It was pitch dark. We looked all over for a flash light. There wasn't one in the Jeep at all. Dave was looking for the jack. The original jack was missing. All he found was a flimsy little jack for a Volkswagen bug. Luckily, he did find the spare tire.
Dad looked around in the back of the Jeep. He found a paper plate. He handed it to me and then turned on the Jeep's headlights. I stood about fifteen feet in front of the Jeep and off to the side a bit. It was my job to shine light back to the area of the left front tire. A small paper plate doesn't reflect that much light, but it's better than no light at all.
Dave placed the jack under the front axle. Dad cranked it up all the way. It was still about ten inches short of even touching the axle! I could tell my dad and Dave were stumped for a while. Then they built a small tower with flat rocks. Dad started up the Jeep and rolled it so the axle was right over the tower of rocks. Dave placed the jack on the top rock and then jacked up the Jeep.
Dave started to un-do the lug nuts of the flat tire. He said to me, "You don't need to shine that over here anymore. I used to work in a garage and I can change a tire in the dark with one hand tied behind my back."
I was tempted to find some rope and take him up on his offer. I thought, sure, I'll bet you never had to use a Volkswagen jack on a pile of rocks to jack up a big truck before!
He took off the tire and dad rolled the spare over to him. I was standing there with nothing to do since apparently my services were no longer required. I noticed for the first time since leaving the inside of the Jeep how incredibly cold it was. The wind was blowing too. It seemed to bite right through my down-filled
coat. I was only wearing jeans. I was chilled way down to my bones. It took a week to get rid of the cold feeling in my legs.
Well, we were done. The rest of the trip down was uneventful. We dropped Dave off at his home and then headed home ourselves.
I never saw the old green Jeep after that. Maybe that event prompted KSL to eventually get a new vehicle for going up to the mountains. But I will always remember the good times I had with it and my dad. Especially that cold night on Coon Peak.
Coming Tomorrow: Family Vacations In The Blue And White Van
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