MORE ADVENTURE THAN I CAN STAND . . .

The beauty of early spring -- also treacherous as snow becomes soft and melts

With warmer weather, Mike sees weeds popping out everywhere on the town property. He wants to spray them, but in order to do that, he needed the sprayer from the farm. The thing is, we didn’t know the state of the road – how much snow, how much mud, etc. Looking at the weather forecast, we decided to make a Saturday afternoon road trip to the farm. “At least we’ll have a nice outing,” we agreed. Hmmmm.

Pete and Mike survey the situation

Coming onto the road

The presence of snow increased as we climbed Gilbert Grade, but the road was just muddy and maybe a little slick. That last mile into the farm had been cleared but not by the County. We stopped at the top of Plank’s Pitch and Mike scouted on foot. He saw we could make it to the lane, and so we did, but on the other side of the gate we were stopped by soft snow and softer ground. Water was running freely on both sides of the road.

Out -- but not over yet

Stuck again

We had no choice but to back out, and here’s where we made the fatal error. I should have gotten out to guide the driver, but neither one of us thought of it. Once we were out of the snow, the road was muddy and slick. Nearing the charred pine tree on the west side where the road meets our lane, we got too close. The canopy on the Dakota scraped the tree and over we went. At that point, Mike gunned it, which was the right thing to do in a wrong situation. The pick-up didn’t roll, and we traveled parallel to the road for some feet until we really were stuck – mired in mud and water.

Worse yet -- scary!

Mike got out and opened the back of the Dakota. Oblivious to our plight, Bess said, “What a great place to park, Mike,” and jumped out to explore and hunt rodents. While Mike and I were stressed, she had a truly good day!

We knew we needed help. I said we should call Neighbor Pete, but Mike called our insurance for roadside assistance. Calling insurance companies is never a simple matter, but it’s even more difficult when you have to climb to a high point for phone service. Two hours later, we were informed that no one would come to our rescue. As this process unfolded, Mike walked up the lane to the house and got the sprayer. Mission accomplished!

It wasn't cold -- shirtsleeve weather mid-day. And I knew even if we couldn't find help, we could be safe and warm at the house -- perhaps even find food. I also knew that a call to son Clint would get us home even if we had to leave the Dakota for a while. I wasn't panicked.

Finally able to back out

Okay – but we just had to turn to the neighbors, much as we hated to confess our plight and / or bother them. Long story short, Neighbor Pete came with his powerful old tractor – whatever he calls that machine – and was our hero once again. The photos show the progression. [Blogger doesn’t like to post a lot of photos – six is about max.]

I think we arrived in the gully about 1:30. It was 5:30 when we left Gilbert, relieved that our ordeal was over. No one was hurt, and the Dakota wasn’t damaged. KW