That's Bertha at the North Beach parking lot in Sandy Hook. I took a ride up there today to see if there was anything going on. I had the parking lot and beach all to myself. I walked the beach awhile, but spent more time practicing my cast into a strong headwind. I am casting about an hour a day. I am about due for another lesson with Jim Valle. But back to Bertha. She's a 1991 GMC Vandura. My father and his wife were the original owners. They took it bacd and forth to Florida a few times, tailed a horse trailer around when my sister was competing, and then she was laid to rest in the back of the construction yard. She had a bunch of issues, mostly electrical. So I saw her one day in the yard and asked if I could try and get her back on the road. That was around 2003. She had 68,000 miles on her. The first step was to get some new tires since the ones she had were dry rot. Then off to the Tom at Douglas Auto Electric in Red Bank to figure out the electric problems. Then a tune up, a bath, and away we went. She has become the family vehicle, since now my family includes my fiance and her daughter. So it's six of us she carts around. She's been to Florida, the Adirondacks, Poconos, Atlantic City, and beautiful Camden New Jersey. She's mostly used for trips, but my partner Marc and I use her for work when we're too broke to afford a room when on assignment. She has a towhitch, that's works perfectly with my drift boat! So next year we'll be spending alot of time in the Catskills floating the Delaware.
She has a "Life is Good" spare tire cover, which I love, because most of the time when I am driving her I'm either with people I love or doing something I love. As far as "Bertha" , she's named after a Grateful Dead song of the same word. So if you see us near the beach or river, stop over and say hello. " I had a hard run, runnin' from your window..."