Oh Lovely Mud

Remember the state of our van in yesterday's post?

How on earth did it get so muddy? Sit back, relax, and let me tell you a little story. M was out of town for a business trip. (If you can call attending a trade show in Vegas a business trip.) And my mom was in town keeping Peachy and I company. We decided that it would be fun to hit up a few garage sales Saturday morning and loaded up the van to see what bargains we could find. I had looked up the address on Google, but decided that I knew a better route. (Bad decision #1.) Everything was going swimmingly until I decided to turn onto a gravel (and by gravel I mean mud) road. (Bad decision #2.) It looked iffy the moment we turned onto it. (It has been a very rainy few weeks here.) After driving a short distance we encountered a huge mud puddle across stretching across the road. Did I turn around realizing that it was not a good idea to transverse this muddy road? Oh no, I just powered up the van and charged on through. (Bad decision #3.) We made it through with a few slips here and there. We also made it through the next big mud puddle. "We are doing well," I thought to myself. "This van is powerful!" It was the third mud puddle (a mud pit, really) that did us in. I tried my best to power through. (Bad decision #4.) The van tried its best. But alas, we were stuck. I quickly called my father up on the phone to see if he had any neat tricks as to how to extricate a mini van from a mud pit. And he did. "Call a tow truck," he said. And call a tow truck is just what I did. "We can be there in about 45 minutes," I was told. Nothing to do but sit and wait. But soon a beacon of hope appeared on the horizon. A car was approaching us. In it were two high school aged boys. To their credit they did stop and ask if we were stuck. Hmmm, do you think? And then continued on their way. So we waited some more. I glimpsed what I thought was the profile of a tow truck on the horizon, but as it drew closer I realized it was just a Jeep out enjoying the muddy day. The driver stopped and came over to the van. I told him a tow truck was on the way, but he insisted in helping us out. He hooked up his tow rope, gave me some instructions and out we came. After thanking him profusely, we were both on our way. Only a short way down the road we encountered the biggest mud puddle yet. What to do? I knew that we would not be able to make it through, but the only alternative was to go back to the scene of the first incident. (That or sit and wait for the tow truck and ask him to pull me across the muddy pit.) I turned around, careful to avoid the steep drop off on either side of the road. When we got to the pit we were stuck in, mom got out and did some reconnaissance. If I stayed way to the side and didn't go into the ditch we might make it out. And that is just what I did. I crossed the three original puddles and was back on pavement. Hallelujah! I made a quick call to the tow truck dispatcher and cancelled the rescue mission. We did miss the garage sale, but that is a small price to pay. The van cleaned up nicely at the car wash and the mud was easily scrapped from my shoes.

Little Peachy decided that was enough adventure for the day and conked out in her car seat with her hood pulled over her eyes. (Obviously she didn't want to see where her mother was taking her next.)