Cruisin' the Sierra Madres
We went to the States for a couple of days this week. Traveled by bus ... through the mountains ... at night. Good thing. Had I known what I would come upon in the roadway on the way back, we might have renegged on our deal to bring back a van. Along the way we came upon too many burros to count, the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, three dogs, two cows (one posed no threat as it was merely dead and decomposing alongside the highway), three wrecks (one involving a double trailer tractor on its side next to the mountain), small children sitting on the side of the road - no berm whatsoever. Faithie & Ron, having driven in your part of the country was a saving preparation for me because it was tight, tight switchbacks for 3 hours. However, the scenery I did get to glimpse was breath-takingly beautiful and sometimes a little unusual. They plant corn on the sides of mountains so steep that I wouldn't dare venture into a field without a rope to hold me onto it. We were thinking maybe they underplant with a crop they don't want people noticing...if you get my drift. Anyway, the Mexican "inter-states" are great to travel on the flat lands with bathrooms to rival the Frankfort Airport. Go figure...
posted by mummers at
2:00 PM
21 Comments:
I'm glad to hear you guys made it through alright. Van and all.
Seeing as how we're a fairly well traveled family all in all, I'd like to hear what have been your scariest driving/travel experiences.
Scariest driving experience? Maybe when I went 65 mph in the city, unbuckled, after having too much wine and I got pulled over. That was about 3 weeks ago. Or maybe when I had to drive that bus through Paris during our DTS outreach, that thing was held together with duct tape, the driver's side mirror came off every ten minutes and nobody was buckled either, cause there were no seat belts! By the way, just kidding about the first experience - that was more like seven years ago.
Does this count?
I dreamt the Grim Reaper was driving my '64 Cadillac down Jefferson in La Porte, on snow, accelerating up from 70 mph, when he puts it into a side-slide directly at a giant maple tree with my passenger door leading the way, while he repeated, over and over, "It just doesn't matter, Rick, it just doesn't matter."
I woke up wound tighter than a drum, in abject fear.
I just won an iPod (shuffle) on the street! Can you believe it? I'm loving it!
Rick, it's wierd but I actually had a near-miss while driving the '64 Caddy that was remarkably similar to your dream. I was driving it with Lucy Broviak one winter night along the road that rings Pine Lake by the beach where we used to ski. I hit a patch of ice and went into a side skid heading directly towards the large trees that used to line the pull-off. Lucy (who though Catholic,was not particularily devout) screamed "Jesus!" and the car spun around and hit a snow bank on the opposite side of the road. The car wasn't damaged and I thouht I was home free with our parents being non the wiser when I returned the car to the garage. However, the next morning Dad called me out to the garage and asked if I might have had an accident the night before. Why, I asked? Then he took me to the front of the car and the entire grill was still packed to the gills with snow (unheated garage). The truth had to come out and thankfully they were glad it wasn't worse.
Marissa, how did you win an iPod? And what is the shuffle part? More details, girl!
what's a switchback? my neighbors brother drove off a highway on the side of a mountain in mexico recently...sounds similar to your discription! be care out there ;-) we love you!!!
A switchback is where you are driving around the side of a mountain to the right and then it whips around a curve to the left and then back again. A really tight "S" curve.
Cindy, the iPod shuffle is a small iPod that you can attach to your purse or clothes like a clothes pin. We had a question about our phone, so we went to the store. In the pedestrian precinct in front of the store you could fill out a card to participate in this game. They also gave out free fruit punches and cocktails inside the store for advertisement. Must have had some sort of anniversary or something. While this guy at the customer service explained something to us, everyone in the store all of a sudden shouted my name, cause the girl had drawn my card as the winner of the main price. Isn't that fantastic?
We also have a phone number now - since yesterday. The country code for Germany is 49, and our number is 89/51306206
YOU WRECKED MY CADILLAC!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
OK, since I never noticed, I forgive you. Wow, what a huge heart I have.
So, it's a little weird that you lived part of my nightmare. Also weird is that I did the same thing, later on, with their gold Caddy when they lived out at the lake. I slid off the road into a sign while turning right on one of the roads leading to their house. It was early morning and I was close to late for them taking me to the airport to fly back here. It had been a looong night.
I still remember the looks on their faces when they saw the trim hanging off the fender. I spared them the sordid details of why I was coming home so late/early.
Surprises are delicious! Especially when they are iPods and not crashed cars...
Scariest Driving Experience? Sliding on a one way street of ice banked with cars on both sides in the Zephyr. C and I side swiped a few cars on that one.
hey mom and dad-
we can't get ahold of you and we want to tell you some news we have found out...do you have a phone number in Mexico? Or can you log onto skype so we can chat? We are dying to talk to you!
zach and laura
On that same note, J&C, what will be your mailing address for Christmassy stuff? Mexico or Valpico?
Valpico de gallo it is. We're due to head back to the US of A on Dec 5th. Be there til mid-Jan. :)
Uncle Rick,
we have a few gift ideas and would like to e-mail them to you if you're interested. What's your e-mail-address?
Nathanael, I forgot to ask you last night to e-mail us a couple of your band's songs! My e-mail is Marissa.Balon@googlemail.com
Thank you!
Yuncle can be harrassed at padrerico@comcast.net
Yes, we are captives of the evil Lord Comcast!
My scariest driving experience is when I was leaving home for the first time, driving through Colorado, when all of a sudden there was this huge wreck down the mountain in front of me, and I put my foot on the brakes, but my CRX's 13 inch tires didn't seem to want to stop and so I plowed into the massive SUV in front of me. It didn't seem all that bad until 2 hours later, when I was in the middle of absolutely nowhere that massive plumes of smoke started eminating from my front hood. Yea, good times.
Zach
If you're emailing musica - put us down too, Natico.
Musica that I play on won't be ready for a while but there might be a music video by christmas/mid january. My scariest driving experience was every day I set foot in that nasty black heap of junk that was faiths. If I remember right I think it was called a toyota shitolla.
I loved the shitster. It's hard not to love a free car.
Until it breaks down a million times, won't release the emergency brake, and starts to smell like cats.
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