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BIG TEXAS HUMMER OUTING
Was held February 8th and 9th 1997 Spring
Creek, just north of Houston TX
The first big TEXAS Hummer outing! If
you missed it then don't feel so bad because we sure took LOTS of pictures!! Maybe next
time...
[Preruns and Photos] [Main Event Pictures] [Patricks Pit Pictures]
[Sundays Pictures]
[Email Eddie]
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This BIG EVENT started out with Lee from Dallas
asking me on the internet Hummer Mailing List when we were going out to the creek the next
time.. Lee wanted to drive from Dallas to Houston to 4 wheel with us.
Because we discussed it on the internet, many others showed an interest in bringing thier
Hummers to Houston and 4 wheel with us! The dealerships wanted to come, and then AMGeneral
decided to send someone...We had prizes donated for our event! WOW..
Our regulars decided to be guides, and we set out to make maps of the trails and explore
as much as we could to make sure we were ready for the event. It was also a great excuse
to do allot of 4 wheeling every weekend preparing for the big event without feeling
guilty. We used GPS, Compasses, maps and notebook computers to map the trails as
accurately as we could..
On our first trip out Allan Madar treated his truck to a drink of water and the motor
broke. Next weekend Allan was still ready to go explore and we braved and ice storm to
make some maps, Allan even used his waders to cross to make sure our truck didn't have any
problems. Allan (even without his Hummer) went out every weekend and did allot of
preparation for the big event.. Mikey Hughes, Patrick Scranton, Bob Kraitchar, and David
Collie were all important to the many pre-runs we did!
Many participants started arriving at the Hotel near the creek on Friday night, and we
drove into Humble Texas (not very far) to eat German food...Bob K. picked the restaurant
and it was delicious! We had the opportunity to meet Lee Fikes and his group from Dallas
and Ron Bohnhoff and his wife Kathy from California.. We had some nice conversations after
the meal and stayed till the restaurant closed...
The Hotel gave us great parking spots and marked them off with cones, it was great seeing
all the Hummers parked all in a row! We had a total of 15 Hummers, 1 jeep, 1 Landcruiser,
and a Nissan 4x4... We had several folks without Hummers show up just to ride along.. We
had two Hummers from CA, 1 from NM, and the rest from Texas...We had MANY that called or
emailed that they would come but many of them were not able to make it. Some had broken
trucks or trucks apart being modified, some caught the flu, at least two didn't have their
new 97 Hummers yet... BUT even with less trucks than we expected, we still had a blast!
SATURDAY
Many were up EARLY! When I made it to the parking lot there were groups standing around
the trucks talking ready to go! I assigned numbers to the trucks with white shoe polish
and gave everyone a list of the other trucks so they could tell who was who while on the
trails. Allan Madar driving the Ron Carter (dealership) Hummer lead the first group out
around 9AM while I got the second group together and headed out around 10:30AM...
Group one went in at the Treshwig entrance by the shooting range, ran the high trail to
the burned out bridge and played a while at Patricks Pit. The Pit caused a near turnover
of Mikeys Jeep and they had to get a winch cable on the rear to prevent a problem. When
the Ron Carter Hummer tried the pit they got stuck also but with no danger of a turnover,
they were pulled out through the bottom of the Pit. They crossed the creek to the burned
out bridge beach and tried to follow Mikeys jeep across the deep creek, Mikeys jeep sucked
some water and stalled (gas engine, no problem). Allan was driving the Ron Carter Hummer
and as he pulled up to the edge of the creek to pull Mikey out they sunk down into the
sand to the frame sticking the Hummer solidly. Trying the winch to rescue Mikey and the
winch wouldn't work, Lee from Dallas with the military Humvee tried his winch and it
powered out but not in..!!! ARGH! Had to use a Bob K.'s winch to get the Hummer and Jeep
unstuck.
Group two went in at the main entrance and proceeded directly to the school beach, the
creek was a little high so we decided to head through the swamp and see if we could link
up with the first group... Heading down the high trail looking for the other group we ran
across a small group of 4 wheelers (little quadratracks) and I asked them if they have
seen any Hummers ahead. They said, "yeah, the Hummers are up there and those guys are
CRAZY!" he went on to say "those are some BAD men in those Hummers" (that
means good)...! We headed on looking for the other group and we met them head-on at the
mud pit.. We stopped to watch LEE and AUGGIE get their trucks hopelessly stuck... Everyone
parked their truck and got out to watch... Myself and Gerald Luiz used our winches to pull
them out, thanks to Ron Bohnhoff for some added muscle...
In the mud pit, the Ron Carter Hummer gets stuck right in the deep mush, I don't know if
Allan or Auggie were driving but I do remember Allan standing on the roofrack with his
video camera and Auggie slogging through waist deep mud...Lee has the HUMVEE with front
and rear lockers and dove right into the mud, he maneuvered his way out of the first hole
and landed in the second bigger mud hole, when he landed he popped the bead off his tire
and released all the air, now he was really stuck! I winched him out but it peeled his
flat tire right off the rim and left it in the mud bog.. The first thing that I saw Lee do
when he stepped out of his crippled truck was to take some photos while laughing! My wife
was in the crowd that was watching the fun and she told me later that she was worried that
they wouldn't be able to get the tow truck out to rescue Lee (my wife doesn't offroad
much)..She was amazed when Lee's crew jumped out with air tools and changed the tire in
just a few minutes.. Gerald did some fancy winch maneuvers to extract the Ron Carter
Hummer and we were all on our way again.. Since Auggie was wet and muddy to the waist he
was going to return to the hotel and some others wanted to get sandwiches or lunch, I led
a group down to the Burned bridge beach to socialize and Allan led some back to
civilization. We took pictures and talked and afterward we explored a couple of small
trails before we called it a day. And the convoy back to the hotel had 14 or 15 Hummers,
it was a sight to see! At every stop light, photographers would jump out of Hummers to
take pictures of them all in a row! We even have pictures of guys taking pictures of
Hummers.. ha ha...
Saturday night we had BBQ and returned to the hotel meeting room where Allan had set up a
projector.. We spent 3 and 1/2 hours giving away the prizes and watching all the video and
computer still pictures that we took that day.. Prizes were donated by Ron Carter Hummer,
Overseas Motors, AMGeneral, Stinger, Piping Products Inc, and River Oaks Car Stereo! (hope
I didn't forget anyone)....
SUNDAY
Sunday morning many of the participants had to head for home, we had some nice chats in
the parking lot of the hotel... I lead a small group out at about 10AM... Bob K, Gerald
Luiz, Mikey, and myself... Keri and Lucy went to breakfast and said they would catch up
with us but we never saw them again...must a been a good breakfast... Sunday we had Scott
McGregor the PRO-Photographer with us and also Albert (friend of Geralds) and Allan Madar
armed with video cameras! We entered the main entrance and went to the school beach, the
water level in the creek was much lower and safer than the day before... We forded the
creek after Allan Madar put on his waders and scouted the creek bottom and water depth for
us.. We played a while on the dunes and made a couple more creek crossings with Allans
help.. (we now call him wader boy)... I think the water depth surprised Gerald in his plum
95 opentop because he was joking about his toilet paper he kept under his seat getting all
wet, other than that he looked like he enjoyed it!... We went on through the woods and Bob
K. got his 1994 white wagon tangled with a small tree and cracked the hood and mangled his
front side marker light... We stopped to play in an area called the swamp, there are a
couple of DEEP mud holes that try to high center the Hummers when driving out, it did give
me the opportunity to experiment with the new Super Swamper tires I installed two weeks
ago. Bob K. and I drove through the holes several times and we both bent our rear license
plates all up, I broke my rear plate light also because the mud holes were so deep we
slammed our rear bumpers on hard dirt when our rear tires dropped down in the holes.. We
proceeded to the mud pit and we all avoided the nastiest areas except BOB, he has to turn
every moment into a barrel of fun! He drove into the goo and had to winch himself out..
From there we went to Patricks Pit to play and even the conservative driver Gerald decided
to try going down in the pit! He told me he normally wouldn't drive down into something
like that but we made it look like so much fun he had to try.. After going down I decided
to try to drive back up like very few had done before me.. Gerald said he would spot for
me, GREAT... When I got into the pit and was heading for the top, Gerald was so
preoccupied with taking my picture he was not directing me at all then SLAM! I smacked the
right front fender into the had packed sand wall, it was a VERY abrupt stop! I bent my new
brushguard, cracked my hood, and must have broken the fuel sending unit because now I have
a full tank (ha ha)... I backed up to try again and this time Gerald was paying attention
and directed me right up the pit wall.. Bob K. also barreled right on up without Geralds
expert guidance, in fact Gerald positioned himself to give directions to Bob but just as
Geralds says "SLOW" Gerald had to dive out of the way as BOB and his white
Hummer wagon flies right on up the pit wall gracefully!!! LOOK OUT!!...
We took allot of pictures and met allot of people and ate allot of food and I saw allot of
great things I want to do to or add to my truck We had men, women, children and dogs, and
they all seemed to have a blast! Despite the cracked hood and bent brushguard I had a
great time, now I need about two weeks of sleep...
List of participants
- Eddie Runner 1994 Green Opentop (Houston TX)
- Bob Kraitchar 1994 White Wagon w/big brushguard
(Freindswood TX)
- Allan Madar 1993 Red Wagon (Houston, TX)
- Patrick Scranton 1996 White Opentop turbodiesel (Houston TX)
- Mikey Hughes Silver Jeep w/33s and lockers (Houston TX)
- Auggie 1996 Tan Wagon (Ron Carter Hummer) (Alvin TX)
- Jim & Lisa Feine 1995 Black Wagon w/Stinger Brushguard
(Bellaire TX)
- David Collie 1992 Toyota Landcruiser (turbodiesel!) (Houston TX)
- Ron & Kathy Bohnhoff 1995 White Wagon (AM General) (CA)
- Ross Mabey 1996 Red Wagon (Overseas Motors) (Dallas TX)
- Dick Blanchard 1996 Black wagon (Lone Star Hummer) (San Antonio
TX)
- Lee Fikes TAN VEE highly modified HUMVEE (Dallas TX)
- Gerald Luiz 1995 Plum (b) opentop (CA)
- Keri Quinn 1994 Green Opentop (Lucy) (Dallas TX)
- John & Richard Key 1995 Green Wagon (Big Spring TX)
- Ronny Finkelman 1995 Plum opentop (Houston TX)
- Joe Henderson 1996 Tan Opentop (New Mexico)
- Von Faulkner 1997 Red opentop with aftermarket hard wagon
extension (San Antonio)
- Bill Grant and friend Matt Nissan 4X4 (Dallas TX)
- Heath Deikert his dads red honda (College Station TX)
[Email Eddie]
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