Tom's "Homemade" Four-wheeler

Cousin Susie and I were the official guinea pigs for her brother Tommy's experiments. He would work and work "to create" and then we fell victim to "trying it out." One such contraption was a homemade four-wheeler, go-cart, speed demon rolled into one!  Tommy was a creative genius! Are so we thought... 

Tommy had worked on this thing for several days and the time of unveiling had arrived!  Of course, Susie and I thought that was a neat looking  go-cart, and we volunteered to try it out.  As I look back on our decision, well let's just say hindsight offers good advice.

Tommy rolled it out into the yard.  We examined this piece of machinery carefully.  He had taken the used, discarded wire spool from the local phone company to make the back wheels.  The front wheels were homemade axles with smaller wheels from a lawnmower.  Two straps attached at each front wheel would guide this baby anywhere we wanted to go.  Awesome! 

We crawled up on the seats and waited for the powerful engine (muscle power of Tommy) to get us started down the dirt road. Susie was going to drive.  Man, we looked good sitting up there on the go-cart with every hair on our heads looking beauty parlor sharp.  Our clothes were neat and clean just ready for a day at the movies.  One good push, and we were rollin'.

We had started our ride on an incline so that it would roll faster and go farther with that big push.  Off just like expected, but the huge machine was difficult for a 70-pound girl to steer.  That's when we discovered the missing brakes!  Tommy had forgotten to put brakes on that mean machine and before we could yell for help, we landed in the ditch and were covered with red Georgia dust. 

It is me again, Lord, thanking you for allowing us to survive the daring souls of our youth.

A little Georgia Wisdom:  Before treading unfamiliar territory, be sure you know the limits and how to stop before you get there.