SNEAK TRIP TO BEAR LAKE

Dear Family,

So much of what we do is spontaneous and planned on short notice in addition to a rather full calendar.

When we closed the Bear Lake home this fall, I could not put the "Induna" vehicle away as it would not start even with new double expensive batteries.  So we had to call Dee'S auto service in Laketown to come and pick up the vehicle.  They remembered the little truck, "Oh yeah that is the white one with a Corvette engine" So they drove up and hauled it off 30 miles for the repair.

We built that little vehicle in Michigan as a rock climber, something we never got around to do.  I believe the only thing original after the build was the accelerator pedal.  We put in an overbore Chevy 380 enginge with a stroker crankshaft, a Hummer transmission with a very low first gear, new transfer case, special heavy duty radiator, computer controlled fuel injection carburetor, four wheel disc brakes with hydraulic assist, four large off road tires, lockers fron and rear, an extra gas tank in the rear, custom welding roll bars and bumpers and other things I have forgotten,  This is a tank!!!! (gets 6 miles to the gallon of high octane gas)

Well Doug had been on call over the weekend and had Monday off.  (He operated on Jeanne Pfeifer on Sunday).  He wondered if we could just shoot up to Bear Lake and pick up the repaired Induna.  Turns out both fuel lines were damaged. So just he and I had a pleasant drive and picked up the car which he drove to the farm.  He was scooting along; (when you shift into 5th gear, you go > 75 MPH)

We took it  up on the dirt roads on the west hills and the view was spectacular.  The vehicle went great and it is ready for another year.

On the way home, Doug wanted to cross the Monte Cristo pass into Huntsville .  He is going to run the Marathon which goes from the crest to Huntsville on Saturday.  This is at 9000 feet at the top.  I  had him bring a tank of O2 because I know what my O2 saturation does at 8000 feet.  So we had this great drive up there and here is one view from the crest.  Doug had on his Garming runners watch which records the entire run which he can then place on a map.  (I thought you just ran but now there is so much gear, training, diet, shoe gear stuff etc. making it complicated).  It will be a gorgeous run!

This was a great spontaneous trip.  Good luck Doug

Love, Opa