What is it about ATVing in Northeastern Ontario that keeps you coming back? Sure, there is the camaraderie of friends, the beauty of the land, and the challenge of the trail, but I feel that there is something more, something deep inside your soul.
This is a special day for our family. We are at the French River ATV Tours about to embark on family ATV ride, a first time experience for all but me. As Brad the owner and guide takes us through the instructional process, something he says and the resulting look on my wife's face answers that deep soul searching question. Why, why do we ATV?
“There will be mud out there and you will get dirty.”
In my head I can hear many mothers everywhere, including my own, gasp. Yes moms, we will get dirty. The look on my wife's face is that of total disapproval and suddenly I understand. Getting dirty is exactly what makes ATVing so much fun. 
As a toddler you deal with a muddy puddle on the trail by walking in, sitting down, and maybe having a taste. This is when you first hear that life altering phrase, “ Don't get dirty.”
By the time you are a teen and with, “Don’t get dirty” stuck on repeat in your head, you tiptoe around that same muddy puddle. By adulthood you skip the muddy puddle altogether.
Then you get on an ATV and the only way to get around that mud filled puddle is to splash straight through it and just like that, you are a kid again. Proof is in the photo, even the dirt-wary matriarch of our family can’t help but smile when she hits that first puddle and the mud flies.
