The Rescue of Gigantor after the Christmas Tree
Run
On the CBS Sunday Morning show last weekend was an interview with famed film
director Francis Ford Coppola. He made a statement that no small part of his
success came from more often saying "yes" than "no" to people.
Boy - am I glad I said "yes" to Karl. I think it was Sunday, just after Mary
and I were driving away from the snow-buried Gigantor the 2nd time in two days
that he called to volunteer his time and said Tom Baker was offering to help
me get Gigantor out of the woods. Trailers were staged for a retrieval, and
diesel mechanics consulted. All I had to do was to say what day we'd make the
attempt. For once I didn't give in to my desire not to impose on others. It
was obvious, I needed all the help I could get.
So - Mary, Tom, Karl, and Mike Jennings all met up with me at the ranger
station Tuesday morning, and headed up the road. It was warm-ish (at least
above freezing) for that neck of the woods in December, snow melting, rain
pouring down, and could have been slightly wetter only if we had chosen to do
this in about 5 feet of standing water. Although at times - it felt kinda
like we were doing exactly that.
The county road had been plowed, which gave me great hope that this would be
pretty simple. Well - the county road ends about a mile short of where
Gigantor was parked, and the plowing stopped there. Sunday's 2 feet of snow
had compressed to about 9 inches of standing slush. Moosenstein had no
problem romping into the site, but Mike Jennings' truck quickly showed that it
really wasn't a trail vehicle, and we put him on the strap and turned him
around to park. Mary crabbed up the trail in her rig, and Tom, always good
for putting on an impressive show, chained up all 4 corners of his 1-ton
dually Duramax crew cab and churned his way up to the parking area. And Karl
- well - Karl is just like Chickenman. (HE'S EVERYWHERE! HE'S EVERYWHERE!)
When we left on Saturday night, the fuel had become as solid as bacon grease
sitting in the fridge. On Tuesday's return, the fuel we could see in the
jerry can and the filter was fluid, though thick, and it became obvious that
the old batteries really didn't have what it would take to spin the engine and
get the air out of the injector lines. Fortunately - I'd made a good guess
when picking up 2 more batteries from Costco, and they fit in place just
dandy. I think having 2 new 100 month batteries with 900 CCA (cold cranking
amps) of power through cleaned battery terminals more than likely beat the
heck out of some old mismatched 700 and 450 CCA pukes that came with the thing
when I bought it. With the new batteries in, we easily ground on that engine
for a minute at a time. While I was working on changing the batteries, Tom
plugged in his 150,000BTU heater to a generator, hooked it up to the 20 lbs of
propane he brought, and let 'er rip. If we couldn't heat things up enough to
start the rig, we'd at least melt it in place. As it was raining like a cow
peeing on a flat rock, the easy-up made things tolerably dry over the engine
bay.
After a few spins, the engine started to catch and cough - then die. MORE
HEAT! MORE HEAT!
So - we put the heater a little farther under the fuel system, put some real
diesel fuel into the tank we were switched to, and I put chains on the back
tires when the downpour lightened up.
And the next time it caught - it stayed running. So now for the turnaround
and the long crawl out. As I was in Moosenstein, Mike Jennings took over the
driving duties in Gigantor. (That is a Tamer definition of trust - that you
see how Mike drives his Cherokee in the woods, to then willingly plant him
behind the seat of your very own vehicle.....)
Gigantor and snow and cold really don't mix - on so many levels. He wouldn't
move by himself, and he wouldn't move much on a strap, even with Moosenstein
tugging and yanking. We popped the trailer off, and I put M-Stein's butt in a
hole off to one side, and Tom pulled the cable over. Well - the title says
that Gigantor weighs in about 7400 lbs - and when I hit the winch, he had
Moosenstein pulled out of its hole in no time. Hmmmmm.......that didn't work
very well.
Then I went back into the hole, and Karl hooked up his rig, and with two
winches from different angles, plus Mike driving the rig, Gigantor moved
enough to finally get him 180'd and back on the strap behind Moosenstein - and
trundling down the road through the slush.
The rest was pretty uneventful - Tom brought the trailer down behind him, the
trailer went on Gigantor, M-Stein went on the trailer, and everyone finally
headed down Foss River Rd under his or her own respective power. Time to head
for Bubba's roadhouse in Sultan, where a splendid late lunch was enjoyed by
all. It truly beat the heck out of going to work for the day.
Thanks again to Mary, Karl, Tom, Mike for their hands on assistance -
And for everyone else who sent an e-mail and followed with concern and
suggestions.
I am so glad to be a Timber Tamer. See you all at the Christmas Party.
Moose
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