Winter Olympics Mountain Springs Style

Mountain Springs Winter Motto!

     We, at Mountain Springs, are officially ready for the Winter Olympics!  When the snow piled up to 6 inches in the yard, we knew it was time to pull out the Flexible Flyer.  Actually, this is our second Flexible Flyer.  I still remember our first one (which we still have).

     We lived in Benton, and school was dismissed early that day because of an increasingly heavy snowfall!  Jack had to drive a bus and Jay, 8 years old at the time, was waiting for me to pick him up at his school.  The roads were becoming hazardous, and I needed to get home, but something made me detour to the nearest hardware store (no Walmart at the time!).  I had to buy a sled.   I had no idea what to kind to get since I had never owned a sled, much less ridden one!  (Hadn't needed one-- it was hard to find a good sledding hill in South Arkansas where I grew up!)   I bought the last Flexible Flyer on the shelf, probably paying for it out of the grocery money!  For the next two weeks, we and all our neighbors on Hickory Hill spent our days on that sled--drinking hot chocolate and arguing with the kids over who gets the sled next! 

     What a thrill when I made my first run down the hill!  From that time on, sledding has been my wintertime passion!  Oh, the sheer joy of flying down the hill through the soft snow, guiding the sled by gently pulling the bar left or right so as to keep on the trail!  No other sport (that I participate in)  is so exhilarating.  I can relate to those Jamacian bobsledders!

     I am not as "young as I used to be", (I know that's what you were thinking!) but I figure sledding is probably a fairly safe sport, coming in right after swimming.  After all, you are six inches off the ground and the ground is covered with a thick snow cushion! Just be sure to steer the sled!  Which is why those new little "plastic dishpans" don't do the job.

     We had a good day of sledding yesterday on our Mountain Springs "snow sledding venue". 

The snowbase was perfect, with the thin layer of ice on bottom.  We have the 'bunny slope' which doesn't require experience, and any sort of sled will work--however, plastic bags are a little rough on the 'behind'! 

     Then we have the 'extreme slope'--our quarter mile driveway!  From the top, it looks like one of those Olympic ski slopes--well, kind of.  Anyway, it is one fun ride--all the way down to the mailboxes--gliding through the snow--building up speed as you descend--sled and rider as one--flowing  with the curves in the road--snow and wind in your face!  Wow! let's go one more time!
     I am a little sore today, but everything is still intact!  After thinking about the fun we had, I may have to have a go at it one more time tomorrow before the sun heats things up.

"Youth is wasted on the young" or something like that--not sure who first made this statement, but at one time or another we have all thought it!