<hr /> <i>By John Beaudoin, The Democrat Missourian</i></p><p>I&#x92;ve never been that adventurous. I can admit that.</p><p>I am not going to go bungee jumping or skydiving. Not a chance. Getting in an airplane and traveling miles above the ground is enough for me.</p><p>And while I have done a few crazy things in my life &#x96; including a float trip that I have vowed never to repeat &#x96; jumping in a vehicle to go &#x93;off-roading&#x94; wouldn&#x92;t normally be on my list of things to do for kicks on a Saturday night.</p><p>One of the things I learned in Iowa, though, is that some people just have no fear.</p><p>My always entertaining neighbor, Jeff, pretty much put others to shame when it came to doing stuff.</p><p>He built himself a garage bigger than the house I lived in (to hold his farm equipment, of course) and owned a Caterpillar device that he used to plow my driveway during one of the dozens of snowy mornings in southwest Iowa.</p><p>Because of those random acts of kindness, I felt it necessary to go along with Jeff during one of his fearless acts &#x96; taking his Jeep &#x93;off-road&#x94; behind his house, over and through the Loess Hills and, as I was certain, to our ultimate demise.</p><p>As I hopped in the passenger seat, I had that feeling that you have just before you do something dumb. You almost step outside of yourself and watch yourself do this dumb thing.</p><p>Of course, in any other universe, riding around in a Jeep isn&#x92;t so dumb. But again, I haven&#x92;t had much experience with this.</p><p>Jeff threw it in drive and we sped off onto the grass and into the hills with force. As I was jostled around, I actually had a moment where I thought I could open the door and jump out of the moving vehicle because, surely, that wouldn&#x92;t hurt as much as when we eventually slammed this thing into a tree or went over a cliff.</p><p>I think I screamed a few times. Jeff laughed.</p><p>As he maneuvered back toward the house and familiar settings, he asked if I wanted to go back out again.</p><p>I can&#x92;t believe I was actually considering answering in the affirmative. And glad I didn&#x92;t.</p><p>I was sure at one point we were going to meet our ultimate demise. And I actually think Jeff had more fun watching my reactions than he did driving.