As I have lived here in Idaho, I have been subject to various new activities in order to pass time.
Idaho Man Sport (IMS) #1: Extreme Grain Hopper Pulling
This event involves a few items, usually found on a farm. (Thank you Mr. Holmquist) First item is a grain hopper (see picture below) We chose the last one that is round with a flat bottom.
The next item for a successful grain hopper pull, is a tie down or any kind of rope you have on hand. In order to complete this process one must have a motorize vehicle for example during our adventure, we used a 4-wheeler. The key element is snow, otherwise this would be a painful IMS. For those of you who don't live in Idaho, we have a lack of snowfall until January so I strongly encourage postponing this event until you have a good 6 or 7 inches. Why you might ask? Well we didn't wait, so we were sliding on a mixture of snow and frozen cow pies. Here's the trick to this IMS: hang on, don't put any appendage outside of the hopper, and remember to tuck and roll. So far, this might be my personal favorite IMS because of the thrill of being in a tub and whipping around the field hoping not to brake a bone.IMS #2: Tractor Pulls
Shayne is 100% Idahoan which involves a love for agriculture, potatoes, farming, and horsepower. Due to his background, I was given the experience of a lifetime...going to the truck pull!
Due to the fact I grew up in a "big city," I have never heard of a truck pull so I only imagined it was...well it wasn't at all what I imagined. I sat with Shayne and his friend Mike and just laughed the entire time. Listening to the crowd get all excited about the sound of the trucks pulling the weights down the track. Oh boy, as the night progressed the big boys started to come out so they could strut their stuff. (I'm still convinced this IMS was developed because of the LMS (little man syndrome)) Meet Never Satisfied, just one of the colorful trucks entered in this IMS.
As the night progressed the crowd grew increasingly excited by the sheer horsepower that was being displayed. After 4 hours of sitting on the cold seats in the rain, I asked Shayne if he was ready to go yet. Oh man, we hadn't even seen the tractors or even the gas trucks pull. (Insert an eye roll) Being the good girlfriend that I am, I took one for the team and waited for the massive tractors to come out. After watching what seems to be souped up farm machenery, I finally won and we were able to head home. To sum up this sport, if you love to diesel, the revving of engines, crowd watching, then this sport is for you!IMS#3: Burn Outs
I have never been involved in voluntary burn outs. It's a favorite past-time for Shayne and his friends. It's best if done in front of a specific person's house, but that's only for showing off. One night, we decided to do some back country driving with some friends, and then Shayne had the best idea...LET'S DO SOME BURN OUTS! That was the start of long night of smelling rubber. I just don't understand, if you spend almost $1,000 to put new tires on your truck, why would you want to burn them? Oh, well it's just another IMS.IMS #4: Mud Bogging
Most of us have enjoyed mud bogging. Who wouldn't want to get their vehicle all dirty driving through vast amounts of mud? In this case, things were a little different. A few weeks ago we got our first sciff of snow but that day Shayne and I were heading down to Blackfoot to meet a friend who was going bogging at the diversion. Shayne went to work and came back, I asked if it was really cold, and he said no. I put my hat on and we headed out. What we didn't know that in Blackfoot it was about 10 degrees colder than Idaho Falls, so I was not prepared for standing outside. When we got there, this is what we saw:
From that point on, I knew it was going to be a testosterone filled day! I am so grateful to have a boyfriend who is obsessive about his vehicles so we did not participate in this extravaganza, we only watched as others covered their "precious" trucks with mud.In conclusion, I can honestly tell you there will be many more IMS to come and I haven't got a clue what they might entail. Until then, wish me luck!
