Truck'n Texas Style - Texas Truck Rodeo 2018

It was a dark and storm night as the four lone writers rode into the Texas Hill country with only the headlights of their trusty rides to cut through the unknown of the Texas Hill Country. Little did they know the challenges that awaited them as they found washouts that were washed-out with flowing water that simply glared back at the adventurers, almost daring them to step into the unknown.

Well, ok, maybe is was a stormy Monday morning with the cold front dropping temperatures close to 30 degrees and the Gulf of Mexico supplying a steady stream of moisture that created record rain fall with lowland flooding. And maybe it was a pair 2018 4×4 rides that made their way through the off-road course of the 2018 Texas Truck Rodeo being held at the Longhorn River Ranch outside of DrippingSpringsTexas.

The uphill portion of the course was a bit of a challenge in the Texas mud, and the scenic loops that look down on part of the 1600 acre ranch were passable even if the only thing to see was the stormy night. However, the last challenge of the course was a downhill exercise designed to demonstrate hill decent systems as well as braking and suspension action. Under the cover of darkness, the truck began an uncontrolled slide to the wrong side, actually any side instead of forward down the hill was wrong, and it only took a brief second of considerations to determine it was much too dangerous.

Then it really started to rain…

The Texas Auto Writers Association was able to quickly adapt to another off-road layout that was not as challenging, but did provide a 4×4 driving experience.

Then it decided to rain hard.

It was a magnificent team effort to pack up the entire event and move it to the Sonesta Hotel, the host hotel that became center of the event. Journalist were given vehicles to transport, the support teams from Motus1 and Drive Shop and every OEM attending the event pitched in to pack it up and then set it up at the new location. Because of that great effort, the event was able to continue that first afternoon and then on Tuesday morning with evaluation of the vehicles on the streets around Bee Cave, Texas.

The winners are…