I Drove This

This part means a lot to C. He goes to the rally in IA to see all the Dodge Power Wagons, talk shop with the guys, mud a little, but another big component is getting advice on some of the quirks of these vehicles (you'll hear talk of the conversion of drum brakes to disc brakes all over the fairgrounds). So when C can catch up and engage guys that have been rebuilding these trucks, there are some awesome moments - feedback, advice, tricks, brainstorming. It's a very cool process.

This truck belongs to Bob. Bob builds Power Wagons for fun, and as far as I know HE BUILDS THEM - it's an important caveat, because that's opposed to paying someone to rebuild a motor and then paying another guy to do some body work. Guys that build their trucks are more useful to C because of their intimate knowledge of how these builds go.

C found Bob. They started talking, throwing around ideas, spoke of how Bob rebuilt this beauty and how C rebuilt his. Then Bob asks, "Want to go for a ride?" And C replied, "Sure."
C came back and told me that Bob let him drive it.
Oh, dear.

This is the front of Jill's Purple People Eater. It's a Town Wagon and so very cool. I can't believe that we didn't get a better picture of it, but we love it. Not just because we're KSU fans! Jill was nice enough to give us a ride to dinner on Saturday evening and afterwards we were itching to get on the road (I missed our dogs desperately, so we came home a little early), so Jill's husband, Jon, threw us the keys. I think C about choked. So we drove the PPE back to the campsite (all of a few blocks) and C said it was very similar to driving an old five ton grain truck.

PPE in the background. Keep reading in the following post to catch the another reason that it was so cool to drive the PPE.