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So I bail out on a little diddy that my woman and I had to be at about 11:20 pm on Friday and leave her there. Made the ferry at 11:45 pm headed to Kingston. Yes, all my gear was pre-packed. Left the Safeway in PA about 2 am after shopping for essentials for the Hoh down. I am almost to Crescent Lake when the engine dies at 3 am. I had electricity and everything, except diesel, but both tanks are full. Coast to the side of the road. Look under the rig and where the fuel pump is, diesel has leaked all along the undercarriage with diesel dripping off the fuel pump. No tools.
9am Saturday morning, I start hitch hiking back to PA. Bought a fuel pump at the NAPA. Walk over to Swain’s and buy the tools I needed. Hitch hiked back to the rig. I had the new pump in and everything back together by 3pm. I am thinking I can get a line wet before sundown. Started cranking the engine. That ’84, 6.9 liter engine on that F-250 drained the batteries pretty quick. I am trying everything to bleed the air out of the fuel lines. Refilled the fuel filters. Primed… pumped. I had to rip all the battery cables off and scrap every millimeter of corrosion off. This gave me another 30 minutes of cranking power. Still bleeding air off everything. Crank, bleed more air, crank, bleed, crank, bleed, oh god please let me fish. The batteries went dead about 4:30 pm. I had the truck towed back to Rudy’s automotive in PA and left my keys. Shoulders hung low, head down, I walked away from that key drop box. Girl friend picked me up at Rudy’s about 9 pm and took me back home to Seattle. I tried to get there gentlemen. I still have the humiliation of going back out there and picking up my rig this week.
Now for all you guys who drove by me Saturday on 101 with your drift boats, pontoons and fly fishing rafts. I was the red F-250, right on the curve at Sunderland Lake. That was me under the hood. I’m not pissed or anything. How could you know it was me? Just a red truck with diesel puddles under it. No boat or toon. No fishing stickers. Nothing. Just know I did my best to get there. Had I made it there, the fish would have been screwed. Because I would have brought that kind tenaciousness to the water. I hope you did for me. If you didn’t and saw me on the side of the road, at least you know what tenacious looks like.
9am Saturday morning, I start hitch hiking back to PA. Bought a fuel pump at the NAPA. Walk over to Swain’s and buy the tools I needed. Hitch hiked back to the rig. I had the new pump in and everything back together by 3pm. I am thinking I can get a line wet before sundown. Started cranking the engine. That ’84, 6.9 liter engine on that F-250 drained the batteries pretty quick. I am trying everything to bleed the air out of the fuel lines. Refilled the fuel filters. Primed… pumped. I had to rip all the battery cables off and scrap every millimeter of corrosion off. This gave me another 30 minutes of cranking power. Still bleeding air off everything. Crank, bleed more air, crank, bleed, crank, bleed, oh god please let me fish. The batteries went dead about 4:30 pm. I had the truck towed back to Rudy’s automotive in PA and left my keys. Shoulders hung low, head down, I walked away from that key drop box. Girl friend picked me up at Rudy’s about 9 pm and took me back home to Seattle. I tried to get there gentlemen. I still have the humiliation of going back out there and picking up my rig this week.
Now for all you guys who drove by me Saturday on 101 with your drift boats, pontoons and fly fishing rafts. I was the red F-250, right on the curve at Sunderland Lake. That was me under the hood. I’m not pissed or anything. How could you know it was me? Just a red truck with diesel puddles under it. No boat or toon. No fishing stickers. Nothing. Just know I did my best to get there. Had I made it there, the fish would have been screwed. Because I would have brought that kind tenaciousness to the water. I hope you did for me. If you didn’t and saw me on the side of the road, at least you know what tenacious looks like.
A couple pics attached. Saturday baled on Chris and Ryan due to unexpected circumstances. Sorry men! It was nice to get to the Oxbow for a bit though. Looked like a sweet set up y'all had going there!!
