Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 01:46:31 -0800
From: Mike West <mwest@cdsnet.net>
Subject: Karma on Greyback fluff

The day after Christmas and you guys are still all stuffed with
turkey or or playing with the nephews new RC car.

We need a story here. . . . .

My brother in law has a new twist on this "help fellow motorists"
thing.

No matter who's driving what, he stops.

His way is a little better than mine, he has a phone in the car.

He's a gimp so it's kind of necessary.

He isn't part of our little conspiracy against apathy but as he
told me yesterday when he stopped for some little old lady,
(pathetic ain't it?)  :-) he figures one of these days he's
going to be stuck some-place and he wants them all to remember it
was a volkswagen helped them out that time.

The lady just called her son to come get her and we're out of
there.  Beats poking around inside a Luv pickup.  :-)

Later, we're talking about doing packed snow ice and how well he
had done the week before over in Beatty. I guess that's how it's
spelled, pronounced "Batey".

Which of course brought to mind my trip up Greyback Mountain a few
years ago.

I was taking an Indian woman of whom I was aquainted up Greyback
for the first snow of the season. About 4 foot up on top.

I'm doing the bug scene at this time and have no fear.

The no fear part is partly bravado in front of my friend,(women
do that to guys) and partly because there is enough gear and
rations to live for a week if need be, stuffed in the bonnet.

Greyback is the mountain where the Oregon Caves are located.

Miles and miles of under-ground caverns for the tourist trade.

Discovered by a miner back in the "old days" who was out looking
for his dog.

He was looking for his dog because he'd sent the dog out some days
before to look for the damned burro.

It's kind of a three-cornered "love-hate" thing that is the plight
of miners everywhere but since it is not germane to the story,
we needn't pursue it.

It was one of those "Winter Wonderland" days, the trees all hanging
down with the weight of the snow, the road packed with about 4inches
of this stuff.

Pocohantas is shooting pictures and I'm maintaining the the
"Beetle crawl" up the mountain.

We get almost to the caves and come to one of the spectacular
scenes you see in Patagonia catalogs or a calender.

Heavy Forest and heavy snow. So she wants to stop and shoot some.

Outside curve going up the hill, so I stop.

We get out to shoot the photos, slipping even in good boots, there
on the road. I hear this sliding behind me and turn.

There goes the Beetle right into the ditch.  :-)

That's how little traction the little beast can drive in.

The rest of the story is the embarrassing part.

I have everything but chains.  :-)  Well. . . . . I never said I
was perfect!   :-)

I'm being cool and shooting photos of Poco' digging it out of the
snow-bank and along comes this guy from town who works at the
'Caves.

He's from Florida. He just came from the tire store where he bought
"chains"!

He has never even had them out of the box yet, but he wants to try
them out so he starts putting them on my car!

Doesn't want me to help, he wants to figure it all out himself.

I do some jacking etc. but that's about all. I'm really using up
Karma that day.

This guy from Florida was blue to the elbows by the time we got it
out of the ditch.

While this is going on, there are other "Intrepids" coming down the
hill and we had a Jeep and a Bronco in the ditch up the hill,
trying to miss me and the Floridans car.

Get me out, these other guys are now putting their own chains on
to get out of the ditch, I drive to the top, turn around and come
back down.

Now I insist he let me take them off mine and put on his.

"No", he'd rather himself. He took them off mine now that I'm
pointed down hill and put them on his own rig.

Tho we stayed till he was done and I gave him a towel to dry with,
I still feel like a jerk to this day.  :-)

And no he wouldn't take money either.

So back to the Karma thing, I have a big hole there.

Figure I'm going to have to help some 18 wheeler chain up one of
these days just to break even.  :-)

The guy from Florida was driving something like a plymouth station
wagon.

He was a "split-window" dude anyway.

west