River Discovery and Enjoying Family
The Walla Walla River was still pretty cold and locally we hit temps close to 80F. A hint of summer means it’s tromping at the river time for the Splatts clan. Load up in the Excursion and a quick little 5 minute cruise down the highway and we are there. The flood we had this year has definitely changed the contour of the river’s edge. It was a little tough finding a good access point to get down to the river easily. The previous paths were completely gone. Between the banks of the river being drastically changed and the large amounts of debris everywhere, we had to take a couple detours to get to the water. There is no way we were gonna let a few obstacles get in our way from soaking up some sun and tromping around at the river.
Certain sections of the river are lined with Cottonwood trees and well... ‘it’s the season. With a little breeze the Cottonwood trees release their cotton. Little cotton balls were floating around everywhere resembling snowfall. This isn’t a friendly place for those that suffer from seasonal allergies.
After wondering the banks looking for agates. Now Me, I don’t have an eye for these things at all. But my Sister-in-law seems to be able to spot them from a mile away. Between her and the kids we did find a few but not too many. I actually don’t even know where they ended up or who was carrying them. Maybe because I was a little distracted by this big pile of debris and metal...
At first glance it looks like a pile of weeds, twigs and scrap metal. Then I noticed some pieces that look familiar. Now this is for sure a car door..
And this to me looks like a fender of sorts. Maybe a front fender? Or it could be the rear fender???
Alright this pile of junk has my attention. As I made my way around the pile I noticed 2 more doors. Some sort of 4 door sedan I think?? Looking down at my feet I was really surprised to see these chrome pieces in such good shape. I could dang near see my reflection.
Wait a minute... that is a dashboard. Look at the speedometer and you can even see how many miles were on it.... looks like 95,378 miles to me.
Looks like some switches for the headlights and dashboard lights, plus you can even see where the turn signal indicators would flash.
Wait a minute?!?! The climate control has a “Summer” setting??? Now that must be some high tech stuff there.
This whole time I was wondering what kind of car this was. Make, Model, Year... then I saw the model stamped into the chrome dash piece above the climate controls.
Imperial
A quick search for a “4-Door Imperial dash board” should set this vehicle apart from others. Then a comparison in the shape of the body pieces found. Which is a bit iffy but still worth a try. It looks like it has “rounded” fenders and I did see some interior door handles also. I am thinking this mangled vehicle in the Walla Walla River is a 1953 Chrysler Imperial
I wish I would have taken more photos of the other doors and parts but I am pretty sure this is the vehicle. Now I wonder if this car ended up here from the recent flood or if it has been mangled up in the river for years upstream. Then when the flood came the river just drug it down here?? Who knows, I just find these kind of things fun to think about. Let the mind wonder a bit. Just another one of Life’s Mysteries I guess..
After getting our feet wet, wondering up and down the river, we decided it was time to have a little fun with some mega bubble blowing. This is the first time attempting this and it seemed to work pretty good. Just grab a couple 1/2 inch dowels and drill a hole in the end of each. Then thread some 1/4 inch string through the ends and tie them off. Then take another couple feet of string and form a loop on the string that is already tied to the dowels like shown.
Then find a recipe online for a mega bubble solution and start trying your luck and blowing some Mega Bubbles.
Check that out!! We had some huge bubbles coming from this bubble wand but non of the giant ones would hold together. They would just get too huge and pop. Maybe we need to refine our Mega Bubble Solution.
We decided to design another bubble blower that was more of a net. With multiple squares for bubbles to form. Hopefully we can get some good bubble production out of this one. Instead of going for one giant bubble we are shooting for few smaller ones. Maybe those will stay together better?
The light breeze was helping to a point. You could just hold the bubble wands still and the breeze would blow the bubbles for you. Then it would gust a little too much and pop the bubbles we were trying to form. A little frustrating yet still fun. Managing to get a decent amount of bubbles to stay and drift off into the neighborhood was quite a chore. Who ever knew that chores could be fun?
How about we pull out the washtub fire pit and just kick back and chill? Enjoy each other’s company and crack a couple cold ones around the fire. Now that is my kind of action right there. A little chillax time.
When I was picking up the dowels for the mega bubble blowing sticks, I grabbed some 1 inch dowels to make what we call Slugs. I know most would go with the traditional S’mores action at this point but not here at the Splatts house. So all you do is take a package of crescent rolls. POP open pack and take 2 crescent rolls and wrap around the end of the dowel. Mush it and roll it so it evenly covers the dowel including the end.
Get yourself a nice bed of hot coals going and slowly cook them until they are golden brown on the outside. You know when they are completely done when they slide right off the dowel and leave no dough behind. Then select your favorite jam/jelly and spoon it in. Fill your Slug to the top then take a big Ol’ nite. Oh ya, you might want a few napkins or maybe a roll of paper towels. These guys are messy. Just like eating a real slug.... ummmm????
I am sure looking forward to more days like this. This rainy springtime weather we are having now is getting old really fast. Maybe this weekend will clear up and we will head to the Big River... the Columbia River. Go wonder the banks and screw around over there a bit. I do have a guy that wants to buy some parts off of my parts truck and said he could meet me over there... Welp looks like a good excuse for an hour drive. Sell some parts and have a little family fun.
Hive On
and
Make the Time
To get out
and
Have Fun
Ok, the slug sounds good. I will have to try it!
I bet that car was upstream and got pulled out with the flood. We have a bunch of randomness come down just our little creek when it floods so I would think the river did it. If you went back to it you might find some find of id on it... but if it is that old likely not much chance of finding its history. Would be interesting to know though.