The David Nicholas ‘General Lee’: A day of excitment at the Cliffhanger Ranch and Adventure Outpost
As my old friend hosted festivities at his Cliffhanger Ranch and Adventure Outpost for the Spearhead Trail Blazers yearly event in Wise County, Virginia I had the privilege of speaking with David Nicholas who brought his General Lee 1969 Dodge Charger. David and I had more in common than just being the entertainment venues to the spectacle—he brought one of the most famous cars in the world known as the hero from The Dukes of Hazzard television show, and I performed bullwhip tricks for the participates. David is exactly the type of man I wished to highlight in my most recent novel, Tail of the Dragon, a grown man who still works in their garage to bring life to the dreams of their youth. In the video below you can meet David and his General Lee as he explained his love of that car and memorabilia from the classic television series. In a lot of ways David was a lot like the hero from my novel, Rick Stevens. The video covers many of the events which occurred at the ranch on June 1st including a special trip to the undeveloped portion of the property which my friend Nathan Ormes has big plans for in the years to come.
Just hours before meeting up with David at the Cliffhanger Ranch, which is named after the main character from my novel The Symposium of Justice, I received a very nice review of Tail of the Dragon from an unexpected source. I never tire hearing from people who have picked up Tail of the Dragon as anybody might from the store and read it feeling enough passion at the conclusion to leave a nice review. For me, it is the ultimate compliment and fills me with hope that I can ignite with that novel future David Nicholas back-yard mechanics who will feel enough passion for the material to pay homage in a similar way as David did with his General Lee.
Tail of the Dragon: Rich Hoffman Book review
Philosophy, Action, 228 pgs. ISBN 978-1-58982-694-6
A non-stop thrill-ride from beginning to end, this story lets you ride alongside an unrestrained road racer and his lover in a story that screams danger around every corner … A real page turner, the story is Smokey and the Bandit meets Road Warrior. One immovable unbending man takes on the tyrannical authorities in his quest to make a point, right a wrong, and help himself and a political ally. Risking all in a multi-state cannonball run style chase in a supercar, this fantastic smash-up derby takes Rick Stevens, his wife and Firebird into war with the police and military authorities while making history and changing the future.
A nice easy read filled with escapism, it was fantastic and fun.
Respectfully,
O.A.
As David showed me around his General Lee I kept thinking about that review from “O.A.” Some of the guests at the ranch attempted to articulate their feelings for the General Lee. I explained aloud that the old Dodge Charger was a symbol of rebellion and defiance. The bold Confederate Flag on the roof and front end, on the windows, even the name of a great Civil War general, were symbols of battle and of standing against tyranny. The car was never intended to be a casual project that the Duke Boys built to take girls out on dates – the car was to be a war machine – an agent of justice. My wife asked aloud what the bars were across the front of the General Lee, and I explained to her that those bars were for ramming bad guys off the road so that the front of the car wasn’t damaged. By bad guys in this case it was often the cops who were always wrapped up in the crooked dealings of crime in that imaginary town from the fictional television show. When visitors all day long approached the car, it wasn’t for the fantasy of a peaceful drive to church which stirred the imaginations of those who gazed upon it, but the war from which The General conducted its life. It was the battles fought and won that caused spectators to look on in awe and want to touch the car.
David and I had many philosophical discussions all day long as he demonstrated the air horn system which impressed me greatly, playing Dixie over and over to the point that we ran down the battery. We spoke about the old television show and surmised that the Duke Boys were good guys even when they broke the law because they always tried to do the right thing – even when the law stood in the way. That was the key to the success of The Dukes of Hazzard. When I was a kid and heard a souped up tractor at the Butler County Fair blow their air horn playing Dixie, it was the defiance of the General Lee which came to my mind – of the bright orange car fleeing from the law in order to save Hazzard County from the latest schemes of Boss Hog and his corrupt police force. The same spike of excitement I felt as a kid at the Fair came right back at the Cliffhanger Ranch when Dave hit the horn and revved up the big V-8 Hemi engine in his General Lee.
David Nicholas and his son who came with him were a delight to meet and speak with. I saw in them undefeated souls from Bristol, Tennessee who had an intense passion for everything related to The Dukes of Hazzard. As we talked about my novel, which is an obvious throw-back to The Dukes of Hazzard, Smokey and the Bandit and all those great classics, we joked about the big scene in the novel which took place in Pigeon Forge, and at the I-40 tunnels in the mountains. David lives in the area so he routinely travels all the roads where the biggest car chase in fictional human history took place and knew all the locations described in my novel.
The review I received reminded me that perhaps in 30 years time some back-yard mechanic might do for the Firebird from Tail of the Dragon what David had done for the General Lee, from The Dukes of Hazzard. The sheer joy that was easy to see from all who approached the car to touch it at the ranch could not be contained. Old men and their young sons, and grandsons enjoy the General Lee for the same reasons – because the General is a “war machine” dedicated to justice over tyranny. It is not about compliance, submission, or rigid rules of social structure. The General Lee is about good over evil in the most fundamental sense of the word and that is why the car had a special resonance which was unmistakably present.
On the way home from the ranch, my wife and I had to travel through the real life Hazard, Kentucky in the rugged mountains of Appalachia. We stopped in Jackson to buy my grandson and nephew a few mementos for upcoming events. As I looked at the people in the hardy small town there was a lack of fear on their faces which was similar to the kind of aura David Nicholas projected. There is a comfort in the people of Appalachia given to them from their strong faith in God, and ever-present readiness to slap down the federal government in less than a heart-beat. This was a quality that the show The Dukes of Hazzard successfully captured when they set the fictional show several hundred miles to the south in Georgia, instead of Kentucky. There is a reason that President Obama DID NOT campaign in Jackson or Hazard, Kentucky and it doesn’t have a thing to do with skin color. The people in these mountain towns do not like government bothering them about much of anything—and that element was as strong today as it was when America started as frontier towns in such remote wildernesses. It was the reason we stopped to buy birthday presents in Jackson as opposed to things we could buy at our home in Cincinnati. There is a swagger in the South that is represented by The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. And by the tone of my most recent review, I had told a story that revisited that swagger with a whole new story that takes the action well-known by the Duke Boys and turns up the heat to levels modern society demands. And it delivers!
If the novel is SOLD OUT, then it can also be found at Publisher’s Direct. CLICK HERE.
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
