Jeremy Reid's Oklahoma Land Run

Now, our second stop was a rather special one as we went to visit a backyard coaster, Jeremy Reid's Oklahoma Land Run.

Now before talking about our visit I want to give a little background in how I found it, after all these are not easy to find. Now those who know me know I spend a lot of time on Google Earth looking for parks and coasters. I had heard about this ride on a forum many years ago but could never locate it. In my Google Earth data file this was known as an "orange pin" meaning I knew roughly where it was but hadn't found it.

I knew of the website www.jeremyreid.com that had details on the ride but no location. I did find one article that mentioned it was South-West of Oklahoma so that gave me rough location. Using videos on the website I made a note of the tree pattern around the park and then spent a long time checking the satellite imagery for anything similar.

When the imagery improved I re-investigated this and it turned out I was only 50 metres away both impressing myself and making me just aware of how sad I am!

So, having visited Minotaur in Toronto (another home made coaster) I thought it would be a good idea to add this to the trip. No enthusiasts had ever ridden this so an expectation was given that we wouldn't either but I holiday with a cool group of guys who were up for visiting it anyway.

A short drive out of Oklahoma and we made our way up a dirt track being followed by a guy in a red car. We found the house and pulled up to see if we could see the coaster through the property but with a big barn in the way we weren't able to. However luck was on our side as the driver of the red car turned out to be Jeremy's father, Gene and he was used to seeing randoms driving past his house. I had a brief chat with him and asked if it would be possible to come in and look at the ride, and was chuffed when we were invited in.

Gene was amazing and gave us a tour, telling us about the history of the ride and how it had evolved from a shuttle to the nice little coaster there now. Jeremy had since left home and now had a family elsewhere, but he would drop by every now and then. Jeremy had worked with some people in the industry and was friends with the guys who now work at Rocky Mountain.

This is where the starter motor would go.

The coaster wasn't operational, the lift hill motor is stored away from the ride to prevent it being started up by naughty people who might have the wrong idea. There are also plans to pull the coaster down, as it has been there for over 10 years and with Jeremy having moved on, the time was right to give the land back to his dad :)

(Photo is Tal's)

So, this was a great addition to the trip, and we were all blown away by the quality of the construction and the friendliness of Gene; such a nice guy! He even obliged us with a group photo.

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