David Our Vanagon Liberator

'Are you sure this is the way to go?' Marci asked a reasonable enough question. We had spend the night by the side of the Snake River just above Hells Canyon in the scorching heat swimming, and gorging on the abundant wild blackberries and apricots that flanked the desert river. In the cool morning we sailed across the bridge into Idaho and powered up and out of the river canyon with the vanagon running cool and strong. Replacing the radiator in Ashland, Oregon had worked (thank you Zac at www.theshopinashland.com).
Feeling confident, enjoying the wind in our hair and drone of the jetta diesel engine, I decided that the conditions were perfect for a short cut to our destination for the day: Ketchum, Idaho. Short cut is an euphemism for going off the beaten path, often with limited information and always involves mountains, stream crossings and dirt roads. Most of the time it is shorter by mileage, but longer in time. Sure enough we soon found ourselves deep in the mountains on a gravel road with many unmarked forks in the road. I was feeling great - mountain springs, tall pines, clean air, a van with a new coolant system. Marci was wondering what we would do in the event of a breakdown. It was true, we hadn't seen many other vehicles, and we were often miles from little towns like Indian Valley, Pioneerville, and Crouch. All day long we drove over the Seven Devil Mountains, through Payette Range and finally over the 9000 ft Galena Summit flanked by the Sawtooth Mountains into Ketchum, Idaho.
At 7pm after crossing 3 major passes and driving 9 hours, we turned off the main road and drifted into the quiet mountain town. Downshifting at the first corner we heard a clunk, heard metal on metal and then lost power - the axle had come loose from the wheel. We coasted into a parking space across from the Moss Garden Center and called Dick Dorworth, the fastest man on skiis in 1963 (108 miles per hour on 220cm metal Head skiis and leather boots) and father of our friend Richard, now a 70 year old, fit, Buddhist writer, climber and skiier who had made Ketchum his home for the last 40 years. He was driving back from a weekend of 5.10 climbing at City of Rocks. "Call David" was Dick's immediate response, "he'll know what to do." Within 5 minutes, David arrived on the scene. It was immediately clear that we were in the presence of a true Vanagon fanatic: his rig was a buffed-out '87 4x4 vanagon with self-inflating tires, solar panel run freezer, hydrolic lifters for the pop top, and enough gadgets and gauges to satisfy the gnarliest of motorheads. "I like to go to the middle of the Utah desert for three weeks at a time." He instantly diagnosed the problem and dug deep into his spare parts and pulled out a new cv joint and a plethora of factory bolts and washers. "Never travel without the spare parts."
As a result of our breakdown we spent two days wonderful days in Ketchum - hiking mountains, learning about a really innovative local food distribution system, meeting eccentric and interesting people - before driving onto Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where we are today.
It is interesting - some would say lucky - that we broke down where we did instead of miles from nowhere. That said, a breakdown is still a breakdown - it triggers an emotional reaction that one tries to avoid. But in any case, you still need to play the hand you're dealt. 'It isn't an adventure until something goes wrong' Yvon Chouinard says. This suggests that the unexpected slowdown, the random wrong turn, the thwarted intention are the gateway into adventure, and one might say living. None of us learned to walk without quite a number of falls. Less than two weeks into our world tour, we're definitely already well into adventure. When I asked Dick Dorworth, who has traveled the world extensively, his advice for for our year, he said simply, "compassion, courage and humor." Seems like a good set of principles and smart strategy for getting the most out of our Odyssey particularly in the face of breakdowns. One hopes that the results of future breakdowns are as positive as meeting David and Dick and hanging in Ketchum.