It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

 

But it turned out not to be such a great idea after all.

Yep. That’s my GMC Van. Stuck in the mud. In a ditch. I always drive this way home, but never after a heavy rain. Except we rarely get heavy rains, and so….I never had the opportunity before to drive this road after a heavy rain. hah!

I was driving home from taking my daughter to her T-Ball game. (I’ll post about that soon. It was a fun game….and her team, The Pink Ponies won!) We had not one lick o’ rain out on the eastern plains, but once we drove into the mountains, I could see that the roads were wet with even a few puddles here and there. But it didn’t occur to me that my short-cut road could be dangerously slippery. And I often forget that my van doesn’t have 4-wheel drive. hah!

The drive started out smooth enough…and then…….SLIP…..SLIDE……and WHOMP! I fell into the ditch.

     

As we slid into the ditch, the vision of my van flipping over flashed into my head, as the van rocked to a final stop. The thought crossed my mind that I’d land on my left side, the same side as my injured knee. Would this be my ‘Third Strike’? Thankfully, a vehicle proved safer for me, than my horse, and the van stayed upright.

I called Ranchman John, whose truck does have 4-wheel drive, and because I was only 5 minutes from home, he was there quickly. My heart sunk, though, when I first saw him at the top of the hill, as he slid right off the road and into a ditch.

I grabbed my camera, thinking, well, if anything this could be kind of exciting, and maybe even blog worthy! hah!

(Those tire tracks you see on the road above, aren’t from my hubby, but from someone else who tried driving on this road before I did. You can see that they zigged and zagged quite a bit, too!)

Once Ranchman John switched on his 4-wheel drive, he did much better on the slippery road. But there were still a few zigs.

  

(That road up the hill, with the two cars, is a paved road. Those people in those cars…….they were probably laughing at us, calling us crazy, for even trying to drive on that road after it rained. Or maybe they were watching and learning. Hey! Maybe I saved someone else from making the same mistake. hah! Makes me feel a little better believing they weren’t laughing at me.)

Oh! I was so happy when he finally made it to where I was, still stuck in the ditch. ‘A sight for sore eyes’ is an understatement!

Ranchman John was originally thinking about pulling my van out of the ditch from the front. I didn’t think that would be such a good idea….thanks to my ‘visions of doom’ that flashed through my head…..oh…..and physics.

 

(Oh yeh. I bet you’re wondering why I’m on the hill and not helping? Well, I was a wee bit traumatized. And my twinlings were there, too, and very eager to help out. What big little men, eh? I will tell you that it was quite a struggle to get up there on that muddy hill, using a crutch and a bionic leg brace, with 3” of thick mud on my sandles…and squishing between my toes, trying to help my 6 yr old daughter, who was very upset about getting her shiny white sneakers covered in mud.)

But we cowgirled up and stood up there on that muddy hill, while it started to sprinkle, and watched the story unfold. Jem, my other twinling son, even gave his hoodie to his sister because the rain was so cold and all she had on was a short sleeve shirt. He’s a sweet boy and a wonderful big brother. *grin*

 

(Oh. Did I forget to mention that my twinling, Jax was behind the wheel. And he’s only 12? And he doesn’t know how to drive…..unless you count driving a John Deere tractor. But you gotta start ‘em out with Driver’s Ed sometime, right? He had a ‘crash’ course…….get it?….crash……uh, I know that was bad. lol!)

But except for a few tense moments where Jax kept turning the wheel in the wrong direction or not straight, which caused the van to slip deeper into the ditch, he did a stellar job, and he was a huge help in getting the van unstuck. Jax even learned how to operate the brakes……all on his own. (or there may have been some bumper-to-bumper contact, too. gah!)

(Yep. Jax stopped just in time, but unfortunately the back tire drove over the tow rope. But they got unstuck with no problems, except for getting themselves all muddy, that is.)

Then they drove Jenna and I to the other end of the road, in the truck, while they walked back to the van.

They did get the van backed all the way up (It’s a rear wheel drive and does better in reverse) to the end of that road. And Ranchman John was kind enough to drive my van back home, while I drove the truck. (I love me a good truck! A 4-wheel drive is definitely on my wish-list. hah!)

Well after the craziness of my last 6 months, I think Train Wreck may have to let me borrow her nickname. Sheesh! Ok. I’ve had enough ‘excitement’ to last me a very long, long, long time. gah!

I don’t think any of you will mind if I partake of a little ‘liquid courage’ or ‘liquid calm’ right about now. Because this glass of Sangria sure looks good, don’t you agree?

    

(A glass of wine followed by a cup-of-tea shooter……..bliss.) 

From the Tower of,