No more dirt track!

Behind our house sits an empty lot (actually, there are about three empty lots). My next door neighbor is a dirt bike freak. He can be found most nights in his garage tinkering with either his dirt bike or one of his son's bikes (yes, even his young sons have their own bikes). My neighbor works for a landscaping company so he has access to all the large landscaping machinery.

Last summer, with the help of a bulldozer, he turned the lots behind our house into a dirt track complete with jumps. I was really bugged by this because it seemed every night as soon as we'd put our kids to bed he'd be back there riding and revving his engine. Inevitably most nights this would wake up our kids. As the summer went on, more and more people discovered this neighborhood track. I was actually glad once the weather turned cold and people were no longer out there riding.

Once the snow melted this spring, the dirt track was back in full swing. It was evident word had spread around the area and everyone knew about it. During all daylight hours it seemed someone was always back there riding. This year, rather than just dirt bikes, there were people on 4 wheelers, go-carts, bicycles, scooters, and little kids playing in the dirt. Seeing the heavy traffic I figured it would only be a matter of time before someone got hurt.

A few weeks ago, a large construction bulldozer appeared back there. At first, I figured one of the lots had sold and new construction was about to begin. The bulldozer cleared a small area and then disappeared for about a week. After the bulldozer left, the kids (and adults) went right back to using 'their' track. About a week ago, another bulldozer showed up and spent all day completely flattening the track on 2 of 3 lots. There were also several 'no trespassing' signs posted.

So, thankfully before someone got hurt and before I went postal on them for waking up my kids the dirt track is officially out of business.