A New Even More Expensive Addiction

I was introduced over the weekend to a new kind of drug.  I did some work for a friend of mine, and in exchange he offered to let me use his Sand Car for the weekend.  As there are some sand dunes near my house I accepted his hospitality. 

The Sand Rail in question is a Suspension Unlimited Sand Pro 2.  Unfortunately due to the economy Suspension Unlimited is no longer in business however, the Sand Pro 2 is a wonderful machine to drive.  Its heart is a 480 horsepower LS-1 Corvette engine, it has over 20 inches of suspension travel at all four corners, seats five, and is probably the most fun off road vehicle I have ever driven. 

I recently recieved a GoPro HD camera (happy birthday to me), and took it with us on our trip to the sand dunes.  Below is a short video from our trip.  The sand dunes near my house are small and as a result there was no place to really open it up but we had a good time.  The video is also decieving as the suspension is amazing, it was smooth enough that my wife even went for a ride with me.

As you can see from  the video, especially the front facing angle the suspension is fantastic, the front wheels are moving up and down but the camera stays almost still, and after watching the video, I thought it looked boring compared to how fast I thought I was going.  In fact my son was able to fall asleep in the back seat.

I was told by my mother that it is a good thing I am married and have two children, or all I would care about is going fast.  This is true.  I have long believed that if it was not for my wife, who for some unknown reason agreed to marry me and stay with me, I would live in a single wide with a five car garage.  Since driving the sand car, I have schemed and planned how I could get one, as new ones are in the 60 to 70 thousand dollar range and used ones are 30 to 40.  However, you can purchase just a frame and build it yourself, which I thought would be a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my children, or at least that is the reason I gave to my wife.  Wish me luck.

I have also taken some video on my bike and plan to post that video and other motorcyle videos throughout the summer.  Especially of our planned trip to Yellowstone in July.