A Colorado native, I am married to my first wife, we have three grown children and six grandchildren.

My first legal motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) vehicle was a 1958 Lambretta scooter, I bought it new from Montgomery Wards when I was 14 years old. I 'needed' it because I had a large paper route, about 750 papers, with a neighbor's help, I added a removable homebuilt sidecar to carry the papers. A few friends had other scooters, but the closest thing around to a real off road machine was a mid 50's Tote Goat which a friends Dad used for hunting. Somehow we all believed ours could do anything, one of our regular contests was to see how high up the local earthen dam we could ride before it came over backwards.

Like many kids of that era, at about 8-10 years old, I learned to drive in my granfather's car, a 1926 Chevy, it actually had wooden spoked wheels. He lived with my aunt and liked to frequent the local tavern, so it was probably a good thing that he had me drive. The normal stop on the way home was for a case of Tivoli beer which the liquor store had no problem in selling me....this came in real handy later when I was a teenager, they just wondered why he had changed brands, I am pretty sure I never told them he had died by then.

Anyway, over the years some of my on road vehicles were Grandad's 26 and 32 Chevys which I got when he died but I was too stupid to keep, the Lambretta, 1941 Chevy paid 50 bucks for it, 1950 Chevy $100, 1952 Chevy $200, 1953 Chevy Convertable.

Seems like I've had nearly as many off road machines. In 1978 I got a Yamaha XT 250, really good all around bike, got my son a DT 100 which he outgrew in short order, got him a 200, but like the first one, it only fit for a short time. We then got a matched pair (first set of twins) Honda XR 350's, at first it was a bit big for hime, but he soon became a much better rider than me, we rode these machines many many miles in the mountains of Colorado, our favorite places were above the old mining towns west of Denver and an area that had been set aside for motorcycles called Rampart Range which has hundreds of miles of single track trails, everthing from beginner to damn near impossible. Our town also had an offroad bike area right in the middle of town, it was a great place until the greenies put an end to it.

In '94, my son shipped overseas and our offroading came to an end, so I got a Honda Magna street bike, rode this for a while untill I decided too many drivers would just as soon run you off the road as look at you. So in 2000, I got a Yamaha Warrior, on a trip to see my sister in California, I discoverd the Imperial Sand dunes and I was hooked. A short time later I 'discovered' Odysseys, so I got a pair of them, that lasted untill I saw a Drakart at Little Sahara, and had to have one of them. My first Drakart was a Formula Cross with the Rotax 600, it ran like a raped ape, but I couldn't keep it tuned for the various altitudes, so I got an Xtreme with the Geo motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )), not enough power, so I added a turbo and some mods, ran better but blew up, so I re-did it with fewer mods. All along this time, we had a variety of other machines, a Yamaha 200 camp bike, a Yamaha 350 Big Wheel, Honda XR 50 and 70 bikes, seven kiddie quads, and a pair of Polaris Scrambler HO 500s. Later with the grandkids getting older and more into school activities and team sports, I sold off the entire fleet.

Last year my son got stationed near Little Sahara, Ok, so we decided it would be time to get another set of twins. We bought a pair of 2000 Drakarts that had full ATV Racing mods. These had set for several years and were in really good shape, only problem was that I couldn't really fit in one, and my son is bigger than me, so we decided to get an new pair of bike engined Drakarts. I sold off the balance of the fleet and now the only thing I have is my half of the twins. It is without a doubt the best one I have ever owned, lots of power at any speed, it will run with the big rails, or is equally at home with smaller machines.

Of all the offroad stuff I have owned, there are only a few that I wish I still had are, one of the Scramblers for the Colorado mountains and maybe to try Moab, and the pair of FL350s so the kids could ride once in a while.

Well, I guess Drakman laid it out well for our history of riding. At a young age the first time I remember being close to anything offroad was when our family and some friends we were vacationing in Mexico when my Dad and his friend pulled up to the hotel on a pair of early 70s era Hondas, maybe 50 or 70cc types. They were loud, had fat knobbie tires and I wouldn't have to pedal! What a thought! I didn't get to ride but was instantly fascinated with motorized toys. From that time forward I knew the smell of Engine oil and exhaust mixed together and still can smell it.

A few years ago I met Drakman and Litespeed at LS for a long weekend of playing in the sand with some buggies. From that point forward I guess I knew I had to get back out there and sure glad I did. If I only had the funds to have a fleet, a huge rig to transport them all and a driver/mechanic to take care of everything I'd be set! But then again who wouldn't? As much fun as the riding is it is truly the people on the machines that add the color and fun to the adventure.

On the personal side, my wife and I have been together coming up on 7 years this summer, we just moved to Enid this fall and like it a lot. By day I teach "kids" to fly the T-1 Jayhawk which is always exciting and I get to fly over Little Sahara about 2-3 times a week. For now I get to fly a lot but I was just promoted to Lt Col so I will be flying less and get to do more paperwork...go figure. I don't have any kids, just two little dogs and a cat that came as a package with the wife.