This one will cause a stir. Of that I am sure. I just don’t get snowmobiles and boats. I understand the need for them depending on where you live and what your needs are to get to the store if it has snowed feet of snow or you live on an island and you need to get to the mainland. But. Yes a needed reason “but.” I can’t see having either to just have for having sake. For fun. Maybe I’m just not that fun. No. I’m fun. Just not snowmobile or boat fun apparently. Okay, let me have it. I’m sure I will deserve it all by the time you have read to the end.
Let me start with the snowmobile. Oh the country is so beautiful. How could I not want to go out and see it in its natural state? From the seat of a machine that only travels on frozen crystals of water? Let me see. Maybe because the “frozen” part of that sentence is not something that makes me all giddy. Might have had a different outlook a few years ago. Now, I will happily enjoy the drifts and sculptures winter creates while sitting my warm buns down by a crackling fire. It doesn’t escape me that the snowmobile is a needed machine. You know to rescue those who ventured out into the winter and fell down and broke their crowns. Whether on another snowmobile or a couple of sticks or just one board sliding down a mountainside.
But come on. To have a snowmobile to just varoom around. Yes as fast as it will go. And I would bet anyone who has one always wants to go as fast as the machine will go when the throttle is rotated as far forward as possible. I get it when it comes to motorcycles and zooming up and down mountains. That usually happens when it’s warm and green and fun. Not so much in winter for me. Go ahead. As I said, let me have it.
Now to move on to boats. I truly smile when I hear the old saying, “The two happiest days to have a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it.” Don’t get me wrong. I have spent many, many hours sitting in a boat fishing. It was grand to get out there before sunup and smell the new day. At the end of the day, however, I was very happy to get my feet on terra firma. I mean we spent the whole day and really got no more than maybe a mile from where we started. Even when we had a bigger boat and would put it in the water of a bigger lake. I could never understand the draw of a boat. You can only travel like you were in a bathtub. You know around and around. Faster and faster. Not very often would we go slow enough to watch the land go by. I still don’t get it. Again, a boat isn’t like a motorcycle that you are in charge of and can go ANYWHERE your limitations let you go. Not so much in a boat. Just around and around, back and forth.
I see the need for huge boats, aka ships. To move stuff from here to there. That system also breaks down like it did this past year when ship after ship was stuck off shore waiting to be able to be unloaded. Can you imagine your favorite fishing dock where all the fishing boats were told they couldn’t come in just yet because of some snafu? I’d be the first one to abandon ship and swim to land. No, a boat and I have tried to be friends and the boat did not float to the top anymore than a snowmobile would have, had one found its way into my life.
There will always be someone who doesn’t agree with your choices. That’s what makes the world go around. That’s what makes us all feel stronger, smarter, and more alive than the people who do not agree with our choices. How you spend your money on your toys is your choice. And really, even though just these two things, snowmobiles and small boats, have wonderful and meaningful spots in the needs of life. They are for the most part toys. Buy toys, enjoy life. That’s a big reason why we all work. To have toys.
Not one of us will ever grow up all the way. Being a kid at heart keeps us young. How cool is that?
Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Her book, “They Call Me Weener” is available on Amazon.com or email her at itybytrina@yahoo.com to get a signed copy. Really!
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