There was a time when getting stuck led to a general melt down, loss of confidence and mounds of regret. When I tried an untried way to get around a rock that looked bigger than it was I messed up. Oh well, we’ve been here before so no panic this time.
We left our wild camp near Caldera and passing through town loaded up with fuel and water and emptied our trash in preparation for a few days at a beach located by Julia and Konstantin. It was an hour north of Caldera in the perfectly smooth Highway 5, the legendary PanAmerican, and we bowled along at 65 easy miles per hour.
It was dirt when we turned off the highway, no surprise and we followed the well worn tracks down to the cliffs overlooking the beach.
The idea was to fiend a few days at this spot which surprised us by being organized with picnic tables and a resident monitor.
And his two Bassett hounds, cute dogs that predictably my grumpy old man was not excited to see.
I’m not sure why but I thought taking the rock in the track the other way round would be better. It wasn’t.
Konstantin came to the rescue and we gagged around during down and digging sand and inserting tracks and so forth. Gabriel in his big straw hat said he was going to get his pick up truck.
Four wheel drive, wide tires and it was all we needed. I hooked up my tow strap and we were on our way.
It was not a scene of stress or undue worry. By now we know there is a solution to every problem and our we came. Gabriel is a laid back happy guy living on this beach with his dogs and the perfect host.
The spot merited the effort to get there Even though the struggle to get there was all my stupid fault. One gets excessively confident when help is close to hand.
Retirement as it should be, not groveling in sand with a shovel.
Of course my humiliation was complete when a giant Chilean RV cruised down the save track with zero drama.
Dinner restored some balance.
And the sunset did the rest.
