Went up to and across the plateau yesterday afternoon with Little Bear to feed a couple of horses, carefully noting the mileage up and back. On the far side of that is a mesa on top of which is one of the three coolest houses in the known universe, access to which is granted via a steep and scary driveway dug – legend has it – out of the side of the hill by hand and mattock over years. The guy lived in a livestock barn down on the flat while he finished building the road to the site where he planned to build his house, and then again while he built the first wing of the house. The house, now apparently finished, is not to be believed. It’s one of the wonders of my world. There will be no close photographs of it here, but it’s a temptation.
I have to climb that mesa three times this week – I have to climb the ridge six times – which is why I was interested in the mileage. I have X gallons of gasoline, there are Y miles back and forth between the Lair and the job. Divide the number of miles by the number of gallons, and the product of the equation would be comforting if the trip were on level ground. Of course the trip is not on level ground, and the Jeep has a teeny little inconvenient peculiarity: It won’t climb hills when it’s almost out of gas. Poorly designed fuel tank, I guess: The pick-up tube comes out of the liquid, the pump sucks air, the engine quits, and there you are. If the hill you just died on happens to involve a narrow road there’s nothing to do but back down carefully until you can turn around or reach a level bit. Without power brakes. While Little Bear helpfully stands directly in your line of sight. I know these things from experience.
I’m pretty sure some of last night’s dreams involved that very thing happening while I was halfway up the ridge to the plateau. That steep driveway would be worse, really; it’s narrow like you wouldn’t believe and has no switchbacks where you can stop and turn around.
It’s situations like this that almost but not quite make me want to question certain important life decisions. Almost. Not quite.
And anyway it’ll be fine. It involved lining up stacks of quarters, but I have in my pocket enough money to fill a jerry can with gasoline this morning. And that golden liquid, when poured into the Jeep, will remove the last of my uncertainty about whether I can get back and forth enough to do the job and get paid.
I’ve said it before and of course this will come as no surprise to regular readers anyway but I’ve always been a bit of a ne’er-do-well and this isn’t my first experience with being broke and out of gas. There was a time, when I was much younger, (and I say this with no pride) that I never left home without my Arkansas Credit Card…
…but that was a really long time ago. I’ve grown since then. Also there are no cars around to steal from anyway.
Oh loud unladylike guffaw accompanied by flying coffee, FOMCL and for sure ROTF. Great memories.
Would it be possible to keep the pickup in the gas if you backed up the hill? Or, is the road such that backing up it is a no-go?
I’ve thought of that myself, and someday I’m going to give it a try just so I can say I’ve done it. But not on this road, no.
Oh Joel… Good luck with this. I know from experience how much gas tanks don’t like hills and I’ve had a couple of situations where my vehicle coasted up the to the gas pumps so I understand your trepidation.
Is it too far to park the Jeep halfway up the slope on both sides of hill ? and walk to your destination ? Or do loads of burden that are carried in Jeep prevent that from occurring ? Doesn’t solve your tank problem unless the area near hill crest is less steep than the foot of hills.
Have you checked your tip jar lately for gas money?
🙂 Y’know, it’s strange but I’m unable to log on to Paypal anymore. Not only won’t it open, it actually crashes Firefox and sometimes Linux. Been that way for a couple of months. So I guess I should ask my financial manager to go take a look. Things were quiet on the tip jar front for quite a while, and maybe Paypal got mad at me or something? Sounds weird, but then most financial matters are weird to me.
There is a foot path up the mesa, so if I’d needed to I could have eliminated that part of the drive entirely. Steep climb, but doable and you certainly can’t beat the view. Yesterday I actually did leave the Jeep at Landlady’s place, since her place is on the way to the ridge, to save the 3-mile round trip. It’s not a 3-mile walk, I can go straight cross-country and it’s a good dog walky anyway. If the gas run had been canceled today (it was scarily postponed, but eventually ended well) I’d have left the Jeep there all week. But now the matter has been resolved.
Is that a photo of you in Jenks, OK?
I don’t recall ever having visited Jenks. Certainly not recently.