Next morning we decided to just move on without a usable spare tire. Maybe something would turn up along the way. The next stop was Ellensburg. We decided to take the river route. First it was a lot prettier and second, no big hills to climb.

In the morning the truck’s engine didn’t start immediately, so it lost prime. Ongoing issue with this machine. I had to pop off the air filter and pour its morning fuel down the carb. I noticed that quite a bunch of it ran out the throttle shaft hole. Poor worn out old thing.

Sorry about the bugs in the picture. See the tree line on the mountains ahead? That’s just about where we vapor locked for the first time today.

As you can see it was tied to the air filter and to the gas line. It covered the bottom of the glass trap shielding it from the manifold heat as well as funneling more cooling air around the glass. This may have been effective, because we never had a vapor lock issue again. But to be fair, it never got  a comprehensive test.

I wish the pictures could really show what it was like up here. We were right on a cliffside overlooking what looked like the rest of the world.

And then the bugs drove us off..

At one point we’d run across the same group of Jeeps that we saw the day before. I was able to ask one of the guys if we were near Wenatchee, where the road was supposed to come out. He told me we were getting close, and they were doing the WABDR as well, as they all blasted on past us.

But the road was getting worse and worse. None of us have very much off-road experience, Alex had none at all. She was getting her little 4Runner through stuff I just could not believe. I watched her go through some ruts that were lifting her rear tires off the ground about a foot. When I took the carryall through, it twisted the body so much it popped open the rear door. I didn’t notice ‘till we stopped for lunch. Leave no trace? I wonder how much of a trail of camping supplies I left behind?

My biggest fear was that the trail would peter out on some cliffside leaving us basically lost and stranded.

Of course we ended up on some bloody cliffside wondering if we made a wrong turn and if we could back up all the way back up the hillside..

Seriously one mistake and we’re hosed.

But what if the road just gets worse? Can we get back out?

Alex wanted to try it. So I take a deep breath and jump in her car to help direct her.

Took two tries on the last hillclimb. The first try, her rear skidded and started sliding toward the edge. We stopped, calmed down a bit, took it easier with a better line and mad it up. Great! My kid did it, Now I have to do it. To be honest I was about wetting myself. Allie took the pictures.

If you make a mistake you end up down here.

Somewhere.

Probably upside down.

I was figuring that the worst was over. Feeling pretty good in fact. Within ten miles we hit the main roads again.

The plan was to blast to the end of the section and find a place to camp, it was getting late.

We’re heading down the highway, I’m up to 45 or more when I her this “Zzzwingggg POW!” and suddenly the rear end locks up. I’m fishtailing sideways into the oncoming traffic. I was able to cross control to reduce the fishtailing before I hit anyone or rolled the truck. Then I was able to drop the truck onto the shoulder at the end of the last swing.

Burnt rubber and smoke everywhere. My heart was going a mile a minute!

I was lucky in landing the truck. I was way more lucky in that the group of cars we just happened to be in was the Jeep group that was also doing the WABDR at the same time. They instantly came together “We need to do this and this. Do you have any tools?” I was in shock so bad it felt good to let someone else take the lead. We pulled the rear axles and driveshaft. This allowed me to limp the truck to a campsite for the night.