Bubba was at the wheel of the UTV as it raced down Alder Gulch toward Virginia City two weeks ago. His friends Joe and Keith were squeezed into the single-bench cab with him. And I was bouncing around the pickup-truck-style bed in the back, along with three shotguns, Penny the bird dog and her feathered quarry. I didn't know the men in the cab at all. But Bubba seemed to know the road well. The side-by-side veered off the main road to town and instead climbed up a steep side trail away from my destination. I wondered where they were taking me, if not town. They're locals, I thought. It's probably fine. It turned out to be more than fine.