I purchased the 1963 Chevrolet C-10 Fleetside that would become Six-Shooter, on 23 August 2014. I was living in California with no known intention of leaving the state anytime soon. The intent was to build a classic daily driver for my daily commute in Silicon Valley. For several months I drove the truck the 62 miles (one way) to work. It had a newer 250 six cylinder engine, the original three speed transmission with the column shifter. Even as purchased it was a fun truck to drive. But I had plans for it.

I initially planned to swap in a small block 350 but after going to a number of car shows I decided to do something different. SBC engine swaps are a dime a dozen at car shows. The only time you see a straight six engine is in a true to stock restoration. Very seldom do you see a modified straight six. That is when the name, Six-Shooter was conceived.

Over the next couple of years a lot work and money went into Six-Shooter. I decided to keep the patina on the exterior. So I removed the cab from the frame and took it to a body shop. I asked them to only paint the interior. They were confused but they complied. And did a beautiful job. I found someone to reupholster the original seat. The job was not cheap but he did a really great job. I had planned to rebuild the engine myself but quickly realized that was way above my skill level. Moreover, a remanufactured engine was cheaper than the parts and machine work that would be required to do the rebuild.

Six-Shooter sat in the garage a lot, waiting for me to make the time, energy and money to finish the job. And then, life took a turn. The opportunity came to leave California and move to Montana, a life long dream. I found a custom speed shop in Salinas that agreed to make Six-Shooter ready to drive from NorCal to Montana. In the vein of an old RoadKill episode, the guys Total Performance had Six-Shooter running and ready for the drive to Montana.

Six-Shooter actually made the trip to Montana, back to California and then to Montana again. There were some early shake-down issues, finding a brake proportioning valve that could handle DOT 5 Silicon based brake fluid and an alternator that would actually charge the battery. We got everything sorted and Six-Shooter was running happy.

Six-Shooter was going to be a great daily driver in California where the weather is temperate and the speed limits are suited to his gearing. But Six-Shooter was a fair weather guy, not at all suited to snow and ice. Six-Shooter was also not well suited to Montana’s 80 mph speed limits given his three speed transmission and differential gearing. Six-Shooter could do about 110 mph, could get from 60 to 85 in rather snappy fashion. But he was not well suited to cruising for long periods at 75 or 80 mph. All of which made Six-Shooter about a 3 to 5 month truck in Montana.

My son lives in Miles City. He borrowed my truck because his truck was in the shop in Dillon where I live. One day I was scrolling through Facebook and I see a post with a similar truck parked next to mine with the comment, “whose truck is this?” I responded and became friends with the gentleman who admired Six-Shooter. Ten years after I started the work on Six-Shooter, I came to the decision that he really was not very happy at my house. I decide it was time to find him a more suitable home. It took some convincing but the gentleman in Miles City finally agreed to take Six-Shooter into his stable. On 13 June 2024, ten years after I begun the Six-Shooter project, I delivered him to his new home. The new owner understands and appreciates the direction I was going with Six-Shooter and has made strides to continue the development. There might even be some opportunity to enter him in some shows there in Miles City. The saga of Six-Shooter continues. I am glad to have had the opportunity to get it started.

Things finally started coming together. We decided that this summer was going to be the year we were going to do the trip. We began planning in late April, looking at maps, watching YouTube video, putting together ideas about how we wanted to do it. I made some improvements to the trailer in preparation for the big adventure. As go-time drew closer, life began to happen. I had to go out of town for a couple of weeks to assist family. My friend had other plans that were book ending our schedule for the trip. We had to adjust the schedule a little to make it fit into busy lives. The day before our departure date, my friend’s house and four legged family member decided for him that this was not his time.

I decided to go anyway. We headed out late afternoon and made it to Fales Flat Campground around 2100, per my wife’s prediction (yes, she’s almost always right). We made dinner, ate and crawled into the camper for the night.

I had done some work on the plumbing in the trailer, removing a propane line intended for a water heater that we decided to delete. Around 0200 the carbon-monoxide/propane gas alarm started beeping, loudly. Unable to figure out what was causing the alarm we opened windows, turned the ventilation fan on full, cleared the alarm and went back to sleep. At 0430 the alarm sounded again. We repeated the same procedure. In the morning, with a more clear head, I connected the dots. Checking the propane line I found that I had not properly tightened the fittings and we did not shut off the propane before going to bed. I grabbed the appropriate wrenches that did what I should have when I did the work.

We rolled out onto the Magruder trail about 0830. From Fales Flat Campground to the Magruder Crossing Bridge is not terribly interesting. Shuttle drivers for the rafting companies drive the road like they are running the Dakar Rally. Two almost hit us head on. I spoke with a Forestry employee later who said they are a problem. We took the side road to check out the Magruder Ranger Station. It is a rather nice compound, in my opinion. I could live there for a while, maybe even a long time. In the winter access would be limited to sleds.

Once we reached the Magruder Crossing Bridge, the road got more interesting. Still only about a 3 on the scale use by Jeep Jamboree. We passed quite a few designated dispersed camp sites, some marked on the National Forestry Service map for the Magruder Corridor, many of them not. We stop to take in the information about the Magruder Massacre at the site designated such. Lloyd Magruder is the namesake for the corridor and many other places in the area.

From the Magruder Massacre site we made it another 13 miles at which point we came to the beginning of snow drifts still covering the road. I got past first couple of drifts but they got bigger as we went. I finally decided that traveling solo, it was not wise to try and proceed any farther. We turned around, not easy with the trailer attached, and head back down the trail.  At the Magruder Massacre site we met a group of guys from Indiana on very well equipped four-wheelers. They asked about the trail ahead. Given what I saw, I thought they could probably make it. Certainly they could make it farther than we did with significantly narrower wheel base.

We returned without incident to the Magruder Crossing campground where we spent the night before heading home the following morning. We will definitely make another attempt to complete the corridor, probably toward the end of summer when the snow drifts will be completely melted and assuming the fire season does not get too crazy.

Nathan Bruckenthal was born 17 July 1979, and grew up in Stony Brook, New York. Bruckenthal joined the United States Coast Guard 05 January 1999, and attended Damage Controlman A School. Petty Officer Bruckenthal’s first tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom was April to June 2003, assigned to United States Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 403 aboard the USS Firebolt. Petty Officer Bruckenthal departed for his second tour in support of OIF February 2004, again joining LEDET 403 aboard the USS Firebolt.

The USS Firebolt was operating in the Northern Arabian Gulf in the vicinity of two Iraqi Oil Terminals, ABOT and KAAOT in company with His Majesty’s Australian Ship Stuart. Their mission was to protect the oil terminals from attack by insurgents.

On 24 April 2004, a dhow approached KAAOT. Two Coast Guardsmen and five US Navy sailors boarded a rigid hull inflatable boat and proceeded to intercept the dhow. As the RHIB made contact with the dhow Petty Officer Bruckenthal, and two Navy Petty Officers prepared to board. The dhow operator detonated the explosives on board killing Petty Officer Bruckenthal and the two Navy sailors. The blast also wounded four others on board the RHIB.

HMAS Stuart rendered aid to the wounded and recovered the dead. Those who served aboard the USS Firebolt and HMAS Stuart at the time continue to commemorate this incident every year, remembering those who gave their lives.

Damage Controlman Third Class Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guardsman to die in combat since the Vietnam war. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

History remembers the names of the Generals and Officers. It is us, the enlisted who remember the names of those fought and died in the battles.

I felt I needed to get out of the house with my bad attitude before I said anything more I regretted. I was out driving around for about 10 minutes or so when my daughter texted me. She had some things to pick up at the hardware store and asked if I wanted to meet her there. I met up with her in the store and we got what she needed. Outside in the parking lot we started talking about where I was at. I explained that I did not want to be in the house with my bad attitude. I wanted to get out and work through it by myself rather than punishing everyone else. My daughter’s response, something she learned from my son-in-law, was an observation that hit me like a sledge hammer.

“Dad, that’s not why we’re here.”

We are not here to only accept and be around each other when we are in the perfect mood with the perfect attitude. We are here to help each other make this journey of life better, more enjoyable and in some moments just more bearable. My daughter did not want to push me away while I was in an awful, inhospitable mood. She wanted to help me work through it and get to a better place.

Growing up I was always told to shape up and lose the attitude. That got reinforced in the military. The lesson that I took away from that was if you have a bad attitude, if you’re having a bad day, if you’re grumpy and struggling to sort it out, go off by yourself and work it out on your own. What my daughter taught me in that moment was that that is bullshit. We express our love by helping each other through our worst moments.

Thank you, princess. I love you, too. And thank you, Mike.

Ben was with the United States’ State Department as a medical officer stationed in the Tokyo Embassy. Tokyo Baptist Church was one of the most prominent Christian churches in Tokyo with a pretty large international congregation. Ben and I became friends. The nature of Ben’s career meant that he had little interest in developing language skills with each posting. He was in Japan now but it was reasonable to expect that he would be in a number of other countries over the course of his career. I on the other hand thought that I would be living the rest of my life in Japan and as such was intent on learning Japanese language and culture to a native or near native level as quickly as possible (today I call these people 90 day wonders).

Ben and I went on various adventures together. Ben had a car. Now, even in 1987 Tokyo was not car friendly by any stretch. Streets were narrow and crowded, parking was nearly, if not entirely nonexistent and one could get from any point A to almost any point B faster by train. However, Ben’s car was special. By virtue of his position in the State Dept., Ben’s car had blue license plates, diplomatic plates. This meant that the motor vehicle laws did not apply to this car. Ben could park wherever he wanted. Including the middle of the street. That alone made travel by car a lot more beneficial.

On one particular adventure, Ben and I had been out wandering through Tokyo. We had stopped into a small shokudou to eat dinner. We had both finished what we ordered but were still a bit hungry. We thought we would be adventurous. We asked the owner what the special was that night. Neither of us understood the reply but we thought what the heck and ordered it. When it was brought out, we both looked at it not at all sure what it was. So we both took a bite. The flavor and texture was unusual (which is not to say disgusting) and at that point it dawned on me what the proprietor had said. Pork Guts!

During my time in Japan I met the woman I was to spend the rest of my life with. Circumstances in life dictated that I return to the States. I was not leaving without this woman who had become the love of my life. Because she was a Japanese citizen we needed to get married before returning to the US. I had no idea how that worked or what it would entail. So, I called Ben. Ben connected me with the appropriate department and we began the process which culminated in a wedding at Tokyo Baptist Church. The only possible candidate I could even consider for best man was Ben Nantz.

Ben thought it appropriate to have some sort of bachelor outing. It was just the two of us and I do not remember everything we did but I remember that we had dinner at a Tony Roma’s restaurant, probably the one in Minato. Ben asked how I was feeling about the upcoming wedding, was I excited, nervous? I told him that I was concerned about whether I was marrying the right woman. I think Ben might have laughed, not quite at me but… His response was in essense, she will be the right woman because you have decided that she is the right woman. Many times over the 35 years I have chuckled as I thought about what he said.

I left Japan to return to the States about a week after the wedding. Ben and I did not exchange information that would allow us to stay in contact. I probably had his phone number but I was caught up in the circumstances that called me home and the complications of establishing married life in the US with a Japanese bride.

Time past, life happened, a child was born but I never forgot Ben. When tools became available on the newly minted world wide web for finding people I searched for Ben. I found an address and phone number but when I called the number it was out of service. Each time I found a new utility for looking people up I would search for Ben and always came up short. In December I tried a search engine I had not tried before. I paid the charge to get the “enhanced report”. The report had a several phone numbers, more than I was willing to try. It also had several email addresses. I tried sending email to each one. All of them bounced. I noticed that it appeared that Ben had settled on a standard username. GMail was not in the list of services. I decided to try what appeared to be the chosen default username at gnail dot com. It did not bounce. Several days later I got a reply.

35 years after the last time we spoke, today Ben Nantz and I said hello again. We talked for an hour and forty five minutes. Not nearly enough time to hear all the stories of 35 years of life but we managed to cover the highlights. And, having reestablished the connection, we can pick up the friendship where we left off, so long ago.

I do not know a lot about how Larry grew up. Based on what Larry told me it was an abusive household. At one point he was chasing a vehicle driven by his father as his father tossed Larry’s belongings out the window. Larry lied about his age to join the Army in the early 1970s, to escape his home life. Larry did not talk much about his tour in Vietnam. He told me that he was a door gunner on a huey.

I believe it was some time in 1980 that Larry found details about his mother, our mother. It was no easy task for my mother to tell me that I had a brother. She asked if I would be willing to meet him. I grew up an only child. I did not really wish for siblings but if I was to have a sibling I had always thought it would be cool to have an older brother. I said I was interested in meeting this person.

It was arranged that we would meet in a mall (because it was the 80’s). It was a safe, public place. It was made clear to me that if I changed my mind at any point I could just walk away. I do not think Larry really thought I was going to show up. I did. We met and talked for a while. I do not remember what we talked about. I am sure that part of the discussion was about the fact that my mother had another son but I never really cared about that.

I visited Larry fairly often after that. I worked nights at the Bank of America data processing center in downtown Los Angeles. I would drive out to Larry’s house around 1630 when he was off work. I would have dinner with him and his family before driving into LA for work. We talked a lot but I do not remember what the conversations were about. We were brothers figuring out how to be brothers.

The paths of our lives and the complications that occur in life led to separation. I went to live in Japan for a time, Larry went through a series of trials with his family and we did not see each other for a number of years. Our mother passed away in 1988. Larry came to the funeral. I was glad to see him but for whatever reason we did not restart the relationship.

A lot of years went by until one day I got a phone call.

“Hey man, it’s your brother, Larry.”

I was shocked and glad to hear from him. Larry was not born to an easy life and seldom seemed to catch a break. He had been through a nasty and vicious divorce. His relationship with his own children was rocky at best, mean and vindictive most of the time. In the course of all this he had convinced himself that I was not interested in hearing from him.

Fortunately, a kind, tough, wonderful woman had come into Larry’s life. She heard stories about a brother and tried to convince Larry to get in touch. Probably through the wonders of the internet she found me and my phone number. She convinced Larry to call me, I think it was in 2015. We talked on the phone several times after that first call. Unfortunately before I could get down to see him, Larry suffered a massive stroke. We went down to see him but he was in an induced coma while the medical team worked to resolve the issues that were the result. We met the wonderful woman in his life and tried to be supportive.

Larry survived the stroke. In the following months I tried to get down to see Larry as often as I could. I took my son down to meet him. Larry was a motorhead, he worked as a dealer mechanic for Mazda for a number of years. Larry, my son and I talked about working on some cars together some day when Larry was back on his feet. I was building Six-Shooter at the time and thought it would be cool for all of us to work on it together. Sadly, that never happened.

We moved to Montana making it a lot harder to get down to see Larry. We lost contact again, that was largely or entirely my fault. I should have called and made more of an effort to get down to see him.

Larry Frame suffered another stroke. At some point he contracted COVID and also developed pneumonia. On 19 January 2022 at 0530, my brother Larry Frame died.

Until Valhalla.

I know your life
On earth was troubled
And only you could know the pain
You weren’t afraid to face the devil
You were no stranger to the rain

Go rest high on that mountain
Son your work on earth is done
Go to heaven a-shoutin’
Love for the Father and the Son

Fast forward to January 2021. After driving a Montana Affordable 4X4 (highly recommend these guys) vehicle for two years it was time to get back in a Jeep. When the Jeep Gladiator came out it was a bit of a disappointment to me. I was hoping that Jeep would take a cue from Ford, Chevy and even Dodge (a brother in the FCA family) and style the new Gladiator (JT) after the old Gladiator (SJ). The new JT looks more reminiscent of the Jeep Scrambler (CJ-8) than the old Gladiator (SJ). So, I poo-pooed the new Jeep for a while.

Initially I started looking at the Chevy Colorado, mostly because I thought it would be less expensive. Turned out, there was not a lot of difference between the Chevy in the configuration I wanted and the Jeep Wrangler. Because I carry a lot of equipment for my business, the Wrangler was not really big enough. Moreover, I was already looking at a truck so I went straight to the Gladiator. I might should have taken a closer look at the Wrangler but I did not.

In January I purchased a 2021 Jeep Gladiator brand new, 8 miles on the odometer when I took possession. The Willy trim level gave me a fair amount of the off-road components that I wanted without the extra cost of the Rubicon. Even so, I have a lot of after-market components that I will be adding.

The majority of the parts have already been ordered. The first to get installed was the Bartact Seat Covers. The second component to get installed was the speaker upgrades; AlpineSPV-65-JLT and infinity Reference REF-3032cfx. Those were mostly quick and simple. The Alpine speakers involved cutting out the plastic that held the factory speakers so, that was a one way upgrade. No going back. There is a lot more coming.

One of the first vehicles I bought was a black 1984 Jeep CJ-7 (wish I still had it). It was black and one of the coolest vehicles I have owned. The Jeep Gladiator Willy’s black in color is coming full circle. It is fun to drive but it has a lot of luxury for a Jeep (heated seats, heated steering wheel, SiriusXM, etc.). More adventures to follow which I will be writing about here.

SGT Regina Reali KIA 23 Dec 2006
SGT Cheyenne C. Willey KIA 23 Dec 2006

Memorial Day – Remember the Fallen
Veterans Day is in November.

Based on traffic in town a good portions of business are still in operation. Walking through town most of the retail venues are either closed or open but only handling cash (or credit) and carry transactions. Murdocks, ACE, Safeway and Rocky Mountain Supply are all open with normal business hours, I believe Safeway has senior hours but I do not know when they are. Montana Youth Challenge sent cadets home at the end of March.

For livestock operations not much has changed. It is calving season so everyone was already pretty busy. Once the bars close there is really no reason to go to town. Several livestock producers brag about how many days it has been since they have been in town. At least one ranch is actively restricting access to anyone but essential ranch personnel. None of which is all that unique. Ranchers and cowboys tend to be independent and prefer isolation. Livestock Auction Barn still holds weekly sales but no longer offers lunch prior to the sale.

Here at home things are not terribly different. Machiko was off work for a week because someone had been around someone who had been around someone who might have been exposed. No one developed flu symptoms and Machiko is back at work at a feed lot operation where there is no contact with the public and not even very much contact with each other. She takes Clorox Disinfectant wipes and a cloth mask to work.

For the week that Machiko was home I spent the days binge watching Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 1 through 6 are available on Amazon Prime. I am up to about halfway through season 4. I discovered that there is a new show coming that stars Christopher Meloni, reprising his role as Elliott Stabler. I am fairly excited about this. I stopped watching SVU when Stabler left. Without Stabler, the show just wasn’t the same.

With regard to COVID-19 and the nation’s reaction to it, I think it is going to be interesting to see the aftermath. Quarantine orders have brought the economy to a halt. For the moment unemployment is at a record high and rising while the stock market is at a record low and falling. The difference this time is that it is induced and the cause will have a fairly sudden and abrupt end. At which point pent up demand will take over, theoretically driving the economy back to where it was before the COVID-19 lock downs and possibly higher (yes, I am fairly optimistic). There are already discussions on Twitter and Facebook about parties to celebrate the end of a national quarantine. The travel and hospitality industries will surely capitalize on the celebratory fervor seeking to stretch it out as long as possible. That is not to say that there will not be some losers. Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler in Mountain View, CA has closed. One of my favorite places in NorCal. I am sure there are more businesses, especially in the hospitality/restaurant industry that have not been able to adjust. Hopefully, probably, those owners and staff will find new opportunity on the other side of COVID-19.

Lastly, while I do not think that we really had any alternative but to treat (react to) this pandemic the way we have, I think the aftermath will be interesting. Seasnonal flu infected 39 to 55 million Americans this flu season, with 400 to 730 thousand hospital visits and 24 to 63 thousand deaths (source: CDC). As of this writing, there are 374,329 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and thus far 12,064 deaths (source: CDC). Due to inadequate testing it is certain that the number of infections is higher, probably significantly higher. While there are some questions about the accuracy of the death count it is probably a lot more accurate. So, what if it is determined that we have shut down the nation’s economy for something that kills half as many as the seasonal flu kills every year?

Smittie