Craig was off for MLK day today, and it was an astounding 82 degrees, so we decided to do a ride at Fantasy Island. I was thinking we’d do a normal ride, which would get me a little extra workout today before volleyball. Craig had something else in mind…thinking we would do the entire south side, and then add some of the north side as well. We had plenty of time, so I didn’t object.
About 10 miles into the ride, at the mid-way point where the north and south meet up, a small boy (maybe 7 years old?) rode up to us and asked if we knew which way was out. Now, the mid-way point breaks off into 4-5 different directions – so if you don’t know where you’re going or what you’re looking for – it’s quite easy to get lost.
The little boy had come from a group of 4 or 5 boys, ages maybe 17-20, who explained that they didn’t know him, but found him somewhere on the north side trying to find his dad…and that he had been separated from his dad over an hour ago. Now, he’s young….so an hour could have meant 8 minutes – who knows. The boys said they weren’t done riding, but asked if we were going to the north side exit to hopefully find the father. We kinda weren’t, but we were going more in the correct direction than they were, so we agreed to escort the little boy out.
I took the boy – whose name was Ansel – through a shortcut we know on the north side to get to the gate faster, and Craig agreed to ride the actual trail to see if he could find the dad. Craig hooked back up with us roughly half way to the gate – no luck with the dad. Very shortly thereafter another boy rode up…not from a trail, but just from a different direction in the desert…calling Ansel’s name. He said they were supposed to meet up with his dad at the entrance. Groovy – that was what we were hoping.
We get there, and the father asks if we had seen 2 other kids…older boys, that it sounded like were supposed to keep an eye on the little boy. At that point we were guessing that they didn’t want to be slowed up with him, as Ansel said they went somewhere else and said they would find him later.
Nice.
Craig – I KID YOU NOT – was advising the dad on how many different ways the older boys should be grounded, and that the whole thing pissed him off. Well there’s something you don’t see everyday.
In all honesty, there is a small percentage of children that young that should probably be taken anywhere near the north end of Fantasy Island. It consists of many drops and climbs – some of them maybe 30+ feet….45 degree angles? That’s tough for most 7ish year olds. Heck – it was tough for us when we started riding FI.
After Craig felt the father had been as chastised as he could, we set off for the rest of our ride. Ansel was pretty slow, so it’s not like we were getting a huge amount of exercise compared to what we would have gotten on our own.
About 35-40 minutes later we passed a lady with her little girl, who had pulled over to the side and stopped to let us pass. The girl was maybe 5 years old…so it would have been VERY surprising if she was going to keep pace with us.
Now, let me just say…when the weather is nice – especially on holidays – you see an increase in people (and sometimes their kids) who clearly have never been to FI before. They come wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes…like they were at the mall and said “Hey Martha! It’s really ncie out. Let’s go over to the state trust land that we don’t have a permit to enter, and ride around at 4 miles per hour. BETTER YET!! Let’s take jr’s kindergarten class with us! That’s an AWESOME idea!!”
((sigh)) Those rides are sometimes a little more frustrating.
We finally finished out our ride, and were surprised to see a woman – in everyday clothes – sitting at the gate (inside FI), with a police office and her car parked right behind her on the other side of the fence.
Never seen that before.
We would have exited without any kind of nosey conversation, but you try to mentally make sense of the scene laid out in front of you in such situations.
Maybe the woman was pulled over and tried to run? The police officer seems awfully relaxed on the other side of the fence for that.
Was something wrong with the lady? Still, the officer would be more attentive I would think.
As we rolled up, the officer asked if we had seen a little girl. Oddly enough we had seen a little girl. This is an odd place to come if you’re abducting a child. Just to ride around?
Turns out, the little girl we had passed was also lost. And the woman we described matched that of a woman that the now identified mother had talked with as she started her ride. So clearly she came across the little girl, and was ushering her out much like we did with Ansel.
I rode back into the trail to see how far out they still were, and to report back on how long til they made it out at their slower pace. At the same time, the officer cancelled the search-copter that they were in the process of dispatching.
How in the WORLD does a 5 year old girl end up in FI – with its 28+ miles of winding and criss crossing trail – alone, to even get lost in the first place?!?!? And it’s not just the trails-with all of the drops and climbs that a 5 year old girl can’t possibly navigate. How often do we ride right up on rattlesnakes before we realize it?? The steer with the crazy long horns….scorpions….(did I mention that her little bike made a horrible clanking sound each time both of the pedals went around?).
My mind was just not making sense of the situation. And twice in one day??
GAWD the nice weather brings out the crazies!
Now….what I didn’t know, was that in my absence, Craig was telling the mother and the police officer about the little boy we had found earlier – also lost and wandering the trails alone. He went on to describe how it sounded like the boy had become separated…ending his mini-rant with “who does that?!?”
Imagine Craig’s complete shock when the dad showed up, and it was the SAME FREAKIN FAMILY!!!!! No wonder when Craig was going on about the irresponsibility of the father. the mother seemed very quiet. What the hell is the MATTER with these people? Not only a 7ish year old boy, but a 5ish year old girl?? Left unattended in maybe 3 square miles of desert? On 28 arduous miles of trail? Not to mention how many others had to modify their own workout plans to accommodate their ignorant parenting….
Dear LORD – incompetent much?!?!
