I apologize for the abrupt end of the pig trike tale.
I sold, traded the pig trike to one of my daughter's boy friends. He gave me a 1971 VW Beetle that had been hit in the back end, and $400.00 cash for the pig trike. The '71 wasn't running, and he laughed at me because he had got one over on "the old man". I adjusted the valves, did a compression test on it, (118 in cylinders 1,3,4, and 123 in cylinder 2), changed the oil, changed the trans axle gear oil, pulled the in tank fuel filter out and replaced it, changed the fuel, changed the in line fuel filter, and the fuel lines. I installed new points, plugs, condenser, cap and rotor. I bought a 550 cold cranking amp battery for it. I pulled the plugs out again and spun the engine over to bring the fuel to the carburetor, and the oil pressure up. The oil light went out in the speedometer, that was good. The boy friend brought over four of his friends to witness how he had cheated me out of the pig trike. My daughter bet each of them $10.00 that the bug would be running before dark. The boy friend was showing off and bet her $ 25.00 it wouldn't be. She told him she would take the bet, if he didn't get within 5' of me or the car. I told her that I get five cents from her combined bets, and nobody leaves the garage till the bets are payed. She agreed. The "boys" agreed not to leave without paying, or being paid. I put the plugs back in the heads, checked the firing order of the wires, and corrected two wires that had crawled from their correct places to the wrong places. I then connected up the wires, and pumped it twice, then hit the starter. It started, and idled good. I jumped out of the car and wattled very fast over to the only door out of the garage to stop the "boys" from leaving. One decided to push past "the old man", but the stun gun in my hand stopped that. Two of the "boys" said they didn't have any money. I told them to get out their wallets and prove it. One of the "boys" decided to test my accuracy with the stun gun. The stun gun was a 13 million volt non lethal weapon of defense. I hit him in the arm and he went down, then I stung him in the head for a second. I took his wallet from his pocket and took out the $10.00 to cover the bet, then returned the wallet to his pocket. The other "boys" paid right up. The boy friend wanted to pay my daughter "later", but I snapped the stunner by his ear, and he paid right up. One of the "boys" ask why I butted in on a private bet like that, and I ask my daughter go get my nickle for me. While she was gone I told the "boys" (ranging from around 30 to 40 years old) that it had been a while since I had been in Souix City on a Saturday night, and I needed the exercise. They did not get the point of the joke, so I told them I had a vested interest in the bet, and as soon as my daughter brings the nickle, they could all leave. My daughter brought the money for me and told the "boys" that she had warned them not to rile "the old man".
In the month of March, as soon as the roads were clear enough for driving, and no longer good for ice skating, I left Minnesota for the South eastern California desert by Blythe. I bought a house here, and am still driving the bug.
I had to leave the rear bonnet in Iowa because of the body damage from the wreck, it was no longer sealing around the rear of the engine, and it was getting hot. After I got here, I cut the whole rear end off after finding some cheap baja fenders and a center piece off of a wrecked baja bug.
I bought a 27 foot long, 1989, Winnebago Chieftain, motor home in Arizona. It sat in a back yard from 2011 to 2020. It took me a half of a day to get it running. All of the rubber pieces has to be replaced on it. I drove it from outside of Prescott, Arizona to Palo Verde, Ca where I live. After I get it fixed up a little, I'll start exploring the area in it, then graduate to longer trips.
I'm thinking of making a trike out of the bug.
Bye for now.
Robert.