100 ... Gabriel MorrisBut our plans were abruptly altered the next day anyway when
the van broke down near Highway 9, just south of Susanville, Cal-
ifornia.
Dream had decided that he wanted to take us on a little side route
up into the Sierra Nevada range just to the west, along the California-
Nevada border, before venturing across Nevada. As we left Highway
9 and drove up a steep grade, he shifted into low gear. There was
a horrible wrenching and grinding noise, and the van quickly coasted
to a stop on the steep hill. Though the engine was still running, none
of the gears would engage. The transmission was toast.
We coasted back down the hill to the main highway where I
called my dad, got his AAA number, and then called a local towing
company. They took the five of us and the van back north 0 miles,
where they dropped us all off at Susanville Transmission. The van
was backed into the garage, and Dream and Marie went inside to
take care of business and await news of the damage.
Bethany, Forest, and I sat outside for a few hours, watching the
traffic cruise down Main Street, reading and making music. Eventu-
ally, Dream and Marie came out of the garage with long faces, to tell
us that the van needed a new transmission, and that it would cost
about five hundred dollars to fix it—the same amount they had paid
for the van a few months earlier. They didn’t have enough to cover
the cost, but didn’t know what else to do. The mechanic had offered
to buy the van for two hundred dollars, but they needed a vehicle,
because all their personal possessions were with them—including a
cat and a puppy. They couldn’t possibly hitchhike all the way to
New Mexico with everything they owned.
But they soon realized that they had little other choice. If they
couldn’t afford to fix the van, then they would have to sell it. They
decided to accept the mechanic’s offer of two hundred dollars, give
away everything that wouldn’t fit into their backpacks, and then
hitch to the gathering with the cat and puppy.
They suggested that Bethany, Forest, and I should continue on the
next morning. They would follow behind once they had organized