Our trip this weekend was to Barker Flats boat launch area on Banks Lake in Washington. It is a dispersed camping area along with a boat launch, a Discovery Pass is required to be there. We have camped in the area a few years ago and we wanted to head back there again, so we did.
Our arrival was met with some issues though. We pulled off the road and parked the truck to look at a trail going down to the waters edge. The trail looked sketchy so walking down it was a better option. When we walked back to the truck and camper I noticed the truck had sunk down in the muddy trail already. I was only about 30 feet off the road but the conditions changed quickly. I put it in 4X4 and something was not right. No 4X4 activated. I have automatic hubs and the transfer case has a shifter on the floor. When I gave it some throttle my back wheels barely moved…what was going on?
I gave it a bit more throttle and just the rear wheels finally started to rotate but I stopped that right away as it sank in more. I tried lifting the camper weight off the truck and digging around the wheels but that still did not work. Something was wrong with the transfer case.
With some kind of mechanical issue going on we called Good Sams Roadside to get some help sent out. After 1/2 hour on the phone and getting nowhere with the automated service we got a bit frustrated with them. We had just a little cell coverage in the area and maybe that had something to do with it? It was trying to find our location through text messages. I got on my phone and got a number for the closest tow company, that was Matchett Towing out of Wilbur Washington, about an hour away. They said they would come right out and help.
After about 1 1/2 hours they showed up and got right to it. They got me hooked up with a cable and got me pulled back out. After a little pulling they had me try a couple things to see if we could get the truck transfer case to engage. They had me shift through gears on the transmission and transfer case. After a couple shifts we heard a “clunk” going into low. I then had all the traction and power I needed. They unhooked the cable and I backed out of the spot with no issues.
I still have no idea what exactly happened with the transfer case. It just some how got bound up. Whatever happened, everything got back to where it should be after a little pulling and going through the gears. Very strange. If everything worked as it should to start with, I should not have had the stuck situation. I don’t know but it works perfectly now.
The tow company did a great job and they were absolutely great people. Very helpful and professional. If you are in the Grand Coulee area, they are the closest towing company and they will get you help. A big thank you to them!
There was a time, and not even that long ago…that I would have been cussing up a storm and letting some panic set in. But there was none of that going on. We were fine, not injured and if we had to spend the night in that spot, it would have been okay. Heck, we had a great view from there and we had what we needed with the camper. But it was good to get to a spot that was out of the sinking spot.
We enjoyed the mild night and the brightness of the near full moon while we had our dinner and a beverage of choice. Soon it was time to call it a night.
The next morning I took in the views of our surroundings. We had a pretty good spot in the parking lot for the boat launch. No one else was around, just us. Even our whole stay we saw maybe 4 other people through the weekend. No one else stayed the night there.
I walked up to where we got stuck, mainly to look around and make sure we did not leave anything up there. All good. Evidence of the adventure was around though.
After breakfast we got the kayaks out and went for a paddle on the lake. We made a stop near a geocache and made the find on that. After finding the cache we continued the paddle and eventually went over to Heart Island where we took a break.
We noticed the wind was picking up a little and some small whitecaps were starting to form. Time to get back over to camp! It was a little bit harder of a paddle back across with the wind and making our way diagonal to the wind but we managed. It just made it more deserving for our beer and wine at camp.
I had a variety of beer, as usual. That day I was enjoying one from Rogue Brewery from Newport Oregon and another from No-Li Brewery in Spokane Washington.
We relaxed the rest of the day. We each took a nap for a little bit but spent the rest of the day at camp.
We each slept real well that night. Very quite with no one around made it so very peaceful. It as pretty bright outside with a full moon when it found its way from behind clouds. Just a great night in February.
As most know or have read in previous trip reports, I love to hike. I have not been able to enjoy that very much in the last few months. I have had some pretty bad joint pains and other medical issues I am trying to get figured out. So many doctor visits, blood tests and so on. I have had an issue for several years but in the last couple years it has progressed to worse fairly quickly. So even with the pain there was a short hike I wanted to do. It would be about 3.5 miles round trip, normally a nothing hike to me. I sucked up the pain and dealt with it while we made our way to a “hanging valley” along the basalt rock cliffs. Of course there is a geocache up there, or was. Seems it was missing from past reports so we brought a new container to relace it if necessary.
The weather was changing that day and winds were picking up. It was cooler and the wind chill had a cold bite to it. We made our way back to camp and soon got ready to leave.
It was a great outing even with a bit of the miss adventure to start it off. Not too big a deal really. Things worked out and trying to keep calm and have a good attitude about it made it not so bad. Cannot change what happened, only roll with it. If you spend a lot of time out traveling and RV’ing, things will happen, they always do. Just try to make the best of it.
Now to get home and start to get things ready for a 6 day outing in South East Oregon is the plan . Just over a week to go until that trip happens!
The TC Life 
Make sure to send your tow bill to “Bad Sams”. When they stranded me for the second time, they did reimburse me for the tow bill. Then I cancelled them and went with Coach Net. They have a good reputation. Fortunately, I have not had to use them.
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