johns thread again

John Fuller

John Fuller

XJ Fanatic!!
Banned
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Location
Boone NC
Good Evening to ALL members/owners/workers/club members/partnerships of The Flats Off Road Park! This is a topic of JUST DISCUSSION/insight/recommendations. NOT TO OFFEND anyone cause I love what you have and what you have built/worked for...that's why we want MORE MORE MORE!!!!!! here it goes:
Yes I am new to the park and probably don't have any room to speak up...however on a business insider I feel the need to express some level of insight because I am however a paying happy customer who loves the place, enjoys the legal place to come to and especially with so many other local (ALL) parks closed, well you are just about it in this area to come to. I have noticed that the Park is Marketed/Advertised quite a bit on here and on Facebook also but cannot help myself to realize from a business perspective and personal, kinda hard to market a business that isn't open very often. I have been spreading The Flats to everyone i know and have many interested in coming who are also looking for a place to venture off to on the weekends but very hard to do so when I and them notice hardly not many open dates for us, the public, to come pay to enjoy and wheel in your Park. I do understand "mud races" and the "benefits" take much much work to setup/plan/pay for/etc etc..but how about just plain old open it up just for wheeling on the weekends. I also understand that is what "Club Membership" are for and i respect that but from Marketing a Business perspective to attract personel of interest for increase in volume of funds and resources for bettering the Park/employee(s)/amenities and such, the membership thing only goes so far as to provide for a business. I believe I speak for MANY MANY people with this same requests/desires/recommendations even though I might be the only one to actually put together in public words expressing these great request. I have also personally spoken to many and have witnessed comments in places with this very same/similar requests for more public availability and to have the "mud race" events open for rides since it already is there and that is kind of the spark of all this.
What would it take to say....for the Public to have the Park consider opening more often:
  • funds? were a factor I myself would donate monthly/yearly fee if i knew it was going to allow me/family/friends to enjoy a legal awesome place to ride.
  • time? i know a few and i'm sure many more would donate free time to help with whatever park cleanup/setup/maintenance needs attending. I would happily donate several hours of my time while there all weekend to provide help where needed.
  • Memberships? I have not looked into this yet but just from hearing, long waiting list and much involved in approval of such privilege so maybe is there a "simpler" membership where we pay montly/yearly fee to just have privilege to come and ride.
I again do not intend to start any ruffle, offend anyone/all who may be part of this process of how it works so please don't misinterpret or hate me if i have steeped out of line or on anyones toes. My intentions are 100% Positive for the better of The Park's Marketing, Business, Attraction of People and Ability to Enjoy it more often as a Regular Based Recreational Family Activity!!! Thank You to anyone/all whom this involves and can help to bring about any opportunities to US==the happy to be there customers/wheelers/racers and bystanders!! Thank You for your time and Willingness where it is available!! (it is much Hoped for)
 
i agree i wish it was open more and if need be i would put some weekend time in
 
How often are you wanting the open rides are like they are so a large amount of people would come when open to cover costs. If you wanted every weekend you would have to consider payed help. Let's say 6 people for a weekend open 12 hours a day that's 1440 dollars not including the insurance and porta john costs
 
I can't speak for the owners, but the Flats isn't run like a business because it isn't intended to be one. The open rides are done mostly for charity, and any other fees they charge go towards the insurance they have to buy to let you on the property. In order for it to be open every weekend someone would have to essentially make the park their full-time job like Skip at Gulches.
 
That was going to be my next suggestion, the Gulches and Uwharrie are but another couple hours away and are pretty much open all the time. Im sure the Flats owners have their reasons, or it would have already been open full time. Just my .02
 
jankoid said:
I can't speak for the owners, but the Flats isn't run like a business because it isn't intended to be one. The open rides are done mostly for charity, and any other fees they charge go towards the insurance they have to buy to let you on the property. In order for it to be open every weekend someone would have to essentially make the park their full-time job like Skip at Gulches.
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That's what I was meaning when I said they would need to hire people on the weekends turning it into a business
 
There is a reason The McRib is so popular. If it was a full time menu offering no one would buy it
 
jankoid said:
I can't speak for the owners, but the Flats isn't run like a business because it isn't intended to be one. The open rides are done mostly for charity, and any other fees they charge go towards the insurance they have to buy to let you on the property. In order for it to be open every weekend someone would have to essentially make the park their full-time job like Skip at Gulches.
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i didn't know that.......i just thought when a place is advertised it usually want's to attract people and business. and no i don't expect every weekend but once a month would be ideal...i couldn't do every weekend but once a month is plenty a good enough ride time and enough time in between to get things ready. i figured people would tell me to just go somewhere else but what some people don't understand is, we are not all fortunate enough for Health reasons(my wife) or financially able to travel such long distances away from home for a day or two to have some off road fun.
 
@jaybird1ton manages The Flats. PM him and he will tell you facts.

My take is this in terms of bettering private land for public OHV use: talk less, work more, wheel more.

There are opportunities to assist various clubs with their own properties as well as helping Jason with The Flats.
 
Jody Treadway said:
My take is this in terms of bettering private land for public OHV use: talk less, work more, wheel more.
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uhhh bro no disrespect but you kinda missed the whole thread lol, that's what this is all about is having the opportunity to wheel more.
Jody Treadway said:
helping Jason with The Flats.
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well then...that would be the man to throw some money at then lol. good to know, thanks
 
Bro, my point is if want more use of The Flats, Bro, pm Jason Floyd, aka @jaybird1ton and see when he could use your help.

Less talk, more work, more wheeling.

What makes you a business insider? Do you own a business?
 
ok ok man, i was just being funny. I'm gonna go send him pm right now. (and yes i've owned business for 8 years now)
 
Cherokee's Unlimited for last 2.5years...before that was "Faith Does It All Automotive" for little over 5yrs.
 
Jody Treadway said:
Bro, my point is if want more use of The Flats, Bro, pm Jason Floyd, aka @jaybird1ton and see when he could use your help.

Less talk, more work, more wheeling.

What makes you a business insider? Do you own a business?
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What do YOU know about running a business? ??


Pshaw.

Besides the first rule about off road club is. ...
 
Thanks for the interest about being open more but the truth is there are several reason's why it is not open more than it is. First is that it was never intended to be open all the time because of wear and tear on the land, being courteous to our neighbors and exactly what Ron said.
With it being open all the time it would cause major issues w/ erosion and the upkeep on the trails would be tough. Now when there is a open ride and a ton of people show there is typically several months before the next swarm comes in. This allows erosion to be controlled and allows the grass to grow back some.
I actually had a meeting with the neighbor today about a few small things and he was talking about how we are great neighbors and he has no problems with what we do. I did talk about how we skip several months between big rides to keep the noise and dust down for our neighbors. He liked that a lot.
The last point is if we were open all the time or very often then we would only get small numbers and that would require me or someone to be there pretty much all week or every weekend and as much as I like you guys I don't want to be there all the time...lol. I have a pretty stressful job sometimes outside of The Flats. We do cater to groups or clubs if anyone wanted to schedule a ride of their own.
Even though the mudsling is on the property it is a different entity from the rock crawling/4wheeling aspect of the park. Like Jody said if anyone has any questions PM me and I would be glad to answer any questions. Thanks for everyone's support!
 
^^^ well thank you sir for the clarification! bummer. i was really exited to have found a close to home place to go once a month. well on to the next topic gentlemen....What is the closest park to Boone out of all the ones mentioned. Uwarrie sucks so no interest there. something as good as the Flats or better but nothing crazy far either...and i thought Tellico was closed
 
Durhamtown Tellico is separate from the old Tellico but in the same general vicinty and shares a very small portion of the same tract of land.
http://www.durhamtowntellico.com/

For what you have expressed an interest in liking, I would strongly suggest a ride down to the Gulches.
http://www.gulchesorvpark.com/

It is a traction and technical driver's dream. It is probably 3 hours from you, maybe 2.5 if you drive faster.
Cheap to free camping, lots of fun trails and a property owner always willing to chat.
 
thanks Ron...gonna go check out those 2 and see the details.
 
hey guys...is it true that Brown Mt. would be no fun for locked F&R 4x4 on 35s? this is what i've had many tell me that my jeep wouldn't be much fun out there...or at least not much of challenge with my setup...anyone been there and can shed some light on this thanks
 
Ron said:
Durhamtown Tellico is separate from the old Tellico but in the same general vicinty and shares a very small portion of the same tract of land.
http://www.durhamtowntellico.com/

For what you have expressed an interest in liking, I would strongly suggest a ride down to the Gulches.
http://www.gulchesorvpark.com/

It is a traction and technical driver's dream. It is probably 3 hours from you, maybe 2.5 if you drive faster.
Cheap to free camping, lots of fun trails and a property owner always willing to chat.
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dam that's far..whew that's a trip
 
BUCKEYE PERFORMANCE INC. said:
If you want to put a lot of energy into getting access to a park get Callalantee opened back up since your close!
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ohh trust me...many many many locals have tried for years but the landowners have not been willing. i guess i'm gonna start trailiering to my local trail again (now that i'm not street legal) and just enjoy that and make some of the trails there more difficult and challenging.
Someday day i'm going to buy me 20+ acres of land in the right spot and solve this problem once and for all....gonna rent a backhoe and go to town...then wait for a downpoor and get out with everyone i know while pouring down and make some trails...that's the way we made trails in High School and it was lots of "overheating your engine" type of fun lol. ohh i can't wait for that day to own some land!!!
 
John Fuller said:
hey guys...is it true that Brown Mt. would be no fun for locked F&R 4x4 on 35s? this is what i've had many tell me that my jeep wouldn't be much fun out there...or at least not much of challenge with my setup...anyone been there and can shed some light on this thanks
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The only trail you can go on is the main connector trail threw the hole trail system I believe not worth your time.

Harlen and wind rock are open year round and a year pass is cheap. I believe you can camp on the trails or very close by.

Our club goes to both several times a year, rents a cabin. Food and cabin ends up being 50-60 a person for the weekend and you buy the pass once a year. Believe it's right at 50 for the year?
Join a club or get a group of friends together to go and everything ends up being a lot cheaper.
 
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