Bird of the Week and Off-roading

[mbulriss]

The recent discussion on off-roading and the fact that I have no
current entries for Bird of the Week -- hint, hint!! -- made me go to
my private archives of photos.

Off-roading takes may forms. The Bird of the Week for this week is of
an adventurous Canadian owner (based on the plates and the maple leaf
flag on the front of the Bird) that regularly dry camps between
Christmas and New Years far down on the dunes at South Padre about 50
feet from the water. Trust me when I say that there is some seriously
loose sand there. Notice that he also placed plywood sheets under the
rear wheels where he stopped in order to get going again. His real
challenge is getting a running start to get across the very loose sand
that covers between the road and the hard-pack along the beach. We
have never gone by when anyone was there, so we have never gotten to
meet these brave souls. Does any of our Canadian or northern border
state members know who owns this old FC known as Papa's Dream?

In addition to the Bird of the Week and Greg's recent post of his Bird
on Pismo Beach with a trailer, I have dry camped on the beach at North
Padre in our prior PT40. North Padre beaches are generally a little
more hard packed than South Padre beach areas. It seems to me that
the trick is to drive 'with an egg under your foot' and not spin the
tires or make any sudden stops. Sudden stops or spinning tires
generally mean you sink! Then you dig and find plywood or rugs or
newspapers to put under the rear tires to regain traction to get back
to the hard-pack sand. Generally, it is not a good idea to try to
vigorously spin the tires on things this big, as the rear-end
typically does not like that - and rocking to get un-stuck is pretty
much out of the question - unless you like buying new rear ends.

Nascar 'camping' areas are pretty much grassy fields off road. My old
PT40 hated wet grass and it rained most years at the Nascar race in
Texas, where upon it would not even think about going forward. As
soon as you put it in drive the rear wheels would spin on the wet
grass immediately as soon as you put it in gear! I have used the
Sunday papers many times to get going in wet grass at the 'camping'
areas at Texas Motor Speedway. Just stuff the papers under and in
front of the rear tires and then let it gently start rolling up on the
papers and then just keep going slowly and smoothly until you hit the
roadway.

Anyway, did I mention that I could use some new pictures submitted for
Bird of the Week? Send them on in please using the link on the front
page.

Thanks,

Mike Bulriss
1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan" - NOT going off roading with this one!
San Antonio, TX - sunny, dry and cool