Date:         Mon, 27 Sep 1999 08:22:33 -0700
Reply-To:     Roger Bowman <bowmanrp@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roger Bowman <bowmanrp@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Friday Vanagon Verse!
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

> Sure, as I'm climbing the pass with a few buddies I get passed because I
> can't do much more than 60mph up a grade. But when we reach 2500 feet and
> everyone slows to 30 because of the 4 inches of new, I'm still in the
> untracked fast lane doing fifty and in total control. Its a sight to behold.
> And sure enough, in my wake are the handful of aggressive Legacys and
> Outbacks, all flying past the bloated Expeditions and Suburbans whose
> drivers thought height, brawn, and dollars would cure their fear of driving
> in the winter.
> That, friends, is how you can sleep late and get first tracks during the
> long Northwest winters. Maybe another time I'll describe how fun it is to go
> down the pass!

This reminds me of a (hopefully short!) story about me, my syncro westie, a
ford bronco, and snowy conditions on the Angeles Forest Highway (Near Los
Angeles, CA) on a February evening.

One of the colder storms I can remember had come through the LA basin early
Sunday morning, and stuck around to make the day cold, crisp, with showers
and dark clouds over the San Gabriels - one of the few days each year that
LA is actually a decent place. (Or so it seems...)

By the time I left the Basin late in the evening for my return trip to
Lancaster (Sandblaster...) the sun had set, and rain had started to fall;
snow level was about 3,500 ft, and the pass I had to travel over is about
4,500 ft., and I was looking forward to some snow time!

Leaving Tujunga (I had to take the alternate route, since the Angeles Crest
was closed due to stupidity) I quickly acquired a bothersome Bronco on my
tail, whom I let pass - musta been going 25 mph faster then me by the
time...

The Angeles Forest Hwy connects Pasadena and (about) Palmdale; it is a 2
lane mountain road, lots of twisties and elevation gain; I've been driving
this hwy since I learned to drive.  After a while, the rain started to turn
into snow, and as I got higher, the snow started to stick, and finally
turned to solid cover, and the asphalt was covered with snow.

As the snow started to thicken, my lowly VW 2.1l started to reel in the
Bronco with its huge tires and giant (relatively speaking...) motor.
Eventually, I was on his tail, just as he had been on my bumper - much to my
delight!  The gutless wonder sucks in the off road machine!

And then...coming around a corner, the Bronco broke traction, and ended up
sliding sideways down the center of the highway, fully blocking the road as
he came to a halt.  After all my pride in catching up with him, I was
following too close; braking just locked up all 4 wheels on the camper, and
It appeared I was going to T-bone the Bronco at about 10 mph, when I spied
the shoulder, downshifted, and pulled off the road, several inches in from
of the front bumper, in full view of the passengers and totally illuminated
by the headlights...and pulled away.

I passed a couple of other cars that night, some of which had been
abandonded in the snow drifts (of like - 4 inches). The Bronco turned around
and went back down the mountain; I was able to see the headlights as he got
everything straitened out...the syncro was able to pull through a steep
climbing sweeper that had collected 2 cars earlier.  And without chains!

On an interesting aside, do any of the other syncro owners notice how much
snow packs into the undercarriage, especially when conditions are "mashed
potato(e)s"?  I seem to get several hundred pounds of snow in the frame,
which significantly slows and quiets the camper...and drips and trails water
for miles and miles once out of the mountains..

Roger Bowman - bowmanrp@ earthlink.net
Live Smart.  Think for Yourself.  Transform the Future