Chafton's Journey: Fabulous Four Day Fourth of July 2023 at MINEMADE

June 30th 2023

Weather forecast for next four days is dismal ......with thunderstorms daily, rain continuing into next week. Plans are made, Mud Buds coming to join us from Ohio and Indiana. So we loaded up and headed to MineMade Off Road Park in the Eastern Kentucky Hills near Hazard, Ky.

OK...LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE TRAIL

MAMA SAYS SHE'S READY

Well we arrived early enough on Friday to get the campsite set up, everything unloaded and somebody hollered NITE RIDE.

And that's all it took to hit the trails....

Thanks to Karen for getting a couple of shots as we head off into the sunset.

Karen's video of this cool ride is on her Facebook page. I will share at a later date.

Can't figure out how to copy the video and get it on this Blog....

Pictures are easy.....videos ain't.

And even got back to camp with time for a fire and a few stories to tell.

Tomorrow is the Big Day here at MineMade....Fireworks show, live music, food vendors, guided rides, etc.

Saturday July 1, 2023

Looks like everybody is Fired UP and ready for some action.

Going to hit Buckhorn Creek today, rode that section back in 2017 and it was an awesome trail. Only difference is it has been raining all week and no telling how deep that creek will be today.

We will soon find out............

Sorry for the video quality.....the rain on the windshield makes the GoPro very unhappy...make sure you are watching with 1080p HD device..........BUT This should give you an idea of how our weekend went. Every day....

So far all the Ladies are happy....

and we hope they stay that way but the day is young and the creek is deep.

Left to Right:

Karen, Christine, Sally, Jade, and Robin.

Some good views along the trails.

We are riding on roughly 50,000 acres of reclaimed Coal Mine property.

The Blue Diamond Coal company ceased operations here about 30 years ago. During operations they had housing, schools, commissary, etc.

We ran across this old Cemetery waaaay back in the hills, miles from any community.

Some headstones were hand carved and so old you could hardly read the dates.

We were told that a small community settled here long before coal was mined.

Just some old folks having a good time by this iron enriched water falls.

Note the red rocks.....

Jimmy and Robin....

Good times for both.

Taking a picture of Jimmy taking a picture of Kevin at the Waterfalls.

Kevin drove down from Fort Wayne, Indiana to join us on the July 4th weekend ride.

Both him and his Yamaha YXZ did very well in these hills and creeks although his headlights were underwater many times.

Ray and Karen clowning around.

AS ALWAYS....

Where is Ed and Sally.....anybody seen Ed and Sally????

Looks like a casualty. of Buckhorn Creek....

Actually it was probably left over from the terrible floods that hit this area last July.

This entire holler was raging with flood waters and many locals lost their homes and everything in them.

Damage can be seen everywhere along the roads .

Very sad times for the folks around Hazard, Kentucky..

Kevin in his Yamaha YZX....

He also joined us on our Colorado trip last year,

good friend who worked for us at Jerry's

Chevron back in the 70"s.

Back at the campground for the live band and some R & R.......

Tomorrow is another day and rain is in the forecast.....

But tonight we enjoy some local talent and a few fireworks.

Ya'll Gotta love this video.......Just us hillbillies doing a little Saturday Nite Shindig at the MineMade Music Hall ..............

And Fireworks as promised.......Thanks Karen for the picture.

Sunday, July 2, 2023

Well Ed an Sally destroyed a wheel bearing on their RZR yesterday and had to park it for the remainder of this ride.

So they skipped today and went over to the South Fork Elk View area ( we rode over there yesterday in the buggies )..

And you might know they would find the wild horses that we been looking for. Here is Jade, the horse whisperer, doing what she does at home.

Don't know if I would call these horses wild but they are free-roaming and love to be fed by the buggy drivers.............. if you can find them.

Horses roam the reclaimed coal fields all over Kentucky.

Many areas also have a population of Elk.....if you can find them.

Also well established in these hills are Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, and Black Bear........if you can find them.

And thank you Ed and Sally for these beautiful pictures from the area. Seems I only find the mud holes to take pictures of.

And an occasional waterfall..

And back on the trails......it was Jimmy's day to lead and he did......right to a deep mud hole.

He eased off into this one and the front end went out of site. No problem, just time to get the winch hooked up.

And here is that occasional waterfall we find..

be it a small one.

I think this was from the day it didn't rain all night.

OK, back on the trails again....Couldn't wait any longer to find a nice slick mud hole to waller in.

Then back at camp we discover there had been a fire last night.

This Honda caught on fire and burned another buggy also. See video.

We learned later that the owner was asleep and heard the Honda trying to start. He assumed someone was trying to steal it but when he got outside it was in flames. Evidently a shorted starter or switch problem started the fire.