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Padre Trip report by Jack Poehlman

Thursday, March 20, 2003 seemed to be a challenging day for most of the Texas Rovers to depart for Padre. Joel Rocha planned to lead a group departing at 5 PM from the Dallas Area while Jack Poehlman had planned to begin towing "Baby" the Ex-MOD 101 Forward Control to Austin around 3 PM. As it turned out, the entire group ended up on the road around 6:30 PM. Joel, Kevin, Chris and Janelle all camped on the South Side of Austin, while Jim, Vangy, Jack and Guest Dan Martin chose the Best Western. Leaving behind the woes of corporate life everyone began Friday with new vigour and some breakfast at the local favourite, Taco Cabana. With fuel stop required every 180 miles or so for the towing operation, everyone was able to make plenty of stops to stretch, eat, get drinks and supplies as well as enjoy the great weather of early spring in south Texas.

The group arrive at the National Parks Service visitor center around 2 PM Friday afternoon. After a short briefing from park Ranger Phil concerning the clean-up and other safety tips, the group had a sandwich lunch in the parking lot and final preparations for leaving the civilized world behind. Kevin Didion was elected to lead the group down the beach, while it was decided to have "Baby" at the end of the pack to collect firewood enroute. The group quickly left the 5 mile section of groomed beach behind and proceeded into the softer sand area's of the 55 mile 4x4 only area of Padre Island. Fire Wood collect took place as the group ran across it on the way down. After about 2 hours of beach travel, the group found the established camping area of Charles Pastrano and David Tobias around 37 mile mark. The weather was beautiful and a group picture was arranged on the waters edge by Kevin Didion. Camp setup quickly took over in efforts to beat the approaching sun set. As expected, the soft sand made for excellent camping. While camp established, dinner preparations started with Joel Rocha preparing the 6 pounds of purchased jumbo shrimp. Shortly after dark with a great camp fire going, shrimp skewers were shared by all as well as plenty of other treats and eats. Roland Rios joined the group shortly before sunset, and after dinner broke out two bottles of Tequila he had recently personally imported from Mexico.

As the night progressed, an incredible view of the stars was observed be many. Later in the evening while low tide approached, a nearly full moon started to appeared out of the eastern horizon. Some of the group found this to be an excellent time to wade into the surf and observe nature at it's best. Spending the night beach side with the waves pulsing in and out was extremely relaxing.

Saturday morning, Roland and companion made up a wonderful batch of breakfast burritos in preparation for the scheduled beach cleanup ahead. While a few of the members worked on a fuel system issue that came up on "Baby" the rest of the group began stuffing bags full of trash. Shortly afternoon, the winds on the beach picked up drastically. The wind was blowing at a near consistent 20 Mph + with gust as high as 40 MPH. This wind storm proved to make continued clean-up efforts near impossible. After resting and securing everything possible, most of the group decided to head down to the south end of the island to see what there was to see. Within a few miles of this journey, "Baby" decided to continue it's fuel system issues. The group was able to once again restore operation, but the fuel pressure seemed to be low than it should, and the decision was made to leave "Baby" where it was and pick it up on the way back. The south end of the island proved to be somewhat anti-climatic. The man made channel is maybe 200 feet wide, and lined with large pieces of Granite blocks. The practice of driving in the very soft, deep, loose sand was however well worth the journey.

As previously planned, the group picked "Baby" up on the return journey to camp. The last mile of this journey, the fuel system issue on "Baby" limited max speed to around 15 MPH causing a fair amount of concern. After arriving at camp, Jack Poehlman came up with a plan to attempt to drive as far as possible north while Dan Martin followed in his Disco. Packing for these two quickly began. After cleaning out his tent and packing a few supplies, Jack decided it might be best to load the collect trash into "Baby". Unfortunately, "Baby's" fuel system issues proved reached a pinnacle, and "Baby" would not start. Investigation proved the Fuel pump was not pumping fuel to the filters and carburetor systems. After removing the fuel pump, the root cause was evident. A small piece of rubber hose that connected the pump the the supply line had rotted away and a hole now existed resulting in the pump pumping fuel back into the tank rather than supplying it to the rest of the system. Chris Kelley, being the prepared expeditionary he is, supplied a piece of fuel line the exact sized needed and the system was reassembled. "Baby" was taken for a test drive, and proved to be back in full working order. Jack and Dan were satisfied that the problem was solved, and decided it was safe to stay the night with the rest of the group.

Roland prepared another wonderful batch of his famous Fajitas, which was an extreme challenge give the winds had not dropped off from earlier in the day. Everyone greatly enjoyed another wonderful meal and began to settle in around the camp fire tended once again by Jesse from San Antonio. As some point in the evening, someone asked Jack if his Tent was still around. Investigation quickly shown the tent to be MIA. A search was organized with flash lights, but after about a hour of searching, no evidence was found of the Colman tent. Jack chose to spend the night in the seat of the Disco, thankful that the tent was the only thing missing, and that everyone had an enjoyable day.

Sunday morning approached as a whole new day. The blowing sand storms of Saturday at let go to a clear blue sky and a light ocean breeze. The 7 AM departure time quickly passed with packing still underway. Around 8 AM with all the trash loaded up and supplies packed the group departed the fond 37 mile mark camp site for toward the north end of the island. Several photo opportunities where taken on the return trip, with the final being at the entrance of the 4x4 only section. The patrolling park ranger rolled down to talk to the group, and was quit impressed with the display. Jim Edson's find of suspect contraband was turned into the park ranger with a huge thanks for doing the right think. Back on pavement, the 40 bags of collected trash were unloaded, and Park Ranger Phil notified of the groups success. A certificate of appreciation was given to the club for the effort put forth over the weekend cleaning up a section of beach that rarely receives such attention. The Park service was particularly thankful that "Baby" was able to bring all 40 bags of trash back up the beach for disposal.

After a little cleanup at the park facilities, the group headed for Corpus Christie and a much awaited breakfast. After a little food and fuel the 9 hour return trip began. Overall, it was a great weekend for all. Several member's have already expressed interest in a return trip some day in the future.

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