Chapter 14

“Wake up,” I said to Abby, poking her a bit.

She swatted at my hand and mumbled, “Lemmesleep.”

Because the Defender was loaded to the gills with gold, camping and telescope, the three of us, Abby, Myndee and I, were crammed into the front seats.

Standard Defender seating is a pair of high backed buckets with an area where a console should go between the buckets. I ordered the “console delete add center seat” option when I bought the car. The center seat is narrow, thin and low backed.

Abby fit nicely. We seldom used the center seat but ... we needed every inch of the rear area. I even dismounted the middle row bench. It’s fairly simple to do. Fold, thrust, lift and the seat can be slid out the back hatch. As it was ... the tarped nugget was crammed against the front bucket backs.

I had laid the custom cut wood auxiliary floor over the small nuggets and packed the tent carrying cases, camp chairs and assorted crap on the wood. The way-back was telescope with certified heat treated insect free hardwood firewood filling the remaining space. My Dave Guard Martin D45 Dreadnaught guitar and stainless steel airline case was crammed on top; Abby’s flute was in the dash-box.