Living the Dream...: Friday, October 8, 2010 (Gilbert, WV)

We woke up to another beautiful day...it’s so nice to see blue sky and sunshine! We were going on a full-day ride today with Sherry and Andrew so we were up early getting ready. With the quads all packed and ready to go, we rode to the community centre where breakfast was being served. They had long tables set-up with big trays of biscuits, gravy (these Americans do like their biscuits and gravy), scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage patties, bacon and fried bologna. There was also a separate table where you could make your own waffle. There were also big tubs of milk and juice containers as well as urns of coffee. They had hundreds of hungry ATV’ers to feed!

Unfortunately, their first morning wasn’t going too well...they had run out of eggs and I guess the supply was frozen so while lots of people stood waiting for eggs, we just went without. I had a biscuit but just couldn’t bring myself to put gravy on it!

Here is a picture of the race track and mud run...getting ready for tonight...

It was about 9:30 when we headed out to the trails. It was a perfect day...blue sky and lots of sunshine! We did a variety of trails, mostly green, but quite honestly, some of the green trails bordered on blue because of the hill-climbs involved. We went all the way to Man, WV which is a small town north of Gilbert. Steve and I didn’t actually go right into Man—we waited at the trailhead while Andrew and Sherry drove in to gas up.

We had a great day, returning home at about 4:00 all dusty from the trails. After gassing up the quads so they would be ready to go tomorrow, we sat down with a cold beer before heading to the showers...they are up at the community centre. On the way up, we passed people gettiing lined up for the parade...

Dinner is served between 4:30 and 6:30...we thought we would go up at 5:30. Chicken fried steak with gravy was being served tonight along with potato salad, green beans, corn and buns. The chicken and gravy was really good...probably because it was absolutely full of fat and sodium!!

After dinner, we stopped to buy some Hatfield-McCoy souvenirs. We both got hoodies and tee-shirts and a little Hatfield-McCoy license plate. Later we watched a few people try to get their ATV’s and side by sides through the mud pit...that’s quite interesting...and there was also drag racing. Some of the ATV’s actually have drag rails with a wheel at the end to keep the front end down. The whole atmosphere there was really festive...lots of people, vendors and music from various bands...and ATV’s.

When we returned to the trailers, Chris had just finished cooking chicken wings...in the deep fryer which had been set up outside. They were delicious....of course they were...they were full of fat!! Between all the visiting, eating and drinking over the past few months unfortunately the clothes are starting to feel a little tight...must get back to more exercise and less food...well more veggies at least!

Here is a picture of our new friends from Ontario...from left to right...

Andrew, Sherry, Chris (look down), Lisa, Shelley and Dave