Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something flying my way. A startled turn in the direction, a pair of keys bounced off my chest and landed in my hands. We had just finished hiking Robber's Roost in Sedona, AZ, and back at the Polaris RZRs we had rented. "It's all yours, enjoy it until sundown. If you break it, you buy it. Otherwise, have fun!"
With the stamp of approval, our unofficial tour guide had shown us the lack of limitations these side-by-sides have. Bouncing over rocks at speeds that made me grip the seat, I surely thought the RZR was going to snap in half. But, it didn't. Winding around turns, I was convinced we were going to flip. But, we never did. The only thought I had that came true; we would be dirty by the end of the day.
As we said goodbye to our impromptu teacher, Kristin and I stood, looking at each other, dumbfounded that we now had the keys to the top-of-the-line Polaris RZR and only had one deadline, sunset.
Eyes wide open and jaws ajar, we looked at each other like kids with unlimited access to a candy shop. After a quick row-sham-bow for who got to drive, I plopped into the driver's seat.
Disengaging the parking break and letting the engine roar, we started kicking up dust as we flew down the trail. With no destination, we just looked for fun trails. Zoom down dirt roads, bouncing over boulders, avoiding trees that seem to pop out of nowhere. We were on an endorphin high.
Kristin figured out how to sync her phone, so, we cranked up the speakers to max and blasted down the trail fueled by ODESZA and Avicii. Our hearts pumping, and nothing could stop us. Mile after mile zipped underneath the tires. Kristin tapped me on the knee.
"It's my turn to drive!" She shouted as FOMO set in.
Nodding back, I parked the RZR and we quickly re-started down the trail as though we were racing the Baja 1000 as a team. Our only limitation, sunlight.
Thrashing back and forth down a particularly rocky stretch of trail, we could see our imposing limitation was only an hour away. Energized from my time behind the wheel, I thought it would be funny to play a song, so I scrolled through the phone connected to the speakers for a John Denver song.
"...take me home, country roads..." now blasted through the speakers as our headlight pointed back to our Polaris Adventures rental shop.