One question: how fast can we go?

I only had one question: how fast can we go?

Racing hearts are a good thing? I really really hope so because mine is thumping in my chest. I can feel it hitting my chest cavity and dropping back down again. Banging my chest cavity and dropping back down again. Dust is swirling around me, and I have to peer through my sunglasses to keep my path. And did I mention that its really really hot? Racing hearts, dusty streets, and heat! Where on earth am I?

I am driving a Tom Car in the Sonoran Desert, and I am having the time of my life. 

How on earth did I get here? How did this episode come about. Well, like many episodes in my life, I started asking questions. What can you do in the desert to have fun? How can you become a part of the desert? How can you get down on ground level with the desert? You can horseback ride around here, and yes, I love horseback riding, but at the same time, I wanted a little more of a kick. I wanted something to make my adrenaline levels surge, and my heart to quicken and looks like I’ve done a good job. Mom and Jean aren’t so thrilled. Katelin is! She’s ecstatic just like me. She’s ready to pump the gas pedal. Our tour guide picks us up at the resort and shuttles us and six other people out to the Indian Reservation where we are going to ride. He hands us all bandanas and tells us that it will get really dusty out here, so wrap up and wrap up good. Mom decides to take on the role as bandit. She is now a bandit. Funny, mom. Jean is still looking around like a startled bunny on a late night road. She has no idea what we’ve got her into and she’s a little fearful of what’s going to come. Our cars are the highest end of dune buggies you can get. They are the creme de la creme of off-roading. They remind me of miniature little army tanks, and in outright astonishment I run over and jump in the driver’s seat informing mom that I will be driving her today. Katelin does the same. She is going to drive Jean. Jean looks at all us, and silently ties her bandana and gets in the car. After a few safety speeches, we are off to check out the wild. The Sonoran! The outright grand Sonoran! We zip off down a gravel path which quickly changes to a desert mixture of sand and rock. Dust starts to fly, and the view starts to change rapidly. Suddenly a cow crosses the path of the first car, and we all have to slow. There’s a huge puddle of water and we swerve to miss it due to it’s proximity to the cow. We don’t want a mixture of cow and water for a morning slushy. Our guide wants to show us the riverbank, the only source of life is this dry terrain and where all of the animals come to drink. Approaching we slow and turn off the cars. He warns us to stay away from the low bushes, and we climb up a dirt embankment and we peer out over the water. A neighing interrupts the guide’s introduction to the river, and we turn to see a group of wild horses running through the desert. We all gaze in amazement at the pack that cannot be trained. The Indians here have let them run free all these years, and they rarely come near humans, so we are greatly blessed with simply catching this priceless glance of them. Our attention is so completely enthralled by the horses that we completely ignore the other guide calling our attention to something in the tree. 

“Snake, guys.” 

Yes, he just said there was a snake just feet away from where we are standing. Oh! fantastic! I HATE snakes. They’re slimy yucky bodies. I mean absolutely no thank you. NO, no, and no. I’m ready t get back in the cars and spin off some more in the desert. But not before taking one picture first. I mean you have to take a picture even of something you don’t like at all. So I do, and then I hurry off toward the car, jump in and thank the Lord that this car can go well over 70mph away from the snake. The desert continues to unfold before us and cactus, sand, and faraway distances fill my view. I am speeding through this terrain, but I am able to appreciate it  because it is mesmerizing. I  mean you can not not appreciate it. It’s a burning oasis. Jack rabbits are disturbed by our sudden appearance and run off agitated. Sorry little rabbit. We stop again to take pictures of the view. Even though our entire point out here is to go fast, we do want to actually appreciate God’s beautiful desert. I could thousands of words show you dozens of pictures, but neither would do it justice. It’s one of those moments in life that you’ll never forget because of the combination of beauty and adrenaline. Ok enough soaking in, time to speed off. We floor our way up a mountain. Mom yells all the way up and then the yelling switches to screaming when we start coasting down. A ditch opens up in front of us. There’s no way around it, so we plow through it. Plop. Plop. The car isn’t even bothered. It’s almost as if it looked back at the ditch and said, “ditch, what ditch?” We swerve around and down the trail through the desert following the lead car. I swerve to miss a cactus. Mom doesn’t need a prickly face. Now, we are headed back to the ranch which means we can floor it. 70mph here I come.