Potential Member - Nashville Area Ride?

[AppleTech]

Hello all,

Been a year or two since I've wheeled and many years since with a Toyota group. Wheeling buddies I used to go with have all sold their trucks due to life circumstance changes. My little one is nearing 5 and is interested in going wheeling with me for a day. I'd like to take her to Turkey Bay or Golden Mountain before the weather gets cold to see how she likes it. I see there is a Golden Mountain event in Sept but I think for her first trip a big event might be a bit overwhelming, so I was thinking of trying to get into a more laid back ride in the next month or so.

Anyone have anything on their schedules or been toying with a trip? I'm not a member but I'd love to get to know some of you guys and see about joining - if she's into it I should enable me to go more often since I'll be the babysitter for the day and can give my wife a day off!

I'm in a 96 80, triple locked, on 33 MTs, OBA, and carry tools. I'm a very comfortable wheeler - been at it for going on 10 years now and have done many rides in CA where I used to live, including Big Bear and Johnson Valley. Been to Turkey Bay and Golden Mountain before and been comfortable at both places.

Thanks!
Phil

 

[AppleTech]

Here's a picture of my 80. Its basically a trail toy at this point. Likely going to be selling my F150 soon and saving up for a newer "normal car" so this can be a dedicated wheeler.

 

[FJCRAWLER]

The Golden Mountain event gets a lot of rigs which is great. The bad is there's so many it's kinda hard to get around.

If you can swing it the trip to Hawk Pride Mountain in Alabama would be ideal. It will take place Sept. 14-17. I am no means trying to take away from the Dixie Run, Ive attended a couple times myself it just gets a little crazy.

If you are just thinking about a day trip close Adventure Offroad Park (AOP) in South Pittsburgh TN is a great park.

 

[another]

AppleTech,

My '97 40th Anniversary Series 80 has been used for city slicker work and highway travel for most of it's adult life, with an occassional run up the mountain to a friend's cabin in N GA or foul weather transport use. Tried like you have to reach out here locally to make contact with some folks, but never had much luck. My rig needs some deferred maintenance and probably some more serious parts replacement (power steering unit/steering knuckle/fan clutch/etc) before I would feel comfortable going out in the mud. Most of this stuff is a little above my level of expertise and I'm probably just going to sell it and buy something sissified like a Cayenne to play with. Your idea for a local ride does sound good though. Good luck with it.

 

[AppleTech]

AppleTech,

My '97 40th Anniversary Series 80 has been used for city slicker work and highway travel for most of it's adult life, with an occassional run up the mountain to a friend's cabin in N GA or foul weather transport use. Tried like you have to reach out here locally to make contact with some folks, but never had much luck. My rig needs some deferred maintenance and probably some more serious parts replacement (power steering unit/steering knuckle/fan clutch/etc) before I would feel comfortable going out in the mud. Most of this stuff is a little above my level of expertise and I'm probably just going to sell it and buy something sissified like a Cayenne to play with. Your idea for a local ride does sound good though. Good luck with it.

Yeah there don't seem to be too many active groups in the Nashville area, Toyota or otherwise. I wheeled with a Jeep club in Turkey Bay a couple times and had fun but most of them all lived up there so I only went a couple times.

That was one of the shocks moving out to TN from CA - in CA there is so much open-use land such as BLM or state forests that have awesome trails and many old mining roads. It was possible to get off the highway, drive a fun four-hour trail along a mountaintop and then get back on the highway at the end. Everything I've found in the south are these private parks that are challenging but just very small. I miss the long trails on old mining roads and seeing ghost towns. But mostly I miss the lack of free use land - as much as I dislike CA that is one thing I really miss about it - they keep a TON of land open for free use.

That and real rock crawling

-Phil

 

[htburnett]

We are doing our annual meeting in October at Windrock. Plenty of long trails there.

 

[Tennessee80]

Hi man, I am local in the Nashville area, live in Franklin/ work downtown. What kind of ride are you thinking about? Me and @Bama4door were talking about going back to the dirt devil trails soon with whoever, and it is a very easy ride, but fun for kids since there are creeks to play in along the way.

It's definitely a 2WD trail, but the kids don't know, LOL.

Just an idea, and it's local (we started out past Leiper's Fork)

cheers, Joel

 

[oldredfj60]

I'll second the annual. Great, kid friendly event. Your rig would fit right in...

 

[AppleTech]

We are doing our annual meeting in October at Windrock. Plenty of long trails there.

I'll second the annual. Great, kid friendly event. Your rig would fit right in...

Great to know. I will watch for info!

Hi man, I am local in the Nashville area, live in Franklin/ work downtown. What kind of ride are you thinking about? Me and @Bama4door were talking about going back to the dirt devil trails soon with whoever, and it is a very easy ride, but fun for kids since there are creeks to play in along the way.

It's definitely a 2WD trail, but the kids don't know, LOL.

Just an idea, and it's local (we started out past Leiper's Fork)

cheers, Joel

Yes I'd be interested. Might be a good way to start out and see how she likes it.

 

[jynx]

@Tennessee80 start a DD thread when you guys have some dates in mind. Erin and I would like to try and go as well. She wants to get a little dirt on the GX.

 

[Tennessee80]

@Tennessee80 start a DD thread when you guys have some dates in mind. Erin and I would like to try and go as well. She wants to get a little dirt on the GX.

Cool! @Bama4door has a cool track mapped on his GPS, and it took about 2.5-3 hours including a nice lunch break next to a stream. Apparently some of the sections are now closed off, but I'm sure Cole can come up with another fork in the road!

 

[jynx]

Sounds good Joel, we'll keep an eye out. In the mean time, anybody interested in grabbing a bite sometime? We aren't the best at staying on our regular meeting schedule, but I come thru Franklin almost everyday on the way home, so if any of you guys wanted to grab a bite or a beer one afternoon/ evening, let me know.

 

[Bama4door]

@jynx @Tennessee80 The best part of the Dirt Devil where you ride through the creeks is now closed, but I found a pretty cool work around trail to bypass it.

I'm not sure what Caylee and I are doing for Labor Day weekend, but maybe we could put together a ride then or maybe the week after?

 

[jynx]

County close it I'm guessing? Probably getting flak from some locals. Regardless that kind of stinks cause that looked like a neat run.

We should be in town on labor day weekend, keep us posted.

 

[ukaviator]

Im down for a trip to the dirt devils

 

[jynx]

@ukaviator Rollin' Cali-style til you get those rear springs in

 

[ukaviator]

Lol! Exactly just need a loud sound system and some fuzzy dice!

 

[Bama4door]

County close it I'm guessing? Probably getting flak from some locals. Regardless that kind of stinks cause that looked like a neat run.

We should be in town on labor day weekend, keep us posted.

I think it's just the locals. There's a gate up in one area without a lock on it. The long steel rope across the river on the other end definitely doesn't look like anything the county would do.

I know Topless in TN Jeep club and a bunch of other groups used to run big rides through there...locals probably got sick of it.

 

[jynx]

Interesting. Might be worth a call to the county road superintendent since those are public county roads and technically the local folks would have no authority to block them off.

Of course, it might also be good to make nice with the surrounding property owners to keep from getting "spiked" in a water crossing or something too. I may make a few calls and see what I can find out.

 

[Bama4door]

Let us know what you can find out Matthew!