No. I never heard of them. My year in Beaumont was spent blindly thrashing about the Triangle looking for things to do with no local guide. One sunday the cable went out, so I ended up wandering the banks of a canal out by N. Major and 105 taking swigs off a big gulp filled with Jack and coke and throwing rocks at water mocassins. The sand pits sound like fun.
They were right behind that materials place on the river, with the big piles of aggregate and gravel and stuff. Between it and the steel mill. Plenty of places to go "mudding" there. I think it was private property, but I don't recall anyone ever paying much attention to that little detail.
You description of your day on the irrigation canal reminds me of a lot of my high school years. I described this in detail in one of the From Left Field entries, talking about cruising around on what we called the "rice field roads."
As I recall, I did not become aware you were living over here until your gig was almost up, plus for some reason at the time I was under the impression you were some kind of Walter Umphrey operative or something, so I steered clear. Too bad, could've been fun.
