A jeep named UH-OH

Last year I trailered the old Jeep to elk camp. One day I decided to head south to where the sign for the “Malheur River Ford” 

was directing me.   Nobody wanted to ride along,but Dad suggested his wife go.  We climbed into the old Willys and off we went.  The sign at the blacktop said lookout and River Ford this way.  Well, that was the last sign.   We tossed a coin a few times and guessed a few more at road forks.

     As we decended into the river basin and neared the river, things took a turn for the worse.  I shoved the gearbox into low range before I had completely stopped. That’s a bad bad thing.   I heard what I was sure was gears blasting through the cast iron case and ricocheting off the rocks below and bashing up against the floor.   Damn, I jammed on the brakes.  Now, Willys Jeep brakes never really did stop them old Jeep’s they just had a tendency to somewhat impede forward momentum.  Anyway, we shook and ground to a stop.   I swear I could smell that old 90 weight gear oil that was surely leaking away.    There was a wide area ahead at the river edge so I gritted my teeth and eased down to where I was sure we were going to be for a very long time.    While the other campers knew where we went, there were no other vehicles in camp that could traverse the roads and rough terrain even if they tossed the same coin that we did.  

    I climbed out and suggested Charlotte dig some roots and collect berries.    I would get started on building a cabin.    

    I decided to take a quick peak under the Jeep.    

      Have you ever seen how a speedometer cable is made?  They take about a hundred feet of wire and tightly coil it around another wire and all this gets connected to the transfer case and back of the Speedometer.  What happened was the cable had gotten tangled with the front driveline and came unwound.    Then it ripped out of the case and was yanked out of the firewall where it balled up and hammered against the floor.   No real damage at all.    Nobody really needs a speedometer on a Willys anyway.