New2view's Blog   Life on The Blue Marble

Venerable International Harvester 4×4

It was 1982 I think. We were living in a modernized log cabin in Rock Creek. Located halfway across B.C. close to the US border crossing at Midway. It was an 8+ acre property backing on the Kettle river, last pristine one in BC some said.

I had little or no experience as a farming type but was hoping to become self-reliant, much like the hippy movement preceding that time. So when my acreage grew a fairly profitable crop of hay, I hired a neighbor with a machine to bail it for a shared percentage. Then, with the help of a visiting friend, we stacked the hay in anticipation of sales.

Some hay did sell, but a fair amount remained unsold.  Noticing a large old International 4×4 pickup truck for sale along the highway one day, I offered to swap hay for the truck, partly because hay was difficult to keep. Surprisingly we made a trade; the beginning of another real life adventure for me.

My oldest daughter had secured a job eight miles away in Midway, so it occurred to me I should trade that unused behemoth for something she could use for transportation to work.

So one cold clear winter day I struck out on a back road, (Highway 33 Kelowna to Rock Creek *) and soon realized that heavy old beast, likely with age-hardened tires, was completely unstable on that icy winter road! While transiting an elevated section at slow speed, it began to spin uncontrollably! With no way to stop it, I bailed out and helplessly watched, spell bound, as it slid off the road, almost in slow motion, thundered down a 25′ bank and came to a stop with a loud bang, slamming onto a large bolder!

That was just the beginning! First I tried to restart, but ironically the ignition key broke off! At that point I thought this was definitely not my day and the truck would be a write off.  Not to mention traffic on that back road was few and far between in those days. Also  day’s were short with temperatures below zero at that time of year. But surprisingly a tanker truck came by before long. Driver seeing the situation stopped, gratefully I related my plight including the broken key. (This is where the story becomes truly miraculous! )

Without a word of a lie, that tanker truck driver handed me a ring full of keys he said he had no more use for, and astonishing, one of the keys on that ring worked in my vehicle’s ignition, which started right up!  However being wedged up on that large rock it would not move. The driver had waited, so I climbed aboard, only slightly optimistically of finding more help somewhere down the road.

Now several miles further along there was a rare off-road dwelling came into view, so I riskily offloaded in hopes of obtaining ‘any’ help. To my utter amazement the self-reliant owner offered exactly what I needed, namely a heavy solid steel pole not less than 6′  long and 2″ diameter!  (I have no idea what its intended purpose was.)

Almost as miraculous as the ignition I soon thumbed a ride back to the truck with that large steel pole in a small, convertible Triumph sports car, with the top down! Indeed the top had to be down to accommodate that large steel pole. The driver was disregarding low temperatures, while enjoying a crystal blue daylight winter sky.

Returning to the crash site, I was soon able to leverage that old bullet proof truck off the bolder with the steel pole,* *  started it up, and crawled parallel to the road until able to climb back onto it!  I know this all must sound unbelievable, but I swear it is the truth. And there’s even more to this story!

To return the steel pole, I drove the several miles and pulled off in the lenders driveway. At that very moment there was a loud bang under the hood! Battery damage when the truck hit the rock cracked it open and caused it to explode, spraying battery acid all over the engine compartment!  It instantly occurred to me that if that battery had exploded earlier, I would once again have been stranded!

At that point I thought my good fortune must surely have run its course, but wait..  On hearing my plight the generous homesteader told my to ‘go down to his basement and take any one of his spare batteries being kept on chargers’!!

Needless to say I was dumbfounded by all this unexpected help. In conclusion; I made it to Kelowna right at sundown and stayed overnight in a motel. The very next day I was able to substitute that old beast of a truck for a reliable old Mazda! (In fact that is yet another surprising story!) That car served my daughter well for transportation to her job in Midway.

* Hwy 33, Rock Creek to Kelowna, is now ‘greatly improved’ road.

**  “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

            View this link to Boundary Country Hwy 33 video: