Why do we have to fight for riding spots?

[stacktester]

I keep seeing our fellow atv'ers going to West VA, TN, KY and of course Durhamtown. Why is it that other states WANT to make riding areas for people and we're fighting for a few miles in ONF? I'm sick of it. I know these states have vast amount of woods and undeveloped woods but we deserve some places to go too. We are a big part of the state economy whether or not Tallahassee knows it or not. We buy atv's, mx bikes and toy haulers. People are working because of what we do.

I personally just bought a $36k Toy Hauler. Will it be used to go to ONF? Most likely not because the screwball idiots keep taking more and more from us. I will most likely go to other states to ride because of the problems we have riding here. It's always a pile of $h!t trying to have a good time in ONF. Can't do this, can't do that. Just give us an f'ing place to ride like they do at Hatfield McCoy and leave us the hell alone. We get the damn trail system and we still may lose that. I don't get it.

[foreman1]

Hope you feel better now that you got that off your chest.
Unfortunately your preaching to the choir and its a sign of whats in store for the future.

Not to  cast a cloud of gloom over our sport but as urbanization continues rural places are gonna continue to dissappear. I've watched thousands of acres go over the last 25 years to subdivisions and theres no stoppin it as long as money is a factor.

[Bounty1]

More news coming on ONF soon I will post it.

[k.p.]

its cause of old people! at least around my neck of the woods. i have like 30 acres of woods behind my house and there goin to tear it all down(including the dunes)to make homes for all the old people that keep coming down.its insane.some people in my neighborhood have been riding since 3wheelers came out and its all getting torn down for some people that are going to die in like 20 years.its madness.but hey thats florida for you "the retirement capitol of the world"...at least thats what it seems like

[gearhead400]

it really is too. We had a place close to my house on the powerlines, no one EVER cared or complained that we rode out there. A lot of the people would actually sit on their decks or by their pools and watch us. Now two new house went up (you can guess the age) and the last two times i went to ride out there the cops where out there in no time. They were real cool though because they knew it was never a problem to anyone else. I want to burn down all the bingo halls!!! Those crazy people in their caddies have almost run me off the road more times than i can count coming out of those places. Like blind cattle.

phew, i can breathe a little better now.

[renmus]

This is a good post being pushed down where it shouldnt be.

[Bounty1]

Not all old people are bad people. Just miserable ones nag and complain.

[bmd11]

Stack, I'm not trying to pick on you or anything like that, but what are you doing to try and help the situation?

[greenmachine]

Stack, I'm not trying to pick on you or anything like that, but what are you doing to try and help the situation?

Sounds to me like he is doing quite a bit by helping the economy of our state just like you & me. That is all we should have to do. We shouldnt have to have a statewide rally once a year, although it will be fun. We deserve some recognition from our congressmen & state elected officials. When more people buy more cars & trucks we get more roads...right. The sales of OHV's in this state is 2nd or 3rd in the nation!!! WHy cant the state manipulate that into money by opening more places like Croom? Why cant the state help a private guy who owns 10,000 acres & is willing to make a place like this but cant due to insurance. Does Croom have nsurance? I think not!!!! Why should Sand Mountain or any other private landowner who wants to share his property with people who like to ride but dont own 10,000 acres? Many private individuals are willing to do this but they keep getting shutdown by state & local govt. Durhamtown isnt owned by the state I dont think, but he is thriving & taking money from our state & we are spending money in Georgia instead of Florida. Why cant our elected officials see this??? OHV riding areas are basically an untapped source of revenue for the state. If they opened another place like Croom, they could name their price & we would pay it just to enjoy our sport. I guess they value the golf money instead.

[KB]

What I think we need is the same thing someone else posted here awhile back.

A good cat.5 Hurricane to wipe those new cheaply built home's away, maybe they'll be too scared to come back & It'll be like it was 20-30 yrs. ago.
                               my .02 & I live on the water (Tampa Bay). I'm hoping for one.

[cheropride]

Wow that's deep, living through Andrew, that's the last thing that I want.

Being born & raised in Florida, I have seen it change so much, especially in the last 15 years.  It is ironic, as mentioned in an earlier post, how they blame the ATV Riders for all the fires, and blame us for so-called tearing up the land.  But yet it was okay when (I think it was back in Bush Senior's time), just south of what used to be only known as State Road 84, they redesignated swamp land into what they now call Weston.  It's the almighty dollar.  Hey, with ATV's all requiring stickers, where is that money going?  Makes you wonder.

We finally just went out and bought our own land to ride on, does that mean it will be there for the next 10 years, well at least I can hope so.....

[stacktester]

We finally just went out and bought our own land to ride on, does that mean it will be there for the next 10 years, well at least I can hope so.....

Don't tell anyone Pride what ur doing out there with that land. They'll just tax the hell out of you until you can't afford it anymore.

It pisses me off to have to go out of town to ride when there are plenty of areas around that it will not hurt to ride on.