With Marc Hall
Eyes on the road. It’s literally the first rule of driving, right? The only trouble is all I can see out of the windshield of the two-and-a-half-ton 4 X 4 behemoth I’ve agreed to drive through the rugged Texas Hill Country is rich blue sky contrasting with some lazy, pale stratus clouds. Behind the wheel. Staring straight up at the sky. Nothing resembling a road is anywhere in sight and my Ford Bronco Off Roadeo Experience instructor “Hollywood,” who was the one who told me drive up this impossibly steep granite wall, keeps assuring me that I’m doing great. Do I believe her? I’m pretty sure only three of our Bronco’s 35-inch tires are touching terra firma and I just heard audible gasps from the people in the Bronco behind us.
It turns out that, with some strategic turns of the wheel along with calculated and gentle intervals of gassing and braking, a Ford Bronco can climb absurdly steep and rocky terrain without breaking a sweat. The Ford Bronco Off Roadeo Experience at Horseshoe Bay Resort’s Grey Wolf Ranch was designed to help Bronco owners, dealers and salespeople to learn to dizzying array of technological features of their state of the art Ford Broncos, like Trail 1-Pedal Drive, 4×4 operation and G.O.A.T. Modes.
Now this luxury adventure experience is open to all Horseshoe Bay Resort guests. When you get to Grey Wolf Ranch, a magnificent and majestic hunk of class Hill Country land, Trail Guides orient guests on the safety features of the Ford Bronco and prep them to hit these purpose-built trails. Every group of drivers has a Trail Guides assigned to them who coach drivers at the front, middle, and back of the off-road caravan.
Bronco owners and adrenaline lovers from all over flock to Grey Wolf Ranch to test the Bronco’s all terrain capabilities while doubling down on a healthy adrenaline rush. Drivers navigate stone washes, rocky terrain, tight turns and climbs that would require AAA intervention in most of our personal daily drivers. The Horseshoe Bay Resort Off-Roadeo property is one of only four in the United States. The other facilities featuring Bronco adventures are in Gilford, NH, Las Vegas, NV, and Moab, UT.
More than 7,000 people per year take in this experience and it’s expected to grow now that the experience is open to resort guests. It’s the perfect way to add some adventure to a golf getaway or casual long weekend.
Bronco owners have access to a 10-hour Off Roadeo Experience. For Resort guests at Horseshoe Bay, the experience is shortened to four hours but covers a ton of exciting elements along the trails. Ford provides the full fleet of completely equipped Broncos that guests use for the off-roading fun. Bronco owners use their own vehicles for the purpose of getting used to driving them and maxing out their skills on the Bronco’s features.
Guests learn key basics like appropriate seating and hand-on-the-wheel placement, ideal mirror angles, and also the fun stuff, more advanced off-roading lessons. In the full class, you can learn skills like forging water, navigating ditches, surviving steep hills, left-foot breaking, crossing boulders, and how to select a route when you come to obstacles. Guests can take turns practicing these maneuvers and also learn important hand signals they can give to other driver to help them traverse the uneven terrain.
While resort guests only borrow a Bronco for this experience, Ford reps say eight percent of guests have ended up buying a new Ford not long after their Off Roadeo experience, and 63 percent of those purchases were Broncos. Whether your charmed into buying a Bronco or you’re just looking for a fun escape full of adrenaline-charging times, this is one experience you won’t soon forget.
To learn how you can add this one of a kind experience to your next visit to Horseshoe Bay Resort, visit hsbresort.com.
