A Fun Time....

A little over 10 years ago while traveling to Cove Oregon with a girlfriend and her little boy we stopped in La Grande Oregon for lunch.  After lunch I noticed a guy had set up a good sized oval track marked out with some old tires in a parking lot next door and had some Go Karts he was renting out. Business was slow - no one else was there so we had the track all to ourselves. The Go Kart we took for a spin looked just like the one pictured above - at least structurally - but ours did have a seat pad.

I asked Nick if he wanted to go for a ride - at that point in his young life we had played Diddy Kong Racing a bunch on Nintendo so I think he felt like it might be fun but he wasn't quite sure since it was the real thing. Anyway, he was seven but couldn't reach the pedals so I told him I would go with him and work the pedals and he would steer.  After we got on the Kart I showed him where to put both his hands and what each of the pedals was for.

I started out slow so he could get the feel of turning the wheel and seeing what it did to the Kart then I sped up and we were moving around the track at a good clip. I told him he was doing a great job....then when we went by his mom again she waived....he took his right hand off the wheel to wave back....which wasn't the best thing....it made the Kart move in not such a good way....I grabbed the wheel and told him to keep both hands on it....he grabbed the wheel again and the concentration from then on was something to see in his little face.  If I tried -  I don't think I could have pried those little hands off that wheel....one of the best times I've ever had....and I think Nick had fun too.