The Mother Trucking
Mudpocalypse, PART 3: It Is What It Is
Monday
morning brought with it, Praise God, a dry, albeit cloudy sky. We woke up with
our emotions in check after Sunday’s cry-fest and figured the best thing we
could do would be to go inspect the damage and gather some more tools for the
hopeful truck rescue.
We donned
our mud-appropriate clothing, put on our game faces, and drove out toward the
mud pit. We did not trust my car, Ella, to make it through the muddy road, so
we parked her in some grass and walked, or more like schlepped, our way through
the squishy hundred yards or so of wet ground to the edge of the pit, stopping
every now and again to shake off the mud that was accumulating on our boots.
Upon arriving at the edge of the pit, we breathed sighs of relief.
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| There's Bruce! Waaaaaaay down there. And good and stuck. |
For
the past two days, vandalism had been one of Drew’s biggest concerns. He heard
over and over again Saturday night that vehicles left in the mud pit are
quickly vandalized – windows bashed in, tires slashed, etc. He had REALLY not
wanted to leave the truck out there alone for two days. Thankfully, even from
up on the ridge of the pit we could see that Bruce had been completely
untouched, even though he was still sitting in some very intense mud. As long
as we knew where the truck was located, there was hope for recovering it;
potentially having to make major repairs to damages done was a major stress factor
for Drew, but we didn’t have to worry about that (yet). We figure that the
weather was so bad that no vandals were willing to trek down there to do Bruce
harm. And we are also thinking that we have some very hardcore guardian angels.
I
took a lot of pictures of the truck and the landscape of the pit while Drew
checked out the truck and the mud around it. He felt optimistic that we could
figure something out, so we schlepped back to Ella so we could head home and
work on our plan.
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| Bruce was "sledding," which means that the under carriage was sitting on top of the mud. Not good. |
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| I enjoyed fitting the truck into the background of pictures. The pop of red adds a nice touch. |
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| Oh, hello, raccoon or coyote prints. |
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| I mean, really, crop out the truck and this is beautiful! |
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| This shot pretty much says it all. Does it look a little green-screenish to anyone else? |
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| I got to see my first blue bonnets! They are very lovely. |
Drew
decided that in addition to the recovery straps we already had, we would be
better off getting a high-lift jack so that we could get rocks and gravel
underneath the tires in order to get Bruce a more level footing before trying
to pull him to safety. We went to an off road shop in Fort Worth for the jack
and we solicited the employees for any help they might be able to offer – they
gave us advice (and lots of sympathy), attempted to contact anyone who might
have a big enough truck with a winch, and wished us luck.
At
home, Drew ran his idea past Izak, who would be giving Drew a hand with his
plan the next day. Then, Drew spent the evening thoroughly researching how to
safely use a high-lift jack and being encouraged by successful stuck-truck recoveries
documented on YouTube. It is always nice to realize that many people have
gotten themselves into worse trouble than you! Some people out there have done
serious damage to their vehicles by getting them stuck and then not being smart
about how they recovered them. We kept wishing circumstances were different or
that we had access to different equipment and tools, or that the pit was closer
to trees and paved roads, but there was nothing we could change, and the phrase
, “it is what it is” became our mantra.
As
optimistic as Drew was, in my mind I was preparing for the worst. I dreaded the
idea of leaving Bruce stuck in the mud, doomed to abuse and vandalism, while we
spent two and a half more years paying off a car we couldn’t drive. At the same
time, if that was the worst I could imagine, then I figure we weren’t that bad
off. Sure, the scenario I envisioned would be ROYALLY AWFUL, but at least we
would be safe and healthy and in possession of one not-stuck car. Silver
linings, people. SILVER. LININGS. We had optimism, we had hope, and we had a
plan. It was time to pray for a rain-free night and attempt to get a good night
of sleep in preparation for what was sure to be a long day ahead of us.
The
conclusion to the Mother Trucking Mudpocalypse is coming up soon! Get
excited!
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| This is probably my favorite photo from the entire Mudpocalypse. Maybe it'll get framed and hung on the wall. Is that okay, Drew? |
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| We'll get you outta there, Bruce! |
