Four Wheelin' on South Padre
In 1519, a tired old Spanish explorer rowed a small boat from his galleon to the shores of a long sand barrier island that separated an immense lagoon from the ocean. Upon his first steps on the sand, the explorer was immediately struck by the beauty of the island. He saw ?white sand? that went on for miles and miles, as far as the human eye could see. The explorer pulled out a tattered piece of leather and began to sketch an outline of the island. He would name it ?Isla Blanca? and claim it for the King of Spain.
 The explorer was Alonso Alvarez de Pineda and he would be the first white man to set foot on Padre Island, a 130-mile long sand barrier island that spans the coast of South Texas from the modern cities of Corpus Christi to Brownsville, right on the Mexican border. Unfortunately, Alvarez de Pineda would never return to Padre Island in his lifetime?he was mysteriously killed one year later by a mystical Indian tribe a few miles south of the spot where he originally landed in 1519.
Because of its isolation and difficult terrain, it would be another three and a half centuries before anyone would do a serious exploration of Padre Island. Today, modern-day explorers and adventurers are re-discovering the island's 113 miles of solitude and tranquility through proven technology: Four Wheel Drive Vehicles.
Padre Island encompasses 130,454 acres of the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of barrier island in the world. Scientists say that this is what the entire coastline of Texas once looked like for over thousands of years, and still, it lies untouched by civilization waiting for the next explorer or adventurer to seek not what lies beneath the sand, but the sand itself!
So, what are you waiting for? Lets drive it (or, at least part of it)!
Driving on an isolated sandy beach is a lot like flying an airplane. Before a trip, a pilot creates a flight plan, studies maps, checks fuel and oil tanks, rehearses emergency procedures, researches the weather, and gathers the needed equipment.
If there is only one message you leave with after reading this article, let it be this: Planning, common sense and having the right tools will make you virtually stuck-proof on Padre Island, but most importantly, gaurantee you to have a good time. I am amazed at how many stupid people I see out there on Padre Island . I always see these huge monster trucks and F350s out there with their gigantic tires the size of small house getting stuck in the most peculiar of places. Then, their buddies will attempt to pop them out of the sand and get stuck themselves. Oh, and if you got one of those new hummers, you can forget it. I've seen those stuck more than any other vehicle out there.
Okay, you might be wondering what kind of car I have and how many times I've been stuck out there. Well, let me tell you.
I have a 1990 Jeep Cherokee with a malfunctioning four-wheel drive system. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't depending on what mood it is in. Yea, my Jeep has an ego, but she hasn't let me down yet. And while the cheap-o tires on my Jeep are about the size of the ones on tricycles for children, let me just say that they have conquered everything that mother nature has thrown at them.
With that said, if you follow the rules and use common sense I guarantee that you will not get stuck or stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Actually, you'll be amazed at how many small 2 wheel-drive cars make it out there on a daily basis. Check out the vehicles that the local fisherman drive and you'll see Cadillacs, Blazers and minivans. It's not how big it is, but how you use it.
Read the rest of the article HERE!
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