Dirty driving II

Okay, so Kristi and I are zooming around in a bio-diesel mud buggy that we’ve affectionately nicknamed Mickey-D because it smells like French fries. Since this is a 4-hour tour, there’s a certain amount of “rest” in the schedule (which means stopping our engines and hanging out while the guides toss us one island historical tid-bit after the other like we are bears in a zoo).

But the scenery is very cool. Sometimes we’re on long straight roads cutting through what used to be sugar fields; sometimes we’re on switchbacks leading down to little streams that we must cross. The only thing that doesn’t seem to change is that the dirt road we’re on is very, very red (and dusty) and there are lots of potholes—most of them filled with water. So the options are: drive through the puddles and kick up globs of thick mud that will cover your face and chest or avoid the puddles. Everyone in front of me deliberately drives through the puddles; I avoid them.

www.kauaiatv.com

At one point, I think maybe Kristi is bummed that we’re not covered in road sludge like everyone else and ask her if she’d like me to bounce through the next wet pothole.

“Oh god no,” she says. Perfect. A woman of my own tastes.

Having said that, I’m going to show you a group photo from the end of the tour. Try and find me in the picture (Kristi is kind of hiding so you won’t be able to pick her out) and then try and find the Big Love family from Utah. Hint: They really loved the mud.

Photo by Kauai ATV Tours.