TRS 25th Anniversary Fall Adventure Coverage

When: September 5-8, 2024
Where: Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area / Prizer Point KOA / Kentucky
Story By: Jim Oaks

(Event Sponsors)

From September 5-8, 2024, we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of TheRangerStation.com at Prizer Point KOA and the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area near Cadiz, Kentucky. I chose this area because it offered something for everyone whether you used your Ford Ranger for off-road, or it was your daily commuter.

As part of America’s great outdoors since 1963, the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area manages over 170,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and open lands on a peninsula between Kentucky and Barkley lakes in Western Kentucky and Tennessee. This family-friendly recreation area offers one of the largest blocks of undeveloped forest in the eastern United States. This is a beautiful area where people can explore, boat, camp, and fish. People also enjoy the authentic experiences provided by Woodlands Nature Station, Elk & Bison Prairie, Homeplace 1850s Working Farm, and Golden Pond Planetarium and Observatory. The Fort Donelson Civil War fort and Casey Jones Distillery are also nearby.

For some of us, the anniversary actually started on Sunday September 1st. Last fall I created a small Ford Ranger overlanding group called the Vagabonds, and we met on the Sunday prior to the anniversary to explore the Kentucky Adventure Trail (KAT) near Slade, Kentucky. On Thursday we made the 5-hour drive west to meet everyone at the Prizer Point KOA campground for the anniversary. Watch for a story on the Vagabond trip coming soon.

On Thursday we all started to gather at the Prizer Point KOA campground in Cadiz, Kentucky to set up camp for the 25th Anniversary. While most everyone tent camped, a few took advantage of the cabins that the campground had for rent. Prizer Point KOA sits on the east edge of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area and is the best place to camp if you want amenities such as a shower and camp store. They also have activities to keep the kids busy. Thursday evening turned into a social gathering as Ford Ranger enthusiasts reconnected with old friends and made some new ones.

(Prizer Point KOA tent camping area)

(Prizer Point KOA Rental Cabins)

As participants arrived, I provided each of them with an envelope with their name on it that contained a 25th Anniversary Letter, decal, keychain bottle opener, and a raffle ticket. The other half of the raffle ticket was filled out and placed into a small plastic drum to be drawn from during the event. Eric (‘Curious Hound’) gave each attendee a scroll that had instructions and a list of things to find for a scavenger hunt. Participants would earn points by taking photos of the ‘treasures’ they found and the person/team that found the most points would be the winner. The winner would receive a handmade trophy made by Eric.

On Friday morning I had people gather around to make sure that they received their participation envelope, scavenger hunt scroll, and gave them a LMC Truck ball cap and koozie. I made sure everyone was aware of the itinerary and aware that there would be a campfire pizza party at 7:00pm Friday night. I also reminded everyone of all of the things that the area had to offer and encouraged them to split off into groups based on their interest. This is much less stressful than when we used to do trail rides because you don’t have a group of people waiting on one or two people to lead everyone out onto the trail. I really like the idea of letting people go off on their own and establishing a time for everyone to gather back together in the evening.

As we departed for the day, some went and searched for the treasures on Eric’s scavenger hunt list, some explored the natural beauty of the area, and a group of us went to the 1850’s working farm museum.

(1850’s Homeplace Working Farm)

(Bobby talking to the worker about the ducks and chickens. IYKYK)

(Abandoned school bus on the treasure hunt list)

(Bison Prairie)

On Friday afternoon, Noah (‘Noahlemmel’) had been having problems with the engine running rough on his 1991 Ford Ranger and had replaced the fuel filter a few times during this trip. Once back at the campground, Bobby (‘bobbywalter’), Kevin (‘Snoranger’), Robbie (‘Robertmangrum.rm’) and myself helped Noah remove the bed and then Bobby removed the fuel pump. The pump was partially blocked, and Bobby showed Noah the problem, cleaned it, and told Noah how to take care of it when he got back home. With the pump cleaned and the bed remounted, Noah didn’t seem to have any more problems for the rest of the weekend. It’s great to see an experienced and knowledgeable Ranger enthusiast teaching a younger generation, and it’s great to see these younger guys keeping these older Rangers going and hitting the trails with them.

While we were dealing with this fuel pump issue, Mike (‘sgtsandman’) split wood and kept two fires going and Tom (‘Uncle Gump’) took pizza orders and prepped pizzas as Eric (‘Curious Hound’) was baking them over the fire. This went on through the evening, and by the end of the night, they had made (21) pizzas. Tom use to own a Little Caeser’s Pizza and is our resident expert on all thing’s pizza. Eric created the pizza baking dome by taking a stainless-steel mixing bowl and adding a handle and temperature gauge to the bottom of it. Together this duo creates an amazing campfire baked pizza. I laugh when I see those expensive outdoor pizza ovens for sale in the stores.

On Friday night I sat back and watched as people gathered around a campfire, ate fresh baked campfire pizza, talked, laughed, and had a good time. At that moment I was reminded that the TheRangerStation.com was the reason they were there and was what brought them all together. Knowing that people enjoy something you created so long ago is motivation to keep it going, and having great members and a great forum staff help make that possible.

I created TRS (TheRangerStation.com) 25 years ago as an online resource for Ford Ranger owners. At the time, there wasn’t any websites dedicated to off-road Ford Ranger enthusiasts. TRS was never just a Ford Ranger forum. It started out featuring other people’s Rangers, documenting and sharing people’s upgrades, modifications, and repairs through technical articles, and providing a forum for people to connect with other Ford Ranger enthusiasts.

Saturday started out just as delicious as Friday ended. Amanda (‘Mrs Eighty Five’) and Ron (‘Poppa_R’) made a pot of sausage gravy, baked a bunch of biscuits in three camp ovens and fed us all biscuits and gravy. Amanda is the wife of forum staff member Justin (’85_Ranger4x4′) and Ron is his father-in-law. Jason (‘Tech Mouse’) is Amanda’s brother, and he was the one that provided the large telescoping LED light pole that lit up the gathering area every night.

(Ron making gravy as biscuits bake in the three ovens)

(Jason, Amanda, and Oliver)

I reminded everyone that we would be having an anniversary celebration tonight with cake and door prizes, and we again split up into groups and headed out on a Saturday adventure. Some of the group went to the Turkey Bay OHV area that’s in The Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Bobby (‘bobbywalter’) let Anson’s (’97RangerXLT’) son David get behind the wheel of his 6.5L diesel powered Ranger and do a little wheelin’ as he rode shotgun in the passenger seat. This is the most awesome piece of shit I’ve ever seen. I say that with a ton of respect. This thing has a military Hummer drivetrain, one-ton axles, a custom bed and increased payload capacity, and I equate this reliable beast to the oxen that had the endurance to pull large wagons over rough terrain as Americans settled the west. I’ve seen Bobby drive this thing cross country, wheel it hard, and then drive it all the way back home.

Eric joined them after having just come off of our Vagabond trip and wanting to do some more offroading. This Ranger with its 3.0L V6, Skyjacker 6-inch suspension lift, 4.56 gears, 35-inch tires, and custom front winch bumper and winch was built as an off-roader first, and overlander second. Turkey Bay also gave Rodney (‘Lil Bronco’) a chance to test his new Bronco II build with a 4-link coilover suspension, one-ton Dodge axles, 5.0L V8, C6 automatic transmission with a doubler and NP205 transfer case. Tyler brought his 4-cylinder powered solid front axle Ranger that didn’t hesitate to tear up the trails with them.

Myself, Robbie (‘Robertmangrum.rm’), Mike (‘Sgtsandman’), and Kevin (‘snoranger’) went off to explorer some of the unmaintained 300 series of forest roads. Some of these were pretty challenging with tight turns in the woods, off-camber washouts, and mud. Kevin got his Ranger Tremor stuck in a mud hole after the aftermarket skidplate under the engine and transmission got stuck on a high centered area in the mud. Kevin has a 2-inch lift for it at home, but didn’t have time to install it before the trip. This was the second time on this trip that my TRS-3 2021 Ford Ranger FX4 got to save another Ranger. My Ranger is setup with a Skyjacker 3.5-Inch lift, 297/70/17 mud terrains, rock sliders, and a custom winch bumper that houses a Smittybilt 9.5 winch. By the time we left the woods, we had more mud on our trucks than those guys got wheeling over in Turkey Bay.

After leaving the 300 series roads we headed down to Fort Donelson. Fort Donelson was a fortress built early in 1862 by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to control the Cumberland River, which led to the heart of Tennessee, and thereby the Confederacy. The fort was named after Confederate general Daniel S. Donelson.

The Union Army commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant, who later became president, captured the fort in February 1862 from the Confederate Army in the Battle of Fort Donelson. This was a great strategic victory for the Union forces, and part of Grant’s campaign to gain control of the Mississippi River. Union forces occupied the fort (and much of Tennessee) for the remainder of the war.

On Saturday evening, Eric (‘Curious Hound’) set up his judging table and scored everyone’s scavenger hunt results. Later he announced the results and named Justin (’85_Ranger4x4′) as the winner. Justin received the custom trophy built and hand painted by Eric. Eric puts a lot of time and effort into coming up with this scavenger hunt and this was the second year that he’s done it. Participants seem to really enjoy it, and we’ll hopefully do it again at a future event.

I had driven to Princeton to pick up two cakes for the anniversary and got back just in time to set out the door prizes and eat my dinner as Eric was finishing his scavenger hunt presentation. It’s not that often that I solicit products to be given out as door prizes at our gatherings. The last time I did it was at the 20th Anniversary in 2019. I know there are a lot of “influencers” out there that use that title as a tool to get products, but I’ve always just seen myself as a Ford Ranger enthusiast helping other Ranger enthusiasts. I don’t like the ‘Influencer’ title and having to ask companies for free stuff. However, for this year’s event I received items from Warn, Factor 55, LASFIT, and LMC Truck. The Factor 55 and Warn sponsorships were a last-minute surprise. I had contacted them in the spring and never heard back, so it was shocked when I received items from them a few days prior to leaving for Kentucky.

Each registered participant received a door prize ticket with the other half of the ticket being placed in an orange plastic container to draw from. When someone’s name was drawn, they had the option to pass and put their name back in the running if they didn’t want the prize.

The winners were:

‘CamTheHedgehog’ — Lasfit $50 Discount Code
‘Uncle Gump’ ———– Lasfit $50 Discount Code
‘Rick W’ —————— Lasfit $50 Discount Code
’85_Ranger4x4′ ——– Lasfit 22-Inch LED Lightbar
’97RangerXLT’ ——— Lasfit 22-Inch LED Lightbar
‘Poppa_R’ ————— Lasfit Air Pump
‘lil_Blue_Ford’ ———- Lasfit Air Pump
‘Robertmangrum.rm’ — Lasfit 2019-2023 Floor Mats
‘bobbywalter’ ———– Factor55 Ultrahook
‘tnowak13’ ————– Warn Medium Duty Winch Accessory Kit
‘Snoranger’ ————- Warn Medium Duty Winch Accessory Kit
‘Sgtsandman’ ———- LMC Truck $25 Gift Card
‘NoahLemmel’ ——— LMC Truck $25 Gift Card

Lasfit donated a set of 2019-2023 Ford Ranger floor mats as a door prize. Mike (‘Sgtsandman’) and I took ourselves out of the running which left Kevin (‘Snoranger’) and Robbie (‘Robertmangrum.rm’). Eric had created a list of trivia questions in the event of a tie in the scavenger hunt, so I used those questions to quiz Kevin and Robbie with them each receiving a point for the correct answer. After some fun and a few laughs, Robbie was the proud owner of a new set of Lasfit Ford Ranger floor mats.

It was finally time for the cake. Initially I was going to just get cupcakes, but the Forum Staff convinced me that we should have an actual cake with the TRS logo on it. Since we had well over 30 people, I ordered two 1/4 sheet cakes from the Walmart in Princeton. I went up on Thursday and took a printout of the image I wanted placed on the cake and picked it up Saturday evening. Amanda (‘Mrs Eighty Five’) was kind enough to step in and cut and serve the cake to everyone.

The weather this weekend was wonderful, and we had a great turnout with 40 people registered to attend. The Sunday of these gatherings is always a bit chaotic. Everyone is trying to pack up so they can go home, and some people have a long drive ahead of them. Every year we try to get a group photo with all of the participants and their vehicles, and it seems like every year someone has to leave before the photos are taken and we miss someone. I appreciate everyone coming together long enough to take photos.

TRS Anniversary Swag / Forum Discussion:

This year we had 25th Anniversary decals, keychain bottle openers, and patches with a velcro backing. I still have some left. If you’re interested in purchasing any of it, please check out the discussion at:

TRS Event – TRS 25th Anniversary Fall Adventure – Land Between The Lakes – September 5th – 8th, 2024 | The Ranger Station

Also check out that thread for more photos and discussions about this event.

Special Thanks To:

The Campfire Pizza Crew – Ericbphoto, Uncle Gump and Poppa_R
The Breakfast Crew – Mrs Eighty Five, Poppa R, and 85_Ranger4x4 for providing the biscuits and gravy Saturday morning.
Sgtsandman – For supplying the wood splitter and splitting wood.
Mrs Eight Five – For cutting and dispersing the anniversary cake
Ericbphoto – For another great treasure hunt
Tech Mouse – For the LED camp light that lit up the gathering area at night.
Bobby Walter – For always being the first person to jump into action to fix a broken truck.