RETURN TO WONDERLAND

Steve Jones’ 1985 Dodge Power Ram began to backslide down a cattle trail faintly etched into the side of a steep bluff, I immediately started thinking about which way I was going to bail. I was sitting atop an elevated bench in the bed of the truck, far better off than my cohorts trapped within the cab, who would have to fumble with 35-year-old door handles and clamber over one another to avoid plummeting to their deaths. Fortunately, our skid ended a few feet short of the switchback, and Steve gunned the engine to deliver us from near-certain peril. He would later tell me it was a “controlled slide” to better position the truck for the run up the incline. Whatever it was, I was now fully awake. As we continued up the bluff and my white-knuckled grip on the rail in front of me loosened, I