In the past few months some situations have occured that have caused Tom and I to seriously reconsider the future of Rockport Off-Road Park as we know it.
As most of you know, we were awarded a large grant from the Illinois Trail Grants Program last November. Most of this grant was to purchase the 329 acres that includes the Talldog and Back 40 trails which we were already leasing. The landowner of this property approached us after the death of his mother and agreed to sell it to us for the appraised value of the land through the trail grants program. This land was in an estate that took quite some time to clear the title on. We kept in frequent contact with the landowner to check on the progress of this
process. To make a long story short, when Tom called the land owner a little while back he was told that the land had been sold.
This came as a huge shock and a very hard blow to the both of us to hear this news.
The last day for use of these trails is June 30th.
The rest of the RORP trails will be open until further notice.
The landowner is a neighbor and someone that Tom has worked with and trusted for many years.
We were counting on this land as we planned events and the overall future of RORP.
The loss of these trails made Tom and I realize that our overall plan for RORP was not going to happen with the way the park existed.
We also were extremely disappointed to discover who our new neighbor was for very strong reasons I won't go into detail about.
We both felt that we needed a new start in a different place.
We are still going to utilize all of our offsite trail area and have also gotten agreements from another landowner to include his land in this. We have agreed to allow certain members of jeep clubs to learn these trails and utilize them with their members without having to be guided.
We are also going to keep the rockcrawl area, parking lot and camping area and a few trails.
We may finish the campgrounds in the future.
And then....Tom and I took a few deep breaths and began planning for the revamping and our new future plans for RORP. We have purchased a piece of property in Missouri that brought instant excitement to both of us at our first visit to it.
It is very very unique as it borders a large campgrounds with go karts, batting cages, swimming pool, basketball court and other activities. It also sits along a major 4 lane highway with many, many hotels, restaurants and major tourist attractions closeby. Our new Rockport Off-Road Park will be a place for rockcrawling, trail riding and great spectator opportunities.
Tom and I love this place so much that we are considering building our new home on the property. We will be announcing soon the opening of this part of Rockport Off-Road Park.
Tom and I are also going to patiently keep our eyes and ears open for other riding areas opportunities.
A lot of great memories and great friends were made because of Rockport Off-Road Park.
Tom and I look forward to new memories with our old and new friends.
I want to apologize if Tom or I seemed preoccupied
or not quite ourselves over the past few months.
I also want to again thank those that made the SheRock event last weekend a huge success.
It really kicked us and made us remember why we want to do what we want to do.
Please email me or call with any questions,
Debbie
[email protected]
217-437-5337
