Texas Sampler

[85_Ranger4x4]

Last week we went down to Texas so @Mrs. Eighty Five could do the Off-Roadeo. It's only like 15hrs... might as well drive.



Decisions decisions...





It is fun watching the terrain changes along the way. We went down thru the flint hills, very pretty drive.





Now look at that cute little red...



No not that one, this one.



Yeah, we went to her store.

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Went to a small bbq place for lunch which was awesome and then continued on our way.







Kinda start wondering what kind of area we are spending the night in...



The next day someone is really getting into the mood...



Lunch in Waco.



Off to the Waco Mammoth National Monument

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

And of course, we had to go see the fixer upper people's place... which is luckily closed on Sundays.









Crashed in Marble Falls Texas for the duration of the Off-Roadeo. About a 20mi drive and as far as Motel 6's go it was pretty nice.



Since we had to be at school at 8am we preran the route.



Destination confirmed.



Breakfast tacos from a 7/11 were made to order and surprisingly awesome.





I guess we had never really thought about it but if you drive your Bronco to an Offroadeo you get VIP parking up front. We had driven ours the farthest so we won the "Ironbutt award"... a sticker. Luckily @snoranger wasn't there to thwart us for once. (there was a guy that drove from Delaware but not in his Bronco)








The only manual Bronco left in their fleet is a gate guard.





I was left unattended and used the hunter green pin for reasons...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Did intros, a brief talk about what we were going to do and then off to class we went.

Learned how to use park with the parking brakes correct among other things.



How bow waves work and about fording water (general rule of thumb for a Bronco is the top of the bumper BTW)







Bronco is designed to run leaning 30deg side to side and 45deg for/aft (as far as trans picking up fluid, engine oil picking up oil etc)





Uh oh... stuck.







Amanda was the only female driver in our class... which I thought was pretty cool. I picked us a red Sasquatch Wildtrak. Kinda similarish to our non Sas Black Diamond in that it doesn't have a sway bar disconnect. There was a non Sas Badlands which would have been closer to ours... but the odds of driving a Wildtrak again are slim.

 

[snoranger]

If I had known you were going I would have driven the wife’s Bronco Sport Bandlands down there just to beat you out for that sticker.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If I had known you were going I would have driven the wife’s Bronco Sport Bandlands down there just to beat you out for that sticker.

Sports have a different class lol.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I got a break after the marathon to get down there and it was my turn to be passenger princess and eat snacks, play with my phone (and gopros) and critique.

















She's... been around.

 

[RobbieD]

Very cool! Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

When you see the photographer guy you knew something neat was coming up. Camera with a motion sensor was a sign too after I caught on he didn't just forget his camera sitting around.













Near as I can tell cactus doesn't like happiness at all. There is dirt over there, nah the rock is just fine.



Amanda thought this was cute.





Back to basecamp for lunch. Ham sandwich, shrimp bisque, salad and a giant chocolate chip cookie.



Back in the saddle again...







Note they never wash the roof lol.















This was all dry a couple weeks before, the dragonflies were making up for lost time.







Those are all little fish.









Going over our first challenging obstacle.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

A little bluerock shooting station we took a break at and went over recovery stuff. It was pretty basic, this a strap, this a kinetic rope, this is a clevis, this is a soft shackle etc.



Hmm, that looks interesting. (the other half of our class that we were following from a distance)











For the first time ever I did a quick inventory of possible events... and clutched the door handle for dear life to ensure if we did go over I didn't do something stupid like stick my arm out the window.





The first step is done, onto the second.





I am not sure what exactly happened, we are down by the stern and leaning to starboard about as far as I dared, then the right rear dropped more and I was pretty sure we were buying a second Bronco... but she kept it greasy side down like a champ.





Can make out trails better from here.



A 1700 mile tire BTW. Amusing with a full tank of gas the onboard range calculator thing said 77 miles to E... They cycle the cars out around 2k miles, they are reconditioned and sold by the local dealership. Kind of interesting. In retrospect I took for granted they would all have rock rails, to reduce damage if I had to to do over again I think I would shop for those above all else. We didn't damage our car at all though.



All done with the driving class.



BBQ for supper, supposed to be a campfire social thing but most people in our class were retired and just left... we hadn't seen little guy all day so we eventually did too.



Someday... I am making one of these with my Ranger tailgate.







So yeah, despite her best efforts... I did manage to survive.



Seriously she did awesome, not saying I have a done a ton of crazy stuff offroad because I haven't but she did way above an beyond anything I have ever done. If I was bumbling along and came across that crazy hillclimb it would have been "bummer, kinda weird for a trail to end like that" as I turn around go back the other way.

Horseshoe Bay Resort actually owns the property the Off-Roadeo is on, followed this home which was kinda funny.



One thing that really impressed me, they didn't really push all the techy crap. Which makes since because not everybody has a loaded Badlands Sasquatch. How to modulate the brake and gas pedal together to simulate a locker. And then in the odd chance that that didn't work we "used a tool", generally a locker. Aside from the big climb, we were told to throw both lockers at that from the start. Absolutely nothing with goat modes.

That gets us thru Monday, more to come.

 

[RobbieD]

So yeah, despite her best efforts... I did manage to survive.

Oh, don't worry.

I'm sure that this was just a practice run . . .

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Looks like an awesome experience. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Josh B]

That's the Texas hill country. Go a bit east of there and you'll be in the Piney Woods, lots of forests.
From Waco, Austin, San Antonio west is the Texas Hill Country which goes on to Arizona I suppose, tho mixed in at times with desert. West also you'll find BBQ'd goat, don't pass it up if you get the chance

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That's the Texas hill country. Go a bit east of there and you'll be in the Piney Woods, lots of forests.
From Waco, Austin, San Antonio west is the Texas Hill Country which goes on to Arizona I suppose, tho mixed in at times with desert. West also you'll find BBQ'd goat, don't pass it up if you get the chance

It's gorgeous, I will get into a bit later but Amanda had a big route planned to tour it but we got sidetracked. The road between Marble Falls and San Antonio looked like it once could have been pretty, now it is all wineries/getting developed.

 

[Josh B]

I've enjoyed seeing your trip, yall be careful out there

 

[superj]

I bet the wife snd i could have swung by too. Marble falls is only a few hours from us

 

[superj]

Its only trees for a bit out west of san antonio. It becomes scrub brush fairly quickly and than desert. My parents live out that way in leakey, and my mom works at garner state park during the summer months (in the ice cream store )