(from Chris Scharpf)
For those who got a chuckle out of my Jeep misadventures in the Deep South
may
enjoy knowing that they have continued.
Last Thursday I flew to Chattanooga and spent the night at Casper Cox's
house.
He drove me to Fort Payne the next day to retrieve the vehicle. We were
driving
(in my car) around NE Alabamy hitting some creeks, including the Little
River
where the TN Valley region group had sampled a few months prior. Fantastic
snorkeling, and the water was warm. 53 miles into our trip I casually
glanced at
the Jeep's temp. gauge. It was overheating! Opened the hood and sure enough,
coolant was spewing from the reservoir and radiator cap. We collected fish
(or
should I say, I watched Casper collect fish--my heart was no longer in it)
while
the engine cooled. Then we drove back to Fort Payne (where Casper had left
his
Caravan) with our eyes on the gauge.
"There's no way I'm leaving this Jeep in Fort Payne!" I said. So we had
dinner
while the engine cooled some more, then we made the trek back to
Chattanooga. I
followed Casper, driving slowly so as to not overwork the engine, and
running
the heater to draw heat away from it. Luckily, we made it.
Now I had an unexpected weekend to kill before taking the Jeep to the
dealership
in Chattanooga. Thanks to Casper, we made the best of it. On Saturday we
drove
to Knoxville and visited Conservation Fisheries. J.R. Shute gave us a tour
and
it was fabulous. You should see the pygmy madtoms that just spawned! They
are
awesome! What an impressive set up they have there. (I even left with some
fish:
non-protected baby smallmouth buffalo, which they were raising for kicks.)