Road Trip from Hell – Part 1

We are going to switch gears today and discuss the crazy occurrences of the last few days. 

It was moving day at Foster Park, where we had been staying for a few days while visiting Los Angeles and the Channel Islands National Park. The day was very relaxed, unlike most moving days. The boys and I went to a local laundromat to wash all our bedding and extra clothes we had accumulated after just 12 hours (we had gone to the laundromat the day before as well). We had to be out of our camping spot by 11am, so we were locked and loaded to go on the 4.5 hour trip by 10:45am. Our destination was a boondocking spot right outside of Kings Canyon National Park but as you will hear, we never made it. 

We were on the road and were making great time. The kids were not their usual screaming selves. On our way through the mountains heading to Bakersfield, the brakes started to smoke, so we pulled off the road and gave them a rest. We had just replaced our brakes less than a month prior and paid extra for the “top-of-the-line” brake pads and rotors, but I guess towing 11,000 pounds through mountains will take a toll on everything, even new brakes.

We made a stop for lunch at a truck stop right outside of Bakersfield and to give our brakes another rest and then continued on. Most of the journey was on small town roads. We passed clementine, olive, and grape farms. Really beautiful and hard to resist the urge to not pullover and pick some fresh fruit from the trees and vines along our route. 

Cue the road that now makes me shudder when I speak of it, the dreaded 180…dun, dun, DUN! The incline started off pretty strong from the get go. We were on a two lane road, one lane going each direction. We passed the last gas station until you got to the park and still felt good about our journey. We had read reviews about the boondocking spot we were heading to. We were not staying in the park, but right outside of it. What could go wrong? Many people had stayed there and were able to pull their RVs up the mountains to the spot, why can’t the Beast? That is when the smoke started. 

I started to see smoke coming out of the car in my side mirror. We pulled over on the side of the road to investigate and the smoke had stopped. Nothing was leaking, so we decided to continue on and stop at the next stop to check again, but we never made it to the next stop. 

The road is very windy with straight cliff drops down. Now remember, we are on a two lane road. When we rounded a sharp corner, our car decided it didn’t want to go any further. After about 100 feet (give or take), it was done. The transmission fluid had left a path of defeat all the way up to the Beast’s final resting place. We just sat there for a minute, unable to move, thinking what the HECK are we going to do. We have a 36ft travel trailer hooked onto the back of us and there is literally NO spot to turn around and no spot to pull over to or coast down backward to. We were stuck with a straight drop to our right, a mountain to our left and sharp turns in front and behind us. So, after pondering our next plans, we jumped out of the car, put the brakes on, put chalks behind all the wheels on the truck and trailer (since we were on a serious incline) and got out our safety equipment. We had about 4 hours until night time and we needed to get busy. 

I grabbed Zach’s cell phone (mine took a swim in the Pacific a few days prior) and walked back down the mountain until I had cell service. I started calling all the tow people that were nearby, which are not many. No luck. One tow service even said he would call around and see if any of his guys were available and never called me back and stopped answering my phone. Perfect!

Stay tuned to hear how we were rescued and the continuation of the worst day we have had so far.

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XO,

The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife

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