I Dun Got Stuck in the Mud

8/11/2020

The spot where I wanted to spend the night ended up being way more sandy than I expected, and I got stuck. When I tried to move, my wheels just spun and dug themselves deeper into the ground.

This happened in the middle of a thunderstorm, so my attempts to free myself were a bit rushed and thus did not work. I called AAA, and when the operator asked where I was, I checked Google maps to get the name of the unmarked street. Can't make this shit up- I was stuck on Garbage Pit Road.

Got a good chuckle out of the AAA guy. After giving me some false hope, AAA left me for dead (they don't help with off-road stuff). The only towing service I could get a hold of told me the earliest they could come was 11pm, and even that was a big maybe. I started to wonder if I was ever gonna get out of here, which is when I started noticing the remains of a car by the edge of the pit.

The rain had cleared a bit, and I'd just made plans for the next morning before this debacle, so I decided to make one last-ditch (YAY PUNS) effort to extricate myself. I took my trusty shovel, all my rv-leveler-things, and got to work digging all the loose sand away from behind each wheel. Then I put the levelers or my tire-grippy-strip-thing behind them. I started the engine one more time, stepped on the gas, and the wheels spun. Not working. I eased down on the gas, and- the rear tires caught their grips! The van moved! Backwards, just a bit up the gradual slope of the pit- enough for gravity to give me some forward momentum. I used the slope and gunned it, giving myself as much momentum as I could while I had the traction, and swerved up out of the pit and up onto the PAVEMENT!! SWEET FREEDOM!!! I was screaming in raw, unbridled joy. I found a pullout and parked about 1 foot off the road to spend the night.

Sometimes I find the weather reflecting my mood precisely. I'd been stuck in the pit in the pounding rain and crashing thunder; now I was free, and the clouds cleared into a glorious shining sunset.

I'm getting all-terrain tires next week.

—

Song: Blue Sky, Allman Bros.