It was a beautiful spring morning , I was sitting at the breakfast table with the whole crew, my wife, the kids, Thumper and Remington, the dogs, with a Cheshire cat grin on my face. Nanc, my lovely wife, said to me, "Tracker, what's with that big grin on your face?"

     I explained, "Sugarplum, my rockcrawler is finished. I've been working on that Suzuki Samurai all winter, and it's finally ready to have its maiden voyage. Break out the sparkling cider, we have to christen it and give it a name.

     "Mmm, let's see, what shall we call it? It's bright red, with a roll cage, giant knobby tires and American racing wheels, a suspension lift kit, racing seats, positraction in the rear, EZ lockers in the front, and a Warn wench. I think I added all the bells and whistles, including a Rockford Fosgate stereo system. Any ideas?"

     From the peanut gallery, I heard, "Sammy Suicide!", "Rollover Red!", "Tin Can Toy!", "Disposable Demon!" They were making fun of my Suzuki because it has a reputation of being easy to roll over and I have a reputation for mishaps in motorized vehicles. But this baby is built Ford tough, a miniature version of my F350.

     "No," I said, "Rockbuster it is! Come on let's get going! I want to get on the road while the sun still shines!"

     We trooped outside and had our ceremony. I decided to tackle the tallest mountain in Idaho, Mt. Borah, elevation 12, 662 feet. Nothing like setting your sights too high! I then threw out the question, "Who's going with me?"

     All at once I heard a group response, "I'm not going with you!" It was almost as if they were singing a chorus to one of their favorite songs.

     "Hmmmm, you big chickens!" I turned to Thumper, my faithful hound. "Thumper, you want to go?" She started wagging her tail. Good old Thumper, she never lets me down.

     I grabbed our lunch and my helmet, strapped Thumper into the safety harness, and set off down Highway 93 with the stereo blasting, "Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough to keep me from gettin' to you, babe . . ." I had the top off so Thumper's ears were pinned back against her head and every once in a while she would join in with the music, baying. "Aroooooo! Arooooooo!"

     We finally arrived at the base of Mt. Borah, about 25 miles Southeast of Challis. What a day! The sun was shining right over the peak, signaling an end to a long, cold, dreary winter. The sky was blue and there was a ring of cumulus clouds surrounding the peak of the mountain. I paused a moment to enjoy the wildlife all around the mountain scanning with my binoculars to select the route we'd take. We saw mule deer, elk, and antelope. Fortunately, Thumper was strapped in because she spotted a coyote that she wanted to chase. She started whimpering, but I told her, "No, girl, we have bigger things on the agenda, Mt. Borah."

     I lit my pipe. I was ready for adventure. I shifted the transfer case into four wheel drive, low range, put the transmission in first gear, and revved the throttle a couple of times warming up for the crawl up the rock face. I let out the clutch and gave it a little throttle. The Weber carburetor kicked in and with the rock crawler gearing which is super, super low, we began moving like a turtle. As we approached bigger and bigger rocks, "Rockbuster" kept its pace steady while climbing, while the articulation carried us from side to side. I felt like the tortoise in the fairy tale, "Slow and steady wins the race."

     We encountered several unforeseen obstacles. First, a big creek, extra deep due to the run off from the snow, but it was no problem; we made it through. Next, we had to maneuver our way through some dead fall trees from an old burn. It's a good thing "Rockbuster" is so narrow; I never would have made it in the Ford.

     Thumper handled the ride fine for the first couple of miles, but then we came to the rock cliffs with boulders to conquer. I turned "Rockbuster" to run straight up the cliff because I didn't want to risk rolling over by going side hill at that angle. We actually drove through the clouds and the visibility was very poor. I had to trust instinct and "Rockbuster" as I was almost driving blind. Thumper's eyes bugged out and she looked at me as if I were crazy. She started whimpering. I turned to her and said, "Thumper, there's nothing to fear. You're safe with me." I don't think she believed me, but she couldn't go anywhere.

     We got above the clouds and had reached "Chicken Out Ridge," so named because 90% of the rock climbers quit right here. There was one more boulder, on a steep incline. The left front tire was on the boulder, and I even lost my stomach realizing the precarious position we were in. There was nothing below us and a wrong move could cause us to roll over. The sun's glare was blinding. Over the boulder we went. To my amazement and relief, these rigs do crawl without losing traction, even on the steepest grades. After reaching the peak, I realized there was no place to turn around. Would we have to back all the way down? Holy Hannah!

     A big ram was on the side of the cliff studying us, probably thinking to himself, "What the heck are they doing up here?"

     An eagle flew right by us. Thumper tried to jump out to grab it. It was the biggest bird she had ever seen, and she was ready to play.

     Meanwhile, I was pondering my dilemma. I called home on my cell phone to let my wife know where we were, "Honey, now I have really done it. Thumper and I are at the top of Mt. Borah, right on the peak, and I don't have a clue how I am going to get down from here! I can't turn around. There's no room to maneuver."

     Nanc said, "Honey, what about your wench? Can't you attach it to a rock or something so you can lower yourself to safer ground?"

     "Duh! Why didn't I think of that? I feel like such a dummy."

     "You were a dummy to even try climbing Borah!"

     Well, Nanc was right. We hooked up the wench and with the controls inside the rig in reverse, it wasn't bad at all. We backed down to safety, turned around and headed home. I think it will be a while before Thumper goes on another adventure with me in "Rockbuster."