Loaded and ready to ride...Leaving this morning for Bluefield, West Virginia to ride the Hatfield-McCoy Trail System with a couple of my Florida buddies. Frankie Campbell and Dave Crannell are bringing the "RZR's". Should be a lot of fun.
Took a break somewhere a little south of Hazard, Ky. Nice state park on a small lake.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Unloaded the RZR's at the Indian Ridge Trailhead. Will be doing two of the seven trail systems today. Dave and I gearing up for the ride. Frankie taking the pics.
Frankie checking the map to make sure we're on the right trail. Very complex set of trials, all marked for different skill levels. Some are single track for motorcycles only. Great riding on a beautiful day.
This is one of the easiest trails. Lots of rocks on this one, the mud comes later.
Typical West Virginia coal town. We're headed in for gas and making our way to the next set of trails.
Met up with a family of riders from Roanoke, Va. on four wheelers. Currently in Keystone, W. Va.
This little cutie is twelve years old and rides the wheels off this giant Suzuki 4-wheeler.
Beautiful West Virginia hills in the background. Heading back to the trailhead after riding 57 miles today. Moving to the Pocahantas Trail System tomorrow. These RZR's are awesome. Not only fast but handle great.
Monday, August 26,2013
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Good day on the trails. Scott rolled this one coming down a steep hill on one of the "black trails". The Black trails are listed as "most difficult". Now we know why. I almost rolled the other RZR a few hundred yards on down but managed to keep her on all four. This is the most challenging cross country I have done since the motorcycle days.
Another tricky spot...turning off a trail onto the steep downhill that got us upside down...Some trails are fast and furious and others are extremely difficult. All marked for skill level so you don't have to choose the hard ones. We like the "most difficult" Black Trails.
This good looking chick from Roanoke, VA. was waiting at the bottom....She had just accomplished the steep down hill section without turning over. She was celebrating with her husband on her feat. And some people just don't understand why we do this...
This shot is me going thru a very deep mud section and when it laid over on the driver's side my co-pilot and navigator crawled outside and used his 250 pound body to counter balance the RZR while we completed this section. Yes, I was completely underwater from the waist down. YUCK....
This is after we got back on all four wheels and finished this section. One rider from Scott and Dave's team was waiting to connect the winch if needed and taking pictures of both RZR's coming thru. This is some really nasty mud...typical coal mine country.
Frankie's turn to try his luck at this massive mud hole. We laid one over and winched one out....Took about an hour to travel 1/2 mile....Not for the faint of heart but a hell-of-a lot fun..
A better shot of Frankie trying to keep us from turning over again. If he had not climbed out to give us the counterweight I would have been totally underwater when it laid over.......Thanks Frankie.....It's bad enough to have this nasty water in your boots and pockets, but in mouth....Yuck...
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Moved over to Pinnacle Creek Trail today. About a 45 minute ride between the trail system of yesterday. This is the fourth of eight Trailheads so far.
A typical creek crossing with lots of playground trails all around this spot. Great place for a private picnic. We had soggy ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch with a bottle of water....MMmm..Good.
Come on Frankie, pour it to it....You can make...This was another easy to turn over spot.
Dave says, OK guys it's getting late and we need to move over to Matewan for the next days ride. I've got a better place picked out to stay. Let's load um up...
Wow Dave, you did good. This little Bed and Breakfast is really neat. Cleanest place you found yet...This mining town has quite the history. Certainly want to come back some day. And yes, you can ride your ATV/Motorcycle from right here to the Buffalo Mountain Trailhead.
A little history lesson from Sharon, the owner of the B & B. More pics tomorrow, it's late and time to shower and call it a day...Can't wait to check out the breakfast....
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Just another shot of the interior of our Bed and Breakfast facility.
This breakfast is about as good as it gets...The ladies here do a fantastic job and service is excellent...Hats off to Sharon and her crew.....
The sleepy little coal town on Matewan, West Virginia....And yes you can ride your ATV right through town...The trailhead is only a short ride away, it's straight up that mountain.
Boys will be Boys...Frankie and Dave just hanging out in the mountains of West Virginia
We found this really cool rock on a mountain top and just had to take a Kodak moment. Still clean and fresh, haven't found the mud yet. Only about five miles into this trail..
I think we found some mud. Looks like a piece of cake. Hit it Frankie.....it's not deep
Frankie, we told you to take the high line. Oh Well, I guess it was your turn to flip one and my turn to play counter weight. It took all three of us to put it back on it's wheels because it was uphill. This was Frankie's first rollover, I'm sure it won't be his last.
Hey Frankie, I think you should pull over there so we can help you without getting our feet wet...
Pulling back into town after another great day on the trails. We covered over 150 miles of trails.
No damage, no injuries, and lots of fun. These RZR's are tough critters.
