SFR 45 years ago today…..

Sorta fishing-related
Vagabond

Vagabond

Hooligan
Forum Supporter
I was on my way to Salem Oregon with a HyGrade load from Storm Lake Ia. Stopped in Rawlins Wy for fuel and a check call. I was told to hold in SLC and call Nampa at 6 PM. I was told, after hearing some information about it on the am/fm, that Mother Earth blew a gasket that morning at Mt St Helens and there might be some issues getting there.
I was reminded of it earlier today when I saw Dick(?) Lasher’s iconic photo of his Pinto and dirt bike attached. Post blow, women’s panty hose was a big seller to lots of drivers as you could stretch them over external air intake filters and help keep the volcanic ash out of engine intake system. Grit on cylinder walls and pistons not recommended.
If I remember correctly starting a couple years later the cherry and apple harvest was spectacular MSH’s all natural fertilizer. Played havoc though in a lot of places.
Lasher’s photo:
IMG_5305.jpeg
 
I was living in the Magnolia neighborhood washing my car that morning and heard it blow. Sounded like low rumbling thunder.
Everyone had been monitoring the mountain on the news in the weeks prior, and based on my knowledge of the steadily increasing“bulge” on the side of the mountain I went inside and turned on the news to watch the results of the blast for the rest of the day. Something I’ll never forget.
 
Vagabond said:
I was on my way to Salem Oregon with a HyGrade load from Storm Lake Ia. Stopped in Rawlins Wy for fuel and a check call. I was told to hold in SLC and call Nampa at 6 PM. I was told, after hearing some information about it on the am/fm, that Mother Earth blew a gasket that morning at Mt St Helens and there might be some issues getting there.
I was reminded of it earlier today when I saw Dick(?) Lasher’s iconic photo of his Pinto and dirt bike attached. Post blow, women’s panty hose was a big seller to lots of drivers as you could stretch them over external air intake filters and help keep the volcanic ash out of engine intake system. Grit on cylinder walls and pistons not recommended.
If I remember correctly starting a couple years later the cherry and apple harvest was spectacular MSH’s all natural fertilizer. Played havoc though in a lot of places.
Lasher’s photo:
View attachment 184451
Click to expand...

Could be the only noble death a Ford Pinto ever had.
 
That is just an awesome photo.
 
thatoregonlife.com

The Wild Story Of The Man In The Little Red Pinto Who Somehow Survived Mount St. Helens

A red hatchback, mid-1970s Ford Pinto Runabout sits on a lonely dirt road deep in the forests surrounding Mt. St. Helens. Towering overhead is a wall of volcanic ash exploding into the sky. It's
thatoregonlife.com thatoregonlife.com

As a PNW kid we all learned the about the Last Ride of Dick Lasher. Some wrote poems about him and his flight from death. One man and his Yamaha facing a searing wall of scorching hot ash.

The mountain roared and thundered a wail
Astride his dirt bike Dick Lasher did bail
Tree trunks snapping and hellish heat
Could Lasher claim life from the jaws of defeat?
Darkness spread and ash clumps fell
Oh Lord please deliver me from Vulcan's hell!
Thoughts of his sweetheart flicked through his head
No more sweet loving in Dick Lasher's bed
 
I bought my house in Burien on this volcanic day! I was partying in Pullman with some friends going to WSU. There was a great party on the Snake river when they shut down the music and said we had to go and get indoors as volcanic ash was approaching. By the time we got back to Pulltab it was pitch black as the ash cloud covered the sun. Then a few hours later it looked like powder snow falling. By morning, there was 4”-6” of ash and they shut everything down! Stores, roads you name it. I was supposed to come home to sing closing papers……quite the experience!
 
We were in Olympia visiting relatives when we got word that I-5 was closed because the mountain blew up. As quickly as we could, we packed and drove to 101 to get back to Corvallis.

At the bridge at Astoria, it was a bumper to bumper traffic jam over the entire bridge. It must have taken us and hour to finally get over the bridge. As we were driving from Astoria to Portland, we drove around a corner in the highway and there was Mt Saint Helens directly in front of us. The top of the mountain was gone and it looked like a huge smoke stack of black ash billowing into the sky.

You never forget the sight of a mountain in front of you with the top gone and ash spewing out of the top and into the air. The top blown off a mountain just isn't a common sight.
 
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"We do not remember days, we remember moments." – Cesare Pavese highlights that the significance of life lies in meaningful experiences rather than the passage of time.

On that Sunday morning in May I was a 1st Lt stationed at McChord AFB and living just a few miles north of the base. We were preparing ourselves at the time for a three year tour in the Philippines. My parents were driving on their way north from SoCal for a last visit before we headed across the Pacific. I was in my yard at the time of the big “boom” and merely thought it was some artillery practice at Fort Lewis. An hour or so later we heard about the eruption on the radio. My parents traveling I-5 were diverted out to the coast and didn’t arrive in Tacoma until late in the evening. Quite an adventure on their part. In July on our way to the Philippines our flight to SF few over the still smoldering crater of Mount Saint Helens. What a sight!!
 
I was with some friends waterskiing around the inside of Ross Island south of downtown Portland. Thought that Lloyd canter was on fire until the radio in the boat was turned on. We packed up and headed home.
 
I was running a country bar in the Deerlodge Valley. I rose early and got the coffee on so the ranchers could stop by for their morning shot & a coffee. I walked out the front door later and saw that the skies to the west were dark. I said to myself "Man, looks like a dandy storm rolling in. " Quite the understatement . . . I cleaned a lot of ash for the next couple weeks. Parked my truck & protected the air intake on an old beater Scout and drove that for a month or so.
 
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I was in my senior year at San Jose State. The day after the eruption started, I ditched classes, jumped in my 68 Fiat 124 sedan and started driving north. About 8 1/2 hours later - I was somewhere between Bend and Madras Oregon on 97 and could clearly see the plume. I pulled off and watched for a bit before turning around and heading back as I couldn't miss class the next day. Somewhere in my pile of slides I have a few images. Luckily gas was about a buck a gallon back then.
 
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