Wood smoke swirled in the windless morning air, while I sipped piping hot coffee.  I was settled in my comfy lawn chair, the type that has the side table that swings up and locks into place.  My Bible and journal lay open on my lap, waiting for the discoveries I would make in my time with the Lord.  Nothing but a glorious day ahead; no rushing to the next meeting or checking the time to prepare for the next meal.  Summer holidays!

What freedom we could enjoy.  Sleep as long as we can, eat when we are hungry, stare into the campfire or listen to the birds.  

We joked that we would be gone to our rustic cabin in the woods, with no amenities and no contact with the outside world!  In reality, we can get cell phone service and could normally use our phones to "hot spot" and get access to the internet.  But God made it possible for us to have a quiet break away from it all - the cell service was really poor and when we did get a phone call, it dropped part way through and we had to change locations to get better signal!  Truly, it was peaceful.

For entertainment, I brought crossword and word search books.  We listened to an audiobook or to the inspirational radio programs on CHAB each evening.  We took walks and went to the beach.  I brought a few DVD's to play on my laptop - which we did watch but rarely stayed awake long enough to finish a movie in one sitting!

Something we had never done before is bring our quad to the Qu'appelle Valley.  We have had wonderful adventures behind the NCEM headquarters property on Wildlife Management trails.  So for something different, we decided to haul the quad down and see what new sights we could see.  It started off pretty tame, following the groomed "Great Canada Trail" that runs from Sandy Beach to Katepwa Beach and beyond...but it is a well-traveled with many hikers, cyclists and golf cart-ers who also frequent the path.  And ever the explorer and pioneer, Walter's eye would wander up a "road not taken" and so we did venture off the beaten track.  

A couple of trails headed into ravines that looked inviting.  A few quad tracks led up the slopes of the valley, but they looked steep for a quad with two riders.  Eventually, we did take one path that looked relatively easy.  By the time we reached the summit, I had reached my limit!  Not a fan of heights to begin with, I dared to look out over the valley and the beautiful lake below and felt my heart race and knees turn to Jell-O!  So before Walter could turn back to descend the hill, I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "I think I'll just walk down!"

So I did!  I had nothing to prove and no pride to defend.  I'm a chicken and I know it!

Walter went down with no problem, riding the brake all the way down. I followed, still with my helmet on, looking ridiculous but feeling very relieved to be on foot.  The view was spectacular.  I rejoined my husband at the main trail and we continued on our way.

The next day or so, we decided to follow one of the ravines.  It started off in a pasture space, near a wonderful Saskatoon berry patch we picked last summer.  (By the way, the berries had been poor this year and we only found small and shriveled up ones on the bushes.  Disappointing.  We picked a couple of cups worth and I threw them into pancakes for breakfast.)  Then the tracks led into a more wooded area and we wound our way along the bottom of the ravine quite a ways.  A dry creek bed curved and curled and the track took us down through it.  I jumped off as Walter wasn't sure just how steep it was.  I happily followed behind and got back on the other side.  We forgot to turn on our cell phone app that tracks the distance and makes a map of our journeys so we're not sure how far this particular path went. It may have crossed the creek bed again somewhere, but we took the trail that looked most worn until it was a dead end.

Walter turned around at the end and we retraced our path.  Then we noticed a side trail and decided to see where it led.  We saw a slight rise but thought it looked safe so we pushed forward.  As the bush cleared and we reached the yellow prairie grasses, we realized it would continue to slope upward.  Hmmm.  It had been a successful trip last time, although I chickened out at the top, but I trusted Walter's handling of the machine.  And I thought I should face my fears.

What seems an easy slope from the bottom can become steeper before you know it!  As Walter geared down to make the last bit, the trail seemed to be at a slight right-leaning angle.  We didn't see the rock embedded at the edge of the leaning track and as the front wheel lifted over the rock, the quad tipped over to the right.  The front came up and we went over!

I know it's cliche, but everything seemed in slow motion.  I wasn't freaking out.  We weren't going very fast - in first gear - but I was going to have not only the quad but my husband landing on me!  I wasn't looking forward to the pain.  Surprisingly, I seemed to land mostly out from under the weight and Walter took the brunt of the bruising and gashing.  We both stood up immediately, while Walter pushed at the quad.  It was on its side.  He righted it.  Then we took stock of our injuries.  Walter's knee and elbow were bleeding.  I could feel a soreness on my right knee/leg/backside.  With both of us wearing helmets, we didn't feel any issues with our heads.  

Adrenaline does crazy things!  I decided to run up the rest of the hill to see how far and what kind of crest it would have been.  It got steeper and I'm glad we didn't attempt to go all the way up!  Whew!

Meanwhile, Walter was manoevering the quad to get back onto the trail.  It tipped again, but stopped by the bushes.  Walter had to ride on the side, holding the throttle with his right hand and standing on the right running board.  He had done that type of move with snow machines back in the day to get out of deep snow.  It worked to get across the slope and onto the flatter part of the trail.

I'm glad we hopped back on and rode down the trail so quick.  Later, I would feel fear grip me but I didn't want to lose my nerve and forfeit some fun adventures in the future.  I am pretty sure we won't be seeking any more mountain climbing thrills anytime soon!

Once we got back to our cabin, we took a closer look at the machine.  It had some damage to the front grill/bars that Walter was able to fix with the help of the winch and a tree!  The plastic had popped out of place, but soon popped back once the bars were corrected.  The first aid kit came out and I washed up Walter's scrapes and sprayed antiseptic on his wounds.  That stung worse than the initial injuries!  I got away with pretty mild bruises and some soreness on my right shoulder.  The Lord was looking out for us.

Another first for us was to try the "Disc Golf" course near the beach.  We grabbed two frisbees from the random stuff at the cabin and played the nine holes.  It was fun!  Walter beat me quite handily; he thinks I let him win, but I am competitive enough that I wouldn't do that.  I'm already thinking through how to throw better and work on my technique so that next time, he won't be quite so comfortable!

We have a few more days off at home.  Back to civilization, running water, Keurig coffee and yes, cell phone service and the internet!