In to the unknown

The big day is finally here, Breakfast, and a preflight courtesy of nephew (he takes this way too seriously sometimes). We filled up the night before, This beast holds 50 gallons if I remember. We make a last check of road conditions. Snoqualmie pass is the big worry It was closed for several days prior to our departure. Also Winter storm Euclid is about to go through our route home. But the pass is open and we make a break for it. Nephew Like me has lived almost his entire life in Arizona. I did not see snow (on the ground) till I was about 16 or 17. I have seen it snow 3 times in and around Phoenix in 50 years but it never sticks. Nephew is beside himself, he get excited easily. He is snapping pictures right and left (over 80). I begin to mock him a bit. Snow becomes "AHSNOW! Pronounce it very fast and excited like with an elevating pitch as you say it. He calms down after awhile. I have first shift of driving until we get to a Rest stop past Yakima.

AHSNOW!

Once through the summit pass it is mostly AHSNOW! covered boring East of the Cascades Washington. We stop in Yakima and have lunch at a pizza place. Another Safety check of EVERYTHING by nephew and we are on the road again. We Are Aiming for Boise If I remember Correctly (some of my notes got erased). We did not suspect the problems we would have at the top of CABBAGE HILL *crescendo* NOBODY expects the problems on Cabbage hill!.

Sorry... Where was I?

We get to a rest stop after several hours of driving. There is a sign shouting RESPECT THE HILL! I kind of skim it and it seems to be more about going DOWN cabbage hill, OR Emigrant Hill not up. Whatever... (foreshadowing).

So now it's Nephews Turn to Drive. He is all pro, AND disappointed that we are not driving a diesel, provides his own Air brake noises when releasing or applying the brakes when we have to park somewhere.

Some people might balk at letting an 18 year old drive something as big as we were, but the kid knows what he is doing. He could back the truck and trailer through a figure eight if he wanted to. He is all business when driving and follows the law and "rules" of the road to the letter.

Ok so going UP Cabbage hill was not the problem. As we went up I saw a sign that said Chains required, but it was not flashing and I assumed that meant we did not need them. (we don't have problems like this in my neck of Arizona).

OK back track a little here. When we went to rent the truck we inquired about chains. U-haul does NOT supply chains. You are expected to wait it out in the event you are snowed in. you call them and let them know and they will extend the basic 5 days rental as needed. OK, well that sucks. We went to a walmart in Seattle and tried to get chains but they did not have a big selection and we were not sure what chains to get, having never had to buy them. (more foreshadowing).

We get to the top and things start to go sour (weather wise). It's getting really cold, windy and it is snowing. Soon the road is covered in ICE (nice). Nephew inquires if I want to drive? Nope, she's all yours. Well it gets worse and worse. Visibility is down to less than half a mile, nephew reports he can feel the wheels slipping occasionally. I tell him to slow down shift to L2 and take it easy. Now we are drive at the most 20mph. Conditions only get worse as it is getting darker. we have no chains, and the choice is go back or keep going. We press on. Then there are signs reporting that the road is closed passed La Grande, OR. After checking some sources on my phone and listening to the radio we find out that a truck over turned about 10 miles east of La Grande. Both directions were closed until further notice. Just Great. Well as navigator I start looking for an alternative stop for the night. Looks like La Grande is it. Hopefully it is a bigger town than it sounds like.

At some point while going through some twisty mountain roads nephew says that his side of the trailer is kicking up a lot of snow. I look at my side and see nothing unusual. Since it is dark snowy and not really safe to stop we press on. It is very slow going now, maybe 15mph. This is where nephew was a better choice than me for driving. I would have tried driving faster.

I use my time and the internet connection on my phone to start locating possible hotels in La Grande. I find several and have trouble getting an answer to my calls. seems everyone is doing the same thing. I finally get a hold of the Super 8. They have rooms available and tons of parking space.

After what seemed like days of careful driving we make it to La Grande. It is much bigger than I thought. We park real quick and check out the trailer. We have a flat tire. Thankfully the trailer had 2 tires on each side. We get back in the truck. I contact U-haul and get the ball rolling on getting it fixed. We locate the super 8 and park. I go inside wait in line and secure a room.

Back outside we find the U-haul repair guy working on another U-haul and snag him to fix ours. This saved a huge amount of time. We grab dinner at the nearby Mickey D's and file our report with family. About this time I get a call from U-haul. The woman begins talking a mile a minute about what and where and when. I have to actually shout into the phone for her to stop talking, so I can explain that the trailer is already fixed. This confuses her mightily.

We check road conditions and crash.

Next Post:
"Smooth sailing" or "I channel Bill and embarrass the nephew"