Article about Uvalde in WSJ

[JB]

If anyone here knows Richard Jones, you can find any article concering the use of the Uvalde River and general OHV use on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. About a few weeks ago, he took one of the reporters on a trail ride to give him an idea about what we do. From what I hear, the article is not as positive as he would have hoped, but not all negative. I need to go out and get one, just letting ya'll know. Richard is very active in keeping Texas Rivers open for recreatioanal use and has done a helluva lot for the sport in Texas. So go pick one up and see what it says.

[redcagepatrol]

Rick is a good guy, Lynda and I met him up in Bandera for a TMTC meeting. He is a Toyota guy and is very dedicated to keeping the river beds open to motorized vehicles

[JB]

here it is if you were too lazy to go buy one......
[tx4x4]
text from WSJ

Off-Road Vehicles Now Ply the Waters Of Southwest
Texas --- It's Fun and It's Legal, for Now, But It
Annoys Ranchers And Environmentalists

UVALDE, Texas -- On a blistering spring afternoon,
Richard Jones pointed his Ford Bronco toward the
Nueces River and stepped on the gas.

The truck plowed through several feet of fast-running
water and climbed up a mud ledge on the opposite bank.
Its oversized tires kicked up fist-sized stones.

Bouncing wildly in the back seat of the Bronco's open
cab, Javier Gallardo pointed to a Toyota pickup truck
behind them. "Check it out, headlights under water,"
he said, grinning.



Most owners of pickup trucks and sport-utility
vehicles never venture far off road. But Mr. Jones, 37
years old, and a growing circle of enthusiasts are
taking theirs up the river. With other off-roading
opportunities drying up, publicly owned riverbeds like
the Nueces are becoming popular Texas thoroughfares.
That has neighboring landowners, environmentalists and
some state officials cringing.

In eight hours, Mr. Jones and a convoy of 13 trucks
covered about a mile and a half along the wide gravel
banks, over near-vertical ledges and through the
narrow river. Two drivers broke their trucks' drive
shafts; two suffered broken axles. One truck's
transmission system failed in the middle of the river,
requiring three others to hook up towlines and pull it
out. A smaller, all-terrain vehicle, or ATV, along for
the ride, lost a wheel.

"It's just a thrill," says Ric Mansanarez, a
29-year-old professional truck driver from San
Antonio, whose 1984 Chevy Blazer navigated the river
relatively unscathed.

Not to everyone. "Bud Light and Pennzoil -- those are
the most popular containers" on the river, says Sky
Lewey, a cattle rancher and an employee at the Nueces
River Authority. State biologists are just starting to
gather environmental-impact data. Officials worry that
driving loosens gravel along banks, making it
difficult for critical plant life to grow. Exhaust
fumes, leaking lube oil and other automotive fluids
may also contaminate the river, and fish populations
could be endangered. The greenthroat darter is a tiny,
minnow-like fish that lives in shallow, running water.
"If you're driving in every riffle . . . you're
putting those critters at risk for sure," Mrs. Lewey
says.

Local sheriffs and game wardens can ticket speeders or
drunk drivers on the state's rivers, many of which are
shallow or dry up completely part of the year. But
they can't chase drivers out. "This really is the last
frontier," says Larry D. McKinney, director of aquatic
resources at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

In some parts of the country, national and state park
officials are beginning to close off many trails and
canyons that have become popular with off-roaders. As
in many states, Texas rivers are generally considered
public property, even when they run through private
land. But no agency has been charged with regulating
vehicle traffic in them. The result: The Nueces in
southwest Texas and a handful of other rivers are
becoming congested, off-road trails.

"The glory of it is that it's legal," says Shawn
Pagan, 35, a computer engineer from Houston who has
spent about $40,000 on his Jeep Wrangler.

Along many stretches of the Nueces, the gravel banks
and its riverbed -- which is visible through the clear
water -- are combed with tire tracks. The river
authority estimates that hundreds of vehicles crawl up
and down the 108-mile-long river on some busy summer
days.

Off-road enthusiasts spend thousands of dollars
customizing and driving vehicles that are specially
modified to churn through muddy trails and crawl over
ledges and rocks. ATVs -- essentially four-wheeled
motorbikes -- are also popular for such treks.

Besides his Ford Bronco, Mr. Jones also dotes on a
maroon, 1969 Toyota Land Cruiser. He has put about
$10,000 into that truck, adding jumbo tires and a
protective wraparound roll cage in the cab. Specially
modified wheel axles improve traction over boulders
along rocky banks and through several feet of water.
Driving over the rocks and crags is "mostly slow,
lumbering stuff," he says, perfect for "challenging
the driver and vehicle."

During Mr. Jones's most recent outing, his convoy,
primarily from San Antonio, passed another group, a
caravan of six off-road vehicles that had driven an
hour on the highway to access the Nueces. "We'll drive
around, get in the water, have a few beers, relax,"
says Lane Walker, a 22-year-old public-services
employee from Devine, Texas.

Crossing a stretch of river during the drive, Mr.
Jones, an official at Southwest Texas Junior College,
dropped his truck off a steep bank into two feet of
water. Following a few trucks behind, Joey Aleman, 26,
maneuvered his 1987 Chevrolet Silverado slowly into
the river, leaning out over his rearview mirror to
watch for signs of deep water.

"Where it's green, you don't want to go," he says
reaching around with his free hand to quiet two
yelping boxers in the back of his cab.

Mr. Aleman, who works in an auto paint shop in San
Antonio, bought his used truck for about $6,500 and
says he has spent about $20,000 modifying it. The
letters "Mud Patrol" are stenciled across the top of
the windshield. He added 38-inch "Super Swamper" tires
and a 15-inch suspension, jacking the floor of the cab
almost four feet above the ground.

The group eventually arrived at an abandoned bridge.
Several trucks attempted to climb the face of a steep
granite ledge along the riverbank. Carlos Mansanarez,
38, and Ric's brother, leaned on his horn and stepped
on the gas. His Chevy Blazer lurched halfway up before
shearing its rear drive shaft, which powers the back
wheels. A minute later, the truck broke one of its
forward axles, which connect the front wheels.

Mr. Jones hooked up a towline and pulled the truck the
rest of the way up, accidentally slamming into another
rock ledge and crinkling his own front bumper. Repairs
are part of the fun. "There usually is not this much
carnage," Mr. Jones said, hauling out three plastic
toolboxes full of wrenches and sockets. But, he added,
"this is what they want to do. This is what they
expect."

Last year, a group of property owners failed to win
approval of legislation that would have given the
river authority power to restrict traffic on the
river. They will try again early next year when the
state legislature gathers for its biennial session.

Some off-roaders have attacked those efforts as a
broader attempt to restrict access to the river. But
Tim Lewey, Sky's husband, sees it differently. "Access
to this river is an important issue, but I'd like to
see them access it in canoes, kayaks, on foot or on
horseback," he says, adding that he can hear the
traffic from his ranch house a quarter mile from the
river. "Anything but vehicles."

Off-road drivers say the environmental damage they
cause on the riverbed is light compared with pesticide
runoff from farmland. Years of grazing by cattle have
done much more damage, they contend.

Alan Hatcher, a 42-year-old teacher in Dallas, spent a
weekend earlier this month driving his modified Suzuki
Samurai off-road along the Llano River in central
Texas with eight others. "There were no Exxon Valdez
oil spills out there, and that's what we get accused
of," he says. "Have you ever looked around a boat
marina on a lake? There's oil all over the place. I
don't see how we're doing anything worse."

[agshooter]

I read the article earlier when I got the paper and I wasnt too enthused about the vibe I got from it. It didn't outright say that offroaders were a bunch of drunk hicks that go around tear-assing around rivers, but didnt give us much of a defense other than we're better than boats in a marina and cows who can't control their bowels.

[bburris]

Originally posted by redcagepatrol
He is a Toyota guy...

oh really fool, then why does it say they were riding in his FORD BRONCO???

[bigFAWKINranger]

Originally posted by bburris


oh really fool, then why does it say they were riding in his FORD BRONCO???

it also mentions IF YOU READ THE ARTICLE that he owns a 69 land cruiser.... now get down and 8==>

[bburris]

I got bored and didn't really care to read that far (ADD is a bitch)

if he was a true toyota guy then he wouldn't need another trail vehicle since his cruiser can leap tall buildings in a single bound and outrun speeding bullets

so why don't you go eat a B I G F A T C O C K Adam

[redcagepatrol]

The Toyota is just too good for a waterbed, he had to take out something that would be challenged... Thats what it is

[Krawler68]

ahhhh...I see.... BTW I traded my EB in for a 1st gen toyota truck... I should have it running by the end of the month and I know it'll be more capable tyhan the bronco would EVER be, even with the 235's I plan to leave on it.