TEJAS RANCH, TAKADA-GUN, Japan -- Driving along Route 54, about an hour north of Hiroshima, it is easy to mistake the signs for Tejas Ranch in Takada-gun for, well, just about anything.
Anything, that is, but the Mecca of off-road four-wheel driving in Hiroshima Prefecture.
"One sign has got a picture of a goofy-looking horse with his tongue sticking out next to a coffee cup, a knife and fork, and some Japanese writing," said Randy Ellison, an Iwakuni Marine and member of the Iwakuni based Far East Four-Wheeler Club. "And even though I guess they technically have a coffee shop, that's not why anybody goes."
The reason people go there, and have been in droves since it first opened in 1997, is simple - adrenaline.
"Tejas Ranch is an adrenaline junkies dream," said Ellison, a Jacksonville, Fla. native who recently tackled the off-road course there in his Toyota Highlux Surf along with roughly a dozen other members of the Far East Four-Wheeler Club. "I never really was in fear for my life, but I thought my truck might meet an untimely death."
That statement didn't seem too far from the truth on one run, as Ellison found himself literally face to face with the dirt on a particularly treacherous obstacle.
"I was stuck pretty good," said Ellison of the 10-minute ordeal in which the rear end of his vehicle hung in the air at a 90 degree angle. "Thank God Chuck D (Charles Daily, a Creston, Iowa native, Iwakuni Marine and Far East Four-Wheeler Club member) was there to talk me through it. But hey, that's what four- wheeling is all about . doing things with a truck that weren't meant to be done."
But off-road driving in Japan isn't the only reason the Far East Four-Wheeler's regularly make the trek to Tejas Ranch.
"The thrills of four-wheeling is only part of it," said Mark Becker, an Iwakuni Sailor and Far East Four-Wheeler Club member. "More importantly, it's a great way for us to meet other Japanese who also love off-road driving and to make friends with them and learn about their culture."
The Far East Four-Wheeler's get plenty of opportunity to do just that at Tejas Ranch, as Japanese and American off-road enthusiasts usually spend the weekend there, camping together in a grassy knoll a few hundred yards from the start of the course.
"We were very happy when the Americans started coming here," said Kazuko Aramaki, a Tejas Ranch employee. "They are always very well behaved, and the Japanese drivers who come here are always excited to see them and their trucks."
But there also seems to be a friendly rivalry between the Japanese and Americans.
"Meeting the Americans is great," said Kazuto Aoki, a Hiroshima resident and off-road enthusiast who drives a customized Mitsubishi Jeep. "They love the mud and the course just like we do and even though we're serious on the mountain and always trying to out-do each other by showing off, in the end we always get together and laugh about the times we got stuck or rolled our trucks. We are also quick to help each other if something goes wrong on the course."
Kevin Taft, a Custer, S.D. native and Iwakuni Sailor who only recently joined the Far East Four-Wheeler Club, found out just how helpful other off-road drivers can be.
"This was my first trip to Tejas Ranch," said Taft. "It was challenging and intimidating, but I thought I was doing okay until my truck went into a mud puddle that seemed more like a bottomless pit."
It took two vehicles pulling simultaneously to free Taft's Toyota Highlux Surf truck.
"Even though off-road driving is considered an individual sport, it definitely takes teamwork to get out of jams," said Taft.
"That spirit of teamwork also leads to a sense of camaraderie which transcends different countries and cultures," added Daily. "No matter where you are from, whether it be Japan, the United States or wherever, if you're an off-road driver you are part of a unique culture all its own."