Day 6: A Canadian Adventure, eh?
Cold. Windy. Way windy. Our last road trip day started ridiculously early, as we had reservations for a ferry that we couldn't miss. Some of the group had left the night before, and some even earlier in the morning to catch photos of us, but the wind grabbed at us all. Even the enclosed rigs were blown around as we left Yakima and headed over the Cascade Range towards Seattle, and then the Canadian border. After the first grade was pulled, Larry McRae reported oil spewing from his rear diff, and Rob Harris said his Jeep's transmission was finally trashed. As the group pulled into a gas station, we decided that a 15-minute break from the wind was in order for coffee and restrooms. Tim Hardy jumped under Rob's Spot Too to find a wasted U-joint was the only problem and changed it post-haste. Larry's diff cover had peeled back on a rock the day before, so he changed the oil in the parking lot and resealed the cover. Orlando Diaz's TJ was suffering from a broken rear track arm bracket, but he deemed it safe enough to make it to the ferry in Canada. The group made it to the border crossing and split up into the various lanes to avoid a scene, which didn't work. Luckily, the semi-road-legal group got through with only a few questions, and we headed for the docks at Swartz Bay. Tom Boyd had called ahead and scammed us into a special line on the docks, and spectators swarmed us with cameras and questions as we waited to board the ship.
Taking the Ultimate Adventure...
Taking the Ultimate Adventure into a foreign country was tense and exciting, especially due to the semi-legit vehicles. Most of our tires were oversize, and Tom Boyd's Bronco was down to one headlight. Worse yet, we were filming the police and the facilities, which caused the Mounties to spaz out and yank the TV camera from Kalani Duong's hands. Good thing they were more concerned with the camera than us.
Depending on which ship you...
Depending on which ship you sail, certain height restrictions are in effect. We had our own line for the ferry, and the height stick came out to check our rigs. Lonnie McCurry and Larry McRae had to let some air out of their tires to squeeze under the mark, and Steve Sasaki removed the rack from the top of his Toy to make it legal.
The bad part of the Bitch...
The bad part of the Bitch is a series of wet and slimy rock ledges at ridiculous angles, all of which will pitch you off camber into the trees. Rob Harris in Spot Too hails from Texas, but still knows how to power-finesse his way up and over the Bitch.