jowens..."Those were Bunny trails compared to what the guys out west run."
Just a note on this comment....I have wheeled up and down the east coast for 25 years
and now up in the Northwest for 8 years....Here is my feeling towards that type of comment. (Mind you I am not sayng this in a bad way or with mean intention) In fact, I am making this statement in respect of all wheelers everywhere...
The riders in the Northwest face way different obstacles then we do in the south and; we face different stuff then the guys in the mid-atlantic...or further north..or those in middle America....etc.etc.etc...
I am positive that if a westerner came here, they would definitely have to learn the ropes of driving in southern swamp mud...period. And when I went to the Northwest, I entered into their environment like an idiot and almost killed myself on several occasions...simple things like the amount of pedal you give in the swamp mud as opposed to the skinny pedal you ride on an 8000 foot mountain side. The PNW4x4 boys in the Northwest (Oregon/Washington) let me ride with them and seriously taught me a lot about negotiating nasty mountains trails. Colorado rock damn near killed an old chevy I had years ago...
We all know our backyards well...and every different type of riding deserves dedication to learning the system and preparation. Remember...yes you can fall off of a 10,000 mountain and kill yourself real fast...but if you get stuck for too long here in the south in mud bogs the mosquitoes will eat you alive...lol...then there's gators, leaches and black moccasin snakes that are aggressive as hell. Standing in swamp water is good for the skin complexion but you become bait...
But that being said...there is no trail riding in forest like the ones out west. Those forests are huge and go on forever. Styles of driving are a learned event only improved by doing it over and over and over again.
...and Jim, nobody blamed you for not messing up that pretty motor and the money involved in building it...we all would have backed out of that day.