Autopendium :: stuff about old cars

Tags: bus shasta volkswagen vw

So the 5am LeMans style departure went pretty well. We definitely were not the last ones out the gate, but within a few miles that didn't mean a thing as we had to stop to chain up and then crawl forward and stop again because within the span of maybe a quarter mile there were three buses stuck.

First, Aaron and Emily had slid into a ditch on the left and we spent easily 45 minutes breaking them loose. They finished chaining up and we headed forward a little ways more.

Second, Cory was stuck on an inside corner and had tried so hard to break loose that he snapped an axle! Holy crap, we all figured the trip was over for him! But he was also on a corner and we had to find a way around him if half the teams were to continue on the trip!

Third, we were able to get past, but not until Lou got unstuck as he had passed Cory, but slid off to the left before the next corner! See the attached video for this exciting part of the adventure!

Okay, so our 5am start and subsequent stops now brings us to nearly 8am! Finally, we're pretty much all moving again, save for Cory and a couple drivers who chose to stay behind to make sure he gets out okay. We plow ahead and make our way down Bartlett Springs Road, chattering away on the CB. We drop below the snow line and dechain in the mud (yuck! so much laundry to do now). We barrel back down into Nice, Ca and stop at the Valero station to gas up, grab a little grub, and get back onto Hwy 101 to Willits. Already we seem to be falling behind the group as we ascend hills. Something's not right, but we march on and into Willits. Already, we're a little overwhelmed by the trip. It's way more than we'd planned for.

We make it into Willits and to the home of Christopher Moore who has a huge stash of old VWs and parts and who is a great help to all the trippers. We spend some time resting up and trying to decide what to do. We can either take 101 all the way up to 36 and then across to 5 and stay on large roads or we can at least follow the group up Hwy 162 into Covelo, Ca and see how we do before proceeding on.

After some encouragement from others (even though they'd totally leave me in the dust later) we chose to power on to Covelo and reassess the situation there.

Next time: 162 challenges us and nearly breaks our spirits.

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