Authors note: I wrote this story to show that when you get knocked down sometimes you have to look at the problem in a different way. I tried to encompass as much figurative language as I could and giving my piece as much organization as I could.

Excited. Excited. Excited. That’s all I could think as jumped into bed to “sleep” before the big day arrived tomorrow. Obvisally, 10-year-old me couldn't contain my excitement and didn’t actually go to sleep, for I was powered by enough sugar from my late night ice cream bar that I felt like I could pull an all-nighter. When the sugar rush finally did end and I hit the wall hard, I did end up falling asleep, but it wasn't for long. Even in my sleep, I was too excited even if the sugar wall had knocked me out cold I still woke up looking at the clock hoping that it was time to wake up. After what felt like days, the time finally did come for my family to suit up and get ready to leave.

We all ran around the house looking for all of the gear we needed while simultaneously eating breakfast at the same time. “Goggles, gloves, gross jeans,” I said as I rattled off everything that I could think of needing. Once the family was ready we all loaded up with the trailer on the back of our car and get ready to head out. I could see the monster just sitting right there on the trailer and couldn't wait to see what it could do. Again, my young patience was gone quickly as the drive that sensibly took maybe 15 minutes, felt like an eternity for me.

   We pulled onto the gravel road and I could already smell the Carolina clay and see all of the magnificent colors that the trees had turned to. I leaped out of the car and raced for the trailer to see if I could help to get the beast off as fast as possible. My dad didn’t seem to be in as much of a hurry, as he was moving at a snail's pace. Knowing that all I wanted to do was go, he smiled at me and explained that we had to get the vehicle certified for the trails before we could go out and enjoy ourselves. So we slowly headed into the pro shop and my brother and I instantly darted for the coolest helmets that we could find as my dad went to the front desk to get us checked in.

“I call this one,” I said as I chose a red and black aggressive looking helmet that seemed to be coolest on the rack. My brother and I ran back with our new found helmets and handed them to our dad as he smiled and put them on the table to buy.

We headed back outside and again raced for the trailer to get everything unhooked and off the trailer. My dad and mom did most of the work but I felt like I was doing something to contribute even though I was just standing and watching in awe. The time had come for my dad to start the engine and get it moving. He opened the door and jumped inside with a grin on his face like it was Christmas morning and he turned the key. The engine came to life and sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, like a low growl mixed with a slow idle. It slowly backed up and that's when I finally got to see the whole thing in its glory. The red and black striped hood splitting down and onto the doors. I traced my finger down the side of it and finally got the words I was looking for. On the back door, it said in aggressive lettering, “Polaris Razor 4x4.” My excitement level went through the roof and I knew that in the next few minutes I was going to be in this best having the time of my life, or so I thought.

After another few times around the razor, I put on my helmet in hopped in. I really didn’t know what to expect but I certainly didn't expect what I saw. In the razor was four bucket seats with racing seatbelts and painted with red and black just like the outside. Strapping myself in I couldn't get the smile off of my face. I felt a lurch below me and the smile only grew bigger. As we moved closer to the tree line I could see a small opening near the floor of the forest and could only assume that that was the was going to be the start of the trail or in my eyes the start of the fun. I feel the motion below me start to speed up and the excitement builds inside of me. We speed past the entrance of the trail and are thrust into a different world. It was like going from a city to the jungle and being surrounded by trees and clay all whizzing by as the razor just seemed to keep getting faster and faster.

We make some quick cuts through the dense trees, that seemed like they shouldn’t be possible on the slick ground, but the razor just ate it up and kept going. We had only been on the trails for about 10 minutes when I saw the hole. At the time it just looked like a small divot in the ground with a little water in it and certainly something that the razor could handle, but as we kept moving I could slowly see the hole was more than just a puddle.

Falling, Falling, wet. That's all I felt as we sunk deeper into the “puddle” right smack dab in the middle of the trail. We all bolted out of the now sinking razor trying to not get soaked in the hole that must have been at least 3 feet deep. As we made our way to the outer cage and jumped onto dry land I could really see what had happened.

The front right tire was completely sunk in the hole with the left one right on the edge of going in as well.

As people drove by they seemed to be concerned but not enough to help and just kept moving. After a few minutes, we had come up with a team of four-wheelers and razors like ours, to help pull us out of the hole. We attached a rope and the cable from the front of our razor to all of the vehicles that had agreed to help and tried to give it a go. My dad jumped back into them and started it up.  “Alright everyone on the count of three, give it all you've got. 1, 2, 3! The engines roared of all of the off-road vehicles sending mud and clay everywhere as the tires spun but surprisingly the razor was moving. Slowly but surely it was moving! As the front wheels emerged from the mucky water the back wheels grabbed on the side of the hole and made the last push to finally get the razor out of the hole.

My brother and I unhooked the cables and thanked the people for there help as my dad proceeded to try and dust off the razor checking for any damage. In the end, nothing had seemed to have broken and everything was back in working order.

We finished the trails and emerged from the treeline to load the trailer back up and go home. It had been a long day so I settled in for a quick nap on the way home thinking how I couldn't have imagined anything more exciting than what had just happened, even in my wildest dreams.