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

[pmdolan at sasktel.net]

Dang, a bit OT, but referring to being outside in the cold:

When I lived in Northern Manitoba (Thompson) I had snow-mobile sub-dealers in various places in the bush.  On a particularly nice day (about -35 in January), I jumped in the Yankee (AA-1) and headed about 100 miles NW to a place on the Churchill River.  I went to my friend's house, to see how sales leads were shaping up.  I thought I was the macho bush-pilot type until his kids said he was gone on the trapline.  "How", I asked, since all of the snowmobiles were there - "Snowshoes".  "When will he be back, do you think?" - " I don't know, maybe a week or two".  When he returned (several weeks later), I asked him what the deal was, and he said it was getting too crowded (almost 200 people in town) so he had to get out on his own for a while - walking the trapline with a pair of snowshoes and a 22 cal.   No eider, no goose, no friggin' feathers at all!~!  Many nights pushing -50.  Suddenly, I felt like a city slicker again.

Pat

----- Original Message -----
From: "H .  Hagar." <h_hagar at prcn.org>
Date: Monday, January 17, 2005 12:57 pm
Subject: [Vwdiesel] Towing Tales ---- ( eventful ones )

> 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.
> _______________________________________________
> Vwdiesel mailing list
> Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
>