Wasn't sure if this was the spot for some old pictures but here they are

[Greybeard]

Some pictures of what I used to do when in Missouri, my truck is the brown one, the grey Ford got bigger from here and so did mine ending up with a six inch lift and 39's.

I still have a lot of albums to go through. Haven't looked at these in years. Those were great times! 

My three wheeler is one of the middle ones with the snorkel tube on it. Wasn't much to jump off of here but we did what we could find.

My scout was the one on the right. This was my first 4 wheel drive vehicle in about 1983. It's a 78 with a 345ci and chrysler something (737?) transmission.

The slide show was easier...

http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/1john9/slideshow/truck%20stuff

[Engineer]

I still have my old 1985 ATC350X. Still in original condition.

Were some of those pictures taken at Lesterville?

[Irish_Alley]

i have a ytm225, love that thing but she smokes. have a jug to replace the one on it but havnt replaced it yet

[Elpresidente]

I just linked that to my buddy, he's owned several trikes over the years and loves them. 2 Yamaha 225's, and a Honda Big Red (200?). I think he will crap his pants in excitement. Not much has changed between your generation 30 years back to now, not even the beach fire/truck/trike combo lol.

[Greybeard]

I still have my old 1985 ATC350X. Still in original condition.

Were some of those pictures taken at Lesterville?

All of the gravel ones were taken at Lesterville. The best times in my life were down there. HiwayRob up in town always the necessary parts to fix a broken truck. I went there three times a year for about 10 years starting as a ride-along with my brother-in-law and sister in their 75 Cherokee Chief. The last time I went was in 1987 I believe, maybe 86, because the state said the canoers and a little fish (A snaildarter?) had precedence and so they got the river essentially closed to truck traffic. Am I close? I lived in Colorado at the time and heard this from my brother. We knew it was inevitable however. When I started going in the seventies the crowd and the meet was still under the and by invitation only from the Black River Jeep club. Then folks started realizing they didn't need the permission of the club and place started getting crowded. The first time I was there the crowds was maybe 40-50 vehicles, the last time I went it was around 5000 (hearsay) vehicles and people were getting squashed in their tents. I do know there were WAY to many trucks to have a good time. Stupid one trail wonders would drop their oil in the gravel like it was expected if they went under water, beer, pop, and glass was spread everywhere, and nobody was packing it out. It was shameful.

When I moved to Colorado there weren't to many places to ride a three wheeler so I let a young kid have it for $300. I taught the kid how to ride it right, (no words on safety here) and told him if he pushed the limits he was gonna get hurt, just the nature of the beast. I never knew (or maybe I did and don't remember) how fast those things went but I suspect 35-40 mph. Most of my riding it was underwater, or down the Lesterville gravel trails or on the bypass road. But I was a sorta big guy and would drag my legs on the ground making turns. I used the side on my foot on the footpegs to hold my weight as far over as possible. Or I sat on the rear fender in a turn. Got more than my share of tire rash on my butt. LOL. We rode in cutoff jeans and a ball cap. The fashion back then wasn't silk shorts down to our ankles. I agree though the short cut-off jeans we wore back then looked 'Village People' as heck but were comfortable. I still prefer that style over shorts that fall below the knee, we called those highwaters. Mid-thigh is a good length or just below the bottom of the front pockets. Anyway, why the L am I talking about clothing....


I might have other albums with more pictures but they are buried somewhere. I have a old TV box full of slides too because when I was a photographer in training I took the vast majority of my photos on slide stock. 

[Engineer]

You could still get in the water in 1989. I think by 1990 they would write you a ticket if you got a wheel in the water.

We had a lot of fun times at Lesterville. Every body I ran around with took their trucks or three wheelers. (four wheel ATVs still hadn't gained popularity)

At the end of Labor Day weekend 1989 a guy on a Honda ATC250R blew around a corner on one of the county roads and slammed a guy's truck that I went to high school with.

The ATC was destroyed. The guy riding it was taken away in a helicopter. Never heard what happened to him. The guy I went to high school with was driving a 1979 Ford F-150. It was so badly tore up that it couldn't be driven, it had to be towed away.

People still go to Lesterville three times a year, they just don't get in the water. No big trucks like back then. Mostly just people rafting, inner tubing, canoeing or other such activities.

We drove over there in 1991. Without any trucks playing around we didn't stay.

[Irish_Alley]

thats how most things go, at first its just some friends having fun. then word gets out and more people come out then it starts to get out of hand.

[Greybeard]

Engineer , The last couple of years there a guy in our group that brought a 4 wheeler atv. It was pain to get down through the deep spots, it wanted to float wheels up. At least a three wheeler would float easy.

Where are you from? North or other? There was a few from Tennessee and Kentucky that came over and wheeled with us. One guy was a doctor and was one of the few that had a winch in the bed at the time. It came in handy one day when his oil cap fell off (forgot to put it back on ?) and he went under water. He was too deep for me to pull out because my SWB was near floating. But he hooked onto me and pulled himself out.

I have one video of the last year I was there. It's VHS still and I don't think I have a VHS machine that works anymore. So if I can get one to work I'll try taking some pictures off the TV with my camera and see if that works. It may not be the greatest way to do it but it's the best I can do right now. I'm studying IT but I hate technology LOL.