Some kids just love to play in the mud. They see a mud puddle and their eyes glow. They just can’t resist jumping in creating soul-satisfying splash. Then we have some ‘kids’ here in the McHenry area who never grow out of it. That latter group graduates from playing with Tonka toys in the mud to using bigger, and more expensive, toys in the mud. Those bigger toys are called “off-road vehicles.”

With off-road vehicles, a muddy landscape is their natural environment. You can drive them on the roads of McHenry but they and their drivers are never truly satisfied until the detour from the pavement and onto the hills and valleys of nature’s random roadways. They dream of streams to cross, logs to jump and ravines to navigate. 

The exhilaration gained by taking an off-road vehicle, well, ‘offroad’ is just about the pinnacle of pleasure for offroaders. They pamper and baby their off-road monsters getting them ready to go offroad. But, once they hit Mother Nature’s trails, it’s not about coddling their rides any longer; it’s about the challenge.

It’s about the mud kicked up higher than the doors as their knobby tires dig their way through the roughest of terra firma. Maybe that’s the way to put it – big kids kick the mud higher.

After each heart-throbbing off-road adventure, of course, it’s time to spoil and indulge their four-wheel babies in preparation for the next off-road excursion. 

That pampering is actually essential. Off-road is brutal and a test of, not only an off-road driver, but also off-road vehicles. The driver may need to catch their breath after returning to the pavement. But an off-road vehicle needs attention to ensure that nothing is broken or on the verge of breaking.

In fact, prior to the first off-road expedition of the season, an offroader wants to know that their mud kicker is up to the challenge. Are the tires in condition to catch the mud? Will the steering and suspension negotiate lunar-like craters? Will the engine and its assorted components survive the maximized strain of blasting through fields of mud, river beds, rocks, timber and assorted contortions of the landscape?

The off-road experience is unforgiving. If there’s a weakness in the driver or their ride, off-roading will find it.

Covered in mud, an off-road vehicle may not give the uninitiated eye an accurate appraisal of the heart and guts built into that off-roading beast but that doesn’t mean it’s not essential. Off-roading is not for the faint of heart, whether we’re talking about the driver or the ride. 

The season for off-roading is upon us. Make sure your ready for challenge before you roll off one of our McHenry area highways.