Ups and downs.

April 21, Palmdale, California.

For what it cost Circus Chimera to play Big Bear Lake you could buy yourself a nice little car, brand new. The rides up and down the San Bernardino mountains cost a total of more than $13,000 in repairs to pickup trucks, vans and semis.
Big Bear Lake, a scenic ski and hiking resort, sits at 6,754 feet in the San Bernardino mountains above the Inland Empire area. State highway 18 goes up to the village on either side of the mountains, and either way it is a steep road, only a shorter one on the east side from Apple Valley, the way the circus went.
On the way up two big rigs didn't make it, their differentials broken, "the rear end," as Jay said. El tio Tito and others had to drive down to haul them up the rest of the way with other trucks, working until 4 o'clock in the morning. Cost of the adventure: $10,000 in parts and diesel. As with everything else in the circus, the work is done in-house, by Jose Lopez, the circus' mechanic, and others. The two differentials were fixed only a few minutes before the circus left on Wednesday night. And that was only half the trip, the most dangerous one by far still ahead.
The sign at the start of the downhill stretch said: "Caution, Trucks Go Slow,16% grade next 6 miles." All of the circus' private trucks and trailers except ours and the truck hauling Charlie and Edith's trailer lost their brakes during the downhill trip, which seemed a lot longer than six miles.
Both Jim's truck and trailer brakes caught on fire and he had to use his fire extinguisher to put it out. The brakes on the truck hauling Marvin's house also caught on fire, with Goyo at the wheel, as well as the brakes on the trailer. The brakes on Jay's truck, with Charlie driving, the brakes on el tio Tito's truck, with Oscar driving, and the brakes on the little truck hauling the restrooms all gave way. Aldo was driving that one and when his brakes didn't respond he managed to stop by driving off into the side of the road. He was almost there: half a mile more and the road finally leveled off. The brakes on the big common fifth-wheel trailer, driven by Armando, and the ones on both Roy's truck and trailer also gave way.
The truck hauling the shop, with Fuji at the wheel, burnt its brakes halfway down and went on down the hill butting against the truck hauling the plant, with Jay at the wheel. "Between my truck and the shop's, I was holding about 125,000 pounds," said Jay. The plant truck, a double-load big rig, weighs about 80,000 pounds, and the shop truck, a small pickup, about 33,000.
"Three thousand dollars in brakes," said Jay. "So far."
But nobody was hurt, everybody made it down the hill and to the next town. People at Circus Chimera will not forget Big Bear Lake any time soon, but this is not the only challenge it will have to face.
There is still a long road ahead.

Martin Romo Silva (left) and Jose Lopez Sauceda at work replacing the front brakes on Martin's truck.