The saga of the demise of White Rabbit

Update: there is now a GoFundMe set up for White Rabbit!

It all started as we pulled into our AirBnb for the night on Monday, October 14.  Just as we were pulling in, we accidently ran over a construction cone that had a nail sticking out and punctured the front right tire on the van.

We had a spare tire, but did not have the correct tool to get it off from the undercarriage of the van so we had to wait until the morning to get a tow to a local tire shop for a replacement.  As a result of this, we weren’t able to start our last drive to Page, AZ to make it in time for our last show that night.  As devastating as it was, our friends in Page understood and were wonderfully supportive.  With that said, we started our 2-day journey back home.  Our first destination on Tuesday was an AirBnb that we booked in Page.  The journey took us through a national park in Colorado and an ascent and descent of close to 5-7k feet. We stopped for a lovely dinner in Durango, CO.  It was pretty late by the time we started our last leg of that journey, which was to bring us into Navajo Nation territory in one of the most remote regions of the USA.  When we were about 30 miles east of Kayenta, AZ our van suddenly wasn’t able to change gears and our check engine light came on.  We immediately knew that something was wrong with our transmission.  Getting stranded without a place of shelter was a very real possibility – being in the middle of this remote region (where AAA doesn’t even service) was fear-inducing to all of us.  

On this trip we were very lucky to bring a device that lets us connect to the internet via satellite; otherwise there is a good chance we would have been truly lost.  Another thing that saved us is that most modern transmissions have a mode that will essentially let you putter to a location even when it is broken..  So we slowly made our way to the next town that was in front of us – Kayenta, AZ

Luckily, we found a hotel that had some available rooms.. By this time it was around 1:30am and we were lucky that we found someone still working at the front desk.  We parked the van and trailer in the hotel parking lot and proceeded to call AAA while we checked in for two rooms.

The other situation that was developing is that our singer Haezl had a flight scheduled in Page, AZ that morning to get her back home to DC,  As well, our drummer Steve also had to go to work the next day and was literally unable to miss a single scheduled day.  In Kayenta, Page, and surrounding towns there are no Lyft, Uber services or taxi cabs..  So we had to do some serious research to find out about any options.  We ultimately found a private transportation service that was willing to make the 97-mile drive to Page.  It cost Haezl and Steve $370 for that car ride, but they made it and caught a flight out of Page!

At this point, the rest of the band was essentially stranded in Kayenta.  Hundreds of miles from any major city, and without any transportation options in or out, it was definitely feeling dire. We were so grateful to run into friendly faces in Kayenta who had played shows with us in the past as Mankind is Obsolete and also had many incredible messages and comments from so many of you who were reaching out to help and support us. Thank you for making us feel less alone!

In the morning, Gordon brought White Rabbit (our tour van) to a local mechanic who took one look at the transmission and determined that it was completely fried with no way that the van would be able to run. Since there is no AAA service in the Navajo Nation, we had to find a local tow company that was willing to tow our van to Flagstaff, AZ which is around 150 miles away.  In addition to that, our remaining band members AND our entire trailer full of gear and personal items were completely stranded.  We determined that the best and only solution was to get a tow to Flagstaff and have two of us go with the tow truck (Scott and Gordon) – and in Flagstaff they would then rent both a uhaul with a trailer hitch AND a car rental so that we had a solution for getting our people and gear home to LA.  In all, it was a 7-8 hour round trip between getting the tow to Flagstaff, renting out two vehicles, and then returning to Kayenta.  By the time Scott and Gordon returned, it was way too late to make the trip back home, so they decided to stay in Kayenta for one extra night.  But lo and behold, we had a way home!!

On Thursday October 17, the remaining members of the band AND our gear were able to make the long trip back to LA and thus everyone was safe and sound, including the gear.

With all of that said, you might think this is the end of the saga… but it is not!  The only way we were able to acquire a car rental was if we were willing to do a round trip rental where someone has to bring the car back to Flagstaff.  On Friday, the very next day Scott scheduled a 6:30 pm flight out of Flagstaff and proceeded to drive from LA back to Flagstaff to make the return and jump on a plane to finally land home for real.  Mother nature had a different idea.. As Scott was driving back, there was a giant storm system waiting for him and all the other travelers on I-40.  After around 3-4 hours of stand still traffic, Scott was forced to cancel his return flight for that night, and reschedule for the next day (saturday).  In addition, Scott encountered whiteout snow blizzard conditions as he went through the mountain passes that brings one into Flagstaff.

Scott gets on his flight this morning to hopefully have a non-eventful return trip back to LA, and will thusly end the saga of the temporary demise of our dear White Rabbit.

On a side note, the mechanic in Flagstaff will be making the repair on the transmission. The parts and labor for that are around $6k.

All in all, the running expenses from this incurred basically wiped out all revenue we made from the entire tour.  To pay for all of the hotel, travel, and repairs is a huge expense and is unfortunately a tour killer 😢

• Transmission repair
• Hotel cost for two nights in Kayenta and one night in Flagstaff
• Plane flights to/from Flagstaff to deal with van
• Tow from Kayenta to Flagstaff
• Transport for Haezl and Steve
• Car rental
• U-Haul rental
• Tire replacement
• Leaf spring replacement for trailer (went out on the 3rd day of tour 😱)

All in all, the entire expenses incurred from all of this was $13.3k

We typically do not like asking for help, but anything at all is soooo appreciated and would go a long ways towards getting us back on our feet as it is right now, the tour is essentially a complete loss.  

Thanks for any help whatsoever with this – recovery is going to take some time and we appreciate all of the love, support and patience as we have been dealing with this.  We’re very happy to finally end this ordeal, but it will definitely take some time to recoup costs and recover fully from this.  Thanks for any help!