Our Sweet Ride

The highlight of the day today is our temporary vehicle. We've borrowed a Jeep Cherokee from the clerk of court and her husband. It was very nice of them to loan it to us until we get our vehicle off the barge. I say that, because I am really happy to have it, and I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea as I now proceed to make fun of its quirks.

The power driver's seat doesn't seem to work, so I'm not in a real comfortable driving position. (Most people are taller than me.) It's a bit messy inside, as well. The aforementioned (aforeblogged?) registration is definitely out of date, although that should be fixed soon. The driver's seat belt isn't functional, but at the 25 mph speeds of Dillingham's busy streets, I'm not concerned. Here are some pictures.

Oh, and there's lots of this:

That would be 7mm Remington Magnum rounds, 22 caliber rounds, and 12 gauge shotgun shells in the change tray and center console. I guess those are popular hunting rounds in Alaska. But this was even more interesting:


This is half of a box of .348 Winchester rounds. That's a magnum caliber that was apparently popular in Alaska since it's large enough to take any North American game. There's two strange things about it. First, it's not actually factory Winchester ammo, despite the box. The notes inside indicate that it's hand-made reloads. Second, there was only one rifle ever chambered for this cartridge: the Winchester Model 71 lever action manufactured from 1936 to 1958. Who really has one of these? I guess the guy we're borrowing the Jeep from does. Maybe if you've got a rare rifle, it's cheaper to make your own reloads.

Anyway, now that we've got a vehicle, perhaps we'll take a drive all the way out to the lake tomorrow, if the weather is good.