Most of my 30 for 30 I wouldn't consider bucket list items. It's mostly an excuse to push myself to try something new or share a new experience. Not the case here. I've been wanting to drive a dune buggy for years! I finally got to complete this actual bucket list item over the weekend.
My buddy Chuck and I took a weekend trip to Vegas. I'm no stranger when it comes to Las Vegas. This being my 7th trip to Sin City; I knew a lot of the ins and outs. Where to find good deals and which tourist traps to stay away from. But mostly I knew there was a place that ran dune buggies out in the desert. The last couple of times I've been out here I just couldn't make it happen. Usually the group consensus is that it's too expensive or too far off the strip.
When the opportunity for this trip presented itself I made sure that dune buggies was on the itinerary. All of my Vegas trips end with me collecting new experiences and this one was no different. I'm a planner and I like to have an idea of what I'm doing when I go on vacation. I don't do idle very well and I don't understand it when people go on vacation to sit somewhere else. I just sat on a plane for 3 hours! Why would I want to sit by a pool, or at a slot machine, or even at a beach! The first thing I usually do is grab one of those Vegas life magazines in the room once I've established home base. I flip through, building my ideas of what to see and where to go. Towards the end of the magazine I spy a small coupon for $40 bucks off my dune buggy experience and their contact info. Bam! Done. Called them up and they gave us each the discount off of our rides. I also found out that they'll pick you up from your hotel and that you don't even have to drive a half hour into the desert! So I scheduled the time for mid day Saturday.
Saturday rolls around and we get picked up from the MGM. They drive us out about a half hour from the strip to HQ and we get fitted for helmets & goggles. My nerves start to rattle as I read through the waivers. A dozen pages of lawyer jargon sprinkled with a few clauses of death and dismemberment.
Not to mention a few things about 80 foot drop offs and getting lost from your group. A little bit of you'll be financially responsible here and there. Then top it all off with watch out for the endangered tortoises that look like rocks. The employees are as nonchalant as possible putting us in late and pulling us out early of the safety video. The guy tells me to forget out that waiver BS and to drive the thing like I stole it.
Another short bus ride to a group of buggies all in a row and we're introduced to our group leader of "purple team" Keith. I set up my GoPro and take second in our line up. Buckled into my three point harness with some crazy straps attached to my wrists. preventing my arms from going outside the roll bars in case the thing flips over it won't break your arm. A rough shell, a kill switch, hard bucket seat with an inch of foam padding, go cart motors blasting behind my head. We're ready to roll; besides Chuck our group had a dad and daughter rounding up the team.
Keith starts off as point and has a large purple flag coming from his buggy to keep tabs on him as he breaches the horizon. Maddie chases behind him keeping a slow and steady pace. These things are slower than I thought. The girl in front of me isn't being aggressive enough. Before I know it I'm on her bumper and trying to make room. Up hills slow afraid we're not going to make it because we don't have enough momentum. Then braking downhill in a wide open desert.
I need a little more excitement than this. I pass her up driving over brush and rocks to take the lead of our team. Keith moves fast he's up and over dunes then down and around to the point where I can only hope to catch a glimpse of his purple flag. He gets too far ahead and I do what I do best in these situations. Don't listen and try my own methods.
Side story - two years earlier my brother, dad and I went on a turtle watching snorkel tour in Maui. Number one rule was stay put and keep an eye on your partner. Bound and determined to see a sea turtle the first thing I do is go swimming off in some unknown direction. I get caught in an undertow and pushed out 50 yards from dad and Nick. I get lost for about 40 minutes and eventually make my way back to the boat. They were pissed, & rightfully so. Worried I'd drowned or something. Worst part of all I didn't even see any turtles.
Same stubborn flight path here. Why stay on the tracks? I'll just plow up these jumps and over these rocks and debris. Sure enough I hit a dune the wrong way and get stuck. Now I'm that guy, the person everyone was following and is holding up the whole group. I turn the wheels, nothing. I rock it back and forth, nope. Hit the kill switch, listen to the rules..wait to be rescued. Keith ends up coming back to dig me out. I get scolded; we haven't even been out 10 minutes yet. I unbuckle and help dig out. Start her up and then hang out in the back. I took last place to avoid that embarrassing display again.
Blasting around rocks and dirt I start to figure out my place a little better. Instantly I'm right up on the person in front of me again. To avoid this problem I started to drift all of my corners. I was flooring it most of the time and if we hit a turn I could whip the back end of the buggy out to give me some much needed distance between the next driver. A couple more minutes in and we lose Keith again. He's really hard to keep up with. The four of us manage to stick together just as Chucks buggy breaks down. We wait up for our leader and do doughnuts around Chuck. It seems like 20 minutes have gone by as I keep doing the same boring circles around trying not to get lost from the group. Eventually Keith makes his way back to us and calls for a replacement buggy for Chuck. A few minutes later a big truck shows up and drops off a huge 2 seater buggy. They load Chuck up and we're off again. The bigger buggy was much slower and it wasn't far afterwards we stopped off at our half way point.
We get out and stretch our legs for a moment. I drink too much water and end up with it sloshing around my stomach for the rest of the ride. They bring Chuck another one seater replacement so he can keep up. The crew starts up again. I can't get my rig started. Click click click, nothing. Click click click, nothing. I lose sight of my group then finally I gas it just right and the engine kicks to life. They're not far away from me but there is an 80 foot drop in between us. I can't tell how steep it is but take the dive and roll out after them. It's like riding the roller coaster at New York New York earlier that morning. But I have control over this ride. I turn past a couple big rocks make my way through the sand after them.
A dirt bike rider pulls up along side me then kicks it up a notch getting in front of me and crossing over across my path. He takes a few jumps then is off out of sight. I catch up to my crew twisting and turning sweeping my big drift turns to keep from running into people's back ends. More sand, rocks and desert garbage chasing trails then seeing other teams of ATV's, dirt bikes and other dune buggies. A couple more straight aways and another broken down buggy for Chuck pretty much called for the end of our baha adventure.
Overall, it was a great time worth the few extra bucks to try something new and exciting. I think we did get hosed a bit because we didn't get our full hour. They took us back early and we never did get any time comped for the three rides Chuck went through. I would do it again in a heartbeat and for how convenient they made it to get there and back it was well worth it.
Things I learned today:
Listen to the rules and what your instructor says
Pay the extra couple bucks for more time
Drive it like you stole it
Don't leave your friends behind
There's a time to relax and a time to hit it hard
Keith starts off as point and has a large purple flag coming from his buggy to keep tabs on him as he breaches the horizon. Maddie chases behind him keeping a slow and steady pace. These things are slower than I thought. The girl in front of me isn't being aggressive enough. Before I know it I'm on her bumper and trying to make room. Up hills slow afraid we're not going to make it because we don't have enough momentum. Then braking downhill in a wide open desert.
I need a little more excitement than this. I pass her up driving over brush and rocks to take the lead of our team. Keith moves fast he's up and over dunes then down and around to the point where I can only hope to catch a glimpse of his purple flag. He gets too far ahead and I do what I do best in these situations. Don't listen and try my own methods.
Side story - two years earlier my brother, dad and I went on a turtle watching snorkel tour in Maui. Number one rule was stay put and keep an eye on your partner. Bound and determined to see a sea turtle the first thing I do is go swimming off in some unknown direction. I get caught in an undertow and pushed out 50 yards from dad and Nick. I get lost for about 40 minutes and eventually make my way back to the boat. They were pissed, & rightfully so. Worried I'd drowned or something. Worst part of all I didn't even see any turtles.
Same stubborn flight path here. Why stay on the tracks? I'll just plow up these jumps and over these rocks and debris. Sure enough I hit a dune the wrong way and get stuck. Now I'm that guy, the person everyone was following and is holding up the whole group. I turn the wheels, nothing. I rock it back and forth, nope. Hit the kill switch, listen to the rules..wait to be rescued. Keith ends up coming back to dig me out. I get scolded; we haven't even been out 10 minutes yet. I unbuckle and help dig out. Start her up and then hang out in the back. I took last place to avoid that embarrassing display again.
Blasting around rocks and dirt I start to figure out my place a little better. Instantly I'm right up on the person in front of me again. To avoid this problem I started to drift all of my corners. I was flooring it most of the time and if we hit a turn I could whip the back end of the buggy out to give me some much needed distance between the next driver. A couple more minutes in and we lose Keith again. He's really hard to keep up with. The four of us manage to stick together just as Chucks buggy breaks down. We wait up for our leader and do doughnuts around Chuck. It seems like 20 minutes have gone by as I keep doing the same boring circles around trying not to get lost from the group. Eventually Keith makes his way back to us and calls for a replacement buggy for Chuck. A few minutes later a big truck shows up and drops off a huge 2 seater buggy. They load Chuck up and we're off again. The bigger buggy was much slower and it wasn't far afterwards we stopped off at our half way point.
We get out and stretch our legs for a moment. I drink too much water and end up with it sloshing around my stomach for the rest of the ride. They bring Chuck another one seater replacement so he can keep up. The crew starts up again. I can't get my rig started. Click click click, nothing. Click click click, nothing. I lose sight of my group then finally I gas it just right and the engine kicks to life. They're not far away from me but there is an 80 foot drop in between us. I can't tell how steep it is but take the dive and roll out after them. It's like riding the roller coaster at New York New York earlier that morning. But I have control over this ride. I turn past a couple big rocks make my way through the sand after them.
A dirt bike rider pulls up along side me then kicks it up a notch getting in front of me and crossing over across my path. He takes a few jumps then is off out of sight. I catch up to my crew twisting and turning sweeping my big drift turns to keep from running into people's back ends. More sand, rocks and desert garbage chasing trails then seeing other teams of ATV's, dirt bikes and other dune buggies. A couple more straight aways and another broken down buggy for Chuck pretty much called for the end of our baha adventure.
Overall, it was a great time worth the few extra bucks to try something new and exciting. I think we did get hosed a bit because we didn't get our full hour. They took us back early and we never did get any time comped for the three rides Chuck went through. I would do it again in a heartbeat and for how convenient they made it to get there and back it was well worth it.
Things I learned today:
Listen to the rules and what your instructor says
Pay the extra couple bucks for more time
Drive it like you stole it
Don't leave your friends behind
There's a time to relax and a time to hit it hard
