“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
- Andre Gide

Our story begins in the middle. A Toyota LandCruiser lies mired in the mud along the pristine banks of a remote reservoir far from the reach of any tow truck. But how did it get here? Where is “here”?

Just off Horsely Mill Rd close enough to the Alabama border that you can almost hear banjos is this red dirt trail.

And at the trail’s end: The reservoir.

It draws LandCruisers to it like a woolly mammoth to a tar pit. The lure of a photo opportunity is irresistible. That little white line you see next to the Cruiser is Craig. He’s directing Tone as he attempts to drive the LandCruiser back out of the lake. We had reached the end of the trail here at the water’s edge. Johnney and I had made our way back up the hill after a fun but relatively uneventful trip down.

That trip ended with this photo op. The weather was nice, though very hot, the reservoir was empty except for one boat, and the vehicles were lined up perfectly for a magazine-style photo shoot.

Getting there had involved climbing and descending several steep hills and lots of ruts. At one point we crossed a small creek. The trail was dry enough that nobody had any trouble with traction.

For example here’s one of the better hills to descend.

At the top of each hill, I mean at the summit,… at each peak we would let the vehicles graze while we discussed the finer points of the climb.

Here Craig is spotting Tone’s every move to ensure that he properly and safely traverses this pit. This job is highly technical and requires an astute attention to detail, as you can see.

On the other side of the pit Johnney checks the angle with a protractor, or maybe just by eyeballing it, to guarantee a successful climb.

Another victorious climb. Is there anything the LandCruiser can’t drive through? A lake, for instance?

Johnney easily climbs up and over.

Posing somewhere along the trail.

The last descent of the LandCruiser.

Which brings us back to our photo opportunity. After this pic was taken Tone dipped the LandCruisers tail end into the lake where it would remain for the better part of the next two hours.

Johnney and I head out.

When we get to the top we see that Tone hasn’t moved since we left and Craig is outside the vehicle. What could possible be wrong?

First we tried the winch but in the struggle to free the Cruiser it had dug itself in to the point its frame rested on the ground. Reeling in the winch cable only pulled the Jeep closer to the Cruiser.

We hooked one tow strap to my Jeep and tried pulling but that wasn’t working either. Meanwhile Craig and Johnney were collecting rocks and digging in the mud to put the rocks under the tires for better traction… as in any traction. Then we brough Johnney’s Jeep back down and hooked both of them up to the Cruiser. Still no luck. It was like pulling 5000lbs of dentures from the mouth of Disaster. Fortunately Tone had a high lift jack so he lifted the rear of the Cruiser and we put a bunch of rocks under the tires. After a little more tugging…

The Cruiser breaks free from the clutches of the lake.

The hi-lift jack. A good thing to have on hand. Along with a shovel… ALONG WITH A SHOVEL. A SHOVEL.

We got the Cruiser out just in time. Here’s Johnney traversing a creek as night falls. It was late but we wouldn’t have left the Cruiser there. Jeep has a motto: Never leave a Land behind.

Hot weather today but a nice breeze so I rode around Grant Park and went down every alley I could find. They’re all unpaved dirt, gravel, or cobblestone so its a lot of fun.

You guys go on without me.

Waiting on you! Pick up the pace!

He’s on Craigslist.

Chris ended up not buying the Skylark because it needed too much cosmetic work. It looks pretty good from a distance but up close there are million little things here and there that would have to be fixed to make it a great car.

So went to pick up a desk from an artist’s house. Do you know Milford Thomas? Me neither but you should. Surely you’ve heard of Claire? Claire. You know, the movie by Milford Thomas about a Japanese folk tale? Well, you need to meet Milford Thomas, I guess. Apparently she’s a big fan. According to IMDBb Claire is “Loosely based on a Japanese fairytale, an elderly male couple on a farm in the 1920′s South find a little girl from the moon inside an ear of corn and raise her as their own.”

Next we went to see an old VW Beetle convertible but it too was in not-so-great condition so it didn’t come with us either.

Then we stopped at this no-name place on the side of the road next to a gas station and had an excellent BBQ sandwich, some fries, and some fried apple pie. Met a couple of nice ladies.

Then we stopped at Impatient Creations and talked briefly with a guy named Mark about the cars he had in front of his shop like this one, a Land Rover Defender 90 that’s had an LS2 engine swapped in producing over 400hp. There’s more about the Defender build here.

And finally we dropped by Barber.

The Dino they’re holding onto for me.

They had a couple of cars from the adjoining Porsche driving school out on the track.

This is what one of them looks like up close.

A Harley.

No, seriously it is.

Considering a rifle holster for when I have to ride down Boulevard.

A folding scooter.

Came home and checked out Nick’s latest addition to the fleet. 1983 SC.

The Facts:
Amateur chicken sexer D. Stevenson on FB commented on a picture of Ms. Mao that she looks more like a silkie rooster than a silkie hen.

The Rhode Islands laid eggs before any of the new chickens appeared in Coopertino.

The other two ones Guillermo sold me are hens because I get 4 eggs a day max. I haven’t expected 5 eggs because Senorita Mao was too young.

This morning I got out of bed during the crowing and right after the crowing stopped, Lady Mao came around the corner of the house from where the crowing sound originated.

Well that would explain Little Jerry’s poor egg production!

Reaction #2: “Indeed you have good ideas. Let’s execute them. Now where’s that leash?…”

Reaction #3: “You’re driving me crazy. Are we or aren’t we going for a walk?”

Reaction #4: “Not funny any more.”

But we did go on a walk.