADHD Anna girl.

She can ride the little thing well enough and loves puttering around, but somehow the whole concept of "danger" and "consequences" escapes her. Anna truly knows 'No Fear' She could have been the poster girl!!!

As the KVR has a gravel base, and protruding rocks, it can be somewhat unpredictable and dangerous. Toss in sheer drop offs on both sides at times hundreds of feet into the void, and having a little rider that isn't paying close attention to what the more experienced of us two is saying, well... that is a recipe for disaster. After only 4-5 kms, I pulled rank and curtailed our adventure for the day. opting to find a flat piece of ground preferably grassed to try it some other time... with the words "I know...!" still ringing in my ears.