Rocky Road Ice Cream with an 8-Track

      Once providing support for a friend hell-bent on eloping in Oklahoma, I know about riding-along.
      Bonnie experienced a fatal “ride-along” with Clyde.
      Movie couples, including Thelma and Louise, have ridden along – off a cliff.
      Saturday, I rode-along, again.

      An off-road adventure offers new experiences: climbs and descents through mountain rocks, trenches, and timber. No incline too steep for the radical Land Cruiser.

      Imagine the Quapaw swarming this Ouachita mountains landscape.  Horseback pioneers urge their steeds onward, upward and over hillsides fit for mountain goats.  Rocky road ice cream is not as chunky as these trails.

       Today’s off-roaders program the instrument panel and a mechanism grips the boulders like a roller-coaster car as it engages, grinding upward prior to the death-plunge.

       The driver contemplates aloud as we climb terrain littered with boulders and exposed roots within craters and crevices, “Yep, it’s time to switch to the 8-track.”

       I ponder his sanity.  
“8-track” has not been around for over 40 years. I become concerned and voice a question.

      “No,” he chuckles. “Not 8-Track…A-Track.”

      Oh. OK.  Nevermind.

I’m just riding-along.