Saturday was a big surprise to most of us. We had been hearing there would be about 75 vehicles for the run, but you never really know at an event like this. I counted 76 plus vehicles as we began to stage for the various runs. Three runs were planned for the day. The easiest run, lead by Carlos Diaz, was at Knippa. It was for the open vehicles or those who didn't feel comfortable driving up and down various rock ledges. The next run, lead by Todd Hoffmaster, was for your average 2+ to 3+ driver who wanted some challenges, but knew the limits of his vehicle or driver skills. I was in this run along with Mike Klinke and the same red Hummer we drove down with. The intermediate run would travel down the Nueces River while the harder run, lead by Rick Jones, would travel up the river. Rick Neil and Marc Haught sought the challenges of going up the river.

Our run down the river offered some very scenic trails as well as some difficult sections. This river had much more water, and the river rock was packed a bit tighter. There were several rock ledges to climb down, but the Hummer made most of that easier for those who followed his direct path. As much as Hummer owners believe in the concept of Tread Lightly, it is much easier said then done in one of those beasts. We had planned to meet up with the group coming up the river at a very scenic section called the waterfall. However, they had some troubles with a full size Blazer with 44" tires trying to go swimming in the river. A gentleman from Austin, Robert, unloaded the kayak from atop his Tacoma and several people took rides in the kayak or parked atop larger rocks for pictures as we stopped for lunch. The waterfall itself was a nice section of slick rock to traverse. Most of our vehicles had stock or little added clearance, which really made things a bit more fun. We did have one Defender 90 almost tip over as he fell into a hole between a few larger rocks. However, the spotter kindly pushed him back to stability.

When all the vehicles were guided down or around the waterfall, we pulled up to another beautiful section of the river where most of the other group was stopped for lunch. After navigating a tricky little off-camber drop into the river and slippery climb back out of the river we headed up and around the river to a very large hill made of that "quick rock". The 4xFanatics had never heard of a vehicle making it to the top of this hill. However, we did have a brown CJ make it to the top. To our dismay, the top was only more of that same rock. The Jeep had only enough room to crest the hill and was forced to back down after getting a few good shots with the camcorder.

It was getting late and dinner was to be served at 7:00pm so we decided to head back to town. The rest of our trail contained some mild dirt and river rock climbs as we bypassed a tougher section called "broken bridge". All in all it was a very nice day on the trail, and we experienced no breakdowns in our group.

Back in town, several of the wives and friends had been preparing a homemade fajita dinner for those of us on the trail. The dinner was very delicious and much appreciated. This was the only part of the trip were any kind of fee was required. For $7.00 one could eat all the fajitas, tortillias, beans, corn, potato salad, and cookies you could handle. After dinner we all mingled and talked about various things including the adventures of the day. Later that evening, some of us went to the hotel to watch more video, while others when on the night run.

Many of the North Texas people left the next morning, but there was a planned run on Sunday.

Sure it was hot, and it was a long drive, but most would agree they had a great time. This event was a last minute effort to satisfy the request of several Texas 4-wheelers who communicate through the Tx4x4 Mailing List on the Internet. The 4xFanatics hosted the event hoping only to break even with funds from the dinner. They also managed to raise a good deal of canned goods for a local charity. The city of Uvalde was very open to the idea of visitors to the area and they look forward to this becoming an annual event. My thanks go out to the 4xFanatics, and the city of Uvalde.

Lance takes the Tacoma up the bank.

Running the edge of the Nueces River.

Lisa Curry in Todd Hoffmaster's Tacoma.

Lance in his Taco.

Mike Klinke plays in his YJ.

Mike Klinke.

Scott Boaman hits the water in his Dodge.

Lance just loves the rocks!

And the rocks love Lance!

Read Shawn's Report!