Almost Screwed

Sometimes the worst moments are blessings in disguise, and today could not be more true. Just to think, it all happened because I forgot my jumper box.

 

Today I made the decision to make my way up to the Feather River Canyon, a place I generally do not have very good luck with. Most times I've been there have ended up with me leaving empty handed, or dealing with brutal heat, and one time my friends and I had to deal with the car breaking down in the middle of the summer, and we saw one train that entire day. However, my plan today was to get a southbound BNSF that I knew was coming. I wanted to start at Tobin or Rock Creek and follow it back to Oroville, an easy trip. Oh my did that not go to plan whatsoever. With delays on the railroad everywhere, highway construction, and driving straight into the sun with tracks mostly in the dark shade, somewhere in all that I went right by the train and did not see it. I ended up at Lake Almanor before getting word that MGRRV was coming down. By this point I had already missed the BN and MNPRVX, but then I also couldn't find the GRRV. As I would later find out it got held up, I assume for MOW. Thinking I missed it as I had to get gas in Quincy, I headed down the canyon. Somewhere between there and Virgilia is when I ran into a major problem, this is where that jumper box comes in.

 

I was near Virgilia when my TPMS light came on. Originally, I thought it was just the elevation messing with the air pressure, which was no big deal. Regardless, I pulled off at Virgilia and checked my tires. Everything looked fine so I continued on. I got halfway to Rich Bar when from the back of my car I heard a consistent thud noise, I realized I had just got a flat tire. Pulling over, I looked and sure enough one of my rear tires had what looked to be a nail lodged into it, but thankfully I could immediately tell it was able to be patched. Unfortunately, I did not have the tools on hand to patch the tire, so the spare had to go on. As I started to work with the world's most inconvenient jack, a couple pulled over and helped me get the tire replaced. I had my hazard lights on and after replacing the tire I went to turn them off, put the keys into the ignition, and nothing. No lights, no clicking, the battery was completely dead from the lights running. The couple was gone by this point and after looking in my car I realized I had no box or cables I could use to jump the battery. I had forgot the stuff at home. Now I was completely stranded in the middle of nowhere. Now the long wait begins.

 

As people came by, I made several attempts to flag down cars, and after probably a half hour someone finally pulled over. Asking if the guy had jumper cables he said yes, but then realized he had forgotten his at home. Now I had to flag down someone else. That would take well over an hour. During this time is when I would finally catch my first train of the day, a northbound BNSF manifest. A few minutes later, I would finally see the MGRRV I spent the entire afternoon trying to find after missing the southbound BNSF in the morning. Finally, a Chevy finally pulled over and the guy had cables. After getting the car running, it was time to head home.

 

There were a few things to do before heading home though. First, I wanted a shot of the MGRRV at Pulga, and catching up to it at Rock Creek the train was only a few minutes behind me by the time I got there. After shooting it, I stopped at one other spot before heading to a shop. Once I was out of the canyon, I stopped at a tire shop and got the flat fixed. Turns out, that nail was a lot larger than I realized. Finally, I was able to get food, get home, and edit my few photos. Honestly, I'm just glad I didn't leave empty handed.

Done