Another first for both of us today as neither of us had ridden a quad bike and we didn’t really know what to expect. We’d booked a trip to go quad biking along the edge of Valley of Fire State Park 
and we couldn’t have asked for a better backdrop to our first ride.
I had my suspicions that it was going to be a bit like the horseback trail ride we did in Yellowstone Park, a fairly sedate drive through some amazing scenery. I quickly realised when I signed the “we’re not responsible for your death” waiver form and saw the guide’s “The fun things are all dangerous” T-shirt that this wasn’t going to be a sedate drive!
We were given a very brief introduction (here’s the accelerator/brake, don’t touch anything else) and after our first mile or so we were asked if we wanted to go faster or slower. Those of us that said faster were moved into the first group which went ahead and the slower ones went behind so they could go at their own pace. This is where it got really fun. We drove about 14 miles across sand, rock and dust trails, jumping over bumps and hitting top speeds of around 30mph, which feels very fast on a quad bike. After eating lunch (kind of, it was nearly sunset) in the middle of the desert it was time to head back to the start.
Unfortunately, a few minutes later I turned a bend and got the shock of my life as I saw through the dust what looked like  a quad bike upside down, with Jen underneath it.
I don’t mean to make this sound more dramatic than it was but even more worryingly Jen was shouting for somebody to lift it off of her and there was petrol leaking onto her from the fuel tank, which didn’t look good. Anyway, I lifted it off and she was on her feet within a few minutes. She was worried about the very hot exhaust pipe leaning on her leg but she hadn’t broken anything and apart from a few bruises (see photo) and a battered ego she was fine.
By the time all this was over the light was pretty much faded and one of the guides took us back via a safer but longer route, which meant we got to drive through the desert at night by the light of the dune buggy’s lights, which was an experience in itself.
Jen’s little blip didn’t seem to put her off and we both agreed this was easily the most exciting thing we’ve done since we got here and the scenery would have been worth a visit even without the quad biking. We can’t wait to do it again.
Just in case anyone worries, Jen is absolutely fine. It looked bad but she drove then walked back and she says she can’t feel anything except a few grazes.