Today I went and picked up my new car. This is the first car I’ve actually picked out—the others were just sort of there, and available when I needed transportation. Not this Mercedes. It is the car I have wanted for quite a while: a 1984 diesel 300SD. I drove back from Kansas City without incident—except for the black smoke when I accelerate hard. My brother said it was some valve someone must have disabled, which made me feel better about it. By the end of the 3 hour trip I was pretty comfortable with the car.
On my Mazda, I’ve been ignoring most maintenance and upkeep that is not totally necessary. Things like vacuuming it out, or replacing parts instead of just removing them. But I plan to do a little more to this car. As a gesture of goodwill, this evening I wiped down the interior, cleaning the layer of dust off of it. It is still going to have some tears and dings, but it will be a little less dingy.
This car is sturdy. I was looking at it’s structure—the word that comes to mind is “tank”. The undercarriage looks like you could drive over flaming engine blocks without a problem. Not that I plan to do that, but I could. It isn’t impervious to damage, however. The drivers-side doors are slightly bent where it ran into something. I have another set of doors, but they would need repainting to match the rest of the car (dark silver with pealing clear-coat). And I would need to repair the rear door sill where it has been bent inward. But, I’m not sure if I want to dothat much work to it. But I do plan to clean the floors, if I can find an outlet to plug the vacuum into.
In other news, last weekend I went, with some people from church, down to Turner Falls—a place in Oklahoma where a creek runs through some mountains. In fact, it seems to be the best place Oklahoma has where cool water and rocks meet in a picturesque way. Which is probably why we couldn’t get in Sunday midday when we arrived—they had admitted 5000 people already, and had closed the park to any more. So, we went to the cabin where we were staying, and played in a different river. This one was warm and red. It was, as they say, “to thin to plow, to thick to drink”. You couldn’t see the bottom when you cupped the water in your hands. But, all this silt piled up along the edges, and made nifty “quickmud”. You could walk on top, but if you stamped your feet, you would sink in above your knees. It was kind of tricky to get back out of once that happened. The river rushed along very quickly—I could barely hold my own in a slow area—standing waist deep, or swimming against the current. But a lot of the 100′ wide river was only knee-to-waist deep. And the bottom was very hilly. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. As it got dark, I wandered around the 70 acre hayfield between the river and the cabin where everyone else was sitting around a fire. It was quiet and peaceful in the country. I sang “The Spacious Firmament” as the stars came out.
After eating s’mores, we all found places to sleep. There weren’t enough beds to go around, so I slept outside, on a round bale. The bugs bothered me some, so I brought out the DEET and sprayed it on until they all went away. Then all I had to deal with was the fact that a bale is shorter than me by about 2 feet. And, my single, thin blanket was pretty chilly as the night wore on. Other than that, it was pretty ok, out under the stars and the dew. And it was more like camping than just living in “cabin.” (It actually was a house, and other than lacking an oven, was nicer than my own.) Next time you need to sleep on a haybale, here’s what to do:
- Bring a warm blanket. Even in the summer, the nights get cold
- Stack bales together. One bale is too short, and lying crosswise is only comfortable for a little while.
- Bug spray. Bugs live near bales. If I hadn’t had it, my life would not have been much fun.
- Have something between you and the hay. Even if you aren’t allergic to hay, you don’t want in all over you.
So, if you have a choice between a hard floor and some bales, go with the bales. But, roll two bales end-to-end. Or better yet, flop two or three on their ends, so you have a flat platform to lay on. You won’t feel like you’re camping.
Oh, then the next day we went to the Falls, scrambled around on some rocks, and went swimming in the cold water, swam under the falls (we weren’t supposed to) and ate lunch in a trashed-out, overcrowded picnic area. The water was full of minerals, so it was milky, and deposited rock, gluing the creek bed together. After lunch we went down to a big dammed-up pool area where they had a slide and diving board. It was fun. And about as crowded as the Y. Unlike the Y, no one was there telling people not to go down the slide head first. Or when it is safe to follow the next person.
Next time I go, I’m going to Missouri. I guess Turner Falls would be more attractive if my previous swimming experience was in a pond full of cows.
Oh, and this is an awesome video of the sun:http://www.orbitingfrog.com/blog/movies/SuninUV.mpg
