Decker Trip - Panamerican Highway 1966

Nov 29. The next morning we went down to the city and tried to get [Bruno Frigoli] (he lives in Cochabamba). We couldn't get him. I sent a telegram to Ruth. About 10:30 we left.
Got to Oruro. This highway is practically all level. There was one stretch where we ran into some slush on the road (it had been snowing some). But that wasn't bad. Very few climbs along the way.
But very bad in spots on the washboard effect on the road. This slowed us down considerably. We thought we would get into Oruro in 4 or 5 hours, but it took us 7 hours to get to Oruro.
After we got on the pavement and started going a little faster, I noticed the trailer was leaning a little on one side. I was just about getting ready to stop when the kids started yelling, "The tire! The wheel's off!" Here, the tire had come off the rim. Evidently, it had gotten so hot that it melted down and rolled right off the rim. Rolled quite a ways. We came to a stop and had to change the wheel--put on the old tire that we'd gotten back in Panama. This only took about 15 minutes. It was kind of cold there... windy.
We drove into the city and tried to find the Colegio Evangelico and nobody could give us any directions on that. Finally a man saw that we were asking a policeman, so he wanted to know where we were going, and we said the Colegio Bautista. So he drove us around town and took us. Finally says "This is it." I said, "What?" He said, "Oh, this is the Calle Bautista." So we were off again.
That time we got to the Adventista School. They finally told us where the Canadian Baptist school was. We went up there and stayed overnight with the folks there. Kathy Bowman was there. She took us in, gave us the front room to sleep on the floor in, and we parked in their yard--which we appreciated very much. Had supper and breakfast there.
Nov 30. Next day we thought it would take all day to arrange about sending the trailer, so before 7:00 I went down to Transito. Couldn't get anything there. I went up to breakfast, then back down again, and finally I found a truck that would take us for 350. Well, people at the Plaza there told us that was too much--that we could get one a lot cheaper than that.
Finally, we got a truck that came along with some acetaline tanks that would take us for 180. So we took that, and by noon we had the trailer loaded. I gave Gordie some money and he went on the truck. The truck was supposed to leave about 1:00. By the time I finally left it was 2:15.
(I met Milton Montero on the way back to the house, and then we had lunch there. Then Milton took me to the gas station, etc. By the time we got through talking, it was about 2:15, and we left).
Well, we should have left a lot earlier, because this road is just about the most fantastic thing you ever saw. It's level for about 50 km, and then you start climbing. And you climb up into some beautiful, beautiful mountain scenery. You go along--up and down, up and down--and then you kind of level off. Then you start coming down again. And the saralle (I think it's the name of the steep downgrade into Cochabamba) is fantastic. And it was dark by the time we got on it. We kept meeting these trucks on the way in these narrow, narrow spots. One place I had to back up. A number of places we passed with just an inch or two to spare between us. Very, very hair-raising part of the highway.
We finally made it into Cochabamba at about quarter to 11:00. From there I went down to see if Gordie had gotten in. Couldn't find him down there, so we came out here to the New Tribe's house. He wasn't out here either. So, after I'd gotten people up here, I decided I better go back again.
I went back, looked all around, couldn't find him anywhere. So about midnight I came back with the kids and left Cory and Ronny sleeping in the car, and Judy and Jeany and I came into the room that they gave us, and slept in here.  We appreciate the hospitality here.