This happened while Becky and I were on the Southern Missouri Off-Road Ranch. We’d finished Guard Rail and were heading back from Pee Wee’s Crossing. We made a wrong turn onto a trail that looked easy enough…
The trails at SMORR are marked by color-
Green is EASY
Blue is MODERATE
Brown is DIFFICULT
Orange is HARDCORE
Purple is EXTREME
Red is INSANE
Guard Rail AND Pee Wee’s Crossing are brown. Somewhere along Pee Wee’s Crossing, I clearly recall telling Becky that DIFFICULT was going to be the maximum rating for the Pale Rider Jeep. I really couldn’t imagine attempting any trail more difficult with anything street-legal.
I don’t know how we made the wrong turn. The trailhead appeared easy enough, but somewhere, within a few minutes, we were on a trail, and there was no turning back. I thought we’d made the end of Pee Wee’s Crossing, but somehow we had taken a turn and ended up on Copperhead- and we started seeing the red INSANE signs.
What we weren’t seeing was a place to turn around, but, after my “When in doubt, Throttle it out!” climb up a wall of loose rocks, we finally found the end of the trail. One of the many Rock Bouncers that were below us made his way up to us, and he got out and introduced himself.
I didn’t catch his name from the rumble of his ‘hundreds of horses’ bouncer buggy, but I told him mine and said that trail was a nightmare. He laughed and said that several from his group were watching me, and commenting on the “idiot taking a brand new Jeep up Copperhead”. He said, “Once I saw you make it over the hill, I figured you were a pro.” I only reckoned that he was paying me a compliment for making it!
Well, he invited us down to meet his friends, and we followed him into a group of about twenty-five custom builds. They were cooking out, and gave us plates and solo cups and told us to help ourselves to hamburgers and cokes. We did. Seems like all of the Jeepers there had questions about the Pale Rider build, and they all praised Rock Jock! For a few minutes, I felt like a champion- King of the Hill…
That’s when it happened. The man that invited us down, asked if Becky and I would take a picture with the group. We did. Then he thanked me. He said, “Mr. Currie, thank you for letting us see that new build and for the pictures.” I said, “Wait a minute- Perry- My name is John Perry.”
They all looked at each other, then at me and Becky… then at the half-eaten hamburgers on our plates… then they looked at the Rock Jock decals on the Pale Rider, especially the ones that have John Currie’s name on them… I think we all came to the conclusion at that very moment that “John Perry” sounds a lot like “John Currie”, even more so with those bouncer buggies revving in the background.
In the end, they made us pay for the hamburgers and diet cokes, but were nice enough to point us in the right direction. We ran Pee Wee’s Crossing from top to bottom and back, and circled Copperhead!!!
I can’t help but think about it, every time I see a picture from the Southern Missouri Off-Road Ranch, and I tell this story at every expo we attend. And that hamburger and diet coke tasted as good as any steak and champagne at the table in the Winner’s Circle… even if it belonged to John Currie!
Great story, I don’t usually read much online but I ready every word of this!