talk about frustration

[eel pout hunter]

OK, my therapist told me that I shouldn't keep this in, so I'm going to make it public information...LOL

My wife, after about 3 years of begging, finally let me purchase an ATV. I got the '05 Arctic Cat 500 TRV. I picked up said wheeler on Friday (the 13th). I brought it home from the dealer, drove it across the yard then into the garage so that I could go to work. When I came home, I went to show the wife the key, only to not find it.

So at midnight Friday I ripped the house apart, then the garage, then the truck...to no avail. I did some reading online that told me all I had to do was call the dealer with the VIN and they could make me a new one. So I got up at 0800 on Sat morning and started calling. Finally found a dealer only 20 minutes away that could make a key, "Great I said, here's the VIN", to which they told me that they needed the number off of the ignition switch itself.

So the new ATV with less than 3 minutes on it, is now getting ripped apart. I get the number, call the dealer back and they tell me that they can have a new key on Thursday. Not going to work as we have to meet people on Mille Lac's at 1100. So I hang up, call a friend of mine that works on these things all the time. Ask him how to hot wire a wheeler, and he tells that he thinks he can, but can't insure that he wouldn't short out something in the electrical system. Well that's not going to work either.

Call the dealer back, they can sell me a new switch for $67. Fine, drive out there, get the switch, rip apart the machine even further, and after some fine work with a coat hanger, get to point of being able to find the connector for othe ignition switch toggle. Only not to be able get the (Contact US Regarding This Word) $%$%$%#$@ connector apart. Call my friend up, he comes over and has it apart in like .08 seconds. OK, put the whole shootin match back together, step outside and start up the truck so I can move it to get my ATV out of the garage, go to get my tie downs out of the back of the truck, and like being touched by the virgin mary, the key (the original one) is sittin on the (Contact US Regarding This Word) bumper.

Now mind you, I drove the truck to work and back that day with the key on it the whole way, luckily I live 2 miles from work. So the question after reading this long saga, is: Is Friday the 13th really unlucky, or did it have a change of heart and give the key back on the 14th?

Pout

PS: made it onto the lake only 20 minutes late and after a day of ice fishing, a $2000 house, and the new $7,000 ATV all I have to show for it is a (that's right singular) 10" perch.

But the ground work has been laid and I'll be back out there soon.

[zebco4040]

Sorry about this but I just had to laugh at your story. I always think things happen for a reason, maybe in those 20 minutes a deer would have run a cross the road causing a huge accident.

Good to hear everything is back together and you are fishing in comfort... Again sorry about laughing at your story.

[Captain B.R.K]

Talk about an unlucky day on your Friday the 13th! I'd say there was a little luck involved though with the key not moving an inch on your way to and fro work.

Next time put that key in your pocket, easiest place to remember!

I still had to chuckle after I read the last part about finding the key.

[jhemi]

Had the same thing happen to me last summer in ely with my boat key. Day 2 of a 5 day trip to ely with the boat. Looked around for hours tore the truck, camper, boat apart, went through all my clothes, asked other campers if they had seen it, asked the front desk if any one turned it in. After four hours of looking for it I went into ely to find a merc dealer. But it was July 3rd, and of course he was out fishing. So i returned to the campground with thoughts of fishing from shore for the rest of the weekend. Then the wife chimes in " let me help you find if". Thats after 4 hours of searching and a trip to ely. She starts with the truck. She opens the glove compartment.."here it is". In my truck the only reason for a glove compartment is for the owners manual. She had put it in there that morning and didn't rember. I have defined this event as my most frustrating fishing event ever. Needles to say she let me go out for the rest of the day to work of the frustration.

[Ray Esboldt]

Pout,

That's a bad day! But, that is a great story.

A college professor once told me, "Life is just a vehicle for accumulating stories." That's the only darn thing I remember from college.

[jltimm]

You must not have got a spare key with your owners manual?I know out of the last 4-5 wheelers I've bought new they come with a spare key that is in with the manual and paperwork you get from the dealer.

[Dan Thiem]

Good humor post EPH,

So far I have had a pocket knife, a can of pop, and even a pack of smokes make the trip on the rear step bumper. I have no idea how, but the knife rode there for about 300 miles. The pop and the ciggies rode back there for only about seven miles. Must be a draft thing.

[leechlake]

Due to issues similar to your funny post, I've claimed at times that I'm selling all machinery and going with snowshoes and a canoe. Haven't done it yet but at times it seems like an idea that could help me live longer. Great post.

[Dave]

Had a pizza crust my kid left on my bumper make it 30 miles to work one day

[nolte]

I've been there.

I had a similiar scenario happen a few years back but it was in open water on Mille Lacs.

Get off work and meet a buddy to head over and give it a whirl on the big lake. Drive about 45 minutes and stop at a fast food place to get some grub. I check everything out and notice there is no key in the boat where we usually keep it. Search everywhere nothing. Great. So I walk to a gas station and call a buddy to invite him fishing on Mille Lacs. After he says yes, I tell him well you've got to pick the key up first at my house and then meet up with us. Since I had roped him into saying yes, he couldn't back out. Well we wait the 50 minutes for him to show up and he has the key.

Alright, we're good to go. Get to the lake, put the boat in and load up. Turn the key and nothing. You've got to be kidding. Take the batteries off the bowmount trolling motor and hook them up. Those are dead too. Rummage through the truck to find jumper cables to maybe give a little juice to get us by. No jumper cables (only time in my life I haven't had jumpers in my truck) and not a sole anywhere close to the landing. Pull the cover off the motor and try to use the rope that is used for an emergency start. Find out that if I needed to rely on the the emergency start to get me out of a jam sometime, I'd probably die. Can't get it started.

Well, we've still got the heavy evy 4 horse kicker that we can use, but it will be pretty slow going. Get that baby going and head out. We're on track now. Get to Fish and nothing is hitting. Get blanked except for one scraggily perch and head in. The heavy evy shuts down on us about half way in. Find the one crappy canoe paddle and realize it's going to be a long night.

Finally get off the lake around 12:30, and home by about 2. Luckily I got to get up and go to work by 5:30. That was one day I was sure glad to be over. Maybe it's an omen that if you only catch on perch, you're doomed to have bad stuff happen.

[broncosguy711]

I here you about the key on the bumper. When that big storm hit this summer in the blaine area, I drove from 242 area down to new brighton and back about 3 times hauling wood to split. Mind you I made 3 trips the day before and split all that wood already. Well after the third trip of busting my hump I look up and there is a 1/4 full beer from the night before from splitting sitting on the bumper. I hit bumps over tracks and everytning. that was a real weird day.

Broncs

one more game to the super bowl.

Denver 20 Pitt 17 OT

[eel pout hunter]

well, technically, the ATV was used, it has 10 miles on it, but I was able to finance it. It didnt' come with a manual or a spare key. I posted the story to remind all of use to put keys in our pockets,,,,or tied to a tire rim like in the movie "the jerk" with steve martin. The best part was, my wife was trying to help me with "where was the last place you absolutely knew where it was"....my response "In the #$%$#^ wheeler"....then she said "well, laugh it off, and figure it out in the morning"...my response "I'm glad one of us finds this funny".

But for being German/Scottish/Irish, she stated that I handled the affair very well. No blood was drawn, massive amounts of alcohol were not consumed, and no drywall needs to be patched, so with age my temper must be in check. LOL

pout

[The_Duckslayer]

I lost a boat one time. Dad and I were going duck hunting. We would get to the lake, take everything out of the truck and transfer it to the boat. Then I would back the boat down into the water and he would grab the tether rope and hold it. I would just back the boat in, give 'er a little gas and then pull forward leaving the boat floating on the water. I would go park the truck and dad would pull the boat to the dock and away we would go. One foggy morning we were out preparing for the hunt. The wind was blowing pretty good from the landing out into the lake. All gear transferred, backed the boat in, pulled out and I heard dad yelling above the wind and the radio in the truck. He did not have the rope and the boat was drifting away from us. I ran after it but it became apparent that I was going to have to swim if I wanted to get it as the water was within an inch of going over my waders. (Did I mention that it was very cold this time of year?) There it was, fading off into the fog with the mooring light on. I had to go home, get the small duck boat, bring it to the landing, put it in the water and then paddle around the lake looking for my boat. Talk about eerie... once out on the lake I could see nothing but fog. I was just hoping that I was not going in circles! Finally found the boat and cranked it up and went back to the landing to get dad. It was one of the quieter days we ever spent hunting. Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

Oh yeah… and after all that we did not even get a perch, or duck for that matter././Jimbo

[metrojoe]

I had a similar situation with a car years ago. The car was stuck at work I went through all the hassle to replace the ignition then found the keys a couple days later.

[Guest]

I had to get a replacement key for my ignition on the wheeler also.. It was only a few weeks old and used it daily. I got my key the same day I called it in for about $30.. but I had to drive 160 miles to get it from the dealership we got the wheeler from.

The key did show up that coming winter. There were some well defined cat teeth prints in the keychain. Here the cat got to playing with it in the middle of the night and somehow managed to get it all the way into the toe of my winter boots on a different floor.

It wouldnt have been so bad if it wasnt July.. I would have found the key sooner.

[fishnhooks]

Duckslayer, I can relate.

Last year I went out fishing by myself. I have a rope from the boat tied to the front of the trailer. I back the boat into the water and watch it float off. All is well. I start going forward and try to lightly tighten the rope to pull it towards shore. "SNAP" the rope goes, I quickly stop the truck get out and have this look of disamazment on my face as the boat starts drifting away from my because of the wind. I decide there is only one way I am going to get it and start wading out to get it and it is moving away from me as fast as I was moving toward it. I finally was able to grab the chunk of rope drifting in front of it. I got it to shore and felt glad that no one was around to see this class act.

"hooks"

[river rat316]

Jeremy thats what you get for taking a week off and actually getting to go up to Ely!!!

You gonna be ready this year to hit the river again? Maybe this time we will actually be able to find em!

[Studer]

I think that we have all been there.

[reddogadventures]

Pout, that's a great story! I'm still chuckling! I once had a checkbook that rode on my running board from Green Lake (North Branch) to way, way east and north of Kerrick. I would guess around 80 miles.Also had a half full beer inside a styrofoam can cooler that rode on the very end of a heavily loaded trailer from Forest Lake to Finlayson. The beer was warm when I got home but still had flavor.

I like your story better.

P.S.- Good choice on your ATV. I've had mine for four years of hunting trips from swamps to mountains, fishing trips, farm chores, five kids (not all mine)and have had no problems. I hope you have the same good fortune with yours.