Our parents' wisdom

This posting is dedicated to Jeremy and Andrea, who warned us of the weather conditions of Donner Pass many moons ago.

Sometimes the wisdom of your parents is right, even though you don't want to admit it.

After a morning of ham and cheese omelets and holding Mylie, Benny and I headed out on leg two of the V-Team Farewell Tour. Before walking outside, I put on my green vest and blue San Fran hat.

"Dressing for the elements, I see," he said mocking my winter wear.

"Today we are going through Donner Pass. I want to be ready for the anything."

Jim told us that it was raining in Modesto, so it was probably snowing in the mountains. We called Chris to get the weather report. All was good. Jim offered us his snow chains. But we felt there was no reason to take them with us.

At a gas station on I-80, Benny looked at the cover of the Sacramento Bee. A snowstorm is coming. The guy at the counter asked where we were heading and reassured us that we will be fine. The snow isn't coming until tonight. Tammy said it is waiting for us. Only 100 miles to go.

Today was planned to be a short road trip day. Just four hours to Reno where we could hang out with Tammy, Chris, Mindy and Chad. Mindy and Chad flew in from Boise and were basically chilling at TeamGabel's apartment, until we arrived.

In the first hours of the drive, Benny and I talked about how happy we are to not be driving straight from California to Minnesota. We can stop and visit our friends at various cities along the way. We are so lucky to have friends, Benny said.

I would like to pause for a moment in this story to give some background. From the moment we proposed this route -- the notorious northern route -- our parents said this wasn't a wise choice. "You'll get stuck in the snow. You'll face the ice. You'll never make it."

My response:

"It will be fine. We are driving it at the end of February, that's practical March, which is basically spring. Plus we aren't on a tight schedule. If we get snowed in we will just have more time to have fun with our friends and family."

Plus the majority of our friends and family live on the northern route and both Benny and I have driven the southern route before. And I wanted to see southern Utah and the ski resorts of Colorado. The list of reasons why this route was a good idea goes on and on.

With that clarification behind us, let's continue the road trip to Reno.

We passed numerous stands selling snow chains. Should we stop? Nah, keep going, we are fine. We listened to the radio. The highway road department instructed drivers to carry chains, but it was not necessary to have them on the tires. At 5,200 feet elevation, we hit the snowstorm.

At that moment the radio weather report said that chains are required on all vehicles that don't have four-wheel drive. We stopped at the last gas station before the summit and bought them. The cost -- $70. We had no choice. If we didn't buy them, we couldn't cross the mountains.

We couldn't pay the $30 to have the chains put on by a roadside guy. Every ATM we stopped at between Merced and there didn't work. We had only $15 in cash between the two of us. We did have a large jar of change in the backseat of the car. Maybe we should have tried to pay chain gang with my piggy bank instead of installing the chains ourselves.

Benny put chains on his car for the first time. I know very little about putting chains on a car. I am no help.

We drove for a while. It sounded funny. We stopped again. This time we noticed there are directions for the chains stuffed in the bag they came in. Benny reviewed the pictures while I copy edited the text. Again, I am no help.

Instead I sent updates on our situations to Chris and Mindy. The text messages said something like "We are buying chains. We are putting on chains. We are driving in the snow. We are driving slow in the snow. Yes, we are still driving. 20 miles to go. 15 miles to go."

Neither Benny nor I have driven in a snowstorm since college. We have never driven in a snowstorm in the mountains. We decided to never again mock the weather reports of northern California.

We finally made it to the summit, 7,000 feet, where thankfully there was a rest stop with warm working bathrooms. Being our usual selves we stopped to use the facilities and take a quick photo. What better time than the present to document the memory, right?

We made it to Reno at 5:19 p.m. We left Merced at 11:30 a.m. It took us six hours to drive 243 miles. This was the shortest leg of the road trip.

I wonder what else is in store for us on this farewell tour.