END OF AN ERA…… reposted from Feb. 27, 2016

Picture this…

Mr G invites you out for a boat ride in his tunnel hull with his new motor.. COOL..

So I show up at the beach, he is launching his red, white and blue 21′ Advantage pickle-fork boat.. Stickin’ up out of the engine compartment is a small block chevy with a blower and a nitrous system strapped to the side of the gunnel… a little much on the horsepower side of things for this boat.. but what the hell.. lets go… here, hold my beer…

We point the fire breathing machine toward the open water and hop in.. he hands me a suitable PFD.. which consists of a ragged old three strap life jacket with one strap missing and one of the remaining two broken.. he found in one of the sheds after someone moved out… go figure.. I strap in ..

Putting on the salvaged ski goggles that he provides, if think to myself … what could possibly go wrong..

So now we are ready to launch.. literally… he lights the engine.. “Holy Saturn V Batman”.. the fire breathing monster leaps from the water and immediately reaches the 40 mph range.. He leans over and says that he still can’t get it to idle very well… also at that moment I realize that the seat I am in is not anchored very well if at all.. so I grab the panic bar and pull myself and the seat back into the upright position..

Just then he leans over and … get this… informs me that I need to lean to the center and extend my arm out over the windshield to guide him … “point to the left and I’ll turn.. I can’t see good enough”..

OK.. I’m not scared..

So then he hits the throttle… now I’m scared…

Almost immediately the GPS speedo points in the high 90 mph range.. I hang on with my left hand and basically steer the boat by remote control with my right..

He reaches for a toggle switch on the dash and I remember….. Nitrous!!… Shit!!…

We entered a trajectory from the high 90 mph range well into triple digits … and stayed there…

Then came the Loons… you know the black duck like birds that you like to chase with your boat but can never catch… well .. we were massacring em’ … they couldn’t duck fast enough.. Don’t know how many we splattered before I realized that if one of them jumps up instead of down… I was gonna loose most of my teeth….

Just about then he backed off the throttle, shut her down and returned to the calm 60 MPH range.. He was grinnin’ like “a Possum eatin’ his first pile of shit”… (that’s a big grin)..

Gotta admit.. I was laughing so hard I was crying..

We turned around and did it again & again & again…. what a great time…

Well …. Mr G. passed away yesterday…

Those of you that knew him, know that my story is just a normal sort of story that most all of his friends have of him.

He was one of Albuquerque’s original hot rodders, inventors and shade tree engineers.. he built and raced more homemade stuff than you can imagine.. he was a generous and humble guy…and smart beyond imagination..

He created the storage industry in Elephant Butte, … most of you in some way or another have met him or been effected by him if you have come to the lake for any length of time…

Parkinson’s chewed him up for the last few years.. He passed away at his home in Hawaii with his family by his side… he was OK with it…

Damn… were gonna miss that dude…

Comments
Bob and Judy Geilenfeldt says:
February 27, 2016 at 8:54 pm
What a beautiful tribute to our brother and brother-in-law!!!!. We thank you so very much.!!!! Bob and Judy Geilenfeldt