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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, dear susan... we DONT' want your number up too soon...
no matter when you feel tired.. just pull over...
someone, and everyone, that loves you will be glad...
so you will, too... ;)
don't push it... it is a brain thing... and the brain will "turn off" when the battery has died, even if you try to keep it buzzing...
it's not labeling us as failure, if we have to pull over, critters know when to stop, we should be like them... :)
*it's not cause of getting old, either... many reason, and the young are affected too...
god bless so much, to you... :)
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franky
climber
Davis, CA
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This thread is very intense. Good life lessons here.
One time I pulled over for a little nap on 395 after climbing Mount Ritter from the Rush Creek TH (a pretty long hike in). I thought I would sleep for 30 mins or so to refresh. Slept for 6 hours instead without even a twitch. woke up with a pretty serious kink in my neck.
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OR
Trad climber
So.VT.
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Didnt COZ have some horrendous wreck in the late 80's from sleepy driving?
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Steve's sister
Social climber
Las Vegas, NV
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Aug 14, 2011 - 11:38am PT
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Bump as a serious reminder to pull over and take a nap!
5 years ago yesterday my brother died due to the driver falling asleep.
Since I probably don't have any "taco cred" as most of you don't know me and I rarely post, I'll quote someone most/all of you respect and admire.
John Bachar said "Man, I thought I was macho and could make it. I'm not. I'm in Ely at a hotel. I started getting tired in the exact same place on the road. Decided to just stay over."
Please, please. please decide to just stay/pull over.
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jstan
climber
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Aug 14, 2011 - 02:27pm PT
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After having three near fatal collisions in one hour while barely staying in my lane, I gave up and stopped at an I/O burger for a nap. I have done a lot of dumb things. That one is at the top of my list.
The problem creeps up on you. Next time I will implement a test. Pull over and try to sleep. If sleep won't come, get back on the road. Just the possibility that the stop will be short should make it easier to pull off the road.
Edit:
Locker is alive only because the desert can be forgiving.
I'll tell this story, again. George, a neighbor in JT was riding along while his wife was driving. She asked, "What is that noise?"
George replied. "It's just the bushes. The road is over there."
Edit:
I might add that this story shows succinctly what is needed for a marriage to be successful.
Young persons would do well to hear this story.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 14, 2011 - 08:22pm PT
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Did it just today. Pulled over that is. Early afternoon on my way from Berserkely to Los Gatos, only 15 miles to home, getting snoozy on 17, pulled off at the next exit, found the first quiet street and pulled under the shade of a tree. Parked the Prius, FORGOT to put it in park until I'd put the windows down for air. I thought "d'oh....why is my foot still on the brake?" Saw the "D" light on the dashboard, put 'er in Park and next blink I was gone for about 30 minutes. So it took me 30 minutes longer to get home?
Many times I've pushed through, luckily without crashing so far. Bad Idea. As bad as DUI.
donini, so very sorry to hear about your tragedy.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Aug 14, 2011 - 09:33pm PT
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Yeah, well, there's always Wolfgang Gullich...
He was a roadwarrior, racking up millions of miles driving all over Europe to do slideshows for various Alpine Clubs and made a good living doing it. But he drove half asleep all the time. On his last trip, his wife made him promise to pull off the road and sleep since they now had a baby, and he agreed. So on the way home, on the autobahn, he pulled WAY off the road in a big turnout, like more than 100 feet off the road, against the trees, jacked back his seat, and resigned himself to not sleeping in his bed with his family that night, just catching them in the morning. Sometime that night, a drunk driver saw the reflectors of his taillights and thought, "damn, the road is over there" and cranked the wheel over, plowed into his parked car and killed him in his sleep.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 14, 2011 - 10:15pm PT
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so when we're half asleep at the wheel we should keep driving because it will be harder for the drunk driver to hit us?
RIP Wolfgang.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Aug 14, 2011 - 10:17pm PT
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You're kidding, right?
Find a side road and never underestimate drunk people.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Aug 14, 2011 - 10:20pm PT
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sorry, I was just being snarky. You're absolutely right.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Aug 15, 2011 - 12:29am PT
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hard hiking, heat, and running the A/C on the way home this afternoon. All the traffic barly doing a mellow 40-55mph. Head nod without warning. WHOA! didn't expect that! Blam another one without barely going a mile. Time to pull over. pulled in at Groveland at the market. let the engine idle with a/c. After I let myself 'fall' or 'kick' for the Inception movie fans, I was good. Stopped in at Big Oak for a soda with caffeine. Solid home.
right thing.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
or some such
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Aug 15, 2011 - 01:16am PT
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We prefer that you live, Rob. Please.
I've been a professional on the big Road for many years, & I know that you will die if you underestimate the power of Tired. Don't be THAT guy.
YOU WILL die! Seriously.
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Steve's sister
Social climber
Las Vegas, NV
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Oct 19, 2012 - 02:59pm PT
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Bump as it has been over a year since we have had a serious reminder.
The holiday's are coming and some of us will be travelling.
Pull Over and get there alive and don't kill someone else!
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sibylle
Trad climber
On the road!
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Oct 19, 2012 - 03:12pm PT
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This summer, for the first time ever, I fell asleep while driving. Fortunately, the rumble strip at the side of the lane woke me in time to jerk the wheel and get back into my lane. And it woke my passenger, who was sleeping in the back of my van ... he drove the rest of the way.
Donini, sorry to hear about your experience.
As to Güllich -- Steve McKinney, world speed skiing record holder, was also killed when he pulled off the side of the road to sleep -- at least go to a rest area.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2012 - 04:04pm PT
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Thanks for the bump, Steve's Sister.
I've done a few things that have greatly reduced the dangerous circumstances for me driving home after climbing trips:
1. I sleep more on average (6-8 hrs/night most of the time) for several reasons:
 shifted jobs, career philosophy, and reduced my personal identity dependence on my career, so I don't work as much.
happier daily home life after navigating through the end of a challenging marriage
2. I don't have as many adventures that push me to my physical limits in a day, or if I do, it usually involves a bivy somewhere on the route or descent and a morning drive back. And if I'm planning a big adventure, I don't plan it when I have to be at work the next morning. And sometimes, if too much adventure is in the air, I've gotten over the stigma of bailing.
BUT...
This is a timely reminder for me. I've eased into another bad cycle that involves sleepy driving. I live in Berkeley, and every Wednesday night I hang out with my band an hour away in San Jose where I used to live. We used to just jam on cover songs, but this year we've been recording a lot of original songs and spend late nights doing the studio/mixing work. Lot's of times I'm tired before we meet at 7:30 or 8pm, and then I get re-energized by what we're doing. And then it's suddenly 1am, 2am, pushing 3am sometimes, and I've got a 1 hour drive back to Berkeley.
So I've had a number of really difficult drives home, and I've lapsed into making a bad habit of it.
I hereby pledge to listen to that little voice inside, and spend the night in San Jose if it tells me I'm pushing it.
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Oct 19, 2012 - 04:58pm PT
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I find that a quick 20-40 minute nap (20 min increments to coincide with sleep cycles) works for me enough to get in a few mores hours driving, repeat as needed.
The only way I've found to stay awake is singing. Find a good song and sing along. Even the seconds between songs I can feel myself much more susceptible to drifting away.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Oct 19, 2012 - 05:11pm PT
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yeah. i've been in more than a few wrecks on the way home from climbing trips. coming back from ranier we blew through a t-insterection and and hit a tree at about 8' above ground level, the tree snappeded in two, absorbing the shock, and sparing our lives. me and the ex were in alan nelsons' pinto, coming home from josh, maybe 2am, when he missed a turn and ran into a vegatable field outsite of hemit. then there was the time we were passengers driving from san diego to smith in one shot and our notorious driver fell asleep at the wheel. and there was the time roxjox was giving me and watusi a ride south from yosemite and we left i-5 at 70mph. oh, right, driving back from ibex to slc i passed out with a glass of scotch in my hand. oh, and me and goon rolled his car on the way back from stonewall. and there was the time guy andrews had his vw bus explode into flames in canyon tajo, totaling it. and then "flower" wrapped his axle around a steel fence, puncturing the oilpan and stranding us 150 miles into baja. good times. i could go on and on.
i'm a big fan of hotels these days. i don't push it anymore. last spring i took three days to drive from olympia to san diego,and it was luxurious and sane.
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Oct 19, 2012 - 08:05pm PT
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Great thread everyone. Thanks a lot for getting it started Nutjob. And Neebee, you taught me some new things to consider when driving tired. My parents are rightfully more worried about me driving home after a long and tiring weekend in the mountains than the climbing I'm doing.
For those driving through Yosemite, my experience with the rangers along the roadside is that while they do check for illegal camping, they are very supportive of you pulling over to sleep, and to sleep sufficiently, rather than driving tired. Unless you get too comfortable sleeping roadside, you probably won't encounter anything worse than them checking up with you, and then being left alone.
2 years ago I was trying to drive from Tuolumne Meadows down to a campsite in the Valley, and I was so tired that at one point I pulled into a TH parking lot. I figured I would just rest my eyes for a minute, so I put the car in park, but left the lights on and engine running. I awoke to an NPS ranger knocking on my window to see what was going on, as my headlights were shining out onto the road. When I told him I had pulled over to sleep, he apologized for waking me and insisted that I take all the time I needed to sleep before continuing on. I saw that I really needed to take a good nap, so I turned off the car lights and engine, and slept for an hour before driving on.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Oct 19, 2012 - 08:06pm PT
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i passed out with a glass of scotch in my hand
Bob.... tell me you didn't spill a drop.
After those stories, all the 120 mph drives home from Courtwright at 2:20 am seam pretty tame.... never got wrecked, or tooled.
I use to just pull my VW van over and park it and snooze, but after what happened to Steve I stopped. It made me think.
I now do the right thing and park the car... down a side road, far away from the road.
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Anastasia
climber
InLOVEwithAris.
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Oct 19, 2012 - 08:16pm PT
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Yes,
I was in one very bad car accident with a fatality because of a sleepy driver. You don't get over it, ever. You just live with it. To describe it accurately, it is like having ghost pains of a missing arm that you never forget, etc. A few years later I almost had a repeat with another dang sleepy driver who also was too proud to let me drive. If I had not grabbed the wheel and yelled at him... If I was not being paranoid... Yeah, it would have been a repeat of hell that isn't worth it.
After those two I'm so done... You have no idea how on the verge, just a hair width away from going berserk, done. I don't want to survive another one, ever. Luckily Bill gets it, doesn't push himself and he doesn't push me when tired. We just park in a safe place, usually a shopping parking lot and take a nap. It's better than taking the chance of losing one of us or someone else just because being sleepy.
AFS
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