Post by catmandewe on Aug 3, 2009 23:03:19 GMT -5
Last Saturday Jason, my Father In Law, Mel, and myself went back to the Owyhees to see if we could do a little digging and find the source of the motherlode stuff we were finding last week.
We left early so we could use the cool part of the morning for digging and then pick up stuff on the way back out with the AC on. Well we got to within about 5 miles of where we were going and started having mechanical problems. After checking a few things and doing some back yard mechanic kind of stuff we deduced that the fuel pump had gone out.
Of course we had no cell reception. We knew that we were about 45 miles from town and we seldom ever see anyone while we are out here, so Mel stayed with the pickup and Jason and I headed out for town. We walked 10 miles before we came upon a group of 4 wheelers making a loop through the Owyhees. We persuaded them to give us a ride and they were gracious enough to jockey people around on their 4 wheelers and let Jason and I ride one of the 4 wheelers back to their pickups which were about 16 miles from where they picked us up. I will never talk bad about 4 wheelers again!!
We then helped them load their toys up and they gave us a ride to Homedale. We finally got cell phone reception and called one of our Owyhee gem rock club buddies, Carl, and gave him a list of parts that we needed. He went to the parts store in Caldwell and of course they didn't have one in stock, so they called around and found one in Nampa, so he drove over there to pick it up and then came to Homedale and picked us up. He then gave us a ride back out there so we could hopefully fix the pickup. Carl is also part mechanic so he was a great help with changing the fuel pump, and we did get it changed right there in the dirt. (I am very thankful it was not an in the tank pump!)
Well by the time we got it running again we had about an hour of daylight left and Carl said he wanted to see what we were out there lookin at so we took him up to where there was a pretty good pile of material and loaded some up in his pickup and even got some in mine.
We drove out in the dark, but if you have ever walked 10 miles of road in the Owyhees you know that you cannot help but pick up rocks, so all the way out we had to stop and pick up the little piles of rocks we had left on the side of the road while we were walking.
(Jason walked 10 miles with his rock hammer in his hand!)
Mel and I finally got home at 1:45 am after having left at 4am the previous morning, so it was a long day for sure!
I get up the next morning and I have a flat tire on my pickup to boot!!
Well at least we all made it safe and no one died of heat stroke or rattle snake bite, so it is another adventure to tell our grandkids about!!
No pictures, we were too busy to take any, I have a couple muscles that I had forgotten I had that are calling out to me today, but it was still all fun!!
Hope the next one goes better!!
Tony
We left early so we could use the cool part of the morning for digging and then pick up stuff on the way back out with the AC on. Well we got to within about 5 miles of where we were going and started having mechanical problems. After checking a few things and doing some back yard mechanic kind of stuff we deduced that the fuel pump had gone out.
Of course we had no cell reception. We knew that we were about 45 miles from town and we seldom ever see anyone while we are out here, so Mel stayed with the pickup and Jason and I headed out for town. We walked 10 miles before we came upon a group of 4 wheelers making a loop through the Owyhees. We persuaded them to give us a ride and they were gracious enough to jockey people around on their 4 wheelers and let Jason and I ride one of the 4 wheelers back to their pickups which were about 16 miles from where they picked us up. I will never talk bad about 4 wheelers again!!
We then helped them load their toys up and they gave us a ride to Homedale. We finally got cell phone reception and called one of our Owyhee gem rock club buddies, Carl, and gave him a list of parts that we needed. He went to the parts store in Caldwell and of course they didn't have one in stock, so they called around and found one in Nampa, so he drove over there to pick it up and then came to Homedale and picked us up. He then gave us a ride back out there so we could hopefully fix the pickup. Carl is also part mechanic so he was a great help with changing the fuel pump, and we did get it changed right there in the dirt. (I am very thankful it was not an in the tank pump!)
Well by the time we got it running again we had about an hour of daylight left and Carl said he wanted to see what we were out there lookin at so we took him up to where there was a pretty good pile of material and loaded some up in his pickup and even got some in mine.
We drove out in the dark, but if you have ever walked 10 miles of road in the Owyhees you know that you cannot help but pick up rocks, so all the way out we had to stop and pick up the little piles of rocks we had left on the side of the road while we were walking.
(Jason walked 10 miles with his rock hammer in his hand!)
Mel and I finally got home at 1:45 am after having left at 4am the previous morning, so it was a long day for sure!
I get up the next morning and I have a flat tire on my pickup to boot!!
Well at least we all made it safe and no one died of heat stroke or rattle snake bite, so it is another adventure to tell our grandkids about!!
No pictures, we were too busy to take any, I have a couple muscles that I had forgotten I had that are calling out to me today, but it was still all fun!!
Hope the next one goes better!!
Tony