Every year the local fire company puts on a very popular event on the outskirts of our city.  It’s called a mud bog, which is essentially drag racing for country folk.  We live in what is called a suburb of Washington, DC, but it is still very much a rural area at the base of the Allegheny mountains.  People come from far-and-wide for three things around here - karaoke, gun bonanzas and the annual mud bog races.

I was really looking forward to the event this year, as it was to be the first time I took my 2-year-old son Ty to see the “big trucks.”  Lori took Caitlin with her to a wedding shower with my mother-in-law, so Ty and I had the entire day to do guy things.  After his nap, I packed up the Jeep and we headed over to the event.

If you’ve never seen a mud bog, then you haven’t witnessed one of the original forms of racing.  Dating back to dirt tracks and suped up Fords, farm boys have been tearing up fields across America.  Over time, mud bogs waned in popularity, mostly because the sport evolved into something bigger - NASCAR.  How watching the Indy 500 on TV became more exciting than watching a few dozen country boys blazing through the mud is beyond me, but hey, I’m more of a contact sport fan myself, so I’m probably not the best person to judge.

Anyway, mud bogs survived thanks to the efforts of small town organizers, such as our local fire department.  And it’s actually turned into one of their biggest fund raisers of the year, with several hundred people coming out to cheer on their favorite cousin/brother/boyfriend/dad/sister racing through the mud to get the best time in their class.  Like I said, nowadays, it’s similar to drag racing, in that racers compete for the best time through the pit.

As I’ve done in previous posts, I thought it might be nice to have my son Ty narrate our experience:

"Where trucks daddy? O'er dere? We go see dem?"

"Trucks go in dere daddy? It dirty! Yucky!"

"Where trucks daddy? Dey coming? Where trucks? What's happnin daddy? Where big trucks?"

"Oh my daddy! Big car - it noisy! What doin daddy?"

"Oh no daddy - it dirty! Ooo noisy - it 'tuck. C'mon big car, go fast!"

"Again daddy, again. Nudder one. Again daddy, red truck! It dirty! Yuck!"

"Look daddy - big truck! I ride it? C'mon daddy, ride it! Big truck!"

"A twactor - a twactor - a twactor! Daddy look - a twactor! Big wheels!"

"All done daddy. Bye-bye trucks. Bye twactor. C'mon daddy - go home. Wow Wubbzy - go home."

The mud bog held his attention for a little over an hour.  The noise from the cars and trucks did scare him a little, but overall, he seemed pretty excited about seeing the races.  He was fascinated by the mud, and of course, the tractor.  It was a little hard for me to understand his request to “go home” and watch Wow Wow Wubbzy for the 500th time, but I was glad we got to experience something new together, if only for a short time.  It was a unique and exciting father-son activity.

What’s the most unique thing you’ve done with your son or daughter lately?  Please share in the comments!

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