Ahhh, there’s nothing like the healing powers of Oregon outdoors to do wonders for one’s Rig.
My Rig and I have been a bit under the weather the past few weeks. But one thing the Fish Hack has learned in almost 20 years at the Fish Wrap is that a good sniff of the outdoors makes the ol’ Rig run right — even when the engine light says something’s wrong.
My 1991 Toyota 4Runner and I have been all over Oregon together, usually stalking steelhead or salmon in the backwoods waterways whose rating on the adventure-meter graces the Fish Fish Wrap each week. But it’s getting even busier.
The new weekly six-page Oregon Outdoors section (check it out on Thursdays. It’s pretty sweet) has the Fish Hack working so much that this seems almost like an honest job, and that has me out and about more. I rely on my Rig now more than ever.
But the Rig’s engine has been Californicated in an on-again, off-again manner since a July trip to the Bay Area. Damn engine light goes on, probably from a bad air sensor but I’ve never had it checked out. But I have learned that the only way to get the damn thing to turn off is to go on an adventure.
Once, the light was on more than a week. But it turned off and the Rig started running like a top while I was driving between fishing holes on the North Umpqua fly water. This time, it’s elk that did the trick.
I spent Thursday hop-scotching the backwoods roads in the Union Creek area, talking to hunters about the mystique of elk camp and why camping in the wet October snow is so damn fun. (The story runs Sunday, Oct. 21, in the Fish Wrap’s news section. Check it out).
Well, guess what? The idiot light that had been glowing since last week went out just about the time cell phone range died outside of Prospect. Me and the Rig drove all over those Green Dots roads, buzzing through 6 inches of wet snow like it was budda.
The Rig is so intoxicated by the high-country air that the idiot light is still off. Again, all is right with the Fish Hack’s freakish world.
So the lesson here is don’t go to some mechanic with computer-analysis gizmos and an actual knowledge of the internal-combustion beast. When your Rig starts turtling, go steelhead fishing or hit the woods and all will be right with the world.
Trust me. I’m no mechanic, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.
