Stuck in the Muck
June 24, 2007

Tony heard about a ramp on the Pemigewasset River from someone at work and decided he wanted to check it out sometime. They day he decided to go was warm and sunny. It was perfect Amphi weather and we would both be very thankful for that later in the day.

We traveled down this winding, dirt road through forest for a little while before reaching the ramp. The ramp itself was a long, dirt penninsula type of thing that went way out into the water. We drove into the river and headed upstream first.

We came across a few islands along the river and the thought crossed that we could park on one, I could get out and then take some pictures or video of Tony riding aroudn the river. About 1 mile up the river we found an island with, what looked to be, a good spot to park. We drove in slowly and felt the wills touch bottom. I looked over the edge and there was still a lot of water, I'd have to get my feet quite wet to get out of the car. Tony tried to back up and pull in closer but now the car wouldn't move. He tried forwards and backwards a few more times. Nothing. We were stuck.

We both took our shoes off and got out of the car to see what kind of situation we were in. It turns out that this spot was extremely murky. The back tires of the car were more than half under the mud and the bottom of the car was sitting on top of the mud (which probably prevented the wheels from going in further). I got back in and spun teh tires while Tony pushed. Nothing. We both grabbed sticks and started digging out the tires. This is when we were thankful that the skies were clear and that it wouldn't be raining anytime soon.

After awhile of digging and not getting very far a fisherman passed by on his boat. He passed by once then came aroudn the other side of the island to see what was going on. We told him we were stuck. He parked his boat on the island and came over to us. We tried putting a couple thick branches under the back of the car and prying it up but all of the wood around was too dry and just broke. We decided to all lift the front end of the car up and swing it aroudn into deeper water. At first it didn't seem to have much of an effect, but we kept swinging it around. The front end was then floating and the back tires were still in the mud, but not as much as before because we turned the car. I hopped in the car to spin the tires again while Tony and the fisherman pushed. The car finally got free and then there I was starting to float down the river in it, never having driven it before.

It wasn't hard though. I've spent so much time in the car with my dad and watching him drive it that it felt natural. Tony got into the fisherman's boat and I swung around the side of it so he could hop in. We thanked him for helping us and then he was off, his boat being much faster than the Amphi.

We went down the river, past the boat ramp, and then came back up again to get out. I drove back in and out of the water again just for fun. Tony drove in again at 30 M.P.H. which made my tiny first splash look like nothing.

We were stuck on the island for about an hour before the car got free. We were worried at first that we'd be stuck there for a long time but in the end it was fun and it's a good story to tell now. You can see more pictures from this story here.

First Swim of 2007
April 22, 2007

Winter had died down pretty fast and Tony was anxious to take the Amphi out for the first swim of the year. Mike, a friend of his and the one who also bought the '64 red Amphi the year before, was in the area and they decided to go out on Lake Winnisquam for a swim together.

We met up at Tony's house first and after some talk about Amphicars we hopped in and went down the road to the closest ramp at our beach.

Aside from being the first swim of 2007 for us, this swim was also special because we had never taken the Amphi for a swim while the ice was still out. There were a lot of what looked to be thin sheets of ice that we avoided on our way over to the other side of the lake. On our way back across the lake the ice had shifted and was in the way because we wanted to avoid the sand bar. Tony was infront so he decided to just drive through the ice thinking it was thin. Well as he was drivign through I leaned out the passanger side window and grabbed a chunk of it out of the water. I was shocked at how heavy it was a first, and then when I actually saw what I was holding I was more afraid of sinking! I looked over at Tony and told him to look at this massive ice chunk in my hand. His face turned white. The ice was a good 4 inches thick.

We drove through extremely slow from that point on, still going through the ice. We cleared a path through it so Mike was able to follow. Luckily neither Amphi ended up like the Titanic.

After returning to the boat ramp they parked for a few minutes and chatted some more. I was able to take a couple pictures of their cars together. You can see more pictures from this story here.