I felt good...charged even...I had the old, 'sense-of-purpose' feeling while I was engaged in the activity...and actually using my truck for something other than building a house...
It started last year when an older gentleman called me and said that they needed to get their truck running and moved...
It is a 1965 Ford two-ton dump truck that he had used when he had a roofing business...grand old thing...was powered by an FE gas engine and four-speed.
I had seen the truck before...so I did not ask what it was...I just needed to know how long it had been sitting...
'Two to three years'...came the reply...I told him to see if the battery will take a charge first...and then call me...
Secretly...I knew that it was a good chance that the gas had soured in the tank...but...first things first...
Fast forward one year...I get a voicemail that had a lot of stress in it...on a Friday afternoon...that he needed to move the thing by Monday morning...
I sprang into action...the message was already three hours old...I uncoupled my truck from everything attaching it to the jobsite..extension cords, air lines, radio and makeshift antenna, nuts, bolts, screws, washers, a can of welding rod stubs, buckets, scrap metal, tools, etc.,etc....you would not believe what can pile up around your truck when it becomes a stationary work site...
Finally I cranked her up after checking the oil and charging system and headed down the driveway...I took note of how many miles was on the odometer as I chugged down the road...
I called the guy and said I was on the way...
Thirty miles later I am there...and the field...I am not ******** you...the grass was waist high...I groaned to myself and just 'knew' that The Girl was going to have to inspect me for ticks, later...
Tick, chiggers, maybe snakes...(Both kinds...)...Oh, well...here goes...
So...He didn't say much about the grass...and he rolled up with a battery in a loader bucket and was surprised that I was there after only one voicemail...membership has it's privileges...
I opened the hood and took off the air cleaner...Autolite two-barrel...cool, simple...I put gas in it with a can and a hose while he goes to put his battery in under the passenger floorboard...he borrows a socket while I take the fuel line off the mechanical fuel pump...I drain it into a pan...and it comes out stinky and yellow....
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