Saturday, May 3/2014 - Saturday, May 10/2014

Hogan, trying to ignore the cat.

We stayed at the farm until Friday, the 9th of May.  I woke up in the morning and knew it was time to make the final journey home to Leoville.  I simply needed to "get home".. We had spent this entire week in the city getting the medical stuff/shopping done and with all that behind us, there was no more reasons to  stay.
We packed up, said goodbye to Bernie and headed out.  We stopped to pick up my quad at the service department and headed North.   We arrived around 5:30 and spent a quiet evening settling into the yard.
John had decided to go with the kids on the Big River Quad Rally the next day and since his quad was not repaired yet, Casey offered his for John to ride.
We made arrangements for the kids to bring Casey's quad up and we got to bed early in anticipation for a very busy day tomorrow.

Sunset at the farm - awesome

Big River Quad Rally

We met the kids the next morning in Big River and headed out onto the trails.   I was surprised that the trails were actually relatively dry.  There was even an issue with dust on some parts of the trail!!  We did manage to find some water though so all was not dry!!

The "wet" Way

Of course, I followed John through most of the rough, wet spots and only managed to get stuck once!!  The kids managed to save my ass by pushing me off the stump I got high centred on and I was able to maneuver the swamp without any problems after that!!   Thank heavens the "boys" were wearing their chest waders as I did not have to get off the quad at all.   They are such good boys!!

Changing Preston"s Tie Rod End

Of course with a group this size, there is always someone who manages to break down and this time it was Preston and his Commander.   He broke a tie rod end and fortunately Jace had spare and it was soon repaired and we were once again underway.

Beverage Break

Waiting for the "kids" at McRobb Lake

Eventually, John and I left the group and travelled the trails waiting for "the children" a bit further down the trail.   They did managed to catch up to us at  McRobb Lake and this was the last time we saw them as they had more issues with the quads breaking down.   Despite the fact that we waited for hours along the trail, we did not see them again.
We met up with a friend from Big River (Patrick) near the end of the rally and had a nice visit with him. We then did the final mile to the trucks and found only one other couple from our original group there.  They too had broken away from the group to come and pick up a truck and trailer for the quads that could not finish the rally.  It was already dark and the kids apparently did not make it past the grid road.
John and I loaded up as we still had to get back to Leoville and met Kellen and Kayla on the highway.  They had become separated from the group, took a wrong turn and ended up in the town of Big River!!
We found out from them that there were indeed quad issues and the rest of the group would be coming home on the grid.  By this time, it was really dark out.
We made it home to Leoville by midnight and all in all, it was a pretty good rally.  All the kids made if off the trail safe and sound despite breakdowns so that was a vey good thing.
I think I will be stiff and sore tomorrow but I don't have to start work until next Friday so I should be good by then.

One of the final beverage stops - end of the
rally is in site.