The Journey Begins…
Dramatic Day Excursion to Lake Mead
I finished up work early in the afternoon, and thought it would be nice to take Panda to Lake Mead.
I haven’t been back since the water crisis of the past few years and wanted to see the lake again before it turns back into a river. The drive was less than an hour from Las Vegas. I chose to go on the North side of the lake to Crawdad Cove, entering through Lake Mead Blvd. At the payment booth (day pass $25), the booth operators shuts down and lets everyone, myself included in for free. Score!
Crawdad Cove
The views were scenic–I should have taken more pictures! At the bottom of Crawdad Cove, to my surprise, all the good parking spots were taken. Down by the water, I drove off to the right, but the water looked stagnant and lifeless.
I circled back around and went off to the left side of the road to find a better spot. I saw what looked like solid ground and trail tracks leading down to better open parts of the cove. Nothing my Jeep Rubicon can’t handle… So I continued on, right into a muddy mucky mess.
Really. It looked dry from up close in the driver seat. If you see green in the desert. Think water. It sounds like common sense, but this, I was lacking today–like many other days of my life. I looked down and noticed I was still in two wheel drive. Surely 4L would get me unstuck. Right?
Don’t disable a bad second battery
Yes. Newer Jeeps have two batteries. And yes. You need both of them for the Jeep to properly function. The second battery on my Rubicon went bad several months ago, so I followed a youtube video that shows you how to disable it by removing the negative terminal and removing fuse F42 PCR CTRL FEED (ESS)* and just like this gentlemen’s facial gesture below, I too now felt that same frustration. Not from the annoying auto start stop light, but because his video neglected to mention that you actually need this battery and disabling it is a very bad idea. It still drains your main battery, it is used for 4 wheel drive, and the entire Jeep can go haywire with low battery voltage from shorting out the transmission to flashing lights and windshield wipers moving by themselves. Again. Sometimes I lack common sense.
Now I need help. Good thing there are so many people in this cove. I go from couple to campsite only to find out that not a single person was capable or willing to help me get unstuck. And even if they did help me out, my Jeep wouldn’t start. The battery failed when I tried to engage 4L and it shorted out the transmission. I look down at my phone. 30% battery life. I’m 10 miles from the closed Lake Mead payment booth at 5pm on a Friday night. The nearest ranger station was 20 miles away at Boulder Beach. It was 100 degrees outside and I had two gallons of water and some snacks with no phone charger. I started to panic.
365 Towing – Las Vegas
I called several towing places that serviced Lake Mead. The first guy answered but said it would cost approximately $700 to come out. I couldn’t get ahold of anyone else, so I asked them to please hurry. After all, my phone battery was dying, my Jeep battery was dead and I didn’t want to abandon my Jeep and hike out with my dog. Ramon from 365 Towing called me. It was one of the first few numbers that I tried. He said that he would be out within the hour and would only charge me $450, including gas milage for towing me to the dealership in Las Vegas. I still didn’t hear back from the other companies driver, so I rolled the dice and decided to cancel the other tow and have Ramon come help me.
He showed up fast! He was almost at Lake Mead when the other companies driver called to say they were about to leave Las Vegas. He gave me a bottle of water. Until then, the thought didn’t even cross my mind about how I was to transport Panda. It wasn’t till then that I asked Ramon if it was okay for my dog to ride in the cab with us. He stated that he was pet friendly, which relieved my anxiety.
I was hooked up and on the flat bed truck in no time, ready to leave Lake Mead for the foreseeable future. It was getting dark and my phone battery had dropped to red. I felt like I had made a new friend, especially since he was willing to trade my website skills for his tow service.
I got home in time to set 365 Towing up with a brand new website at: https://365towing.vegas – I even had time to take Panda on a late night walk afterwards.
this park watered from lake mead
So I guess the day worked out in its own way. I met a friend, we both helped each other trade services. Panda saw Lake Mead. I realized I don’t care for Crawdad Cove. And I saw Lake Mead one last time before all the water is used up for desert agriculture, golf courses, dwellings, parks, lawns and businesses.
