midwestern cultural experience

For the 4th of July, I went home with a friend of mine for a bit of cultural education. Her parents live on a non-working farm in Ohio. I got to ride a motorcycle, drive a tractor, eat some jello-concoction that involved pretzels and pillsbury-dough wrapped milky-way bars, watched fireworks, sit by a bonfire, and pick lots of wildflowers. The digger/bulldozer was out of commission this week. Oh, and I have learned the all important rule "If you pass a yard sale, you must stop!"

I never really thought there was much to get excited about with regard to motorcycles. Tractors I can understand because they are big and noisy; motorcycles just seemed like death traps to me. But riding on one, well, once I got the hang of starting it and easing it into gear (I don't know how to drive a stick), it was super fun! It is a lot like flying. I was driving around in their front yard terrorizing the groundhogs that were popping up every so often. I have heard that about segways and am now really interested to check one out.

Side note: So it seems that the cops in DC have segways too...I saw a police officer on a segway chatting with another officer in an SUV. I guess the fad of cops on bikes has fallen by the wayside.