Diane and I decided to take a drive out in the pine barrens today.
We had a great drive when I get the dumb idea to see if I can find the
lake where we used to camp and drink beer when we were kids.
So off the paved trail we go, several miles into the woods and I knew I
was close to the lake because I found the same giant mud puddle that
burried my Spitfire back in 1973. This time I avoided the deep part but
still had black mud everywhere.
A few more miles and I turned the Sprite into a bulldozer plowing sugar
sand until I was belly deep in sand. No shovel, the jack just sank in
the sand, and only a stick to try and dig it out.
Remember, about 10 miles off the nearest paved road.
I found a 6" flat rock and tried it under the jack, it sort of worked
but only to lift the front end, the back was still burried, the tail
pipe was blowing sand, the diff was 4" below the sand.
Some sticks under the rocker to try and jack up the rear sort of worked.
Diane is on the cell phone laughing with my daughter trying to convince
her boyfriend to bring his truck out and yank us out. He wants to go out
in his boat. I managed to dig out the diff with a stick and put some
pine branches under the wheels. Jack it back down and just as I was
about to see if the car would move, a convoy of Jeeps show up.
A bunch of good ole boys jump out with snatch em straps, chains, and
yelling hee haw, let's get em out! At the same time Diane calls Tiff to
tell her the jeeps showed up so don't bother coming to yank us out.
Well the jeeps couldn't get around my car, they were in front of me, the
sugar sand went on forward for as long as you could see, I had to go
backwards. When they figured out there was no way to pull me out, they
helped push by hand and we made it back to solid dirt.
After a few hand shakes and thank yous, I asked if the lake was still
around here? They said we just came from the lake, it's just around the
bend. But a Sprite and the sugar sand wasn't going to happen.
All in all getting stuck in the woods was better than getting stuck in
traffic.
One of the guys in the Jeeps said I was crazy to be out here with that
car, I told him I have 3 or 4 more at home just like it and they are
meant to be driven! One of the Jeeps had a little boy of about 10 years
old with them. He was thrilled to sit in the car and steer as we all pushed.
And Diane wanted to know WHY I didn't have a shovel in the boot?
--
Frank Clarici
Toms River, NJ
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