The Good, The Bad and the Uh-Oh

The Good

We left Sunday and made it into California last night. The truck performed flawlessly and Casita came right along with no complaints. It was pretty danged cold most of the way which actually ended up being good for keeping the engine and transmission temps down. We saw a lot of beautiful sites and enjoyed our time together on the road. I'll post more pix later. We took highways 20, 10 then 8 across the El Cajon pass.

The Bad

We hit below freezing temps in west Tejas and was greeted with snow and ice. We hit a patch on a bridge and started sliding sideways a bit - producing a feeling I hope I never experience again. It was beautiful though as we drove along. The wind swept the snow across the highway like ocean currents. It was mesmerizing.

The Uh-Oh

We'd done some research about what final leg we'd take to get into southern California and based on information published by the Department of Transportation, we decided to take highway 8. This added a harrowing, nightmare-ish end to our long trip. The author had written that you would encounter mountains and if you were towing something, it wouldn't be too bad, just gear down and take it slow. WRONG! This ended up being one of the worst experiences either of us have ever encountered. Terrifying would be applicable here. We were met with mountain after mountain and just when we thought we'd reached the summit, somehow more mountains appeared in front of us. We couldn't go faster than 25 mph and I thought we'd surely drop the transmission. The truck laboured so hard and we just kept thinking good thoughts. The sun disappeared and it got dark quick as we continued to climb to what would ultimately be over 4,000 feet elevation, the wind began pushing against the Airstream so hard that I was worried we would surely be blown over the edge. I stopped ever so often to let the transmission cool - babying it along the way. Once we finally did reach the summit, then we had to deal with coming down the other side and risk burning through brakes or transmission while I tried to keep Casita from pushing us down the mountain. It ultimately stretched over 3 gut-wrenching hours. That wasn't the end. Once we got off the mountain we came into the city of El Cajon and the traffic was equally scary. By then, my eyes were burning and knuckles ached from holding the steering wheel so tight. We made it to the hotel, ordered a pizza and thanked our lucky stars to have gotten through that mess. It's a beautiful morning here today as I write and we're looking forward to the next few days of reuniting with beloved family and friends.

It was tough, but the trip was worth it. Glad to be back California!. We've missed you terribly.