First off, I just want to say THANK YOU to Ray and the entire HRMC crew for a great weekend and primo track conditions. A bit windy on Saturday, but we managed and had an awesome day on Sunday too. From Montana, a big thank you!

Now, for the trip home. Sketchy!


Here’s a run down of the trip home…

Track was incredible as usual, pretty fun layout, nice jumps and some nice deep loamy corners….Saturday was a bit windy, but not very many people there, so we rode a ton. Sunday was gorgeous…but it was also packed! We rode 4, 15 minute sessions in the morning and started packing up to head home.

We leave around 2:30pm, first hour of the drive EVERYONE in the truck fell asleep..losers! So, I trucked along blasting music to keep myself awake….

We hit Ritzville and the weather was starting to turn….it had just snowed, but everything was just wet....until we hit Spokane. Starting getting into some slush and by the time we hit outside of Coeur d’Alene, it was getting bad. Snowing harder and harder we slowed down to about 35-40mph.

It is now dark, dumping snow and we are headed for Fourth of July Pass. The roads are freezing now, with patchy black ice. Slowing down to about 25-30mph as we approach the pass…we start climbing the pass and all hell broke loose. The road is flash froze with about an inch of snow on it…it is dumping snow and windy. Several Semi’s are at a dead stop in the middle of the road with guys putting on chains, cars are stopped on the side of the roads with people standing around…my wheels started spinning so I slapped it in 4wd. I am still losing traction even though I am down to about 15mph now, going uphill in 4wd with traction control on.

We finally crest the hill after about 20-30 minutes of creeping through abandon vehicles, thinking the worse was over.

Not even close…

As I crested the top and started my way down, we looked at the other on-coming lane and there were vehicles, semi’s, people scattered all over the place. I could see on our lane were many cars had slide off in the ditch, flashing hazard lights were everywhere! There had to be at least 200-300 cars stopped everywhere, some spun out, some just sitting there not knowing what to do, semi’s jack knifed, flares thrown all over to mark the road, people running around…

I started to creep my way down, and then it happened. My trailer brake was on still, and as soon as I touched my brake it went sideways. I didn’t even notice it until Ethan said THE TRAILER IS PASSING US!!!! So I let off on the brakes and scrambled to shut off my trailer brake controller. I am now going about 11mph, trailer is sideways, everyone is freaking out, cars everywhere and I start looking for a safe place to crash. So, I gathered up what little wits I had and with one last ditch effort slowly hit the gas and watched the trailer slowly come back around. I was still only going 15mph…as soon as it swung back straight a semi going twice what I was blows by us totally out of control!!!! There was no chance he could stop if I hadn’t straightened out. WE ALMOST DIED!!!!!

For the next 5-6 miles, we crept along on the slickest shit I have ever driven on, traveling about 10-15mph. The traffic was at a standstill on the other side (on coming lane) the entire 5-6 miles. I kept thinking WE ALMOST DIED!!!!

My heart is pounding so hard it hurts at this point still thinking WE ALMOST DIED!!!! I couldn’t get that visual out of my head of the trailer sliding sideways next to us..

It continued to snow and remain icy all the way to Alberton Gorge, about 40 miles west of Missoula. By this time, it was 10:00pm and I didn’t feel like talking much. We rolled into Helena right at midnight…did I mention WE ALMOST DIED!!!!!!

So thankful we made it home safe…probably gonna be one of my most memorable Birthdays ever. (Not necessarily in a good way)

Wow what a story, kinda sounds like the first turn of the 250 beginner class with a full gate.."I almost died"

Why wait until your wheels started spinning to put in 4- hi? LOL I would put it 4-hi at ritzville it don't hurt a thing.. what happened to the out of control semi that blitzed by you??

Perfect analogy Paul...everybody was coming in HOT with no place to go.

TRA- I had it off and on as I drove, it just turned from okay to terrible in seconds. I thought "traction control" was suppose to help in these situations...well, it didn't!

The Semi made it some how, I have no idea how he didn't crash...

I just read that they closed the pass right after we went over. The report stated 125 crashes!

Sometimes the racing is the safe part of the weekend. Always feel really,REALLY great for the next week after those kinds of situations,SO HAPPY to be alive.Thanks for sharing. JR

So wait! A truckload of Motocrossers make it home by passing hundreds of others. SWEET!
You won dude!