Five thirty am came pretty early, to start our 193 mile trip to Little Sahara State Park. All of the pictures and talk about this desert in Oklahoma made this all-dayer seem worth it. After two hours of driving in the dark with the wipers on delay to clear the mist, we made our first pit stop.

The sun cracked over the horizon while Doug was fueling up the truck at a little gas station in Enid. I knew he was full of mixed emotions about a long day of riding his brand new white Z400. He had purchased it on a whim a few months earlier and complained about his back hurting after the only two outings.

This trip would convince him it was all worth it. An hour and a half of passing pump jack after pump jack of wasteland oil fields of western Oklahoma, led us to our glorified destination.

For me it was like hearing angels sing when the large wooden sign appeared. Large white letters "LITTLE SAHARA" was a pat on the back saying you finally made it, Brent. Being newbies, we passed right by the welcome center (where you pay for a day pass) and cruised through the surprisingly full parking lot. Hardly a creature was stirring at 9:00 am that Saturday morning.

We assumed the previous night's festivities had hit the snooze button on most of the campers' built-in alarm clocks. After a complete drive-through tour of the camping area, we headed back to the check-in spot to get the legalities out of the way. There happened to be one last "day parking" spot left, so we grabbed it up and piled on the layers.

Clouds of steam came from our breaths as we unloaded the quads. The weather was fairly cold for early October in Oklahoma. The little Trailblazer 250 was sort of timid, being surrounded by all of the hopped up dune prepped quads.

(I'm still patiently waiting for my Troy Lee Predator to arrive. My kids are probably ready for Dad to quit tweaking the heavyweight auto and just let them ride it again. To add insult to injury, the Minnesota boys had their Predator rig parked right across from us. They were having another tough day at the office, cruising the most-talked-about quads around that weekend.)

After a quick photo shoot of the cut-away unit parked next to the billboard trailer, we headed out to the unknown. Wow! Were we really in the same state? Immediately after the entrance into the riding area, the sand went on for miles. Large flat areas bordered by wooded whoop sections and trails.

The first dune we came to took 15 years of age off both of us. Little did we know, that was just the tip of the iceburg. Hill upon sandy hill revealed itself just beyond that first big dune, some exceeding 40 feet in height and up to 70 degrees of incline spans for hundreds of acres.

Since it was just after 9:00 am, most of the area was empty. The countryside is quite beautiful around the park. Small wooded mountains in the distance are a constant reminder that you are, in fact, not lost in the real Sahara Desert. The boundary is easily recognized by the fence that surrounds the riding area.

If you took a leisurely ride along the outskirts, it would take all of an hour.

As the morning grew old, the sounds of fellow riders began to fill the air. We headed back for an early lunch around 11:00. The scene in the parking area had changed considerably since we had left it. The smell of high octane fuel being burned was wonderful.

I love the smell of two strokes in the morning. OK, so I borrowed that from Apocalypse Now, but that's my version.

On the north end of the parking area, there is a nice little convenience store. The most convenient part about it is purple fuel at the pump! Many of the buggy owners were firing them up for the morning. Some very impressive setups were spread around the area. Our neighbor's "Kuhn Trax" machine provided ample eye-candy.

The turbo charged VW power plant gathered a few lookers until a four passenger buggy pulled up sporting a Cadillac Northstar V-8. We fired up the little charcoal grill and watched yet another neighbor swapping the paddle equipped wheels onto his fully race-modded Banshee. This thing was a serious drag machine. About the only Yamaha parts on it was the plastic. The wheelie bar was every bit of six foot in length. After scarfing down a couple of gourmet trailer back burgers we headed back out for round two.

The added company of more riders made for great entertainment. Racing up hills and grabbing air off the tops of dunes was the universal goal. The little trailblazer let me down on several occasions. While Doug, on the Z was shooting to the dune tops, I was just hoping to make it to the top. Rolling back down a 40 foot sand hill is not my idea of a good time. Feeling sorry for me, Doug let me try out the Suzuki.

That's a pretty impressive machine. If this new Predator is as fast as the hype says it is, we'll be making regular trips to Little Sahara.

The drag strip was hopping by 1:00. This is a nice big flat area that riders just sort of gather. A horseshoe shape begins to form as spectators' line up side-by-side to watch the competition. Anywhere from five to fifteen quads at a time emerge from the group and look to the sides for anyone to play flagman. Sometimes a buggy driver will pull up to try his luck.

Without question the Banshees rule this area of the sport. We spotted some pretty tricked-out rides while watching the drags. From totally Alba-equipped Banshees to one Bombardier DS650 that was sporting an intercooled turbo charger. Not all modifications noticed were performance enhancements - one DS owner from Enid Oklahoma had mounted bull horns on the front of his machine. After an hour or so watching the races, we made another trip through the riding area and headed back in. As always, the friendliness of other quad riders amazed me. So many times while taking a break, other small groups would pull up and visit.

There aren't too many activities where you can make so many friends just because you have one common interest. ATV riding is definitely one of them. If you would like to find out more about Little Sahara State Park, you can visit the website at www.waynoka.com/littlesahara.htm . If camping in the parking area doesn't interest you, there are hotels just north of the park in Waynoka. You can even find houses for rent by the night.

• Information

Little Sahara State Park
Route 2, Box 132
Waynoka, OK 73860
(580) 824-1471

Features: 1,400 Park Acres • 100 Campsites • Giftshop • State's Largest Off-Road Vehicle Dune Trail