This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

The Brakes Are On Fire

Posted by ehren

Miro and I were back at the bus by 6pm, which had not been towed. The mall parking authorities left a note to the effect that the lot has 3 hour parking only, and that by 2pm (4 hours before we returned to the bus) we would be towed at our expense. The parking guy came over and was very chatty and friendly, so I suspect we wouldn't have been towed within the week. Still, good not to abuse the rules. We spent an hour cleaning.

We decided to rendezvous both with at the Lonsdale Quay. Michelle, Allison, Charlie (Charla) and Adam were waiting outside the Starbucks on Esplanade Ave., and within 10 minutes Miro had gathered Joe, Dee, and Susan from the SeaBus terminal. With 9 total in the bus we drove back up Lonsdale to the 1/99 and headed for Squamish. On the way people traded out the front seats periodically (we stopped to admire The Chief in Squamish), and on the whole we made good time. Apparently the serious grades do not begin until after Whistler, so we'll see how today goes. I got to know everyone as well as I could shouting above the engine. It's been a furious two days of trying to sort out and understand a wide variety of English-speaking accents. Kiwi, British, Scottish, Ozzie, Canadian...I find I'm starting to pick up bits and pieces, so by the end of this stretch I'll probably sound like a mishmash of everything, so maybe you could place me in the Azores or Gibraltar to fit in.

Joe invited us to park in (more like across) her driveway for the night, and the group that will stay on with us to Jasper, Miro, and myself cooked a pasta dinner before joining Joe, Dee, and Joe's cohorts (she's worked in Whistler since last October) at one of the bars in the village. We closed the place, then went afterhours to a sub-basement cowboy club with a film industry theme (they showed rodeo blooper reels and had a poster of the demonic little girl from The Exorcist...mmmkay?). Around 1:30 we caught the local transit back up the road to Alpine Village. And just in case there's any doubt, I have been working steadily during off-hours of the last week. Mostly. A little bit.

I awoke Friday at 7:41, 1 minute before my alarm was to sound, and though I tried to convince myself it was nothing, I heard the water pump. Occasionally if the pump is left on (95% of the time) pressure will leak out of the water system, the pump restarts, and jams. By 7:45 I managed to use a 36" piece of 5/8" threaded rod to kill the switch, while leaning precariously over our sleeping guests in the kitchen. Then I worked for exactly an hour, and eventually made enough noise for everyone else to stir. When the airbed is deployed in the kitchen it's more or less impossible to escape the rear of the bus stealthily.

By noon we were underway, after a simple breakfast. Susan and Dee came out to sign the bus and for a while Charlie, Adam, and I played catch with a stressball. The sun was out.

Ten miles out of Whistler we stopped to see a curious set of waterfalls -- Logs caught in a whirlpool, the entire current disappeared under a stone arch, bright bluegreen glacial water. We cruised to the Pemberton tourist information booth, and they provided us with a map curiously omitting other towns in the area within a 30 mile radius, and thus we were unable to find the hike they recommended just North of town. We kept driving, and started hitting EXTREME GRADES (as advertised on the signs) of 13-15%. The 7% grade descending into the Colorado river valley was sufficient to set our current speed record of 70 mph, but we were headed uphill on the 15% monster, and chugged along for at least a half hour at less than 20 mph.

Just after the pass we stopped at Joffrey Lakes Provincial Park, ate a lunch of PB&J, and started up a trail to the middle of three lakes. From the parking lot we could see the lip of a glacier, and the lower lake was a smooth bluegreen. The hike climbed steadily through pine forest and rock slide for around 3.5k. The middle lake was a stunning bright green, and we admired the improved view of the mountains and glacier while attempting to fall off logs. The third and highest lake was only 1.5k distant, so we went for it, and stayed there a half hour looking around and taking pictures. On the way down Michelle and Allison were brave in their only footwear, slipperlike sneakers. It was a serious hike, and combined with the Scotland/Canada levels of drinking the last two nights, I don't think anybody will be scampering up Girabaldi tomorrow.

After the hike we killed most of the 1,521 mosquitoes (or "mozzies" as Adam calls them) in the bus and started towards Lillooet. Most of the road followed a set of rivers and a lake. The road surface was in horrible shape. Comparing the artistic merit of the Big Sur drive to the technical challenges of today (frost heaves six ways from Wednesday), I'd say they're equally terrifying to drive in the bus.

On the approach to Lillooet we passed a sign (I really wished I'dve taken a picture) detailing all the horrible things that can happen to trucks (and us) in the next 6k. 15% grade, then 11% grade, then a hairpin turn, then two more hairpin turns, then 13% grade, then more 11% grade, all downhill. The bus still runs like a champ, but about 2/3 of the way down the rear brakes caught on fire. I realized things were starting to get dodgy when I attempted to stop in a turnout to accomodate a minivan passing us, and wasn't able to. The minivan saw the move, figured it was safe, and was roughly abreast of the bus when I realized that I'd have to cut back into the lane so as not to drive off the cliff. Luckily, the minivan got out of the way in time (since I'm still around to write this). At the next available spot, a logging road turnout, I finally brought the bus to a stop and got out to check it out with Miro. Serious heat was coming off all four brake sets, but the rear left wheel was smoking appreciably. Even the turnout was at such a grade that the parking brake wouldn't hold us if the bus was in drive. We gave it about 20 minutes to cool down, and then gingerly limped down the beautiful valley into Lillooet.

We turned into the first RV park we saw, found showers, dumped the tanks, refilled the power steering reservoir, Charlie cooked dinner, we had beers on the roof, we ate the dinner, and sat around for an hour or so with fading eyelids. I'm really tired, but today was really quite fantastic.