# Shuttle Disasters...



## johnseri (Feb 16, 2014)

Last weekend we had a legendary shuttle disaster. I will totally tell you about it if you send me your own shuttle disasters. 

Please know that I'm going to steal your stories and put them on the NRS or Cascade blog. 

Stay well, see you on the river soon

Eric


----------



## [email protected] (Jun 1, 2010)

A little surprised you were able to find somewhere to shuttle and float you sly dog you. I did not know South Dakota had good rafting.


----------



## okieboater (Oct 19, 2004)

Hi Eric,

Hope your kayaking bud is still on the water with you.

Good to have a yakker there to rescue us rafters when we fall out of the raft.

By the way, your kiddos were a joy to boat with on the Smith. Good parenting I think.

dave


----------



## johnseri (Feb 16, 2014)

Good to hear from both of you. Beth still boats with us--the kids (sometimes) I hope you are doing well. 

The trip was on the Cheyenne river in Western SD.


----------



## Pine (Aug 15, 2017)

Worst shuttle disaster is when the shuttle company I hired for our Lower Salmon trip (All River Shuttles out of Whitebird) was a no show. It took me forever to hitch. It was about 110 degrees out. I finally had a pull the old Walt Blackadar trick. Instead standing beside the road with your thumb out, you stand in the middle of the road, make the first car stop, and explain how you need them to give you a ride. It actually worked.


----------



## Nubie Jon (Dec 19, 2017)

*Never Send The Wife To Shuttle*

This instance occur on a Ruby trip last year when we were self shuttling. The wife opted to shuttle rather than rig the boat (good choice so I thought). The shuttle route took them down the land mine infested road (apparently) however I wouldn't find out until I went to get the car at the pull out. Making the walk from the ramp to the parking lot to the car everything seemed ok, I went through my routine, start the car, AC on, walk around the..... wait where the F^#% are the trailer fenders? Drive to the ramp and confront the shuttle driver (wife) to ask her. Get this ..... the trailer was "airborn" more on the access roads than on the road itself because she was "trying to keep up with the others". Good thing I know a couple of welders..... though I had to buy new fenders!


----------



## [email protected] (Jun 1, 2010)

Need pictures to believe you.


----------



## Nubie Jon (Dec 19, 2017)

[email protected] said:


> Need pictures to believe you.


Wow How about I get you the first hand account from the wife? Trailer is fixed....


----------



## rtsideup (Mar 29, 2009)

I'd pick a beefier trailer over a slower wife any day of the week!


----------



## Willie 1.5 (Jul 9, 2013)

I dont know if I would call it a disaster per se.
Floating the Grande Ronde from Minam to Mudd Creek take-out. Arrive at Mudd Creek at 11:30, no vehicle. Well I did say 12 on shuttle form, let's eat lunch and see if it shows up. At 12:30 with no vehicle, and no phone service I decide to walk into Troy to look for a phone. Six miles later I arrive in Troy, were my vehicle was waiting.


----------



## [email protected] (Jun 1, 2010)

Many years ago a friend (I thought) called to ask my help in taking 12 people from England that had never seen a river or camped in their entire lives, down the north Platte from Saratoga WY, to the interstate highway takeout. I must of just had a lot to drink, because I said yes. Mee up and shuttled to the takeout, no issues at all. Floated until about 10 miles from takeout to a place called Eagles nest. There the water got so low we left all the boats, 12 people and 4 of us took canoes to the takeout. Everything is still going better than I expected. We got in our vehicles and the trip leader says follow me and heads out to Eagles nest down a really crappy dirt road. I was bringing up the rear as I watched him miss the Eagles nest turnoff, driving so fast I could not catch or get his attention for 30 another miles until the road dead ended. A twenty mile drive turned into 80. When we get back to Eagles nest My 10 year old daughter was standing there tapping her foot very vigorously and asked me where I had been for the last 5 hours. Before I could answer the TL's wife said "I bet my stupid husband got lost, he does that all the time". 
End of story, except to say I could write a novel about what happened between the shuttles, it was an experience to say the least.


----------



## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

South Fork Owyhee (Pipeline Crossing) to Mainstem Owyhee (Three Forks), approximately 69 River Miles. This run starts in Nevada, passes through Idaho, and ends in Oregon.

The Plan:

1. Meet at the Rome launch site and camp out on 4/16 and drink beers and otherwise cause commotion.

2. Meet at Eva’s for the shuttle in her suburban (pulling a trailer) at 6:00 am on 4/17.

3. Get to put-in at Pipeline Crossing around lunch, rig and get on the water for some miles in the afternoon.

4. Take off late on 4/21 or early on 4/22.

5. I continue on to Pocatello for my Grannies 90th birthday party happening on 4/23

Implementation:
Everyone arrived at Rome on 4/16 and merry was made. Cocktails and beers were imbibed profusely as I became thorough acquainted with my new comrades. Dan (the BLM Ranger) is friends with Tom, and Dan came over to join the festivities and river discussions. Everyone was great and many stories of past trips indicated all were highly experienced in adventurous boating.

I was charged with wakeup call round 5:00 am on 4/17, which was no problem. Dan the BLM ranger made us coffee shortly after 5:00 am that morning. As we sat on the couch in the new BLM Rangers station sipping our hot black gold, we discussed the merits of the need for a potentially more formalized permit system for the lower Owyhee due to its ever increasing popularity.

We made it to Eva’s by about 6:10 am. We started loading all our gear into Eva’s rig, a suburban with trailer. The trailer was an old converted full size truck bed with high rack, and there was a fair amount of speculation whether we could get our 6 boats and 1,200 lbs of men plus shuttle driver into the rig. Mark and I packed light due to the fact that a lot of folks portage at Cable Rapid. We were concerned with the load that our new friends showed up with, dry boxes and coolers and all sorts of goodies. However, the trailer and suburban gobbled our river gear like a fat man at thanksgiving in about an hour, and we were off for Pipeline Crossing. The trip from Eva’s to Pipeline Crossing is about a 260 mile trip ±, mostly on pavement until shortly after passing through Owyhee (NV) for the final 40± odd miles to the river.

I sort of had a premonition of things to come on the shuttle drive. That morning, I put on my Carhartt overalls and work boots. Further indications of the impending situation were provided by the fact that Marvin was our shuttle driver. Marvin is probably in his 70s and has been driving shuttles to the upper Owyhee for Eva for a very long time. We discovered shortly after meeting, that Marvin played a prominent role in a story from 2001 (that I had read prior on the internet) of an epic 2 day sojourn in which a group from the University of Oregon’s Outdoor Program attempted to access the South Fork Owyhee, but were unsuccessful due to “poor” road conditions, eventually changing plans and running the middle Owyhee, launching at Three Forks.

Reality Check:

“The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew.” – Robert Burns (1785)

1. The road in to Pipeline is basically a 2 track path out in the desert over clay substrate. When it gets wet it’s a slippery mess of the highest degree.

2. It was wet.

3. It got wetter as we traveled and it started to rain.

4. We got stuck the first time about 10 miles from the river, which was when we realized the shuttle driver had not looked over his boss’s rig before we left, and we had no high lift jack, no tire chains, and no shovel. The suburban was also in great need of new tires. We were high-centered and this was still on the good part of the “road” and before it became wet.

5. Luckily we had three Carlisle paddles, while much maligned as oars, do indeed make great shovels.

6. Several times proceeding on, we locked up the wheels and slid bumping and grinding down a steep muddy hill with the trailer bucking and swaying, somehow impossibly staying up-right.

7. Then it really started to rain and we got stuck on essentially flat terrain, with the nearly bald tires on our shuttle rig. With no chains, we were done about 4.5 miles from the river.

8. Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo

9. It was looking bleak and I know everyone was contemplating that we would be camping there that night for sure “kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer”.

10. We broke out some Miller Highlife (the new tall-boys with oversized dancing girls on the can) since the obvious was at hand, we weren’t going anyplace without chains.

Somehow, Marvin managed a little cell service and called his son in Jordan Valley. Several partial conversations latter a message was relayed that the Duck Valley Indian Reservation fire-rescue boys were 4x4ing in to bring us some chains. Marvin and his son are on the search and rescue in the Jordan Valley area (OR) and they called in a favor (training mission) from the Duck Valley boys (NV). It took awhile, but the Duck Valley boys made it in with some chains, all-be-it several sizes too big. Some great work with Doug’s raft frame straps and they were stuck to our shuttle rig tires in no time and we were off to the river. The clay mud was so sticky it gripped on the outside of the chains making huge clay cookies on the outside of the tires twice as wide and nearly the same diameter as the tires. Bottom line, we made it to the river 14 hours after meeting at Eva’s that morning.

What happened on the river at flood stage is described here:
https://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/topic/79737-something-other-than-hood-sf-owyhee-416-232011/

After the river trip, we had further shuttle "entertainment":

We arrived at Three Forks and the weather was clear and sunny. Marvin, our shuttle driver, showed up to drop off John Barkers monstrous 4x4 (they were out running the West Little Owyhee I believe, and would arrive later that day) and Marvin was picking up a rig from a group that was getting ready to launch on the Middle Owyhee that morning. Marvin related the rest of his story after he dropped us off at Pipeline. He threw 2 chains on the way out and spent the night in the suburban, making it out the next day. On the drive in, he said he was going to have a “talk” with Eva about the shuttle rig supplies and tires. The suburban had new tires latter that week while we were on the river. I must also point out that I have used Eva to shuttle my rigs on the Lower Owyhee for many years with no complaint. This time however, the lack of common preparedness was totally unexplainable and nearly killed our trip, if not for the greatly appreciated assistance of the Duck Valley boys.

Everything was loaded in my 2x Tacoma and Doug’s big diesel 4x4 in about 1.5 hours. The drive to the canyon rim was dry and un-eventful. Some sardines, anchovies and crackers at the rim, with cell phone calls to all of our significant others (as were a day late getting out) and a last barley pop and we were off back to civilization? We took the fork back to Rome; the flat up on top was fairly dry, but there were a lot of mud bogs. I followed Doug out (I did have a shovel, tow strap, and chains) but none were needed. I drove rally car style and surfed through all the mud holes no problem bolstered by a little barley flavored liquid luck. At a few of the longer bogs, the boys got out of the 4x4 to watch the rally car action. At Soldier Creek crossing, water came up to the hood on my Tacoma.

We parted ways at the pavement. I had to take Mark back to his rig at Eva’s house. However, when we got there, he had lost his keys, his only set of keys, they had recently lost the other set and hadn’t replaced yet. It was Saturday, and the key is an electronic affair that can only be made by a dealer. A key couldn’t be made until Monday and he needed the rig a week latter to head down to the Grand Canyon, but that is another story entirely. I was planning on heading to Pocatello for my grannies 90th birthday after the river trip, but instead I had to take Mark back to Eugene so that he could get a key for his rig. I actually took him to Bend to his folks, and he made his way to Eugene. He hitched a ride back to Rome with a raft outfitter on their way out to the Owyhee for a commercial run a few days latter. I missed my grannies 90th birthday party and never really lived that incident down with my family.


----------



## Wadeinthewater (Mar 22, 2009)

shappattack said:


> South Fork Owyhee (Pipeline Crossing) to Mainstem Owyhee (Three Forks), approximately 69 River Miles. This run starts in Nevada, passes through Idaho, and ends in Oregon......


Come on Jason. Not a shuttle disaster. More like a really great shuttle adventure that made for a memorable trip, especially combined with the jump in flow on the river.:lol:


----------



## flite (Mar 31, 2013)

Got to run The Colorado through the Grand Canyon this March. Decided that instead of taking out at Diamond Creek on 3-22 I would leave my group and run the last 54 miles of river solo and take out at Pearce's ferry the next day March 23. I set up my Shuttle with River Runners ,out of Meadview, to bring my Ram Promaster Van to Pearce's ferry on March 22. 

River runners couldn't find a Dodge Ram truck with my plates on it so they called PRO, whom we had rented a bunch of gear from. The nice folks at PRO, who have been great every other time we have used them, didn't know anything about the Dodge truck but told RiverRunners that they should leave my VAN at Peach Springs because they were picking up they rest of the group there. I had talked to PRO about doing the Diamond Down section. I was very clear on all the paper work with RiverRunners and when I talked to them on the phone that I would need my Ram Van (not a Dodge Truck at all) at Pearce's Ferry. 

Since we got word that the world was possibly ending I thought about staying with the group and taking out at Diamond but since my Van would Be at Pearce's i figured it best not to try to change plans last minute from the river with limited communication. So I rowed my happy ass all the way to Pearce's. In one day. Originally I had planned to visit my 98 yo Nana in SOCal when I get off the river. Nana passed while I was still on the river. I was anxious to get back to my GF and Daughter so iI rowed 54 miles of mostly flat water in 14 hours and arrived at the boat ramp in total darkness at 10pm, exhausted, with no cell service, alone, to find that my van was not there.??wtf.

I was too tired to do anything about it so I threw out my Paco pad and fell asleep. When I awoke to the pitter patter of rain drops a 5am the next morning I quickly threw on rain gear and stuffed all my bedding in my dry bag. Luckily I found that if I walked up the road i bit I could get enough service to get out text messages and if I went further up the road I could make calls. Didn't do me much good at 5am in the rain. Around 9 I received an email from the nice folks at RiverRunners explaining the situation and saying they could get me my van that evening after they dropped of the days shuttles. Thats when it really started dumping. It was nice being stranded in the middle of nowhere with whispers that the whole country was on lockdown. After a nice day of playing in the mud and de rigging my boat during breaks in the rain my vehicle arrived at 5 pm. No refund no offer to return the generous tip i had left. Just Sorry about the mix up. I could have been home by the time I got my VAN.

Drove 14 hours straight home only stopping for gas twice. Could have been a lot worse I guess but not an ideal situation. Just glad it was a "mix up" not a zombi apocalypse.


----------



## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

Wadeinthewater said:


> Come on Jason. Not a shuttle disaster. More like a really great shuttle adventure that made for a memorable trip, especially combined with the jump in flow on the river.:lol:


Yep, you are right not a disaster, just an adventure. RIP Eva Matteri and my Granny, they have long since passed on. 

A disaster is like the time when we self shuttled our rigs on the Grande Ronde, then came home (as we only lived less than an hour away from Minam at the time) to launch the next morning. On our way home from self shuttling, we stopped at papa murphy's for a Pizza, after we got the pizza we were sitting in an intersection at a red light in the turn lane. Another car ran the light, hit another car coming the other direction and then spun a couple loopy loops into our stationary car. It was a kid with no license or insurance. We had to pay for it up front and we only had basic insurance so had to pretty much eat the cost of repair.

The car was not totalled but pretty f-ed up. It was our only car. We ended up borrowing another car to leave for the river the next day. We launched and had a good trip, but come to find the rig we had left at take out had 2 flats! and we only had 1 spare. That was the last time I drove the wildcat road for shuttle on the GR.


----------



## paulster (May 27, 2011)

As a counterpoint, I want to point out that Ed who shuttles the Jarbidge/Bruneau and a few side creeks has always been spot on, offers coffee when we arrive at his house to pick him up, and leaves cold beer in a disposable cooler at the take out. He sets the bar high.


----------



## Will Amette (Jan 28, 2017)

A Rogue River shuttle company I no longer used delivered my truck to Foster. But where was the trailer?


Driver left a note. Trailer was ditched "at or about mile 9.5 on the dirt road." I think he dropped a wheel off the road and it moved a U-bolt off the axle. The note said something about that and that I would need tools to repair. At least he also wished me "Good Luck" 



One boat trip, so just the two of us.


We stashed the raft and frame with Danny and Denny and headed to the woods once we figured out which "dirt road" to go look. I was going to pull off one nut and measure some things to make sure we could get the right parts and tools. It was getting dark. A couple was driving back to Oak Flat from Galice and stopped to see if we were ok. He offered to help get me back on the road the next morning. He also offered us cold craft beer, but we actually still had beer left. Very nice offer though!



We slept next to the truck at Foster, then met up with them at Cougar Lane. He had the tools we needed and big chunks of wood so the jack could lift the axle. Within an hour, we had a band-aid repair. He followed me back down to the highway. He would accept no gift. So I left a credit in his name at Cougar Lane. I had heard him say where he worked, and I called his company and found out his address so I could send him a thank-you note, make sure he knew he had a credit, and pass some cash his way. 



We didn't want to bounce back over the Burnt Ridge Road, so we eased down to Gold Beach thinking we might find some place open that could put on a new U-bolt. That wasn't going to happen - it was a holiday weekend. So we slowly limped up the coast and home.


I bought the parts to fix the trailer, but ended up selling it to someone on the Buzz. As far as I know, that big ugly trailer is still hauling boats. 



I replaced it with an Iron Eagle with a torsion axle and EZ-Lube hubs. I love it, and it's smaller, and the winch works.


----------



## Pine (Aug 15, 2017)

Pine said:


> Worst shuttle disaster is when the shuttle company I hired for our Lower Salmon trip (All River Shuttles out of Whitebird) was a no show. It took me forever to hitch. It was about 110 degrees out. I finally had a pull the old Walt Blackadar trick. Instead standing beside the road with your thumb out, you stand in the middle of the road, make the first car stop, and explain how you need them to give you a ride. It actually worked.


I was advised by the admins (Andy H) that some disclosure is warranted here. I also run a shuttle service, though its just a very small scale operation on the upper Owyhee, Bruneau and Jarbidge rivers, and I do not directly compete with All River Shuttles, which operates out of Southern Idaho. This is only intended in the interest of full disclosure, not as a promotional message.


----------



## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Way, way, way back 20+ years ago, I was living in Missoula. Wasn't quite yet into rafting or whitewater kayaking, but was big into sea kayaking. Kid at my church wanted to learn to sea kayak, so my a buddy and I took him out a few times.

Had the kid meet me down on the west end of town, parked his car for the shuttle, reminded him to leave his keys so we'd have them when we got done. He hopped in my pickup and we headed upriver to East Missoula to put in.

Floated the Clark Fork all the way down to the take-out, stashed the boats in the bushes, and walked up to his car. 

"I don't have my keys."
"Why not, I told you to hide them here."
"I left them in your truck so they would be safe."

Fortunately we were about a mile from my work, and the old work truck had a set of keys under the seat. Walked there, work truck was unlocked with keys, used it to shuttle.


Then another time the kid was 1.5 hours late to our put-in on Flathead lake, causing us to miss our launch as evening was approaching. We stopped taking him along.


----------



## Conundrum (Aug 23, 2004)

Not a disaster whatsoever but kind of funny. Did a Selway a few years ago and had a new to me Ford with the door key pad so I had the shuttle driver lock the keys for all the trucks in my center console. The other drivers and I walked up to my truck and got in and there were no keys for anybody in the center console. We didn't have cell service so we scoured my truck and found nothing. So we decided to go get some beers and go back to the trucks and discuss options. Sat there for a beer's worth and couldn't come up with an answer.

Not sure why but I pulled out the owners manual and started thumbing through it. Discovered that in a bench seat F150, there is a second hidden compartment under the bench that is not the main console. It had all the keys. Not sure how the shuttle driver found it but technically, they followed directions.


----------



## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

I have two Shuttle Disaster stories...both involving missed connections...

First shuttle disaster, admittedly tame, was a Main Salmon trip where I asked the shuttle company (who shall remain nameless since they made things right) to drop my truck in Riggins since I wanted a bit more river time and it saved me $50. I left pretty early after camping a few miles below the Carey Creek ramp with the other guys I went with. I had a great row do to Riggins...pushing on the flatwater and relaxing when there was current. I had never been down that area with that only being my second trip on the Main and the first being a Jetboat shuttle...so I stopped at the Vinegar ramp to look at a map. We skipped the Carey Creek ramp...which it turns I shouldn't have.

Anyways...row down to the Riggins ramp and run up to grab my truck...and its not there. I ask some locals if there is another ramp in Riggins and they said no. Luckily I had my cell and a quick call to the shuttle company led me to find out that the lead shuttle driver failed to read the paperwork and auto-piloted my truck up to Carey Creek. They were very appologetic...but initially kinda unhelpful...basically telling me I had to find my own ride up with a raft company or something...and they would pay for it. I looked around...but the only raft company seemed like it was closed for the day. 10 minutes later I find out that there was another group of shuttle vehicles coming through with the van to pick them up... so they swung by and picked me up. I think I was pretty lucky that it only took a few hours to get it all figured out. They continued to be apologetic and asked what it would take to keep my business...which turned about to be a refund of half the shuttle plus the tip I left the shuttle driver. I've used them again since and they have done a great job on a couple of MFS shuttles...so all is forgiven.

My other shuttle disaster was early 2000's on a University of Colorado Boulder Kayak Club Spring Break trip to California. I can't remember exactly which river it was...but it was in the Auburn area. The trip had all skills levels on it...but the more experience crew decided to go do something a bit harder i.e. a solid Class IV run. Anyways...we all geared up to do that...and this dude who had family in the area bowed out but said that he would run shuttle for us.

We have a great run down this Class IV section (with a few Class IV+ as I recall) and all get to the takeout...which is in a deep gorge with no cell service. We all cheerily get out and walk up to the Van, which is where we expected it.... but its locked... and the keys are nowhere to be found. No town or houses nearby...no cell service...and minimal traffic. Turns out...the guy who ran the shuttle for us left the van and took the keys with him.

Finally there a car comes by with a crazy looking californian guy that had some weird ham powered phone thing in his car...that he couldn't get to work. We ask him if he would be willing to give someone a ride to town...but that didn't end up working. We end up being able to jimmy the door open so we can at least have some shelter. Most of our warm clothes and gear were in the vehicles at the put in though...so it got pretty funky in that van with all the stinky river clothes. Essentially...it became a waiting game for the guy that ran the shuttle to realize he had the keys and come back.

I don't recall what time it happen...but it was dark and people were pretty grumpy. The guy had dinner with his family, hung out, went back to camp only to find everyone not there, hung out...and then had a lighting bolt moment and checked his pockets and felt instantly ashamed.

His only saving grace was he stopped at In n Out (still a novelty for us Colorado peeps) and got everyone a couple cheeseburgers before he came down. I think people were pretty grumpy with him despite that though. All in all it turned out to be a funny story and added to the adventure. That was the trip of the lost keys... I reluctantly gave mine to another guy to run shuttle after some coercion on his part only for them to fall out of his life jacket pocket. Had to jimmy my own car open at the takeout where I luckily had a spare. Oh...and on the way home in the middle Wyoming... the guy pulling our trailer full of gear hit a deer at 85 miles an hour and totaled his truck. SO...all in all...a great trip .

Honorable mention goes to my single Gunny Gorge trip. This was with my coworkers at Wildwasser when I was a Warehouse Manager there in the early 2000's. On the way back the muffler in my Jeep Cherokee got a hole in the top...which heated the floor up...which burned the carpet inside the rig filling the car with thick smoke making it nearly unbearable to keep driving(even though we went way too far that way). It all happened at night so you couldn't tell how thick the smoke was till the dome light came on. I had to tell everyone to cram into the other vehicle and I stayed at a friends on the way home and got the hole in the muffler welded shut the next day.


----------



## Jhit (May 31, 2005)

Some paddlers did a overnight trip on the carson, got to the takeout and someone torched their brand new subaru outback. Only ashes remained.


----------



## americanspiritcarshuttle (Mar 17, 2020)

Nubie Jon said:


> This instance occur on a Ruby trip last year when we were self shuttling. The wife opted to shuttle rather than rig the boat (good choice so I thought). The shuttle route took them down the land mine infested road (apparently) however I wouldn't find out until I went to get the car at the pull out. Making the walk from the ramp to the parking lot to the car everything seemed ok, I went through my routine, start the car, AC on, walk around the..... wait where the F^#% are the trailer fenders? Drive to the ramp and confront the shuttle driver (wife) to ask her. Get this ..... the trailer was "airborn" more on the access roads than on the road itself because she was "trying to keep up with the others". Good thing I know a couple of welders..... though I had to buy new fenders!


We had a similar bad experience many years ago for a WW - Cisco shuttle. We are the shuttle company.
We responsibly shuttled our customer's truck and trailer from WW (or maybe it was Loma) and backed the rig in with the back of the trailer right up to the drop off at the edge of the parking lot. Everything was great when we left.
After that there were HUGE winds, which blew freeway signs down on I-70 and Harley D's over in Moab.
When the owner got back to town he phoned us, very upset, and wanted to know "what did you do to my vehicle?" He showed us pictures of the trailer, still attached to the truck, but jack-knifed perpendicular to his truck. It had struck the truck with enough force to dent it and break the rear tail light. Good thing there was not another vehicle parked next to his rig on that side. Needless to say, we were baffled! Then his friend remembered the very strong winds they endured while on their trip. The BLM confirmed the winds. In the 22 years we have been shuttling vehicles we had never seen that before, nor since. 
The road to Loma has been nicely patched and the road to Westwater is not as bad as some years. The road to Cisco was pretty bad last year and early this year. Have not been on it since the Covid closure of WW canyon. But yes, those roads can bounce an empty trailer apart if you're not careful to avoid the bumps and not drive too fast.
Stay safe and have fun!


----------

