Everything was going exactly according to plan. Monday and Tuesday were sunny, drying out the hill quite nicely. I rode my bike down the hill Tuesday afternoon with no trouble at all and left it by the house. The forecast continued to show a 0% chance of rain until Thursday morning, so I went to sleep confident that we’d have no problem moving the van and trailer on Wednesday, giving the ground as much time as possible to dry out.
I woke up early Wednesday morning to the sound of a solid, soaking rain on my roof. Let’s just say I had a moment. All of my careful preparation to get out of a slippery situation was down the drain. But with a solid week of rain still in the forecast, we still had to get off the hill before it became completely undrivable, with me stranded up there indefinitely.
After packing camp, we hooked Melissa’s 4Runner up to my trailer. Even in 4-Low with hill descent control on (gotta love these fancy off-road toys), she had some trouble with the weight of the trailer pushing her along when she hit the brakes, even without the extra weight of my bike inside. This was all at a slower-than-walking pace with frequent stops, so when she slid, it wasn’t very far, but still quite nerve-wracking. I walked alongside and gave her advice on what to do when the front wheels locked up, depriving her of steering control. Eventually, she made it down safely and parked my trailer directly behind where my van would go. Then it was my turn.
I won’t give you the play-by-play, but I will say it was the most harrowing and intense driving experience of my life. I say that having learned to drive in Massachusetts and done triple-digit speeds on race tracks for fun. Ironically, this was also the slowest drive of my life, literally inches at a time, so that I wouldn’t build up too much momentum and be unable to stop. Melissa spotted me and called directions to me on the radio, guiding my tires toward the places she saw the most traction. She also used her off-road recovery boards to give me braking traction where I didn’t otherwise have it through soft patches. I’m not exaggerating when I say I couldn’t have gotten down safely without her. But I have her, and she got me out. We’ve been joking about her starting a business, “Melissa’s Off-Road Recovery,” a play on Matt’s Off-Road Recovery.
Even then, our work wasn’t done because we had to set up camp before it rained yet again. Melissa had to run some errands in town, including getting ingredients for dinner, so I didn’t mind that task falling mainly to me. With some difficulty, I got her pop-up canopy set up by myself, providing some extra shelter from the rain that was about to come. I also parked my bike inside the trailer. Since it’s about to rain for a week, there’s little point in having it sit outside, especially since my garage is right here. I reached the limits of my physical endurance, rushing to get all of this done before it rained again, but I did it. Also, we’re close enough to the house that I could connect my WiFi router to their internet, eliminating the need for Starlink and its intermittent connection through the trees. Though I rely mainly on Starlink these days, situations like this are exactly why I keep my old WiFiRanger router handy.
I’m much calmer now. I had to admit that a little part of me had been nervous about getting my van back down the hill ever since I got up there in the first place. That part of me grew once I learned just how slippery it gets up there when it rains. It’s a beautiful location, but I will not be driving the van back up there without significant improvements to access and the parking area. Fortunately, Melissa already had plans for exactly that in the future, even before we met.
For now, we’ll sit here. It’s less scenic than on top of the hill, though still quite pleasant. Most importantly, it’s on solid ground. Now that I can get the van in and out of here easily, I’m looking forward to taking short camping trips in the area. Melissa already has some places in mind to show me where she likes to camp. Once it stops raining, I’m also looking forward to exploring the area more on the motorcycle.
Smokey Da Van 