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Birdsong Outpost Dryden, Tx March 2016

bwdmax

Wylie E.
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Location
Victoria
First Name
Gary
Last Name
Turner
This year for spring break we decided that we should go riding as a family. I have taken my kids to various places to ride, but never in a rocky desert type setting. I took them to Big Bend two years ago for spring break, but no drivers license means no riding in the park. I had read on TWTEX of a place just outside of Dryden. Birdsong Outpost is a private ranch of approximately 3,200 acres that allows riding of off-road machines. There are four cabins and a few RV spots, we opted for a cabin. The cabin is much like a tiny house with a queen bed, couch, chair, cooking area, bath room, and a loft with another queen bed. These cabins are not a luxury spa, but they will get the job done for a place to stay for a few days.

The players for those that don’t know us are: Lorraine my wife who is organizer of most of our travels, she keeps us feed and keeps up with when we must be somewhere. She is not a moto rider; even though she can she just doesn’t have the desire. She will be riding a Honda Foreman 450es quad. Colton my son who is 14 and just moved from a CRF150F to an XR250R, I load both since he has never ridden in rocky terrain and can’t quit get to the ground on the 250. Emily my daughter who is 12 will be riding her CRF110, she doesn’t ride that often but always enjoys it when she does. Emily doesn’t like to shift for some reason so she puts the 110 in second gear and that’s where it stays. I will be on my do it all bike my KTM 525exc.

Day1 is finish packing and driving west with a few stops along the way for fuel, ice and a WalMart stop those last minute items.

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I reach Dryden and turn down the road that takes us to the ranch. The locals area has been getting rain and there is water across the road in the low spots. It is not flowing and the ground is hard and rocky so no problem. The road is rough but not too bad, it takes us about 30mins to go seven miles to the ranch.

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When we arrive there is some folks from Midland next to us in a cabin with side-by-side atvs and a family from Corpus in a motor home with a gaggle of quads. I visit with them about the trails and the ranch for a few minutes and then go about the chore of unpacking everything we had just packed a few hours before. The sun begins to set as Emily says “Dad can you take me for a ride on the 4 wheeler”. We gear up and jump on the 4 wheeler and Colton jumps on the 250 since it has a headlight and we head of into the unknown for a quick look. It gets dark fast in the mountains for those who don’t know, so headlight soon become mandatory as the smooth dirt trail turns quickly to rocks and an off camber decent to the bottom of wash. I roll through the bottom and give Colton some room as he waits at the top of the other side, he rolled in through a few baby head rocks and got smoothly on the gas and up the other side without much fanfare. I knew at that point we were going to have a good few days of riding and he was going to love the 250R. There were a few more washouts and then a turn back to the cabins.

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Day2 we woke to a cool crisp morning and headed out to explore the ranch. I started down the trail we had ridden the night before and when we got to the first wash Emily balked and said no way. I talked to her she decided to press on. She was on little tires, so the rocks are huge to her.

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The trail we took back to the cabin the night before had a tee in the road so I chose the left turn this time and was greeted with a sharp left hand turn to a long uphill with a couple steps along the way. I knew this was going to be a no go for “E” at this point. We poked around for some easier riding and found a little. We passed the owners house and he came out side and chatted for few minutes, he had noticed that we turned around on the hill and shared that if we went back down the county road there was a gate that lead to the north side of the ranch were we would find some easier riding.

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I did a little solo exploring in the afternoon. I ended up bushwhacking across the far east corner of the ranch. I eventually found a goat path that lead me to a water trough that put me back on a road.

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Day 3 I wake up in time to see the sun rise. I make some coffee and head outside. (Disclaimer: I am not a photographer for sure. I did walk across the road so the power lines would not be in my shot.)
I spend a little time in solitude thankful that I have been able to see the creator unfold the day before me.

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And then you get to see the source of light that has been growing.

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The new day brings new neighbors. The old ones are gone and a motorhome has arrived late in the night. The new neighbors begin stirring as I am prepping bikes, Lorraine is cooking breakfast and the kids are laid up making the most of the “break” part of spring break. I ease over to the neighbors and introduce myself. They are from San Antonio, a father (Jim) and son(Kyle), and a friend (Mike)of the father from Mississippi. The fellow from Mississippi grew up in So Cal riding and racing in the dessert, he had even raced the Baja 1000 back in the day. Kyle was a junior in HS so just a little older than Colton. These guys had never been here before either so they were asking questions like was the previous days.
We eat breakfast and gear up, as I am getting ready to put my helmet on the kids are riding in the parking area. I was about to get on my bike when Jim approaches me and says that they have some maintenance to do before they are ready, but Kyle is itching to go and could he go with us. I must look real honest for this guy to send his son out with me. I work with students at church and 4H, so I never pass up an opportunity to try to be a positive influence on kid. I have a quick talk with Kyle about his skill level and to ride his own ride and then we are off.

This is Kyle in the green on his XR200. They are all holding bones. I told them that is what happens when you get lost out here.

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We rode a lot of roads that we had not ridden the day before and had few challenges for some. There was one hill that Emily first said that she didn’t want to go up, so I told her to wait at the bottom and I would check it out. (Emily is silly and she had been telling me that my riding pants were “granny pants” because they have elastic in the waist. She claims that old ladies all wear pants with elastic so all pants that have elastic are “granny pants”.) Upon my return from scouting out the hill I told her that it was easy and could even be done in “Granny Pants” so she should not have any trouble. She smiled and followed me back up what became known as “Granny Pants Hill”. I took her back later and took these shots of her at GPH.

The hill.
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Emily coming up.
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The next day we went out to launch a model rocket. Colton has had this one for about two years and we had never launched it so I told him to bring it on the trip. The lack of trees and open country made it a perfect place to do this. I think he launched it about five times. The little battery pack that is used to ignite the engine failed after the first launch, so I cut the wires off and ran them to an SAE 12v plug on my bike that is switched and he used that to launch it the rest of the times.

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Post rocket launch we headed back to the cabins.

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Here is Colton on GPH. Colton never once said he couldn’t do something, his riding level has increased tremendously.

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Emily said these blooms look like pineapples.

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There was one hill that had a bunch of what I would call slate rock. These were large flat stones that are stacked one on top of another and look like little steps. These rocks sound like you are riding through your grandmother china cabinet as you roll over them. I had no intention of taking Emily up this hill but all of a sudden we were there and I just kept rolling and so did she until about 2/3 of the way up she got bounced enough that her googles moved up and blocked her view and she went down. Before I could get stopped Kyle who was behind her had already picked the bike up. This caused a traffic jam in which Colton who was ridding sweep stalled his bike mid climb. He kicked it back to life and get restarted on the hill without any fuss. I took him back later to capture him on that hill.

Looking up the hill.
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Colton heading up.
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Looks like yall had fun. CHANGE THOSE FORK BOOTS!!!!! lol

Signatures? We don't need no stinking signatures!
 
Looks like yall had fun. CHANGE THOSE FORK BOOTS!!!!! lol

Signatures? We don't need no stinking signatures!

Don't worry. I have them just waiting to do seals, but somebody else has the seal driver right now. LOL
 
Nice ride report glad you all had a good spring break. Those hills are always steeper than what they appear in pictures.
 
Very nice! Looks like about as good as it gets.

I do believe the young man has classic form.

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Thanks guys we had a great time riding and relaxing together.



This place is for sale or lease and I understand an offer has been made, so the future is unknown.
 
Hey Gary,
Sounds like ya'll had a great time. You are blessed to have such a wonderful family. Sorry we couldn't make it up there to join in the fun. Jesse really wanted to go.
 
Thanks for posting and sharing. Great family getaway.

We had a great time.

Hey Gary,
Sounds like ya'll had a great time. You are blessed to have such a wonderful family. Sorry we couldn't make it up there to join in the fun. Jesse really wanted to go.

Thanks Marcus, Jesse would have had a blast. I know it is busy for you right now.
 
Looks like yall had fun. CHANGE THOSE FORK BOOTS!!!!! lol

Lol Red or blue fork boots? ..I saw that photo and was gonna post the same thing. But then realized this wasn't the XRL thread so didn't and then I see your post. hahaha

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Lol Red or blue fork boots? ..I saw that photo and was gonna post the same thing. But then realized this wasn't the XRL thread so didn't and then I see your post. hahaha

-

You know JMZ......
 
I am impressed with Emily :clap: Those rocky hills can be very intimidating, even for adult riders. I know I would have been having to work pretty hard to convince Sarah to ride some of that stuff. She likes smooth surfaces ;-) This has to do wonders for Emily's confidence. Nice to see the jacket being put to good use!
 
I also wanted to say, "Way to go, Emily!"

gina

I am impressed with Emily :clap: Those rocky hills can be very intimidating, even for adult riders. I know I would have been having to work pretty hard to convince Sarah to ride some of that stuff. She likes smooth surfaces ;-) This has to do wonders for Emily's confidence. Nice to see the jacket being put to good use!

She got more confident each time she would try something new. By the last day we would come up to something and I would ask her if she wanted to go or turn around, and she would say "I can do it." She discovered you have to ride some rough stuff to find the good stuff on the other side.

Been wondering about your trip. Interested in another trip next fall?

I am always ready to ride it is just a matter of timing for me.
 
She got more confident each time she would try something new. By the last day we would come up to something and I would ask her if she wanted to go or turn around, and she would say "I can do it." She discovered you have to ride some rough stuff to find the good stuff on the other side.

That last bit is exactly what I have been trying to communicate to my kids. The things that you will truly find rewarding in life are worth taking risks and working hard to obtain. Challenges make us stronger.
 
LOL. I was going to send you a link after I posted it but forgot. :)

Signatures? We don't need no stinking signatures!
 
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