| Report Tellico is the premier public ORV area in the southeast so it follows that the 18th annual Dixie Run would be a premier event. And that's just what happened as several hundred 4-wheeling enthusiasts congregated near Murphy, North Carolina on October 1 - 3, 2004 to go trail riding in the Upper Tellico OHV Area in the Nantahala National Forest. The Tellico trails are extremely challenging. Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, the sponsor of the event, no longer offers "stock" vehicle trail rides at Tellico. Aggressive mud tires, a suspension lift, a locker or two, a winch and tow strap are recommended for many of the trail rides and are required for the harder rides. Spare parts such as tires, axles, drive shafts, and U-joints are recommended for the hardest rides.
Dixie Run 2004 Rock ChallengeThe Rock Challenge is a rock crawling competition run by the Extreme Ridge Runners at Crawford's Camp on Friday during the Dixie Run. The winners of the Rock Challenge competition:
Winners of the competition received BFG duffle bags or BFG jackets! Sponsors that sent us prizes and other grab bag goodies for the Rock Challenge (thank you!):
A New Twist at Dixie Run ’04This year's Dixie Run was kicked off with another FEAST cooked up by the chefs of Middle Tennessee Trail Runners (a/k/a Danger Men Cooking). A special thanks goes out to Randall and Doris Davis, Harold and Becky Etheridge, David, Melanie and Katie Lepp, Kelly Smith, Jerry Wieck, Joe Williams and Kenny Williams. Friday and Saturday mornings provided a meal that Denny's, Waffle House and Shoney's couldn't even keep up with. Served up over an open flame fire and homemade griddle (what else would you expect from Harold Etheridge) were 50 dozen eggs, 2 gallons of cheese and garlic grits, 39 pounds of bacon, 950 buttermilk pancakes, 2 gallons of maple syrup (even warmed if you so chose), 57 pounds of homefried potatoes and onions, 6 gallons of orange juice, 4 gallons of milk and 12 gallons of coffee (Of course this was all fat-free and low in cholesterol :-) Some 140 meals were served at $5.50 per plate ($3.50 children 12 and under; 6 and under – free), generating nearly $800 in total sales.... ALL of which was donated to Southern, including the cost of the food. Thanks.... and we look forward to our NEXT meal! Keeping the Kids InvolvedThe future of our sport lies in our children, and keeping them involved is imperative. This year's Dixie Run included something new. A joint effort between Middle Tennessee Trail Runners and Cumberland Off-Road Club presented a Kids-Only raffle, intermingled within the adult raffle. 261 tickets were sold at 50 cents each. Some 40 prizes were handed out ranging from outdoor sportsmen kits (walkie-talkies, flashlight, etc.) to magic cards to mini monster trucks. There may have even been a mini-Hummer or two. The grand prize was a huge hit – a remote control Monster Garage® edition Ford Bronco, autographed by Jesse James himself – and had even some of the grown ups licking their chops (ok, maybe it might have been forged). Once again Saturday afternoon’s festivities included games for the kids. With volunteer support from Jay Bird, Deanna Flinchum, Jennifer Jordan, Dave Logan and Kevin Sutz, our future 4-wheelers ran an obstacle course on battery powered riding rigs (ATVs, Jeeps, etc.), had a tug-of-war (with a rope nearly large enough to pull Stroud's Scout around), played a round of off-road twister, and last but not least, ran furiously throughout the campground pawning pieces and parts from nearly everyone in order to fulfill their list of items for the infamous Dixie Run Scavenger Hunt. That's to all for their help and continued support!
Baaad Trail BossBy Joe Smith Call me Ishmael. It seems appropriate to quote the opening lines of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, as I describe the opening trail ride of this year’s Dixie Run. I felt like the only one that returned to tell the tale. The trail ride up the great white whale known as School Bus started out at ten o’clock, with an ominous thirteen vehicles. Like a harbinger of things to come, we lost our first vehicle when one of the Scouts turned a little too far off the gravel road to avoid oncoming traffic, and struck a bolder hidden in the tall grass. Breaking the front spring perch, the driver and some of his fellow Georgia Bounty Runners decided to take another vehicle back to camp for help. After arrangements were made, the trail ride continued on, unaware that the remaining GBR club members had their trail food, sodas and water in the vehicle that went back. The ride up School Bus was a lot of fun. The weather was great and nobody broke anything that wasn’t readily repairable. There was the usual amount of cable pulling, and the group was in no particular hurry. It was mid afternoon by the time we reached the junction at Trail 11. Everyone looked apprehensively down at the Pinch Rock, wondering how much body damage would be required for passage. The Scout showed the way, leaving its usual mark of rust and Krylon simi-flat black paint on the side of the bolder. Next came Dave’s little Wrangler. He never really liked those plastic rocker guards anyway. Just working its way over the top ledge was Ralph’s tricked out TJ. Sensing that all was right with the world, the Scout moves a little farther down the trail to make room for the others. No one actually heard the fatal snap of the pitman arm! The TJ was right in the middle of the boulder pile when the steering wheel suddenly went limp. A quick survey of the situation resulted in a unanimous consensus that “this was not good”. If we could just get the TJ past the Pinch Rock, there was hope of making it back with the help of a few tow vehicles. Ralph made a valiant effort to maneuver, using the twin sticks, air lockers, line locker, and hub selection, but it was just too steep. Chains and straps could not coax the steering either. Bill’s emergency wire welder seemed to provide some hope, but the light welds broke immediately when any stress was applied. Pulling the TJ back over the ledge did not work either, and resulted in a broken front axle on the Jeep that tried. With the sun fading along with hope, the trail boss says adieu to the now sizable group of humanity trapped at the top, and decides to make a parts run. Pointing the way for the others, in the general direction of Helicopter Pad and Guardrail, and loading up one of the GBR passengers, he starts the two hour trip back to camp. Once back, it did not take long to obtain a TJ pitman arm, donated by Crawford’s Camp. David Lepp of Metal Fusion contributed a pitman arm puller. These were given to GBR members who headed back to make repairs and help Ralph get back to camp. So we thought. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to all, Ralph’s TJ had a CJ steering gear and a Ford drag link. It was about 10:30pm when the GBR relief crew arrived back on Trail 11 only to find out that they brought the wrong part. Plan B was considered, which was to bring the broken parts back to be welded professionally. However, in frustration at the defective pitman arm, Ralph had vented by throwing one half down the mountain. The good news was that the relief crew did bring the cooler that had been left in the other vehicles that morning, avoiding certain starvation and dehydration. All the vehicles stuck at the top eventually made it back by going down Helicopter Pad and Guardrail, with the exception of Sam and Larry from the Chattanooga area. In a gracious act of empathy, they volunteered to stay the night with Ralph, building a warm campfire, consuming large quantities of Beenie Weenies and sleeping in their comfortable Jeep seats. Their only complaint was that periodically Ralph would stir in his sleep, bumping his knee against the switch for the air raid siren on board the TJ. The next day, another Pitman arm arrived and everybody headed back to camp. As they pulled onto Trail 1, the Baaad Trail Boss happened to be returning from that day’s ride, and was properly admonished for leaving them on top of a 5000 foot mountain overnight.
Dixie Run 18 Wrap-Upby Greg Griffith, Dixie Run Coordinator Dixie Run 18 is in the books so to speak. We had a great turn out and a lot of family fun as we SFWDA members always do. The Dixie Run event even after 18 years seems to always have hurdles and as SFWDA always does, we overcome them. Milt Webb, thanks very much for the on-line registration and easy way to enter into the event. Super big thanks to Rock Solid for the safety inspection and trail ride assignments and Cumberland Off Road gang for doing the on-site registration. These teams worked flawless in their assignments and made for a smooth entry into the event for all. Also a big thanks to Middle Tennessee Trail Runners – “The Dangerous men cooking” was a great addition to the DR 2004. Those guys did a great job on the breakfast. Heck, it was like a Las Vegas buffet line. What a great way to start a morning in the mountains. Also hats off to the SFWDA Board of Directors for great teamwork and efforts above and beyond the call of duty for several weeks before the event. They helped me to strive for a great event. Their efforts were 24 hours a day and made it a lot easier to head off problems before we started the event. The Extreme Ridge Runners once again did a spectacular job on the Rock Crawl event at Crawford’s Campground. Big Thanks to those guys and Steve Crawford for having us. Rumor has it that Extreme are already planning for 2005. They are making the “Crawler” teams participate in a separate class so the mountain jeeps are once again to be competing against each other and not against professional crawlers. Special thanks go to Adrienne Hall, Brent Galloway and Roy Stroud for helping me get the final touches put on the event to make all participants enjoy Dixie Run 2004 what a great weekend in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. For those others that helped out with the event and I have missed, Thank you very much and your hard work and it is very appreciated. The Kids games were presented by a group of Volunteers that were put together at the last minute and I salute you for a great afternoon of kid’s fun. Heck I really liked the Kids “Off-Road” twister. What a great idea! Kids raffle made a lot of fun for the kids and helped to make them the children once again part of the whole Dixie Run event (Thank you Cumberland Off Road and Middle Tennessee Trail Runners). Heck, once again Jay Bird “AKA Ice Cream Man” did a great job with the scavenger hunt for the kids. We need help for Dixie Run 19. We need teams from clubs in SFWDA to do Registration and a club to step up for KIDS games. I want to stress that the kid’s games are a very big part of Dixie Run and have been for 12 plus years. Thanks to Tellico4x4 for the auction at the event. Jack Lancaster and Cal Reynolds and their crew did a great job once again. As a part of Dixie Run 2004, I want you to know that I have already started working on Dixie Run 2005. This is a full year process to get the event in-line and working to task. Plus in May of 2005 I will start working on Dixie Run 2006. This will be the 20th anniversary of Dixie Run and were are already planning a banner event that will hold many new surprises. So if you were not part of the excitement, shame on you. If you were attending this event we thank you for coming. We look forward to having a great weekend in 2005 that will make it worth traveling to Tellico ORV area for a Family weekend for all. I would also like to take a minute and thank all the shops and vendors that took the time to come down for our event in the vendor alley. Special thanks to BFG – Richard and Jackie Winchester and Rancho – Shane and Ginger McCormick. These Families had the hardship of several tornados in Florida and still made time to attend our event. Thank you Pat from Warn, We always like to see Warn participate in our event. By the way, Rancho and Warn sold DR 2004 T-shirts at the event and donated the proceeds to SFWDA. I am already getting ready to attend the SFWDA Trailfest at WindRock in spring of 2005. That will be here before you know it. Please make sure to check out www.sfwda.org for up-dates and registration information as soon as it is posted. See ya in the woods.
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The Dixie Run couple -
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