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Show ( 7v7 JUST STUFF BY JflN Yk It is usually with eager anticipation that I anxiously await a trip to Lake Powell. But not this time. It was a quick trip down and back. We didn't even take enough time to stick a big toe in the crystal blue water that was lapping lap-ping at the sun burned sands. I know, it sounds immoral! Go to Lake Powell and not even get in the water! But such was the case last weekend. My sister and her husband have a boat which they keep dry docked at Lake Powell and whenever they take a trip down to the red rock reservoir, they usually invite Kraig and me along. We usually get three or four good trips in before we bid goodbye to summer. But not this year. This year the boat needed to be fixed before it could be dumped in the lake, which meant it had to be pulled back to the big city for some work. And that meant someone had to go get it first. It was a rescue mission, of sorts. The last time Sue and Dick pulled their boat anywhere they used their Blazer. It was a little slow, but it pulled the big beastly boat. But that was before the Blazer had over 160,000 miles on the engine. en-gine. Rather than push our luck, it was decided that we'd use their trusty van, equipped with an equalizer equal-izer hitch, to do the trick. We pulled into the parking lot, hitched up the boat and headed for . home. No problem. No problem, ? that is, until we hit the first incline coming up out of Bull Frog. We watched as the needle on the speedometer moved closer and closer to 0 and the van slowed. There was a sigh of relief as the van crossed the crest. We had initially planned to go home by way of Price, saving us a few extra miles but, realizing the van didn't pack the pulling poop previously presumed, we changed our course. There was no way the gutless wonder would ever pull the boat up over Soldier Summit. We would go home by way of Capitol Reef. Unfortunately, the fact that Capitol Reef is not without its hills slipped our minds. We were inching our way up a particularly steep incline when we stopped, completely. We could go no more. "Would it help if we got out?" someone asked, and as Kraig and Sue and I piled out of the van it started forward again. (There's a statement to be made about weight here, but I'll pass). As Dick inched his way up the hill with the van, boat in tow, the three of us trailed behind, runners in some forgotten race. The next hill was just as steep and once again we pounced to the pavement. The van inched forward and stopped. There was only one thing left we could do. Have you ever tried Ip push a full sized van towing a 26-foot boat up a hill? It's literally an uphill battle, but we were doing it, and making progress, too. Luckily, some kind hearted soul happened by and pulled us, van, boat and all, up the hill. ' ' ; . I am anxiously awaiting the boat's repair. Our next trip to Lake Powell promises to be much more fun, providing we can find someway some-way to get the beastly boat down there! |