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Rocks! Why does it always have to be rocks!
Had yet another Undesirable Rock Encounter (tm) coming down from Cloudcroft tonight. We had a moderately substantial rain storm hit the area Sunday afternoon/evening, and a bunch of rocks dropped on the down-side of the tunnel. I couldn't avoid them as they stretched across the entire width of the road, and they were worse on the uphill side! So I braked and swerved as best I could, dumping my Mac off the seat into the floorboard (fortunately with no apparent damage). Pulled over, hit the emergency blinkers, called 911, and grabbed my heavy leather gloves to go up and clear them away as best I could.
First problem: no flashlight. Second problem: wearing a black t-shirt. Someone was coming uphill and I managed to flag the guy down, fortunately he was anticipating rock falls. And conveniently he had some time to help me clear the biggest rocks, so very quickly the road was reasonably passable. There were still a few dozen smaller rocks, but there's limits to what you can do without a broom and emergency lights.
I couldn't inspect my car's undercarriage as well as I'd've liked (I was using my cell phone as a makeshift light), but it wasn't hemorrhaging fluids, so I counted that as good. The impact did knock off one of my wheel covers, it was lying by the side of the road and not really any worse for wear. From that point down, you're about eight miles from Alamogordo, so I proceeded down without any problems. All of the instruments seemed ok: no overheating, no idiot lights showing no oil, so hopefully all is well. I'll just have to wait until the morning and look things over more carefully. That, and go out to Home Depot and get a flashlight to keep in the car!
And for those of you new to my journal, welcome! I hit a rock about four miles above this tunnel last year in early December, it took out the transmission to the tune of $6,200 and my car was in the shop for 45 days. At least insurance ate all but $250 of the damage.
First problem: no flashlight. Second problem: wearing a black t-shirt. Someone was coming uphill and I managed to flag the guy down, fortunately he was anticipating rock falls. And conveniently he had some time to help me clear the biggest rocks, so very quickly the road was reasonably passable. There were still a few dozen smaller rocks, but there's limits to what you can do without a broom and emergency lights.
I couldn't inspect my car's undercarriage as well as I'd've liked (I was using my cell phone as a makeshift light), but it wasn't hemorrhaging fluids, so I counted that as good. The impact did knock off one of my wheel covers, it was lying by the side of the road and not really any worse for wear. From that point down, you're about eight miles from Alamogordo, so I proceeded down without any problems. All of the instruments seemed ok: no overheating, no idiot lights showing no oil, so hopefully all is well. I'll just have to wait until the morning and look things over more carefully. That, and go out to Home Depot and get a flashlight to keep in the car!
And for those of you new to my journal, welcome! I hit a rock about four miles above this tunnel last year in early December, it took out the transmission to the tune of $6,200 and my car was in the shop for 45 days. At least insurance ate all but $250 of the damage.