Clambering up dirt piles and plunging down the other side.  Wallowing through trenches and holes that made my seatbelt pull tight and my free hand fly out to the grab bar.  Pushing through head high undergrowth that snapped past the roll cage and reminded me why hardhats and safety glasses are required gear.  We took the driving portion of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s off-road vehicle class.  It was pretty exciting for me even though we actually ran it in stodgy Utility vehicles (the Polaris that maxs out at 70 mph and a Kubota that will run 35) not the super sporty ATVs that the fire crew runs around on.  It was a fun couple hours and great way to get a feel for how the machine reacts.  Once off the training course its back to mild-manner trail maintenance crew driving 25mph down a nearly flat trail hauling shovels, saws and pruning shears or great piles of limbs destined for the burn pile.