[Vwdiesel] Towing Tales ---- ( eventful ones )

[H . Hagar.]

Sparks in the rear view mirror ?    ---  that rates .   Airboat is out front so far.

Fanatic  DIY  types -----do a LOT  of towing.   ---- not eventful  --BUT   EVENTFUL  too.

To show your dirty undies can be difficult  ---  BUT your  pratfalls  are more interesting.

Nuked or Frozen ?   that was the question..     Does this story belong here ?
sure as hell does the trailer was made from an OLD Beetle.

To appreciate this SAGA   ---remember 13 days in October ?      First I am a dumb
EUPEAN     ---so I take advice from friends in Ottawa   Sandy Cameron land.
Vancouver ?    it rains all the time. --- OK i go to a  Army Navy surplus store.  I buy
a bright orange   nylon rubberised rain gear.   -- I then asked guy if he had any Down
filled sleeping bags.?---sure as hell US ARMY in big print   combat Zipper    ---
best part of the thing was the zipper . (and the price)

Pat Dolan  James Hansen and Sandy Cameron can certify   ---that setting out for the west in october ?
is pure madness. -------- NOW I AGREE.  (start in MAY)

1960  109  Landrover gasser  the tow vehicle Truck cab canvas back.. Trailer made from an old BEETLE.

ALL my worldly goods in Canada was in the trailer --Tall like a horse trailer.
Mattress from my bedroom ?   perfect fit in the back of Rover. ---perfect or what ?
What can go wrong?     Rover has  chains for all four wheels 760 X 16 8ply Nylon- in side boxes.

Tired   of driving  ?    pull over and crawl in sleeping bag. Down bag ? eh ?.

Trans Canada Highway  for those of you who never was there ---  is one long road.
Signal lights ?   stop signs ?   shit at times I did not see a house for hundred miles.

About Nipigon  the snowstorm hit    --- and the Trailer tounge broke.    ---will that stop a DIY fanatic ?  ---not on your ass. (not this highstepper).

I did have a radio  and lots of fuel. So I hunkered down on the mattress in the back
waiting out the storm. Near freezing to death.

Next morning --ah a crisp clear Canadian morning  ----the joy of flyboys   the air is
so thick  that airplanes  kan fly without the wings.

On the side of the road was some signs --BINGO--   steal the lumber and jury rig trailer
with the four snowchains.  ----Then limping on and on and on and on at  20 MPH---
Christ there got to be a town somewhere ?--------hours on end.   Finally there was a Construction Camp on the left .   I pulled in.  Did they have a Welder ?     NO.      Did they have an empty bunk
?   yes -----  First warm night in days   ---jepper upper bunk.
Next morning the foreman told me he had no welders ,  but about 10 miles further was a small town.
Yes I found the welder ---and he did a super job -----NO GOBBING it on.
Welds were hardly cold before I was back on the Trans  setting the governor for
50 MPH   ----life is great..  ---Music is western  (I like Mozart --but not bad)
Then I got to  James Hansens   Saskebush ----Trans as straight and level  as
far as the eye could see. Set the governor for 60 MPH   temperature was ok in the
back at night.
Alberta ?  ---some bastard put eggs in my Gasoline filler basket. Screen got
the Shells and the yoke ---but the whites wound up in Carb  just before the Mountains.

Drove the mountains on the choke.  -----Remember this is 13 days of october.  I
got to Lake Louise on day ten.    ---Being an old NATO guy  ?   What better place ?
When the Nukes are flying ?    So I set up camp and listened to the Radio.

There is a monster BIG Hotel  there  ---  closed  but not to a DIY when Nukes are flying.

So nothing would make me leave the place  ---till about day   20    ----listening to the
Radio every day.  So I have to dry out the sleeping bags ?   ---combat zipper ? US ARMY
style ? best Zipper  I ever saw. .So I let the Zipper rip  and it becomes a like a blanket.
Green outside brown inside -----So ?   what did I see ?     a sign  that this was a SUMMER
COMFORTER. ---no bloody wonder I near froze to death near Nipigon. Down my ass
it said Goose Feathers.    In Canada get a bag filled with Eider Down   --- The best ?
Mummy bag ---Arktic   Greenock of Scotland. Absolutely the best for a Rabbit.

On day 20   I set out again  for Vancouver   ---- WHO saved the WORLD ?   ----
IMHO      Jack Kennedy .     The Ruskies were far superior in military power
at that time.   . And US attacking Cuba ?  -- according to the BIBLE is casting the first
stone.
And  Jack  (smart man)  said do not cast that stone. Those 13 days was the worst miles
I ever travelled. ---let me tell you.  ---1940 --to 1945   was a cake walk.

When I got closer to Vancouver ?    absolute terror  ---madness-- evacuation signs
everywhere.--- I do say that civil defence people did a super job.   Madness or not.

I would rather walk for 13 days in death Valley without Water or Headless valley
in winter stark naked than travel   those 13 days  of October again.

Hagar .

PS.   And I was never a chickenshit.